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EDXC Conference, Tampere (Finland), 18-20 August 2017
Brief history of EDXC meetings held in Finland The EDXC conference 2017 in Tampere will be the sixth one in Finland. The Finnish DX Association (FDXA) has before this organized the following EDXC conferences: 1971 Jyväskylä FDXA member Jyrki Talvitie had served as secretary general of the EDXC in 1969 and the EDXC decided to let FDXA host the EDXC annual conference in 1971. This was held in Jyväskylä, central Finland together with the annual summer meeting of FDXA. However, the meetings were mostly separate. The only action together was the international panel in Saturday evening. The EDXC meeting had about 30 participants and the FDXA summer meeting about 100 participants. For many of the FDXA members this was the first time to meet with international broadcasters and DXers. 1987 Espoo The pattern for the EDXC conferences in Finland was created for this meeting. We came to the conclusion that the meetings shall be together and most of the agenda shall be in the English language. At this time it was common (almost mandatory) to arrange the EDXC meeting during the Pentecost (Whit) weekend, so in early June 1987 about 250 DXers and broadcasters gathered at the Hotel Korpilampi in Espoo (only some 25 kms from the heart of Helsinki). This meeting, like its successors in Finland, became a great success. DXers and broadcasters found the meeting pattern very working, and all participants enjoyed both the program and the atmosphere. The meeting included visits to YLE Radio Finland in Helsinki and YLE monitoring in Jokela. 1992 Tampere Tampere is the second city of Finland and the FDXA local branch Tampereen DX-Kuuntelijat (TREDXK) has been the most active local club since it was founded in 1967. So it was decided that the FDXA will have another EDXC and this time in Tampere in co-operation with TREDXK. Again some 250 DXers and broadcasters joined this meeting which was held at Hotel Rosendal located on beautiful lakeside just a few kms from the city center. Very good meeting again. The welcome reception was in the city hall of Tampere. The meeting was held in mid-August, which gave the participants a possibility to try a bit of medium wave DXing, too. 2002 Pori This meeting was also held in mid-August. The meeting place was Hotel Yyteri at the famous sand beaches of Yyteri outside Pori and the weathers were absolutely gorgeous. So DXers from UK and even Italy came to Finland for a beach holiday! The turnout was altogether about 150 and everybody had a great time. A visit to the near-by YLE Radio Finland transmitting station was of course in the agenda. After the conference some 25 DXers joined the post-conference tour to Tallinn, Estonia to see the old city of Tallinn and to visit the Estonian Radio. 2008 Vaasa The summer meetings of the FDXA in 1978, 1988 and 1998 had been organized by the Ostrobothnia DX Club in the mid-western Finland, so it was time again to meet in that area and this time internationally to celebrate the FDXA’s 50th anniversary. Vaasa is called the sunniest city of Finland and the weathers were quite good also in early September when this meeting was held. This time we could reach the number of 130 participants. The welcome reception outside of hotel was a brisk start and again all items went well to end the meeting with the magic words “Finland 12 points”. A post-conference tour called the Baltic Tour was organized. It was joined by nine DXers and the participants visited Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius and also some radio targets like the huge Sitkunai transmitting station.
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