ER/MD-002, Dealul din Rezervația Plaiul Fagului, 421m
September 20, 2025: SOTA activation of the hill "Dealul
din Rezervația Plaiul Fagului" (ER/MD-002), 421m, locator: KN47ah.
The summit ER/MD-002 is the second highest peak in Moldova and has never
been activated until now. It's located near the village of Radenii Vechi
in the "Plaiul Fagului" Scientific Reserve (POTA MD-0006), so I did
a a double activation from the same location. The hill is hard to reach,
as it's deep in the forest. It is not
even visible as hill as such, from a distance. The summit is in between several
smaller hills. There is no mobile data there at all, although the phone
did work. I left the car in the northernmost part of the village and
then walked through the forest. First I climbed the hill near the
village, thinking it was it (409m altitude!), then I had to go down
quite a bit and climbed again towards ER/MD-002. I must say that the
route was difficult, and I think it's the hardest compared to other
hills I've visited so far. Directly from the village to the hill the
distance is exactly 2 km, that is 4 km round trip, but I actually walked
8.6 km, because there are no marked routes and I had to walk through the
bushes, looking for a suitable path/trail to go on. Google maps are
useless, because of the dense forest. I used a Yaesu FT-818 transceiver,
and I also had a small amplifier with me, so I worked with 20W power.
The antenna is a classic telescopic vertical with a 5m whip and 10
radial wires on the ground.
Video (view over the neighboring village Radenii Vechi)
Full QSO list:
For more photos and info about ham radio in Moldova please visit our Facebook group: www.forum.qrz.md
Many thanks to all hams who responded to my calls!
73! de ER1SKI/P