MT. ATHOS DXPEDITION HALTS AMID CONTROVERSY

[admin]

AUL/ANCHOR: Our top story this week takes us to Greece, where the Mt. Athos SV1GA/A DXpedition team halted their activation shortly after it got under way, amid challenges over whether they had permission to be there. The coveted DX entity has been a World Heritage Site since 1988 and is listed as 28th on the ClubLog DXCC List.

The team went on the air for their planned 10-day operation in late January to mark the 50th anniversary of the first amateur radio activation there. The five-member team was led by two of the operators from the original Mt. Athos activation: Martii OH2BH and Aris, SV1GA. The other team members were Adrian, KO8SCA, Gabi, YO8WW and Niko, OH2GEK.

Their signal went silent within a day, however, after they said they received a letter from the Mt. Athos Holy Community regarding the DXpedition's right to operate at the site, which is home to about 2,000 monks in 20 monasteries. On Wednesday, the 29th of January, the team issued a public statement through Bernie McClenny, W3UR, saying that they planned to provide authorities with whatever information is needed for the issue to be clarified, saying that they would

"wait for the relevant authorities to meet and review our case." [endquote]

On Thursday, January 30th, Martii released a public statement announcing that the team was leaving the island while awaiting a decision by the local authorities who had issued the hams their permit.

An earlier statement from the team, prior to their activation, had been one of hope. The team wrote:

"We would like to think that this Mt. Athos activation is just a first step in opening the doors to other teams to activate this desired amateur radio entity. Our goal is to show that amateur radio DXpeditions have no impact on the monastic life of the Holy Mountain. On the contrary, it creates goodwill and allows the 3 million amateurs around the world to see this beautiful and serene place with different eyes." [endquote]

(DX WORLD, DX NEWS, BERNIE, W3UR, QRZ.COM)

Thank you Amateur Radio Newsline. https://www.arnewsline.org/