I started this marathon out of the desire to pin the POTA points on the Romanian map, points in which I actively participated with prior documentation and a proposal to the “map representative of Romania” – YO6SM (LB9HI) Mihai and YO5ZL Norbert. Pota is not so popular in our country, and very few people know about this Radio activity, therefore I decided together with my wife YO3DYL that during our vacation we would travel together in this wonderful country. This year, out of wanting to get rid of the heat in the south, we decided to escape to the mountains and visit new, unseen locations.
While waiting for leave we had two more escapades of one week each out of the desire to pin certain landmarks on the map. One of them was in the eastern part of Romania (seaside and delta), and the other one was in the country’s south in the counties of Olt, Teleorman, and Dolj.
We started this “POTA journey” around May 2024 out of the desire to “grow the spirit of HAM Radio” in our country and gain some work experience in shortwaves.
Returning to this experience that I want to share with you, we started these three weeks on the last day of July 2024.
31 July 2024
A little tired on the first day (like after the last day of work – before vacation) we managed to activate the first park from the proposed list of over 100 parks. This is a “Cula Boierească” from Teleorman county: “Cula lui Costea – RO-0878” from Frasinet village.
Here we were a little disappointed by the external appearance of this historical monument. The authorities’ lack of involvement in restoring these historical vestiges left us with a bitter taste from the first day/first location of POTA activation. The location is in a public area with car parking.
The activation was successful for both, I didn’t spend more than 30 minutes in the location. We managed to test one of our homemade antennas, the battery, and the connections.
On this day, we had planned to make a trip to QTH2 at the location where we have the apiary and later on to start in force from August 1.
That’s what we did, but in the evening we decided to go to another location about 30 km from us: “Centrul Memorial Marin Preda – RO-0416”.
01 August 2024
We left in the morning around 7 o’clock to the city of Dragasani and started with “Grădina Publică Drăgășani – RO-0849” where we managed to activate it without too much effort, then followed the second park in the city “Piața Pandurilor Dragășani – RO-0847” where we hardly managed to activate due to the loud noise in the band, somewhere around 7-8 points S.
A little disappointed by the working conditions, we left after the activation to the next point on the route: “Lac Drăgășani Natura 2000 – RO-0851” – a successful activation with a “pileup” of all the beauty. We both made over 45 connections each, an enviable position with a noise of 1 point S.
Before entering the lakes area on our way to Ramnicu Valcea city, where we were going to stay, we chose to visit the location “Cula Galița Historic Site – RO-0875” where we also bought a collection wine from the domains Sâmburești.
Here we’ve experienced a somewhat difficult activation due to weak propagation and the lack of listening stations. (I failed to tell you that we had not planned any reservations in these 2 weeks, on many days being caught up in the activity fever, we were looking for accommodation after 6:00 p.m., and in addition, we had also forgotten the tent at home …)
We continued to the following locations: “Lacul Zavideni Natura 2000 – RO-0852”; “Lacul Ionești Natura 2000 – RO-0853”; “Lacul Băbeni Natura 2000 – RO-0854”; “Lacul Govora Natura 2000 – RO-0855”; “Lacul Râureni Natura 2000 – RO-0856”. These locations are reservoirs on the Olt river, they are good due to the working conditions in shortwaves, the landscapes are magnificent, the local flora and fauna combine with the clean air that filled our lungs for another year of work in the city where we come from.
All in all, we decided somewhere after 18:00 to look for accommodation in Ramnicu Valcea city and possibly have a meal somewhere. Once we settled in and got rid of our luggage, we decided that after we had something to eat and later we would go near Ramnicu Valcea to visit/activate the “Pădurea colorată Râmnicu Vâlcea Park – RO-0860”. There we met some curious domestic goats. It was a successful activation as for the end of the first day with several dozen stations in a nice “pileup”.
02 August 2024
I had decided together with my wife from the previous evening, after uploading the day’s logs, that our route should somehow follow the hills of Oltenia and that we should also try to meet radio amateurs in the areas we pass through. We followed a route diverted to Craiova where we intended to meet a group of radio amateurs from the area.
The first location visited/activated was: “Dealurile Drăgășaniului Natura 2000 – RO-0848” where the view of the famous wine-growing hills gave us a good tone for the start of the day, a day in which we had to cover several hundred km on the way to Drobeta Turnu Severin.
The next location, which I won’t mention again, spoiled a bit of the momentum we had started with. The location was a natural lake-delta formed by local springs between the hills near the commune of Mădulari, a natural splendor that I had only seen in pictures but to which the access road is difficult and many of the lands adjacent to the lake are surrounded by fences (some electric) from an animal farm in the area.
