May 18th - June 1st, 2024. The island of Pag is a great place to spend your holydays getting to know and try new things. It is the fifth largest island on the Croatian coast with a rich history and cultural heritage. We have really enjoyed everything, and we had a great time. I think two weeks is fine for a stay, but a week longer would have been better in my opinion. The island offers many opportunities for outdoor amateur radio activities and is a lot of fun. You can easily combine your XOTA activities and expeditions with exploring the island by bike, walking and hiking, canoeing, boating and swimming in the sea, sightseeing and spending great time with family and friends.
Welcome to the island of Pag by a local reception committee. Hello?! QRZ? 😄
Unfortunately, I had to drop some activations due to very weak propagation conditions and radio blackouts, where some activations like WWFF and COTA (requiring 44 and 50 QSOs respectively) would have been a tough job, or even wouldn’t have been successful at all, especially with QRP. Under such conditions an activation in the GMA style (where a minimum of 4 QSOs is required) is a nice opportunity to collect your new XOTA references for the GMA triathlon and boost your score. However, you may not be completely satisfied with such an activation because you will be missing the majority of your known and loyal chasers, and you will not qualify these activations for the WWFF and COTA programs. A SOTA and/or GMA activation requiring only 4 QSOs to quality and get the points was an easy job, although I always tried to get more QSOs. Depending on the actual propagation conditions I had to be very flexible and decide spontaneously whether I wanted to risk an activation or whether I would rather spend time with family and friends. My wrong decision could have resulted in me being on the air for 5 hours just to collect 50 QSOs or less, as it was the case with the activation of 9AFF-0073. It was quite difficult to plan ahead, so when in doubt I decided to stay with family. All in all, I was quite satisfied with my 13 XOTA activations and 400 QRP QSOs made with 4W. Of course, I tried to activate GoGreen as often as possible. Let me start wrapping up with my main interests – SOTA and WWFF.
SOTA. There are three easy-accessible one-pointers on the island: 9A/PH-052, Sveti Vid; 9A/PH-057, Veli Brig; 9A/PH-060, Panos. I activated them all. For SOTA point collectors, the island of Pag is not the best place, they go elsewhere. I got three uniques credited to my SOTA account, each worth one point. Not much, however, they all offer great views over the island and are worth a visit.
WWFF. There are five valid WWFF references: 9AFF-0138, Zrce; 9AFF-0073, Kolanjsko blato; 9AFF-0023, Lun; 9AFF-0075, Rezervat Dubrava – Hanzina; 9AFF-0074, Veliko i Malo Blato. I was only able to successfully activate three of them (marked in bold), and by more than 50 QSOs. The activation of 9AFF-0073 was lengthy and tough due to an unexpected radio blackout. I planned a GoGreen activation of 9AFF-0075 a couple of times but ended up missing that activation even though it was relatively close to our QTH because the propagation conditions were very poor over the last days.
GMA. I added and activated two new references 9A0/PH-001, Velo Tusto Celo and 9A0/PH-002, Vela Glavica. It was probably the first historical GMA activation in 9A ever. Both are striking mountains and worthwhile destinations (see my activation reports in May). The nice thing about the GMA program is that you can choose your favorite mountain on the island, add a new reference to the database yourself and activate it as often as you like. So I did it and chose the places I wanted to visit. The GMA expeditions were a nice addition to my cycling and hiking tours. Nothing more and nothing less. The island's mountains are low and, similar to SOTA, you don't get many points for. It’s about exploring the island and having some fun with your radio!
COTA. There are two current references: 9A-0184, Ruin Fortica and 9A-0264, Knezev Dvor. There could be more, however, it looks like there is no official WCA/COTA Croatia group taking care about. Since I have become an opportunistic WCA/COTA participant, the very quick activation of Knezev Dvor took place in the GMA style during our visit to the town of Pag. I needed at least one more COTA activation for the GMA Triathlon Award 2024 in Gold and did not want to miss the chance 😉.
