An easy 2 pointer with plenty of other antennas to admire!
The summit is easily accessible by car, with a car park and cafe/restaurant at the summit. As I approached it was clear that I had some competition in the antenna department! The summit is home to a monastery but the courtyard is dominated by the 4 legs of an enormous TV tower. Slightly down the hill are around 25 masts, each with several antennas and dishes, quite an impressive sight! Fortunately my concerns for QRM were unfounded (I used 20m and 40m).
I parked in the car park at the top and had a walk around the monastery boundary to see where I could safely set up my antenna (there is a cafe/snack bar at the top with several visitors walking around) . To the right of the cafe I found a suitable fence to attach everything, but despite a self spot and several CQ calls on 20m I couldn't log any QSOs. There was one distant call from EA2DT whom I have worked several times before but he clearly couldn't hear me. I concluded that I was possibly on the wrong side of the Hill as I was a few metres down from the summit with a stone monastery wall and the tip of the summit next to me so would only have been transmitting East.
I moved around to the left of the cafe facing West and North and set up my antenna between some trees - the hill fell away too quickly to put up my Sotapole, but I used it to give the dipole centre a but more height. A self spot and CQ call on 20m was rewarded with 10 qso including EA2DT who reported a much stronger signal. So based on my experience the right hand slope below the monastery is best avoided.
I moved to 40m and self- spotted but nobody came back, and similarly nothing on 2m.
Pleased with the day's 2 activations I stopped at the snack bar for a beer, still open at 5.30pm, and admired the fantastic view... of all the other antenna masts!
Next and final activation on Corfu: IO-003 Psaradi
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