On July 10, 2022, departure from my house in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-eastern France is at 4:45 UTC.

The vehicle is packed with station equipment, and supplies for the much-anticipated part 2 version of the 235 Division dx adventure.

Arrival is at 6:15 UTC at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Headquarters in the city of Geneva.

It’s the second-most populous city in Switzerland after Zürich and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

Inside the Montbrilland building, I go to our contact in the ITU security department, to tell him where I’m setting up the station and for how long.

The contract is now in place!

At 6:30 UTC, the process of installing the portable station, within the buffer zone of about 2m wide all around the buildings, is started.

It consists of a diminutive Yaesu FT-891 transceiver with the Thunderbolt SS-D58 5/8th wave vertical by Hawkins Radio, a home-made 1-element Bambi quad mounted to a spidermast, and a battery for power.

I also take the opportunity to click some proof photos and videos for sponsors and DA-RC HQ for approval.

ITU’s Headquarters are conveniently located overlooking the Place des Nations in the Heart of Geneva’s United Nations district.

Surrounded by the Alps and Jura mountains, and with a dramatic view of Mont Blanc in the distance, I start the 235DA/0 activation at 7:10 UTC with much anticipation.

“CQ, CQ DX, 235DA/0, listening on 27.670 MHz USB…”

Unlike with part 1 of the 235 Division activity where Stef and I were made to work for every contact, contacts immediately accumulate ITL as there’s superb propagation throughout Europe.

Good signal reports are achieved across many DXCC and the intense action of a “Most Wanted” DXCC on the Freeband necessitates a change to operating in switch mode.

I switch to split, listening from 27.680 — 27.690 MHz step by step but not many OM’s follow.

Confused with the unfamiliar method of operation, most DX Hunters stay calling on 27.670 MHz simplex or 27.680 MHz USB which generates a very big mess.

Despite good QSO mechanics and clear instructions to the pileup, it becomes complicated to take full calls, and it makes me waste a lot of time in the initial stages.

Fortunately, after a while, the pile up achieves some rhythm and many stations are added to the log, among them a number of fellow DA-RC Members in France and Northern Ireland who all bust through the pileup with success.

At 10:00 UTC, the 235DA/0 broadcast closes and I cease transmission at 10:45 UTC with a total of 449 contacts ITL.

On behalf of 14DA010 Stéphane who was with me for Part 1, a big thanks to the large collection of guys who financially contributed towards this dx adventure.

We are proud to have delivered a “Most Wanted” opportunity from some such a challenging DXstination and are very happy with the outcome of 460 stations in the log over a period of 6 hours (Please see log stats below).

73’s from 14DA073 Thierry

LOG STATISTICS

• DXCC Worked: Italy (1), Germany (13), France (14), Belgium (16), Greece (18), The Netherlands (19), Sweden (21), England (26), Ireland (29), Spain (30), Portugal (31), Canary Islands (34), Austria (35), Greenland (38), Serbia (45), Denmark (47), Balearic Islands (49), Finland (56), Northern Ireland (68), Scotland (108), Hungary (109), Poland (161), Wales (163), Sardinia (165), Romania (233), Croatia (328), White Russia (317), Czech Republic (329).
• DA-RC Members Logged: 6 [14DA028 Phil, 14DA017 Patrice, 68DA052 Bertie, 14DA059 Jack, 14DA011 Bruno, 14DA049 Fred]