The 2 parks in Craiova followed, where we managed to activate the first park decently and the second one created serious local QRM problems for us (when I stuck the antenna tip in the ground, I had a noise of 8-9 points on the S-meter): “Nicolae Romanescu Park – RO-0031” si “Tineretului Craiova Park – RO-0968”. Arriving late in Craiova around 1:00 p.m., we have missed the meeting with the radio amateurs from the locality, so we continued following the established route to the Culele of Oltenia.
The first Cula visited on this day was Poenaru’s Cula. The tower is in the state heritage, donated by the owner in 1904, where a school for the local community was built around the remaining main walls. The location is interesting but we did not have access to the area of the Cula due to a closed door and the absence of the person who was responsible for access to that place. So we continued on our way because we had already lost about an hour in total from the already established long route.
They were followed by “Cula Cernăteștilor Historic Site – RO-0874” si “Cula Izvoranu-Geblescu Historic Site – RO-0716“, renovated locations that are part of the UNESCO heritage.
At the first one, we arrived in good time for viewing the interior, but at the second one, we did not manage to arrive in the visiting schedule, but at both, access to the inner courtyard is free of charge. The interior can be visited for 10 lei/person and if you get there, you won’t regret going inside. I did the activations from inside the courtyards where I talked with the guide for about 30 minutes. He explained to us about the history of the Cula and we tell him about radio amateurs and what historical tourist vestiges we promote through the POTA program.
At the end of the day, we also activated the last proposed route where we tried a faster activation out of the desire to reach the accommodation in Drobeta by 10:00 p.m. The location of the “Cula Crăsnaru – Groșerea Historic Site – RO-0717” is at the edge of the village, unfenced and perched on a hill with a good position to mount the antenna.
Likewise, in this location we were left with an unpleasant feeling due to the non-involvement of the authorities in the rehabilitation of the historical monument. On the way to Drobeta, we washed our eyes a little with a sunset that shows us the way to the accommodation…
03 August 2024
We woke up in the morning on this day and made our plan for the day over morning coffee. The proposal on the list included 3 SOTA peaks near Drobeta city, one of them “never activated”. We had heard of the experience of shouting “CQ SOTA / CQ POTA” and we proposed to start the double activation as well. We had announced our presence in the town the day before and we wanted to meet local radio amateurs at least on the air, if not in the flesh.
We were pleasantly surprised from the first activation, which was approx. 1 km from our accommodation “Crihala National Forest – RO-0541“, by a number of local radio amateurs who contacted us both through short waves during activation and also on simplex in 2m.
We left after the activation from the city to the three points where we also had SOTA in the plan. The first location was “Dealul Măiag Natural Area – RO-0967 and YO/MC-214”, second “Chicioara / Godeanu National Recreation Trail – RO-0544 and YO/MC-254” and last one “Dealul Vărănic Scenic Site – RO-0542 and YO/MC-038”. The mountain trails were quite good, but 14:00 caught us on the mountain hills. We did not want this because we planned to execute 10 POTA locations on this day. The locations present a risk of vipers and scorpions and it is good to know in advance before planning trips in this area. The last of the three, even though the propagation had started to recover, reserved for us the surprise of a view of a local storm on a nearby hilltop where we had the opportunity to see and hear the electric discharges in the area on the spectrum of the station. I don’t want to tell what the sensations were and how the adrenaline was running through us when we were trying to shorten the “pileup” by saying on the air “last call, a storm is comming…”
After these 3 superb locations, we took the road to 2 cule’s: “Cula Tudor Vladimirescu Historic Site – RO-0722” si “Cula Nistor Historic Site – RO-0721”
Beautiful locations, it’s a pity that the vestiges are left in ruins here as well. We had the surprise in the courtyard of Cula lui Nistor to remain without reception due to the strong wind that opposed our activation, knocking our antenna to the ground. Obviously, I continued the activation after fixing the antenna more responsibly in the very dry soil after months of lack of precipitation.
At the end of the day, we also activated the locations in the city of Drobeta, a little bit difficult because the propagation did not help us even on this hot day (from what we had heard, there had been quite intense solar activity and we were somewhat expecting possible problems)
“Cetatea Medievală a Severinului și Dragalina Park – RO-0029”; “Podul lui Traian si Castrul Drobeta Historic Site – RO-0030”; “Aluniș Recreation Park – RO-0540” and “Rozelor Recreation Park – RO-0539”
We returned to our accommodation after the 3rd day of CQ SOTA and CQ POTA around 00:00 local time, a bit tired from the mountain trails – this time also physically. However, we also managed to meet again with 2 of the radio amateurs from Drobeta YO7LPT and YO7LPF who “followed our route on the air” and helped us in our work with weak propagation to make the necessary QSO’s for each location. It is the only area in our route where we found “the hamspirit at home”, in the rest of the route we did not receive as much attention as in this part of the country.
