47DX/BO001 - Bornholm Island EU-030 Story: This story includes the entire Story for trip to Bornholm and Ertholmene, we did three islands (during the same weekend): - 47DX/BO001 Bornholm island - 47DX/BO002/C Christianso island - 47DX/BO002/F Frederikso island Ertholmene Island group includes approx. 10 islands and some very small reefs, including Frederiksø and Christiansø, the two inhabited islands. There are no streets on the islands, and thereby no cars. Its a nature reserve, mostly visited by curious Danes, Photographers and lovers of nature in general. Ertholmene is situated approx. 18 km north East of Bornholm. The group of islands is the most Eastern part of the Kingdom of Denmark and have been military controlled for many years. Public access today is possible via a small ferry from East Bornholm and normally gives guests the possibility to visit the islands for 3 hours. Denmark is generally a very flat country, an agriculture land. But Bornholm and Ertholmene is very different, as here we have rocks, cliffs and reefs, not like the majority of Denmark. With short notice we got the chance to get to Bornholm island for a low cost – and we decided to grap the chance. David and Soren met up in Ystad Harbour (Sweden) Friday afternoon with our curier bringing a van to Bornholm – a van that we could use for transport on Bornholm. Friday evening at 18.00 GMT (20.00 local) all was set up at Aakirkeby Camping, and we began transmissions from Bornholm as 47DX/BO-001, using the Yaesu 897D and the Bamby 11 meter up. Around 20:00 GMT we had no more propagation and went to bed. At 6:30 GMT we got picked up by the curier, driving us up to Gudhjem from where the ferry leaves for Christiansø island. Bringing all the equipment on to the ferry, anxious to see Ertholmene – a nature pearl in the Baltic Sea, we noticed that wind was low and sun was in the sky – all mixed perfectly with a local chorus singing us “Farewell” on the quay while the ferry left Gudhjem Harbour. What an experience... On the ferry we did a few “Selfies” as (part of the) proof and sending these to our friend 26DX047 Darran. Well arrived at Christiansø, we immediately looked for something with wheels on to help us move our equipment to the site we had hired for the stay. We found a wheelbarrow in the harbour, and we were off to our site. Around 9.30 the station was set up and we went on air and we began transmissions as 47DX/BO-002/C (BO002 = Ertholmene /C = Christiansø island), first with the Bamby (easy to assemble), and an hour later with the Skypper (3 elements bended yagi) as antennas and the radio Yaesu 897D. We had a perfect weather, mostly sun all day and a light-to-medium breeze from west. No problems as we were located North East on Christiansø island, behind good wind breakers (buildings and trees). Temperature was around 12-13 degrees. We did operate the radio all day, changing the Skypper to different directions trying to work as many stations as possible. The day also offered a nice trip around the islands, looking at birds and seals – and a Sea Eagle that also came by. Early evening propagation was stronger and we decided to begin transmissions from Frederiksø as well. We loaded the wheel barrow with the battery, the yaesu 857D, the bambi and the 11meter glasfiber mast. David stayed at Christiansø and Soren took off to Frederiksø to activate this island as 47DX/BO-002/F (BO002 = Ertholmene /F = Frederiksø island). The only (good) place to raise the antenna was at the Jetty/Bathing house – next to hundreds of breeding Eiders, a breeding Swan, breeding Seaguls and hundreds of (breeding?) seals close by. The view was fantastic... Transmissions began around 15.30 GMT and went on for a bit more than 2 hours, until propagation was over and no more to work. As David was transmitting on our “primary frequency” 27.515 we had to be some hundreds of kHz apart – this is why we used a pretty high frequency for Frederiksø: 27.835 MHz. Physical distance was approx. 420 meter and we had nearly no splatter between each others. Well, time flew, and back on Christiansø we enjoyed a nice meal (all meals was precooked and done by Davids lovely wife: Thanks for help doing all the food for us). Meals was kept cool in portable cooler/refrigerator. Sunday morning, after a very cold night, we woke up only to find a heating fan in the other room. We wished we hadn't seen that. Propagation was not too good and we decided it was not worth spending energy activating Frederiksø again, unless propagation changed. Unfortunately this never happened and we took down the station around 11:15. At 12:00 the Ferry took off and we said “So long” and “See you Later” to Ertholmene... At 13:00 we were picked up on Bornholm island and went for lunch at a famous Bornholm Fish Restaurant... Uuuh, that was nice – but short, because speeding up at the restaurant gave us the chance to activate Bornholm again before finally leaving Bornholm. We drove down to Hasle (pretty close to Ronne from where the Ferry leaves) and began activating, again as 47DX/BO-001. Finally time was up and we had to take down the station and rush to the Ferry... It was GOOD BYE AND SO LONG to Denmarks most eastern islands, remotely placed in the Baltic Sea. A fantastic weekend was nearly over, and splitting up in Ystad both David and Soren was filled with impressions after a fantastic weekend. Back.