Russian radio amateurs gather in Valdai

Russian radio amateurs will gather in Valdai (Novgorod region, Russia's northwest) on Saturday, July 17.

About 100 radio amateurs from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Veliky Novgorod, Pskov, Tver and other Russian cities, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland will meet in Valdai.

Any qualified radio amateur can join them without any preliminary application.

Russian radio amateurs and their families traditionally gather in the Valdai national park near the Iversky monastery of the Holy Lake. It was founded on an island on Lake Valdai in the mid-17th century by Patriarch Nikon of Moscow and All Russia.

Radio amateurs will work on two radio stations located near the monastery. Their call letters are UE1TVO and UE1TIM (UE means Russia, 1 - the North-western district, T - the Novgorod region, VO and IM - Lake Valdai and the Iversky monastery).

Russian radio amateurs hope that their colleagues all over the world will pick up their call letters.

The call letters of the Russian Orthodox shrine and Lake Valdai were on the air for the first time in July 2002.

At the first congress Russian radio amateurs contacted their colleagues from Germany, Italy, New Zealand, the United States, Tanzania, France, Oceania and other countries.