Dear Peter VK3ZPF, Thank you so much for having made me enjoy yesterday one of the most important days of my life and of my long career as a radio amateur since I was a child.
Once again, I would also like to thank all the stations that contacted me during the 2 SOTA activities where I achieved 54 QSOs from the first summit VK3/VN-016 and 112 QSOs in the second summit VK3/VN-023.
The logs of both activities are already uploaded on the SOTA website.
Of everything experienced yesterday, which was truly exciting, I would like to highlight 2 very special moments that I will remember all my life. Both happened at the end of the second activity when, at the so-called “gray line,” I heard the first European station, and it was the great operator SA4BLM Lars. It was 03:40 pm (local time in Melbourne) and I finally made my first QSO with Europe.
The second special moment, undoubtedly the one that made my voice break and filled me with uncontrollable inner emotion, was when I heard my great friend EA2CCG Joaquin calling. That was already touching glory because finally, despite the difficulties, we managed to complete the QSO. It was 04:25 pm (local time), and this contact has even more value because it was exactly that moment or never, since the plan Peter had scheduled was to pack everything up at 04:00 pm because he still had a long journey back home of more than 200 km.
I remember that it was 4:20 pm, it was already getting late because the initial plan was to finish the activity at 4:00 pm, and since European stations were coming in, we decided to stay 10 more minutes. And it was precisely in those last 10 minutes of the activity that I was able to hear Joaquin and complete the QSO. Incredible, we had done it!!!
I was also very excited to hear and contact very well-known EA stations such as EA4M Ricardo and EA4R Alfonso.
I will still be this week and next in Melbourne, for work reasons, and I hope to continue enjoying this wonderful experience in this incredible country that is Australia.
73
VK3/EA2DT Manuel
