A "DX - Brit" invasion took place in April, 2004...

Five dedicated "hams" from the United Kingdom came out to Malawi to do their stuff and make contact with the amateur radio world at large...  After one day of assembling various antennas - with arcane and abstruse calculations by the "boffins" - the front area began to look like a CIA Communications Headquarters!  Coax cables ran everywhere; huge bamboos (growing on the property here) were skilfully and artfully contrived into main support beams; a radial earth mat covered a large area of ground and a Beverage receiving antenna ran the entire length of the walkway (133 metres long over lake water)  The water tower of the cottage supported a tri-band beam antenna on 10, 15 and 20 metres.   Inside the living area of the thatched cottage (overlooking the lake and facing directly north - just what was needed, this!) a jungle of wires and connections festooned and terminated in no less than three operating stations.  The operating team consisted of three SSB and two CW morse operators.  An emergency power source was arranged for occasional lapses in mains supply.

The big attraction was/is the internationally rare Malawi radio identification call sign and "7Q7MM" –  had been assigned to them in advance by the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority. (MACRA) The licence is shown here.