This past weekend SOTA Portugal activators and chasers converged in city of Amarante to participate in the third edition of our annual meeting.
Many made it to the northern city (about 50km east of Porto) with their families and took advantage of the excellent weather and wealth of summits to pen down some more points into their logs.
Saturday was the “sit-down” day, where the participants discussed and pondered on a wealth of questions related to SOTA and amateur radio. The balance of the last year´s activities and of the SOTA Portugal Day confirmed the idea that summit activation and chasing is growing in this southern european country.
Amarante´s Fire Department was invited over and gave a really good talk about safety procedures and health issues that might arise during a SOTA activation.
ARETD, the hosting amateur radio club, also introduced an activation kit that is available to any amateur radio operator that wants to explore the region´s summits. The day´s talks were rounded up by a in depth look into SOTA activation planning and execution.
On Sunday, the meeting moved outdoors, onto Marão Mountain (CT/DL-001). The windy but sunny morning gave place to many contacts, with a special highlight to what we believe to be the first digital (DMR) 70cm contacts made between SOTA summits, in Portugal.
All in all, a great weekend.
73
Paulo, CT2IWW
