2004 TARRAGONA DXRC
MEETING
(Official story by
30DX401)
The attendants started to come on Friday afternoon as expected. Some even came on Thursday evening.
After checking in at the hotel, a shower and a quick sleep they got ready to have dinner at the Port of Tarragona, where disco pubs and tapas restaurants were open for the party.
It was, already, the typical Friday evening official meeting dinner: TAPAS. It consisted of many different dishes with fried fish, hot and spicy potatoes, meat, bread…everything was so delicious for such a very reasonable price!
After dinner most of us were rather tired and decided to go to bed, not without a fast visit to some of the disco pubs in order to have the first drinks and laughs of the weekend…
Saturday:
On Saturday morning we were late on the schedule. At 11:00, with many more attendants who had just arrived, we started the very interesting presentation of the World Wide Radio Organisation explained by Soren 47DX002 and Tom 47DX052.
This organisation is totally independent from any group and it wants to put together the main world wide radio clubs in order to establish the right settings for the 11m future. If you want to read more about it have a look at the website www.wwro.net
All the meeting attendants looked really interested about this project, they made questions and gave many opinions.
After the WWRO presentation we headed to La Pineda. A small village with a very beautiful seafront close to Tarragona city where attendants could taste a very typical Spanish dish: the Paella.
“It is absolutely delicious”…Tom said after his 4th dish.
After lunch, at around 17:30h, some decided to relax and sleep a bit. Others decided to have a walk around La Pineda and some decided to chit-chat while they were waiting the big presentation of one of the best DX expeditions made in 2004: 174AT/DX by Chris 21AT116.
It was 18:30 and everything was ready. Many more new attendants joined the meeting...Luca, Paolo, Simon… Everybody was expecting to see the first photos and videos from Uganda, and Chris did not deceive. Great expedition, great pictures, magnificent landscapes, all performed in a great presentation. Well done Chris, really impressive!
After this, we could also watch the videos and pictures from another interesting expedition done the previous year; the 213AT/0 presented by some of the operators who went to Market Reef. 21AT116 Chris, 47DX101 John and 13DX028 Niko. Everybody was in silence…listening to the incredible experiences of these guys in the middle of the cold Baltic sea. Absolutely superb!
After the 2nd presentation, it looked like people wanted more…and so we did! A 3rd presentation came into scene. This time it was the 284AT/0 expedition. All photos were seen and people realised how hard it was to land on Saint Paul island and transmit.
We did not pay much attention to the clock, but by the end of this presentation we were late for dinner! Very fastly, we all headed with our cars to a free buffet in Tarragona downtown. Typical Catalan food was offered. Although many of us were still full of Paella, a free buffet was the perfect place. We could eat whatever we wanted…and Tom decided to taste every single dish of the Catalan cuisine…
After dinner, time for party and big QRM at a disco pub next to the restaurant. Beers, vodkas, whiskeys,…flying from the bar straight to the attendants throats. Laughs & QRM, QRM & laughs…
Some decided to go to bed at 02:00am, and some decided to stay till very late hours in the morning…4 ?, 5?, 6hrs?...who knows!
Sunday:
On Sunday morning, at 11:00, a tour around Tarragona old town was scheduled. But most of the people were not ready, so we decided to start the tour one hour later.
Tarragona is a very old place, very well known for its Roman heritage which was declared World Human Heritage by UNESCO in 2000. Besides, on Sunday morning there is an interesting street market and we could look around some funny old stuff. Magnificent views from the top of a tower, the Roman walls and the Amphitheatre…we could even watch the typical Catalan dance called “Sardana” in a festival.
Christian was really satisfied to show everybody Tarragona city and some of the Catalan traditions, but unfortunately we did not have time for more because once again we were late…this time for lunch.
Almost 1 hour late, but the Scandinavian crew who were worried about the time soon realised that time is not so important down in the Mediterranean area…
The final lunch was in the countryside. About 10km far from Tarragona. There, we ate exquisite meats cooked in a barbecue in the Catalan style. Toasted bread with tomato and olive oil called “pa amb tomaca” (pronounced “pamtumaca”) delighted all those who never tasted it before…and those who tasted it for first time in Andorra were really happy to eat it again. The wines from Tarragona province made their mark also. Very good quality meal.
It was the perfect end for such an unforgettable weekend. A radio meeting with lots of fun but also a lot of radio quality given in Saturday’s presentations.
As the meeting organizer, I want to thank very very much all the attendants who came from all over Europe and make this event something really special. Without your attendance and effort, this would have not been so interesting.
As you can see, we have implemented on this page a guestbook for all the meeting attendants who want to share their memories, impressions, opinions ot funny stories about this meeting with all of us. It will complete the story of the 2nd DXRC Meeting.
Thank you very much and see you again in future!
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