Last Thursday late afternoon it started snowing here in central Italy and I wanted to take the opportunity to do the first activation on the snow of the season. Friday morning I left early from Rome to reach Monte Faito I/AB-058 a beautiful peak of 1704 mt. above the town of Ovindoli that had never been activated before. To reach it I followed the initial part of the path which is a dirt road where I found snow mixed with mud.
Then a real path began this time with snow and ice where the classic magic of winter began. The top of the mountain is easily reached in about an hour’s walk. On the summit I found snow and an incredible view of the surrounding mountains all covered in snow.
I mounted my HWEF Antenna for the 20 meter and started calling Cq Sota. In total I made 49 qso also crossing the Atlantic Ocean with K2TRD in qso 20 meters ssb.
At the top the weather was freezing, a cold wind made it difficult even to operate in cw but in the end it was a real pleasure to try to get out of the city to look for the first snow.
73 de IW0HK Andrea