In the astonishing Azores archipelago, Pico (Peak) Island is home to Dx Adventure Radio Club (DA-RC) member 75DA101 Olimpio who links with our Club in late November 2017.

Regarded as an authentic radio comms pro and truly affable guy by his peers, 75DA101 Olimpio has recently returned to his native DXCC Azores after living in Sacramento California (USA) for 26 years.

There he was a regular fixture on 27 MHz frequencies as an independent op, working the world on 11m, just as he’s done since becoming implicated in the hobby some 35 years ago.

The world atlas indicates that 75DA101 Olimpio’s island QTH, Pico Island, is 46km long and 16km wide, making it the second largest of the Azores islands to São Miguel (The Green Island).

Sources indicate it’s 17.5km south of São Jorge and just 7km east of Faial, two of the other 4 potential island dxstinations which share the RSGB IOTA reference EU-175 with Pico.

Pico Island stands majestically in the middle of the Azorean central group, an area colloquially known as ‘O Triangulo’ (The Triangle).

Its landscape is a sublime mixture of lava rock and exotic vegetation in an ever changing scenery that envelopes this scarcely populated isle, making it one of the more serene spaces to pursuit serious DX from in the world.

In the tradition of the Portuguese poet, Raul Brandão, Pico Island is referred to as the Ilha Preta (“Black Island”), for its black volcanic earth, responsible for its UNESCO-designated historical vineyards that allowed the development of the island.

In fact, rising from its center to the west is the summit of the ancient volcano of Topo, some 2351m ASL.

The freguesia (“civil parish”) known as Ribeirinha, in the municipality of Horta, is where you will find 75DA101 Olimpio’s home.

Apart from boasting the sheltered port of Boca da Ribeira — one of the oldest fishing ports found in the northernmost point of the Faial Channel — 75DA101 Olimpio reveals it features some of the best swimming holes in the Azores.

It’s also the ideal island to trek, hike, jog, walk, bird watch, whale and dolphin watch, swim, fish, ride bikes and motto-quad bikes.

According to 75DA101 Olimpio, whaler museums in Lajes, Sao Joao and Sao Roque are worth visiting and depict an important historic era.

Other tourist attractions here in this external territory of Portugal, according to Olimpio, include the wine country in Madalena, Lajido, Cabrito and Madalena; the longest lava tube in Europe “Gruta das Torres”; natural swimming holes in São Prainha, São Roque, Santo Antonio and Madalena; whale observation in Sao Joao and Lajes.

As of 2007, the total population was 15,761 inhabitants. 

The main settlements in this EU-175 IOTA entity are the capital Madalena, São Roque do Pico and Lajes do Pico.

Apart from the company of his wife, when he’s not entrenched in the shack hunting DX, the DA-RC’s first ever Azorean DXer enjoys fishing!  

On this note, the abundance of fish species in the waters of the Azores makes it possible to capture the specimens that any sports fisherman dreams of.  These include dolphin-fishes and many types of tuna.

75DA101 Olimpio is a ‘multi-lingual’ radio operator in that he speaks fluent French, Portuguese and English.

At the time of his membership being ticked off by DA-RC HQ in the ‘DX Hunter’ category, he was in the process of setting up his new radio station to generate an even bigger signal on 11m to the one he’s delivered in the past.

He’s commenced plans to build and erect a 4 element cubical quad too and will soon have new Yaesu and President transceivers on the bench to work with.

A number of exciting island and lighthouse dx adventure possibilities exist in and around Olimpio’s island and no doubt he’ll have his sights firmly set on activating these rare entities in the future.

Some of these include any one of the ‘Diploma das Ilhas Portuguesas (DIP)’ referenced isles in the North Atlantic archipelago [e.g. Terceira (AZ-003)/Graciosa (AZ-004)/Sao Jorge (AZ-005)Pico (AZ-006) and Faial (AZ-007) ].

There’s also the Ribeirinha Lighthouse (ARLHS Reference: AZ-020) for possible LOTA, the Ponta Rasa Windmill for possible MILL On The Air, any one of the DXCC’s many volcanoes for SOTA, and more.

Until then, keep a listen out for 75DA101 Olimpio from his home shack on the international Freeband call frequency 27.555 MHz USB.

He’s also active on 27.275 MHz USB where a growing number of the globe’s big gun DX Hunters, including many DA-RC guys, can be found also.

QSL Infos

• Rua Dom José Vieira Alvernaz #13 Ribeirinha 9930-340 Pico – AZORES Portugal