In Friedrichshafen I met with Jose CU2CE and Francisco CU2DX, who were promoting the Azores. My wife K2XYL and I gladly accepted their invitation to come to the Azores. Our busy summer schedule showed just one free weekend 16-19 August. So off we went.
The Azores form one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal. For radio amateurs this means that the islands count as a separate DXCC entity. The Azores’ main activities are agriculture, dairy farming, livestock ranching, fishing, and tourism, which is becoming the major service activity in the region. All the islands have volcanic origins that resulted in many summits, at least one on every of the nine islands.
For our outbound flight we had the choice between Brussels and Amsterdam. This time I listened to my wife, which I will never do that again (when it comes to traveling). We had to get up at 3 a.m. to get on the 06.30 flight from Amsterdam to Ponta Delgada via Terceira. The Brussels flight would have been much much more convenient! The positive news is that Azores is on GMT. We arrived at 10 a.m. with almost a whole day to explore the west side of São Miguel Island. In one word the island is gorgeous.
On our second day we visited Martti OH2BH’s apartment, that I think will be for sale soon. I operated from CR2X, a fantastic contest station with excellent take-off to North America and Europe. Later that day we visited the local amateur radio club and we had a superb seafood dinner in one of the many Ponta Delgada restaurants.
On our third day there was more sightseeing, this time the eastern part of the island. The day was concluded by some more radio activity from Jose CU2CE’s shack close to CR2X.
Food on the Azores is very good and the local wine is also good and cheap. For a Dutchman this is extremely important. With all the hills and mountains Azores should be added to the SOTA program. I have identified Jose CU2CE as candidate to act as their SOTA Manager and I promised to assist him. Both of us have no experience in this field. I may call on some of you to help us out!
73, Hans PB2T