YU/..., Z3/...,

ZA/DL3OCH

T9/...

I was once more on a DXpedition in April 2006. My sister Kathrin, her husband Thomas and I were driving two weeks thru the Balkan-Countries such as Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Croatia. April was a perfect month for this vacation based on the climate, in addition to extra cargo space in my car or groceries that won’t spoil. It was between 20 and 25°C during the day and about 10 to 15°C in the night. We slept in out tents except a few nights where we stayed in a hotel. We usually grilled on the evening. That way, we could also was us up on the fire place. To camp wild is not a problem in these countries. We always found a nice place to stay. Of course, I took my ham equipment on this tour.  Unfortunately I was not able to plan everything in advance and left for the trip knowing that I would still need a license in these DXCCs except T9. The only contact I had in advance was to Geni ZA1B, who offered me his help to get a license in Tirana. My plan was to go there anyway and try to get the license once I reached each destination. The two weeks vacation went over so quickly. We saw a lot of beautiful countryside and met nice people. JT65 worked good and showed once more its real potential. Many thanks for everybody who supported me so well. A special thank goes to Heinrich DJ9YW who made sure that I take the right equipment on my vacation. I made 2300 QSOs with my mobile antenna on short wave and 24 EME QSOs on 23cm.

 

We drove this way: Via Zagreb (9A) to Beograd (YU), Skopje (Z3), Tirana (ZA), thru the South of Bosnia (T9) and along the beautiful coast in Croatia (9A) back home. ...about 3800km.