A tribute to the 10th International EME Conference in Prague 2002
It's almost to the day 19 years ago since we all gathered in Prague for the 10th international EME conference.
A superb conference arranged and hosted by Zdenek OK1DFC, Daniel OK1DIG (sk) and friends.
When we arrived in Prague we fully learned of the devastating damage that was done by the recent flooding. A few days before our arrival almost 400 mm of rain had fallen in just 36 hours, raising the water levels to previously unseen levels. This flooding not only hit Czech Republic but also adjacent countries. The hearth of Prague - the old city - had been practically drowned and the water levels were still high in the lower areas.
However, the venue for the conference was not affected and moonbouncers from all over the world all gathered to join in. By now the weather had changed - it was now very hot and humid. We all remember.. fortunately there were plenty of "beverages" available to us, the whole time..
We all enjoyed the good camaraderie as can be seen in these pictures taken by David GM4JJJ (sk). And who will ever forget listening to Paul Shuch perform the lovely but never ending "See you on the oxygen line" live at the gala dinner?!
This was the last conference where we actually were able to openly discuss EME procedures and frequency planning. Sadly - all of our joint efforts and decisions during the open forum regarding how to do things were quickly thrown under the bus by one man, since then taking all of these decisions on his own.
Now to get to the point:
As part of the conference package there was a nice white cap with the EME 2002 logo. This is mine - now almost 19 years later - and it's been worn practically every day since I received it in Prague!
Unfortunately I now have to say "my hat is off", but not out of courtesy but rather because this one has had it... despite it's excellent quality.
I will not throw it away, it will instead be hanging on the wall in my EME shack as a tribute to the fantastic 10th International EME Conference in Prague 2002. And a tribute to all the good friends I met there.
Unfortunately, as you can see in the group photo, many moonbouncers are not with us any more. But they sure are in fond memory from when EME was a game played man to man and not computer to computer.
Those were the days - CW is King!
73 de Peter SM2CEW