ER/MD-007, Dealul Rădulenilor, 356m
November 8, 2025: Given that BOTA (Bunkers On The Air) was launched a few days ago for our country, I couldn't help but go as soon as possible to activate a few! So I started with the first 3 locations on the ERBOTA list.
About 2km from the Oliscani village there is a small road on the left that enters the Oliscani Forest. It leads to the bunker called "Object 1180", which during the USSR times was a secret military command post. Now it's just an ugly oddity. I took a few pictures, then installed the antenna on the car and made 30 QSOs at 50W power. Then I went to the second bunker in the same area, 4.5km towards Floresti city. There is a track that enters the forest (there are actually 2 there side by side) to the right of the main road, but so bumpy that I soon had to park the car and then walk about 800m to the bunker. In the Soviet period, it was a cosmic radio communications complex there, but now there are just underground catacombs, nothing really interesting. So I returned to the car and made 26 QSOs. Then I went to the Floresti city, from where headed north, to Radulenii Vechi. And 1km from the village there is a small road on the left into the forest, but... the gate was locked, no car access. So, I left the car near the main road and walked 650m to the bunker, which is a former underground tropo radio communications complex. The antennas were dismantled a long time ago, everything has turned into a wreck now. Boring sight. Then I returned to the car and made 28 QSOs, successfully activating this bunker as well.
But in the eastern part of the Raduleni forest there is a hill included in SOTA - ER/MD-007, Dealul Rădulenilor, 356m, the 7th highest in Moldova. I activated it in QRP mode. The hill is not really noticeable and not just because it is in the forest, but because a wider area is there at a high altitude. I left the car at the edge of the forest and walked to the exact location guided by Garmin. There I set up my Pac-12 vertical antenna and quickly made 7 QSOs. It was already past 4PM and it was slowly getting dark, so I didn't have much time. I even forgot to make photos of the antenna after I installed it!
On the route back to Chisinau I stopped at 2 locations in Floresti to do POTA - the first was at the edge of the forest-park in the northern part of the city (MD-0126) were I made 13 QSOs sitting in the car, at 50W power. Then I drove to the Central city park (MD-0062), near the City Hall, where I left the car and walked to the park, searching for a suitable place to set up my antenna. It was already half past seven and it was really dark! The park has only a few weak streetlights, but that was not a big issue for me. I managed to make 14 QSOs, in QRP.
Finally, after I passed Orhei and entered the Codrii forest area, I stopped at the side of the road near "Doi Haiduci" and tried to activate POTA MD-0001 (Orhei National Park). However, this was very difficult, and I could only make 7 QSOs, in spite of the 50W power used. That was because the bands were completely dead due to the solar flare. So, not a success this time, but I did activate it in the past already.
In total, on this day I made a record 125 contacts, of which 21 in QRP! The equipment used: 2 QDX transceivers (3W power) with 2 amplifiers (one 50W produced by a Ukrainian company and a small one for 10W used for QRP ops). QRP antenna: vertical with a 5.5m whip and 10 radials.
For more photos and info about ham radio in Moldova please visit our Facebook group: www.forum.qrz.md
QSO list:
Thanks a lot to hams who responded to my calls!
73! de ER1SKI/QRP