IOTA & WLOTA. It’s a sweet combo. Each QSO out of a total of 400 made on the island counts not only for IOTA, EU-170, but also for WLOTA, LH-1796. Because WLOTA rule 2.1.1 states: “It is not necessary to be near the lighthouse but only in the same island as the lighthouse.” Well, whether this rule makes sense or not would be another debate. The demand for IOTA and WLOTA seemed to be rather low, especially compared to WWFF.
ARLHS. There are two references on the island - CRO-055, Zigljen and CRO-092, Mandre. I have never participated in ARLHS activities before. It's not my thing at all, but I activated them both. What? 😱 Yes, and do you want to know why? My youngest is fascinated by lighthouses and my oldest by FT-8 😂. Just simple like that plus poor propagation. The activations were short and purely technical in nature in the GMA style, as required for the GMA triathlon. Nothing more and nothing less. The criteria for selecting references in the ARLHS and WLOTA programs are not clear to me, there are many more interesting and attractive lighthouses on the island. And I have no idea how much demand there is for lighthouse references.
POTA. POTA is not there yet because there is no interest and no demand yet. But honestly, I am a very opportunistic POTA participant who is watching the future development of the program. And POTA is not eligible for GMA (yet?).
BOTA. Although the island is one of those with the longest coastline and there are many beautiful hidden beaches, I had and have no interest. I only care whether it's about Beers On The Air 🍺😉😄.
My two favorite award programs – SOTA and WWFF – are the most popular outdoor amateur radio programs in 9A. The number of SOTA references is limited to three according to the summit definition per P150, whereas GMA is offering more options for mountain amateur radio enthusiasts. WWFF is a lot of fun, the local and international community is much bigger than in SOTA and GMA combined. And maybe there will be some new WWFF references on the island in the future.
National 9A SOTA and WWFF awards are a nice bonus and a good way to remember all the activities. Tnx to the 9A SOTA and 9AFF clubs and enthusiasts!
GoGreen XOTA. The island of Pag is a perfect place for cyclists and hikers of all ages and skill levels and therefore for GoGreen activities. This is where GoGreen XOTA is fun, especially when the propagation conditions are right, since every QSO counts. Each time you activate GoGreen your GoGreen points will be multiplied by at least a factor of three due to the EU-170 and LH-1796 cross references.
My personal highlights 👍 were:
- GoGreen expeditions to 9A/PH-060, Panos and 9A0/PH-002, Vela Glavica. I was rewarded with great views, lonely moon-like landscapes and solitude. It is probably the most beautiful corner on the island.
- GoGreen activation of 9A0/PH-001, Velo Tusto Celo. I will always remember a mini pile-up at sunset close to the Pag Triangle, where in Croatia you can, with a bit of luck, observe UFOs 🌌😉. I wasn't so lucky to encounter UFOs or aliens, but, given the weak propagation, I was lucky enough to enjoy each of the 70 QRP QSOs in CW in absolute solitude just before dinner.
- Exploring wonderful and weird moon-like landscapes, and discovering nice hidden beaches.
- Enjoying the food & wine and having a great time with family and friends!
- Radio blackouts and poor propagation conditions under which QRP is no longer fun. A small team from the Croatian 9AFF club organized a WWFF expedition to the island of Pag from May 11th to 15th, just a few days before our arrival. The team had to contend with severe blackouts in radio waves propagation, and for this reason, some activations were cancelled and postponed. Their brief report is available HERE on the 9AFF site.
- Missed [GoGreen] activations of 9AFF-0075, Rezervat Dubrava – Hanzina and 9AFF-0074, Veliko i Malo Blato. For me it would have been two new ones. 9AFF-0075 in particular would have been a nice GoGreen ride along the coast.
- There are a few more interesting and potential GMA spots that I wanted to go to but gave up due to lack of time.
- Long travel times and stress, road constructions and traffic jams, road and tunnel tolls 😠.
