When I planed my voyage to Spain, I thought that being already in the neighborhood, I could also visit Andorra.  This tiny little country with its seven districts, has a population of over 60,000, the official language is Catalan, has a Parliament with its only female member a radio amateur: Rosa C31MN.  Not bad for a country that only in 1970 gave its women the right to vote.
   The country, member of the United Nations and the Council of Europe is called the Principality or the Princedom of Andorra but it does not have a “prince.”  It has two sovereigns: the bishop of Seu d’Urgell and the President of France, none of them being “princes” as we know it.
   Preparing the trip I wrote to a couple of amateurs asking their cooperation in meeting local hams.  I received an enthusiastic answer from Michel C31MO, member of the executive board of U.B.A. the Radio Amateur Union of Andorra, saying that he will arrange the visits.
   From Barcelona I took an early morning bus, paid 2,435 pesetas, about  $16.50, and going through the over 3 mile long Cadi Tunnel, I arrived in three hours to Andorra la Vella, the capital city.
   A man is asking a bus driver:
   “Can a bus like this go on a winding mountain road with 100 miles on hour?”
   “Yes Sir, once it can!”
   Another one: a man is desperately running after a bus going downhill.  A bystander yells at him:
   “Why are you running, another bus is coming soon.”
   “Yes, but for this one I am the driver!” yells back the runner.
   I was ready to call up Michel C31MO when he showed up and recognized me by my cap having my name and callsign.
   First we went to his house in Santa Coloma, built on a hillside with his 58-foot tower installed 32 feet higher that his building.  Michel C31MO, is an accountant, and his wife Rosa C31MN works in an attorney’s office; both were licensed in 1979.  At the time of my visit Rosa, member of the Parliament, was in Brussels at a meeting of the European Interparliamentary Union.  Their antenna is an 8 element Yagi for 10-12-15-17-20-40 meters from Force 12; a 9 element vertically polarized Yagi for 2 meters, and a separately installed vertical for 2 meters and 70 cm.  They use, mostly by him than by her, because Rosa is not very active, an IC-738, a 3 kW pep Tremendus II amplifier made in Spain by Ulvin, and an MFJ Versa Tuner V capable of loading that high power.
   Michel C21MO worked over 200 DX entities, works SSB and RTTY, has packet cluster and for logging is using Swisslog.
   Michel’s favorite words are “no problem” meaning “it can be done.”  It happened that the same words were my least favorite ones because I heard them too many times “QSL no problem” and I never received any cards from the frequent users.
Talking about problems, I heard about a clerk who entered in his big boss office, stuck out his tongue at him, threw on the floor all the papers from his desk, ripped out the telephone cord and pulled the waste basket over the boss’ head.  His fellow workers stopped him saying:
   “Jose, we were just kidding, you did not win the national lottery!”
   In Andorra there are three classes of personal licenses and one club license.  Class 1 has C31 prefix, class 2 has C32 prefix, and class 3 for Novices has C33 prefix and entitles the holder to work on VHF and UHF bands.  Club stations, and is only one I know of, are using C37 the prefix.  There is no power limit for the class 1 licenses what makes sense in the Andorra’s particular situation where most of the stations are surrounded by 1000-2000 feet high mountains.  While 2-3 kW are helping pushing the signal over the mountains, they don’t do any good for the incoming ones.
   We went to Andorra la Vella to see the radio club of the Radio Amateur Union of Andorra which has a couple of rooms; one for the radio station using the C37RC and C37URA calls and QSL bureau, and another one for meetings and courses.  The clubs awards the 5 W 5 diploma for working five Andorran stations, each on a different band.  There are 128 licensed hams in Andorra and they run three open repeaters on 145.700-, 145.625- and 438.750- MHz.  The club has several transceivers, two computers and is nicely decorated with several awards.  The Union has a Web page at  http://www.sta.ad/ura and its e-mail address is  [email protected]
   Next we saw the station of Joan C31US, the president of the Radio Amateur Union of Andorra.  Joan was licensed in 1984, he and his wife Josefina C32MV own a toy store called “Tic Toc” right in the business center of Andorra la Vella.  Joan C31US worked over 150 countries only in SSB.  He has a FT-1000, is running 200 W, and uses a computer.  His amplifier is ... what else than a Spanish made Ulvin producing several kWs.  His antennas are: an 8 element Yagi for 10-12-15-17-20-40 meters from Force 12, a dipole for 40 and 80 meter bands, and a vertical for 2 meters and 70 cm.
   I heard a story: two heavyset men are walking on a street and a young rascal is yelling at them:
   “You are fat, you are fat!”
   One of the fat men gives the rascal 100 pesetas, and the other one is asking surprised:
   “He called us fat, why did you give him 100 pesetas?”
   “Because now he thinks he can get some money if he calls somebody fat and one of these days somebody will beat the hell out of him!”
   Michel took me to Carlos C31UA, to his second house, way up on the mountain, at 6400 feet above the sea level.  There he has a TS-430S and a TS-690S, followed by an Ulvin 3 kW amplifier for the lower bands, and a TS-790E for 2 meters and 70 cm.  Carlos has several antennas on three towers: the first tower, a 48 footer, has two 5 element monobanders, one for 10, the other for 20 meters.  His second tower, a 32 footer, has a 5-element monobander for 15 meters, and a 2-element monoband Yagi for 40 meters.  His third tower, again a 48 footer, has a 6 element Quad for 2 meters connecting him with his main house down in the valley.  A Delta loop for 80 meters and a 15 element Yagi for 2 meters complete his antenna farm.
   Carlos C31UA is a  Senator in the municipality of Andorra la Vella; I think that is equivalent to our city councilman.  He owns and runs Hotel Festa Brava where he has a 4 element Yagi for 10-15-20 meters from KLM, a 5 element Yagi for 6 meters, and an inverted V for 40 meters.  Down there he uses a TS-690S.  Carlos does computer logging and he made over 300 DX entities.
