To Russia (and back).

Anyone contemplating going to Russia for a vacation should think carefully about when to start planning the trip. There is no chance of using lastminute.com or a similar web based company to get your late trip to Moscow!

From the first invitation arriving in my in box from Oleg RV3GM it took me three month to get a Visa to visit Russia. It wasn’t that I was staying at an approved hotel, the fact that I was camping in a forest threw the embassy into a fit! The photo shows my Visa.

The local RU-QRP member in the area of the camp had to go to the local government offices to get a written invitation for me. (He is the ONLY active ham in the town!) The invitation and a copy in English duly arrived. The next day I sent it all off to the Russian Embassy in London along with my payment of £30 ($55). Much to my amazement it came back just a week later! Was this the end of the problems – was it hell!

The flight booked into Moscow Domodedevo airport from London Heathrow was due to leave at 0855, I had to leave home at 0500 for the 90 minute drive to avoid the rush hour traffic around London. We boarded the plane and then promptly sat there for another 90 minutes before a small ‘problem’ was solved and we took off!

Arriving at Moscow two hours late and rather tired the local Customs Officer took two minutes to study my Visa and agree that I was the person on the passport. The customs officer only asked me if I had anything to declare and promptly waved me through. I headed out to the exit to see Dean KH6B and Oleg RV3GM waiting for me. They had been there almost all day waiting. Just 30 minutes later we were on our way in a mini bus with 6 others.

The five hour journey to the campsite passed fairly quickly with much laughter and exchanges of translated Russian / English / Russian.

The Camp was in the Ugra Region of Smolensk Oblast about 250 miles south west of Moscow. Down a rough track about one mile from the road. The camp was just 50 yards from the Ugra River.

As we crept into the camp we could see the RU-QRP members already at the site they had waited for us to arrive before sharing their evening meal with us. I instantly felt that I was amongst friends as the welcome was fantastic.

The tent provided for me was very small, just 6 foot square and 4 foot tall, it would not have been my choice as I suffer from back problems. But after crawling in and collapsing on the air bed the long days travel caught up with me.

The next morning I was woken by the sound of a generator and people chatting, a check of my watch showed that it was 0500, turn over and try to sleep some more!

Hot tea with bread and cheese for breakfast at 0800 at the fitted table and chairs and I started to feel much better. Oleg and his wife Olga kept flitting around to see that Dean and I were happy and wanted for nothing.

Then the bad news….. We had to go into town to the Government offices to get our visa’s checked (again!) Stan UA3LMR the guy who had organised my invitation took us into town with Oleg and a guy called Alex. I asked and discovered that he wasn’t a ham but a Police Officer. He was assigned to us as ‘protection’. A real nice guy and nothing like a policeman at all!

We entered the office and duly handed over our passports to a young ladycalled Marina who immediately asked for our vouchers. Of course neither Dean nor I had any vouchers, this she just couldn’t understand. After an hour or so of questions we discovered that she had never seen a foreigner before let alone a Brit or a Yank! Two hours later we left. Mine completed because I had the official invitation but Dean had more work to do.

Back to the camp via some shops, a church and a photo opportunity. The shops sold everything from fridges, car windscreens, tyres, washing up liquid, clothes, food and fishing tackle. And everything in between! The solid triple lock doors and the steel bars on the windows told their own story.

There was an old Ural Motorcycle and sidecar parked outside, it was probable 30 or more years old and held together by bits of wire, but the old gent and lady came out of the shop carrying their wares and after just one kick he started the bike. They both donned old crash hats and tucking her skirt up high she climbed on the back to vanish in a cloud of smoke.

The Russian Orthodox Church was built ‘log cabin’ style out of huge pine trunks. Rough on the outside but finished beautifully on the inside. As we left the grounds of the church I spotted opposite a small house, obviously occupied.

Back to the camp and the mid day meal. The soup meals were wholesome and filling. The mainstay of the food was potato’s flavoured with small amounts of meat, tomato’s or fish. Yuri UA1CEG loved fishing and most mornings would go to the river early and come back with a bag full of small (4-5 inch long) fish. These were washed and thrown into the pot whole. Grains were often used to fill out the soup. Water was taken from a fresh spring that bubbled out of the ground a couple of hundred yards away.

The operating tent was small, just 8 foot by 6 foot but the antennas made up for it. The rigs were an IC703 along with two Elecraft K2’s. A two element ‘spider’ beam at 30 foot with rotator worked very well and each ham on the site had their own wire antenna thrown up in the trees.

During one of the few contacts I had I worked a guy in Scotland using the RU-QRP club Callsign RU9QRP/3 he was very nice and complemented me on my command of the English language. I had to spoil it by telling him my home call!

