At the beginning of the year 2006 I received the message that NIAR together with Indian Government were planning to organise a Hamfeston the 18-20 April in Port Blair in Andaman Islands and thatforeigners would probably get the license during Hamest. I wasinformed that two more people from SP could join me. Therefore Iinvited my two friends: Janusz and Jurek. We had to get down toorganising some formalities immediately as the terms the departureto Andaman islands were v. short, just a few days.The submission,applications for the licenses, visas and permissions tostay in Andaman Islands (Special zone) and lots of other forms, photos etc. followed. Of course, nobody could guarantee that the whole thing will come off in the end. Then there was high time tobuy the flight tickets, 1500 Euros each with an accompanying fear that were wasting our money. Information from India, which was very basic at first started to get more concrete.
We got the invitations a week before the departure and then we found out that theforeigners were bound to receive the license during the Hamfest, that is for 3 days. Then - first licenses. I got mine on Thursday and flight was on Saturday..and there were assuring us that we could work in the airfor 8 days! The rest was a piece of cake. We left Ostrow at 3 o'clock in the morning and we headed for Berlin. In Berlin - the meeting and breakfast at Sigi DL7DF and a one-hour-drive to the airport. Check-in and then...waiting for 2 hours. The flight with BA to London and waiting for 3 hours for the flight to Chennai (9 hours) and then another 5 hours for the plane form JET AIRWAYS to Port Blair. There we were very warmly greeted with wreaths placed on our necks. The temperature was 42 degrees Celsius, then the transfer to Megapode Nest Hotel where there were already 4 other groups with their radios. We began to look for our place on the earth and we found it. It was a closed and abandoned camping, which belonged to the hotel. All around there were shrubs but at the same time a lot of space and lamp post which were out of order (masts) and it was all about 100meter from other radios. The most kind hotel Staff cleaned the house, connected the electricity and fetched chairs and tables. Our task was to set up the aerials. At 6.30pm local time we could start working. First qso were of course with Kaziu SP2FAX, Piotr SP9QMP, Krystyna SP3HDB, on 7 Mc ssb. The way we were welcomed by Hams and Indian officials was beyond all expectations. The Hamfest was organized on a grand scale, which is so rare in our calculating world. We worked mostly on the telegraphyas there was a great demand for it. Jurek SP3GEM monopolized workingon SSB anyway, therefore there was nothing left for us than cw. Hi. We did 23000 qso, it was very hard to do any more in such a limited time. We had to participate in all the Hamfest meetings trying topersuade the officials to be more open to amateur radio with respectto Indian citizens. And for us - the possibility to work with Lakkadives! We met many well-known and interesting people all over the World, such as most kind David K3LP (KP5).
Then..there was time for pack in to our suitcases our sweaty clothes and little souvenirs. Straight to the airport. Here, the troubles began. After 3 hours we were informed that due to cyclone our flight had been canceled. So we headed back to the hotel. We flew to Chennai the next day at 3pm, which meant that we were late for our British Airways flight to London. To make matters worse, we were announced that all the BA flight were fully booked for the next 10 days and that our tickets were lost. So went back to our hotel loaded with our baggage. Aftertwo-day search (in a city of 9mln people) we managed to find the last 5 tickets from DELTA airlines to Paris wasting 2500 USD. Delta doesn't have a very good reputation and we were charged a lot for anexcessive baggage, which meant spending another 400 Euros. Finally we arrived in Paris after 11-hour flight, 5 hours of waiting and then one hour to Berlin to Sigi and 4-hour drive to Ostrow. So we got home safe and sound (the latter not necessarily) and very satisfied.
See you during the next expedition!