Story 47DX/PI Story from 47DX/PI activity. What is Peberholm: Peberholm (or in English: Peberholm island or Peber islet) is a small artificial island located in the Danish part of the Øresund (the narrow waters dividing Denmark and Sweden). It was created as part of the Øresund Bridge connecting Denmark with Sweden. Peberholm was constructed in the proximity of the small natural island of Saltholm (Salt Islet), and was affectionately named to complement it. The main reason for construction the island was to have a crossover point between the tunnel and the bridge. The tunnel was built since a bridge spanning the entire link between Malmö and Copenhagen would have interfered with obstacle-free zones around Copenhagen Airport, Another reason was to provide an opportunity for large ships to pass the Öresund without worrying about the height of the bridge. To make the Øresund Bridge higher would interfere with the freight train traffic. The other main reason was that the Øresund had to be dug deeper in order not to decrease the flow of the water because of the bridge. The material was used to create this island. The area was so shallow, and the amount of material so large, that it was chosen to make the island as long as 4 km. I was going to visit a friend in Sweden – on Falsterbo island – so it gave me a good chance to stop on Peberholm island, even though its prohibited due to 2 reasons: 1. Its not allowed to stay on Peberholm island 2. Since its not allowed to stay on Peberholm, there is no public exit from the freeway - this obviously means that stopping = stopping on a freeway – and that is of course not OK. This is the reason why I was active for quite a short time. Longer stays means that the Police arrives… My visit did include an overnight stay so I could activate Peberholm 2 days in a row. In fact I did activate Peberholm once before in March 2009 but at that time there was no propagation and I worked only 6 stations via ground wave. Now its was bright daylight – and the E-skip season was peaking… Day one: Active on the radio on the way to Peberholm, driving at Lolland, Falster, Faroe, Sealand and Amager islands. Had several QSO’s driving, also 14DA049 – so may stations know that Peberholm would come alive this morning. Arriving at Peberholm around 8:40 and stopping at the hard shoulder immediately leaving the car taking some photos outside and inside of the GPS. First station logged was 14DA049 at 8:48, quickly followed by many stations from Ireland and Northern Ireland. The next 35 minutes was spend logging – and making a few calls at 555. Back on the road at 9:25, and working 327KL127, 14SD305 and 14SD197 driving at the Eastern part of the island before I left the island crawling up the bridge at 9:27. In total 23 stations logged from Peberholm. On leaving Peberholm while driving on the bridge many meters above sea level several stations were heard / worked, but by then I was off Peberholm and my callsign was 21/47DX002. Day two: During the way to Peberholm I experienced very good propagation working many friends – as 21/47DX002. Driving the final km on Sweden mainland I was in QSO with 47DX052 Tom (QSL manager) and 26DX047 (web editor), while shooting proofs with the camera at the same time. Paying the Toll fee I experienced the woman at the counter looking strange at me, the antenna and listening to Darran’s voice streaming out the open window… Strange, she must have thought. Stopping again at the hard shoulder, taking proofs with the camera and immediately beginning to log stations, with 26DX047, 47DX052 and 14DT203 as the first 3 logged from 12:08. Especially two stations came to my log with surprise: First, at 12:20 a fine woman voice – young and clear – called 5/9+40. I logged her as 26EMMA001, it was the wife of 26DX047, nice to hear you on radio, Emma. Then, 8 stations later at 12:27 I logged 3DA012 Roger from Brazil as the only station worked from outside Europe. This gave the activation an ODX of more than 8.000 km (between 8.100 and 11.500 km). Thanks Roger, for listening and calling. Well, to avoid the Police to arrive I stopped after working 14RD067 at 12:37 and QSO’ing 26DX047 during the final drive to the tunnel tube to Amager island/Denmark I left Peberholm at 12:40. 47DX/PI was over and I was extremely satisfied with the results. Thanks to all for calling, and thanks to all for listening. Next time I will go to Sweden by car I will again give Peberholm a try – since I understand still many stations would like to work this island… Greetings 47DX/PI by 47DX002. return