Both Dean and I had to give a talk of course and I opted to go for ‘QRP around the world’. Many questions followed with a lively discussion in both languages. Luckily for us there were several Russians that spoke very good English. My own tame translator was Val RW3AI who stuck with me during all of the other Russian talks. Igor EW6CM also spoke great English but was a little shy.

The highlight for me was listening to Professor Vlad Polyakov RA3AAE talking about the work by Tesla, his slow pedantic delivery was a delight to listen to and his command of English superb.

Several of the youngsters there understood English and two, Ann (15) and Nastya (13) asked me to join them in a game of Volleyball, great fun but more about learning English than playing a ball game. Nastya spent a lot of time with me and at age 13 her command of English was very good. Dad Andy RA3ATL helped her a lot and we shared many a good laugh.

Late in the afternoon a party of local people arrived in national costume. They spent an hour entertaining us with local folk songs accompanied by a squeeze box. Even though I couldn’t understand a word I found this a hugely entertaining

There were several homebrew rigs on display as you would expect, but one heavily modified commercial rig provided by Oleg EW6CM developed a small problem. The typical Russian love of Vodka showed itself after the evening meal with several small bottles appearing (and vanishing fast) along with my own bottle of a very good Scottish single malt whiskey. We sat around the table chatting and even though much of the conversation was in Russian I still felt at home with these guys (and gals)..

That evening as the Vodka flowed once more Lyudmila UA3LSL brought out a huge cheese. I started grinning and they asked why. Amongst much laughter I explained that I loved cheese. That and a good red wine and I am happy. I was then asked which I prefer, someone like Lyudmila or the cheese. I diplomatically said the cheese she promptly grabbed some dried fish and headed towards me. I ran!

The rain during the evening didn’t put us off until bed time and after a few ‘wee drams’ who cared anyway.

The next morning I wondered around and found a couple of the rigs still on the shelf. The innards floating in rainwater. Sunday was contest day as well, several of those attending had brought homebrew rigs and the contest was to start at 1300 for one hour. Each entrant vanished to get some space. Power was limited to 500mW. I was paired off with Val RW3AI who operated his homebrew DSB rig with just 300mW. His base was a cut down ironing board with a comfortable armchair.

The contest started and I was promptly told to get lost! He donned the headphones and totally ignored me. I wandered about into the ‘shack’ to see Yuri keying his IC703 using the small buttons on the top of his microphone. He was sending good CW this way too! I found Dean and Oleg deep in thought so went back to the table and sat and read my book in peace.

Eventually the contest finished at 1400 and we had our meal. Many of the visitors were packing and taking tents down so the mood at the table was a little less jolly. Several goodbyes were shared as car after car pulled out of the camp. Early in the evening Oleg collected together all the contestants and announced the winners. It turned out that Oleg and Dean came 5^th (out of five!) with the winners being Val RW3AI and G0BPS. I had won the contest sitting reading my book!

The Board of Directors of QRP-ARCI will confirm to all that I am an expert at delegating. This was just another example of finding the right person to delegate to. The certificate and bright yellow club shirt we both won proved I was right!

The few remaining members set about tidying up and it was now Oleg RV3GM’s turn to prepare the evening meal and peel the spuds. Every one helps here it seems.

Sunday evening was quiet with just the diehards left and I was acutely aware that this was my last chance to share some of my enjoyment of the hobby.

Monday morning and time to leave, by 0900 we were ready, Val RW3AI was taking me back to Moscow and later to the airport. But first back to his apartment in Moscow for the one thing I was desperate for – a shower! The 3 hour drive back seemed to take forever but eventually we arrived and unloaded the car. A meal of potato’s and fish washed down by a beer was great. The small flat on the 9^th floor, one bedroom, one family room and the shack with the large IC7800 taking pride of place in the shack.

A drive to the airport through Moscow rush hour got me there well in time for my flight home with the check-in completed in just two minutes.

The invitation to the Ugra Convention stated that I would be their guest; I didn’t spend a single cent between leaving the airport and getting back. Apart from no opportunity there was nothing that wasn’t provided for me. The hospitality was wonderful and I left behind some great people.

I will stay in touch where I can, I have promised help to those that I can. The QRP club assisted Stan UA3LMR to increase his work encouraging youngsters to get into the hobby. We need to find ways to help them more without hurting their pride. He and I remain in touch.

The linking of QRP Clubs and RU-QRP is much stronger now than it was, many now realise that we are people, just like them. People that care, people that can share our hobby for the future.

I arrived at Ugra to meet two friends, Oleg and Dean. I left over 30 friends behind me, people I will remember for many, many years to come.