The weekend of May 16th and 17th was full of achievements for SOTA practitioners in Portugal, with their national meeting in Barcelos (Monte da Franqueira) on Saturday, and on Sunday the conquest of the third Mountain Goat by our colleague CT2HOV Nuno Gomes, also achieving the feat of becoming the second. Portuguese amateur radio operator to complete all 273 SOTA references in Portugal.
The SOTA community in Portugal has been growing, and on May 16th, I (CT2HBL), Nuno (CT2HOV), and António Cardoso (CT1MH) provided a flight baptism to two newly arrived colleagues, Luis CR7BXI and Tomás CR7BWE, who activated Monte da Franqueira CT/MN-061, and who are now beginning to spread their wings for much higher flights. This is the result of work carried out over the last four intense years, in a JOTA-JOTI environment in the AEP group, where they are scouts.
May 17th was the day of the last reference needed to complete the challenge of activating the 273 unique references available in Portugal. A group of friends, colleagues, and SOTA enthusiasts gathered, activating two reference points: Alto do Gião and Penameda. CT2HOV and their group were responsible for activating Penameda CT/MN-011, while the other two colleagues handled reference CT/MN-026.
After the morning activations (with a pleasant walk), it was time to nourish the body, because as someone I know says, “an empty sack can’t stand upright.” Time to gather for a nice lunch, especially to enjoy the good company of all those who were at the activations, and also those who couldn’t activate but made a point of being present at lunch.
We celebrate the friendship of all those who hunt, activate, and listen to us!
Best wishes, and be bold in allowing yourselves to experiment!
73’s Júlio Almeida CT2HBL
