Traversing a money storm when planning a DXpedition

May 19, 2012By N1DG, Don Greenbaum

Why This Discussion?

• Financial transparency rarely done on DXpeditions. It should be.

• If more of the ham community knew the costs and risks involved in big ticket DXpeditions fund raising might be easier.

• DX Foundations and Clubs can’t continue to do all the heavy lifting.

• Not all DXpeditions are alike. One size does not fit all in donations.

DXpeditions go to pretty places.The financial story is not as pretty.

Types of DXpeditions

• Visit a resident ham ... Be happy, don‘t worry. $

• Fly-in. Airline served, hotels, power.… Worry about excess baggage $$$

• Semi Remote Places, ship/chartered plane. … Worry about amplifiers sinking in the deep ocean $$

$$$• The bottom of the World

… Worry about needing an icebreaker $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Methodology of Survey

• Examined 20 NCDXF funded DXpeditions since 1997.

• Sent everyone same questionaire and invited outlier costs (ie. Unique to destination)

• Confidentiality assured if requested. Few did.• These 20 expeditions covered almost 2 million

QSOs from the Pacific, Indian Ocean, Asia and Africa at a cost of $3 million.

Budget Considerations-Fly-in

• Mostly Commercial transportation.• 5 DXpeditions analyzed, 4W6A, A52A, VU4PB,

VU7LD, and VK9DNX.• These expeditions made 275,508 QSOs,

average expedition 55,000.• Biggest budget: $90,000, smallest $17,000.• Average cost, $42,000, average cost per QSO:

$.72. Individual contributions: 11 cents per Q/ 36 cents per unique callsign.

Budget Considerations-Fly-in

• Licensing in rare countries like this can be as much as 50% of the cost of the operation.

• Shipping to some of these destinations can be significant due to import duties or unreliable shipping routes.

• Travel and planning times short compared to other two levels of operations.

• This group, on average, relied on the highest % of operator funding of the budget and the lowest ratio of NA stations worked.

Fly-in: The makeup of Sources of Funding

$140,600

$41,600

$31,600

Team Members 66%

Foundations/Clubs21%

Individuals 13%

Fly-in: Geographic QSOs

144722

72249

49985

11335

Europe 52%

Asia 26%

North America 18%

Rest of World 4%

Budget Considerations Semi- Remote

• Private Charter of ship/plane, averaging $88,000.• 9 DXpeditions analyzed: BS7H, K4M, K5D, T32C,

VK9DWX, VP6DX, VP6T, ZL8R and ZL8X.• These expeditions made 958,607 QSOs, average

expedition 106,512.• Biggest budget: $327,000, smallest $54,000.• Average cost, $145,000, average cost per QSO:

$1.37. Individual contributions: 33 cents per Q/$1.31 per unique callsign.

Budget Considerations-Semi-Rare

• Licensing could require lengthy approval processes from government and/or fish and wildlife authorities.

• Travel and planning times significant. Average travel time to and from these locations average 10 days. Most of these operations took a year or more of planning and fund raising.

• This group, on average, had the highest % of North American contacts and the lowest % of costs by the operators.

Semi-rare: The makeup of Sources of Funding

$751,410

$217,700

$316,875

Team Members 58%

Foundations/Clubs17%

Individuals 25%

Semi-Rare: Geographic QSOs

422818

301071

195789

38916

North America 44%

Europe 32%

Asia 20%

Rest of World 4%

Budget Considerations-Southern Oceans• Ice breaker rated ship averaging $260,000.• Shelters and generators must survive harsh

conditions.• 6 DXpeditions analyzed: 3Y0X, FT5XO, VK0IR,

VP8GEO, VP8ORK, and VP8THU.• These expeditions made 370,000 QSOs, average

expedition 74,000.• Biggest budget: $475,000, smallest $160,000.

Average team member contribution $12,700.• Average cost, $323,000, average cost per QSO:

$4.30. Individual contributions (pre/post): 52 cents per Q/ $1.69 per unique callsign.

