On Saturday night (4th April 2020) when I got home from work following afternoon shift, I headed up to the shack to see if 20m short path was open. To my listening pleasure, it was.  There were some excellent signals coming in from Europe, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East.

I decided not to prop somewhere and call CQ, but rather, tune across the band and hopefully work some European park or SOTA activators.

First in the log was Eyal 4X6RE who was mobile in the Taninim Nature Reserve 4XFF-0070.  Eyal was working a big pile-up from Europe and it was very hard trying to break through from VK.  Fortunately, a Dutch station mentioned that I was calling, so Eyal told everyone to stand by and called for VK.  Eyal was a good 5/7 signal and reciprocated with a 5/7 signal report for me.

The Taninim Stream Nature Reserve combines nature and history through which the Taninim River runs.  The reserve includes the remains of a dam built at the end of the Roman period and the beginning of the Byzantine period.  Several flour mills have also been recently unearthed.  The abundance of water led to the construction of water-operated flour mills in the Byzantine and Ottoman periods.

The stream was named Taninim – Hebrew for crocodiles – because these reptiles inhabited the nearby Kebara swamps until the beginning of the 20th century.

Next was Lars PH0NO/p in Deelerwoud PAFF-0055 who had a good 5/7 signal.

Deelerwoud is a Dutch Nature Reserve of about 2,300 hectares in the wooden region of Veluwe in the province of Gelderland.

The heather in the reserve is grazed by Hereford Highland cattle.  Other mammals found in the area include Red deer, Fallow deer, Roe deer, Wild boar, Fox, and Pine Marten.

My third and final park activator was Jaromir OK1XZ who was activating PP Nedosinsky haj OKFF-1949.  He was being belted around a bit by splatter from Italian station 4 kc below, but despite this we comfortably made contact.

Nedosinsky is a forest situated between the villages of Nedosin and Trzek.

I also logged a number of special event stations and some Polish stations in the SP DX Contest, before heading off to bed.

References.

Israel Nature and Parks Authority, 2010, <https://www.parks.org.il/en/reserve-park/taninim-stream-nature-reserve/>, viewed 6th April 2020.

Trip Advisor, 2020, <https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g7142205-d6633617-Reviews-Taninim_Nature_Reserve-Bet_Hananya_Haifa_District.html>, viewed 6th April 2020

Wikipedia, 2020, <https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deelerwoud>, viewed 6th April 2020.

Wikipedia, 2020, <https://cs.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nedošínský_háj>, viewed 6th April 2020