04 August 2024
We start the day quite late, around lunch time we left for Targu Jiu city with a route to 6-7 other cule.
The first location visited “Cula Cuțui” a location handed back to the owner’s family to which of course we did not have access. The rehabilitated location looks like a house inhabited and guarded by 2 dogs that scolded us from the moment we arrived at the gate. Being private property, it could not be part of the POTA program, there was no activation problem, so we moved on.
We arrive at “Cula I.C. Davani – Larga – RO-0724” after many attempts, because our gps showed us a non-existent route to this location, a route through a forest that thickened as we advanced. Pushed by instinct, I said that I would turn left around and try another entrance towards the hill with the Cula but further down towards the exit from the village. The wrong road brought innumerable blackberry bushes in our path that we could not remain indifferent to.
Here was the first place on the hilly area where the clutch was already a little angry with us and warned us a little with a ferodo smell, HI.
Superb location, quiet, a bit wild. We sat down in the shade, went to CQ Pota after visiting the derelict vestige and the nearby wooden church. The activation was a bit difficult, the propagation was not optimal at that time.
We continue with the adventure to “Cula Cioabă – Chinţescu historic Site – RO0713“. When we got there, we were preparing for activation and a curious neighbor came to us to “ask about our health“. We talked for a few minutes during which I found out that this location has been under rehabilitation for several months and that he voluntarily participates with the 220v power supply for the teams of tradesmen who do not have a generator (the Romanian job – “I’ll give you a job but you have no tools”).
We finished the activation quite hard also here, weak propagation, local QRM of about 5 points. We left for the next point of interest “Cula Glogovenilor Historic Site but again the our gps played tricks on us and chose a short but very bumpy forest road, “paved” with fairly large river stones so we gave up on this, withthe idea that we will activate it another time.
Following the road to Targu Jiu, we stopped at “Dealul Bran Site – RO-0737“
Asphalted road, happy that we are not doing offroad again, we entered in the heart of the forest. Near a few tens of meters from the point on the POTA map we found an asphalt refuge where we stopped. We entered the forest to look for a place to mount our antenna and throw the mat on the ground. At one point I notice a lot of fruit thrown on the ground and vertically cut cans with water in them, a sign that someone is feeding wild animals there. This was not a good sign considering that lately in the submontane areas we had been hearing about problems with bears, so we turned back to the car. We activated from there, the propagation helped us this time, we announced QRT and we returned to the city.
After 18:00 we arrive in the city and we realize that today we forgot to look for accommodation ahead of time. On the way to “Coloanei fără sfârșit Park – RO-0727” we manage to find accommodation. We inform the host that we will arrive around 22:00 and start activating next parks in the city.
The parks followed: “Narciselor Park – RO-0728” and “Insuliței Park – RO-0729”
Propagation had started to work, there was a QSB quite large in the band, but we quickly managed to make several dozen connections because we had another park on the list and the rain was approaching with black clouds from the northeast.
We manage to park somewhere on a side street near “Constantin Brâncuși Central Park – RO-0726“. We were a bit in a hurry and threatened by the rain, but we couldn’t help to kiss under the “Kissing Gate“. It was our first visit to this town.
The evening was approaching and the time lost taking pictures in the park affected our activation in POTA. We managed to activate the park with difficulty, the night had come and the QRM from the lights on the alleys had increased. The night caught us and obviously we arrived tired and exhausted at the accommodation a little after 10:00 pm.
Nice
Oh my god, a real marathon POTA. I managed to do a few QSOs with you on this wonderful journey. I’m glad for you, for a wonderful and especially unique holiday. I can’t wait for the next articles; and especially the apotheotic ending. With friendship, YO3RAM, op. Edi
Thank you Edi for hunt and thank you for reading this few lines written from our experience, 73 YO3BEE
wow fantastic hystory.. and thanks for multi mega extra new one.. full of you and Dana in the log bee dyl bee dyl :)) continue in this steet… GL Raf ik4idf
Thank You Raf, thanks for hunting and helping us! We look forward to hear you on the bands, 73! YO3BEE & YO3DYL