Budget Considerations-Southern Oceans

• Licensing long and tedious process.• Shipping and loading involves dealing with ports

in South America with astronomical charges.• Travel times mean a commitment of team

members in excess of a month. In addition to large financial commitments to team, foul weather gear and airfare to departure points can add thousands in personal costs.

• Individual donations in this group amounted to the smallest % of funding of any of the groups.

Southern Oceans: Sources of Funding

$1,015,600

$344,000

$192,100

Team Members 63%

Foundations/Clubs25%

Individuals 12%

Southern Oceans: Geographic QSOs

158097

132246

58405

21261

Europe 43%

North America 36%

Asia 16%

Rest of World 5%

Comparing Averages• Item• Total Budget• Cost/QSOs• Team %• Foundation %• Individual %• Average Individual$/Q• Average $ Unique• Plane/Ship• % QSOs EU• % QSOs NA• % QSOs AS• Operating Days• Travel Days

Fly-in Semi-Remote Southern Ocean$43K $145K $323K0.72 $1.37 $4.3066% 58% 63%21% 17% 25%13% 25% 12%$.11 $.33 $.52$.36 $1.31 $1.69 - $88K $260K52% 31% 43%18% 44% 36%26% 20% 16%16 13 12

5 10 20

A word about uniques

Donations from individuals are not only a function of the total QSOs a DXpedition makes but also the unique stations worked.

Donations did not go up proportionally to the number of bands and modes a station worked the DXpedition. In fact, across all three types of DXpeditions, each unique callsign brought in triple the donation compared to each additional QSO a DXer made.

Just as in contesting, it’s the unique QSOs in the log that can make a difference in the financial results of the DXpedition.

QSOs, QSLing, Donations @ VP8ORK

Country Uniques Total QSOs

OQRS Users

QSL Direct

% Total QSOs in log

% TotalIncome

$ per Q Country

USA 5754 21566 999 814 34 80.0 11.137Italy 1243 4902 260 160 8 .8 0.486Germany 1295 4646 94 183 7 1.5 0.973Russia 1001 3181 72 147 5 1.1 1.009Japan 1211 2838 215 311 4 1.3 1.387Spain 989 2681 76 119 4 .4 0.416Poland 586 2146 52 113 3 .3 0.373France 388 1643 45 73 3 .5 0.975Canada 379 1442 37 66 2 4.9 10.153England 398 1436 75 46 2 1.6 3.240Czech. 344 1373 22 73 2 .1 0.312Brazil 296 1277 14 32 2 .2 0.504Finland 253 977 25 22 2 .6 1.914

Timing: Cash Flow for VP8ORK

Foundation Support

In this study NCDXF funded 60% of the total donations given by all Foundations and Clubs to the six Southern Ocean DXpeditions.

Larger Clubs

Clubs

Clubs

You want to go where?

If you REALLY want to go to VK0H?

• Clear 3 years from your calendar. Find 20 rich and competent operators who can take 6 weeks off of work.

• Create a management team. First, organize fund raising. You are going to need $600-700,000. The last group to go was in 1997 and the budget was over $300,000. Things have gotten much more expensive.

• Start to request donations of equipment.• The cost of a ship from VK (no ship can go to Heard if it

has visited a French Island like last time) is going to cost at least $500,000. You need a heli, add $100,000.

• Survival tents, proper clothing, generators, fuel and shipping will easily run another $100,000.

Do you still want to go to VK0H?

Random Thoughts

• Foundations and clubs supported 24% of the cost of the 20 expeditions analyzed. If you supported one of the those mentioned above, thank you. If you don’t, please consider joining one of the organizations.

• NA Foundations, clubs and Individuals are 80% of the money pool to these DXpeditions.

• NA QSOs were 36% of the total Q analyzed. We clearly have an education process ahead of us if we want to see 3Y0/B or VK0HI again.

Questions?