30 December 2024
After the Xmas 2024 adventure, because we still had 5-6 days of vacation, we decided with our friend Edi to spend the new year in Calarasi City. We left on December 30th around 3:00 PM towards the city and we,ve stop for a first activation at the RO-0432 Pădurea Ciornuleasa Forest Reserve and activated it in a team of 3 callsigns (YO3DYL,YO3BEE, YO3RAM). It was evening, and we decided with Edi for the last day of December that we would follow a route that we would establish on the morning of the 31st.
Because it was already dark, we didn’t have the opportunity to take any pictures, but I’ll post 2 public pictures from Google Maps below.
31 December 2024
We woke up relatively early on the last day of the year considering that we were planning to activate several parks in the area in a relatively short time because we were going to spend New Year’s Eve together with Dana’s mom and aunt.
Around 08:30 local time, we left to meet Edi and establish the route. The decision was made quite quickly, we were going to activate in the areas surrounding the city of Calarasi on the last day of the year and then on the first day of the year to activate the parks in the city.
We arrived relatively slowly at the first location RO-0433 – Pădurea Floroaica Forest Reserve, I say this because a dense fog was going to block the long-awaited sun until around 11:00 local time. We had a 20m-10m multiband antenna with us. We decided to try the 10m band the first time and we only managed to have one contact. We moved to the 15m band, where we had more success, around 15 radio contacts. When we activated the 20m band we had an interesting pile-up with over 50 radio contacts. Below you can see a Facebook post with a part of the pileup: Click Here
Around 12 local time we set off towards the next location. After a few minutes of driving in the thick fog that was covering our visibility, it suddenly lifted and let the sunlight cover the ground. We managed to reach the location RO-0427 – Iezerul Călărași Reserve much faster this time and we had the opportunity to take a few pictures of the location and enjoy the fresh air.
In this location we had a pleasant activation with over 40 radio contacts.
From the area of the nature reserve where we were, somewhere in the north of the city of Calarasi, we decided to go around to the southwest and head towards RO-0440 – Tonea Park. We didn’t stay more than 40 minutes in this park because evening was approaching and we were planning to go to the 2 beaches in Calarasi as well.
Because we were are already in the south of the city we were arrive quite quickly at the location RO-0437 – Plaja Podul 4.
We caught two interesting radio contacts from this location, a KK station, and one from VE in the 10m band. We didn’t stay very long because the sun was already setting and we wanted to make one last stop before leaving for our accommodation.
The last location was RO-0436 – Plaja Mare Calarași where we wished Happy New Year to over 30 radio amateurs callsigns. There were probably more in the background, but because we were dealing with quite a lot of noise in the 20m band due to the street LED lighting, we couldn’t hear them.
We left for our accommodation around 6:00 PM local time. We somehow managed to fit into the original plan we had set that morning and make it to the end-of-year gathering with our relatives and spend New Year’s Eve together.
First day of 2025
The first day of the year was great, we activated the two parks in the city, and on the way, we discovered that a new park was recently inaugurated in the the city and that one we are going to propose at POTA. We activated those 2 locations and posted a live from Dumbrava Călărași Park RO-0439 on the Pota Facebook group: Click here
In Central Călărași Park RO-0438, we met a friend of Edi’s who was very curious about how we were able to talk live voice all over the world. We showed him the equipment and the antenna. He was so fascinated by the POTA program and the hamradio in general that he finally said he wanted guidance this year on how to enter the ham radio community.
02.01.2025
It was time to go home, the vacation was coming to an end but we still took advantage of the beautiful weather in the south to activate a few more parks not too far from the city where we spent New Year’s Eve. On the second day of the year, we went to activate RO-0429 Valea Argovei Reserve and RO-0430 Schitul Codreni Scufundat. It was a sunny day that was telling us our stay here was not over yet. We didn’t know what we would do the next day so after this activations we followed the road home.
03.01.2025
Edi couldn’t participate in our activations the previous day and we decided to go again and activate that area together. We left in the morning around 08 AM local time, we met with Edi and resumed our journey to Calarasi county where we activated RO-0429 and RO-0430 again and from there we decided that since we had arrived in the area, we should activate also RO-0428 Valea Mostiştea Reserve .
It was a day with quite sunny and warm weather for the date on the calendar. After the third activation, looking at the POTA map, we realized that we have time to activate two more locations in the Oltenița City: Ro-0435 Parcul Mare Oltenița and RO-0434 Parcul de la Argeș. Overall, the last day was a day when we said goodbye to our best friends, the hunters. We thank them once again for being with us on this little journey and wish them a Happy New Year!
Final closing words
2024 was an exceptional year for us from the point of view of a radio amateur and not only. Why do I say this? We visited so many places in our country that we can hardly reconstruct in our minds the routes we followed. That is why I chose the option to write them down somewhere so as not to forget them and at the same time to inspire confidence in travelers that they have something to visit in our wonderful country, Romania.
73! YO3BEE & YO3DYL
😊 WILL BE CONTINUED 😊
