I had heard of the YCP from my friends Fiodor IZ7YBG and Riccardo IV3CVN so I decided to apply myself to see a big contest station at work. I has been chosen for 4O3A, for CQWW RTTY 2018 contest, so I planned my travel by car to Montenegro. At the airport of Dubrovnik I met Florian PB8DX and together we reached the 4O3A peninsula, because we cannot use mobile phones in Montenegro we used 2 repeaters to talk with Marko who helped us with directions.
Finally, on the evening of Thursday we arrived at the meeting point where Marko 4O9TTT picked up us and took us to the station, it’s on a mountain so a 4×4 vehicle was needed to reach it, Marko is the president of the MARP and stayed with us for the contest to help us with FlexRadio, we met also Roby E77E, the chef, there was also Ljubomir YU5EEA who was testing the station with a pile up. During the next day Jahko YU3EEA joined us and the contest team was complete, we met Ranko 4O3A during the afternoon, he with Marko explained how to manage the station and use FlexRadio and also some suggestions for the contest.
During the contest we had planned shifts of 4 and 6 hours to work at the station and go to sleep, shifts were good and also sleep was needed to survive the 48hrs.
The Monday after the contest we went to the SKYLAB, the house of Ranko and also the laboratory where the FlexRadio are made, it was very interesting to see how a sdr radio is created. After a good lunch with ćevapčići I left for return to Italy which took 1 a day and a half.
I am very happy for this experience, it has given me the opportunity to improve my ham radio skills, meet new people and visit new countries. Many thanks again for the great opportunity and all the work of the team in 4O to make it all happen.
I suggest every youngster to apply for the YCP, you will not regret!
73 de Matteo, IU2GGL
team member 4O4YCP (@4O3A)
