My activity from San Marino in June 2022 had left its mark and I had a great desire to start another activity directly. I still had a week’s holiday available and was looking for a suitable destination. The time period was already fixed, because due to work, these times always are set well in advance.
After some research, the 59 division Dodecanese seemed an interesting destination. Later it turned out that this destination would probably not have been chosen if more research had been done. In retrospect, however, it was a good thing, otherwise I would have been deprived of some experiences.
Accommodation was found relatively quickly, provided that it was a flat with a balcony on the top floor of a house and did not cost much. Downtown Rhodes Town, directly in the 1st coastline, free view from the north east over the west towards Europe to the south.
It turned out that 13AT015 Joe had both the desire and the time to accompany me. We had just been to the 44th Alfa Tango meeting in Asti and had met in person before. The chemistry was right and when it became clear at the meeting that 59 would qualify for a /DX, the goal was set. The missing utensils were ordered and we were to meet again at the airport in Rhodes at the beginning of October 2022.
We arrived early in the morning, took a taxi and went first to a fishing shop to get a missing part for the loop antenna and then to the flat. Arriving at the flat around noon, the station was set up but extremely strong winds prevented us from setting up the loop and so the T2LT had to serve for the time being. I had not considered one thing: QRM. Affected by air conditioning and cheap technology in the surrounding hotels, the entire band was full of S 7-9 QRM. Joe had all kinds of technology with him to combat QRM, but it was all for the cat.
Nevertheless, various signals found their way to us, so we started with the activation in order not to waste the first day completely. Within 1.5 hours, 136 stations found their way into the logbook, even stations from Brazil, Venezuela and Puerto Rico made it, but the majority were from Europe. Regardless of this, we needed a plan B and headed for a car rental to become active /portable the next day.
We were up early because we didn’t yet know what the radio conditions would be like. Our location (not the last one) should be in a parking lot on top of a mountain. A shady and inconspicuous place was quickly found and the loop quickly set up. The propagation conditions, on the other hand, took their time, but some stations from Australia via Indonesia to South Africa and of course some Europeans were happy about a QSO. Conditions improved as the late morning progressed and by 17:00 UTC a total of 239 stations from Oceania, Africa, Asia, Europe and South America had been logged.
After we had learned that the band only opens later in the morning, we took it easy on the 3rd day and only started 2 hours later than the day before, but at the same place on the mountain. Contacts from a distance of 2,000 km work well, everything that is closer is unfortunately left out and backscatter contacts are very rare. We receive SWL reports from “Down Under” and they report to follow us through most of the time and we are throwing big signals their end. The first stations from Central and North America find their way into the log, but before this direction really takes off, we decide to dismantle the portable station after we are conspicuously scrutinized by a civilian person. Be that as it may, another 349 stations are in the log.
We talk in the evening and decide to look for a new location. The island is a popular destination for wind and kite surfers and we are hoping to have better luck at such more international spots at the beaches of the north shore.
Up early next morning, exploring new spots. At the 2nd surfing spot we are actually lucky. This is where a German runs his surf school. He’s just packing up the last things to spend the upcoming winter in Cuba (Pfeh, me please! Can I take my radio with me?). We talk for a while – how small the world is – he is originally from the area in Germany where I grew up. “Hang-loose” and we’ll set up the station between trees right on the beach. We’re late, but we’re on the air longer in the evening. We can log quite some stations from distances under 2000 km, including some German and Swiss radio friends; some backscatter contacts also succeed. We close the log with another 220 stations, including operators from Argentina and Canada.
With full vigour, and in a positive mood, we start early on the 5th day. It’s a Saturday and usually a lot more operators are on air. The best time for a lot of activity. We head for the same place at the beach again and can directly note a QSO with Japan as the first entry. It can carry on like this. Many QSOs with Europe follow, but South Korea is also successful and stations from the Caribbean and North America join them relatively early. Then the sudden end in the early afternoon, even before we can really use the conditions across the pond: We get a visit from the authorities. Shock!
Pure adrenaline, but we remain calm and look for clarification. 2 colleagues, one in uniform and one in civilian clothes assess the situation. The plain-clothes person looks hyper, jumping around the place like nothing, the other, on the other hand, is acting calm. Luckily the latter also speaks English and we try to reassure them that nothing special is happening here. Unfortunately it doesn’t help and we are ordered to leave the place. We would have already been noticed on the mountain (aha!) and everything we do wouldn’t be ok like that, but the justifications are rather thin. We are left behind and decide we don’t want to overdo it – 59AT/DX is QRT.
We inform our friends and pack up, shaking our heads. We think we were lucky too as the real reasons seem to lie in geopolitical tensions that probably few in our circles are really aware of (#oil #greece #turkey), but none of both guys argues that explicitly. We were mostly alone in this place, away from the hustle and bustle. Really only very few residents took notice of us unexcitedly, and yet they seemed concerned or were instructed to be concerned. The feeling remains that it didn’t feel like being in Europe; or is it being at the borders of Europe!?
Bottom line is we logged 1110 stations from 55 DXCC on 6 continents on 5 days during which we had been on air approximately 24 hours in total and we had great experiences although some of them had a few “?” leave with us.
A remarkable contact, which I would like to share was a QSO with 14AE002/p who is working from Cote d’Azur with a handheld radio and telescopic antenna. What a sportive action!
13AT031, Martins Blog 