ARLA/CLUSTER: Resumo da visita ao monge Apollo em Monte Athos

[João Gonçalves Costa]

Monk Apollo Project

The following was sent to OPDX by Rick, NE8Z, who recently visited Mt. Athos: "I have just returned from my 2 week visit to Greece and pilgrimage to Mt. Athos. 

"From the minute that I stepped off the plane in Athens to the minute that I left Greece two weeks later I was treated with true 'ham hospitality' by SV1JG, SV2ASP/A and SV2BOH.

"Monk Apollo, SV2ASP/A, greeted me with open arms in Mt. Athos. He spent the entire week making sure that I was comfortable. I participated in all of their church prayer services, and I was also able to work for 2 long days with the monks cleaning crystal and silver chandeliers in preparation for Easter services. 

"Monk Apollo gave me the keys to his Land Rover and told me to, 'go...explore...take your time'. I was able to visit many of the 20 monasteries on the peninsula.

"I was able to make a donation of various pieces of radio equipment to his monastery which will allow him to operate from two or more portable hilltop locations in Mt. Athos. SEMDXA members provided him with a new MFJ Keyer, LDG antenna tuner and a Heil BM-10 headset. Budd, W3FF, and
his son Chris donated a complete Buddipole Antenna system. The ARRL donated 8 log books, band plan charts and a backpack for the portable equipment transportation. Monk Apollo never asked for anything. I simply showed up with the gifts for the monastery. 

"Asian hams will soon be able to work Mt. Athos for a new DXCC Entity. Both portable locations have clear 360 degree
views to all directions unlike the Docheiariou Monastery which has a large mountain blocking signals to and from Asia..

"Father Apollo is a very busy monk. His radio time is limited because of church services that last up to 8 hours per day, 7 days per week. After services he is busy working on construction projects for the monastery.

"He is presently active on the radio daily between 1700-2100z on 160m, 30m, 17m and 12m CW-SSB-RTTY. He is building a new ham shack which will be ready in a few months. Once he is in the new QTH he will install his new 40 foot tubular tower and a Stepp-IR 3 element yagi that was donated to him by Dominik, DL5EBE.

"The most exciting part of my trip was to be able to see precious relics of Saints and the Miracle producing Icons of The Virgin Mary. Mt. Athos is by far one of the most beautiful places on Earth. 
Please view the SLIDESHOW on the SEMDXA website at:
http://live.semdxa.org/tiki-list_file_gallery.php?galleryId=24
Thank you to everyone that made my pilgrimage to Mt. Athos a complete success..... "


73 Rick NE8Z/HC1MD


If you would like to see more on Mt. Athos, go to: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/60_minutes
The program 60 minutes with Bob Simon was able to get rare access to the monks and their ancient monasteries on this remote Greek peninsula.
There are two video clips available (a total of about 30 minutes) which is very interesting. This story was aired on April 24th.