   In Anyos we saw Manel C31MF, a bank employee licensed in 1982.  With a TS-930S and a TL-922 amplifier, he is running 500 W and works only on SSB.  He has a vertical Hustler antenna for 10-15-20-40-80 meters and a log period installed vertically.  His wife Paquita C31PR, a housewife, was licensed in 1983.  They do computer logging with a homemade program.  They have a common QSL card for both of them.
   In Les Escaldes near the radio club, lives Jose C33JO, a manager for a building construction company, licensed in 1996.  His antenna is a Cushcraft R7000 for 10-15-20-40-80 meters, his rig is a TS-570D, and he works only on SSB.  He uses a computer with Windows 98, and logs with Swisslog, a program seemed to be widely preferred by Andorran hams.  He has QSLs as all C3 amateurs I visited have.
   Also in Les Escaldes we saw Jordi C31JI, licensed in 1996, after he saw his friend C31MF operating his radio.  Jordi is an administrator of an electronic store, I think we would call that a manager.  He has a Cushcraft R7 and for rig he uses a FT-840 with 100 W.  Works only on SSB, has over 140 DX entities, and for logging he is using, guess what?  Yes, the Swisslog.
   A ham sold his friend an old transceiver but he did not pay for a long time.  After a while the ham tells his friend:
   “I see you are not going to pay for the transceiver so I make it a gift for you.”
   “No way, sooner or later I’ll pay you but if you feel like making a present please give me a power supply to go with it!”
   Continuing the visits, Michel took me to Andorra la Vella to see Xavier C31PM, a computer and office equipment salesman.  Xavier has a neat little station with a computer using Window 95.  He started as a CBer but in 1996 he got his ham license.  He has a vertical 5 band Hustler antenna, works DX with a FT-890, using 100 W, but only on SSB.  Xavier also has QSL cards.
   Tony C31AL is the brother-in-law of Xavier C31PM.  Licensed in 1996, Tony is a heavy machine operator.  He has an IC-707 feeding 100 W into a Spanish made 3 element Yagi for 10-15-20 meters or a wire dipole for 40 and 80 meter bands.  Tony has packet and DX cluster, uses Swisslog for logging, operates only SSB, has over 70 DX entities, and has QSL cards.
   Also in Andorra la Vella we visited another Tony, this one is C31OF.  Licensed in 1981, he installs and maintains heating systems. Tony has a rotatable dipole for 10-15-20-40 meters, a TS-940S transceiver followed by a TL-922 amplifier capable of supplying 2 kW pep.  He works SSB, SSTV, CW on keyboard, is a DXer with over 300 entities, has the 5BDXCC and scores of other awards.  He worked EA0JC, probably one of the second operators, Jose or Isaias; few ever had the chance to work with the first operator, HM Juan-Carlos, the King of Spain.  Tony’s wife Ermitas C32VA was licensed in 1987.  Tony has QSL cards; I had a QSO with him and we exchanged cards.   Ermitas doesn’t have any.
   Also in the capital city we also went to see Santi C31SG.  He was licensed in 1987 and is working in banking.  He has a FT-1000, what else would a banker use?  For amplifier Santi uses a TL-922 feeding 2 kW pep into a 2 element Yagi for 10-15-20 meters.  He has over 180 DX entities worked only on SSB.  Santi is using the Swisslog which it seems that is comes with the Andorran citizenship.  I had QSOs with Santi and received his card.  His brother Joaquin is EA3BQR.
   Luis C33LM, in Andorra la Vella, is an automechanic.  He got his Novice license in 1996.  With a TS-570D he is feeding 100 W into a Cushcraft R7000 vertical antenna.  He has DX cluster, worked over 60 DX entities, has QSL cards and is logging with ... Swisslog.
   In Aixirivall, high up on a mountaintop, at 3200 feet above the sea level is the house of Carles, or Carlos in Castilian, C31SD.  His house may be way up but the surrounding mountains are ever higher. He retired from banking and was licensed in 1960.  His antennas are a 6 element Yagi for 10-15-20 meters, and separate wire dipoles for 40 and 80 meters.  He has a FT-980, a FT-901DM, and a FL-2100B 500 W amplifier.  With a second Sommerkamp SL-7000 amplifier he can push 700 W.  Carlos works SSB, SSTV, RTTY, and CW with the keyboard.
   I worked Carlos, sent a card to his manager CT1AMK, but did not receive anything back.  I did not leave until he filled out a QSL for me.  I did not go up the mountain for sightseeing!
   Even higher up the mountain than the house of Carlos lives Fred C31HK, ex C31LHK.  He is at 4400 feet above the sea level.  In the early 1950s Fred was PK1AF in Java and PK4AF in Sumatra.  He used to have a Yagi and is planing to reinstall it again but for now he has a vertical antenna for 10-15-20 meters.  Fred has a FT-1000D and a TS-830S.  For a mobile rig he is using an IC-725.
   In the evening I was the guest of the Radio Amateur Union of Andorra to a fancy restaurant where they served “nouveau cuisine.”  The meals were indeed beautifully and ceremoniously served but the portions were kind of small.  We were four at the table; first the waiters brought two plates covered with some hemispheric metal lids.  Then they brought other two with similarly covered plates.  Then the four waiters lifted simultaneously the four covers and I think we were supposed to say: “Aaaaah!”  but I was too hungry for any acting.  The meals were good indeed but as I said, on big plates they served tiny masterpieces.  When one goes to a fancy restaurant better has something to eat before leaving the house.
   Two high society ladies were talking:
   “I heard that dogs are not fashionable this year; everybody is getting children.”
   “That’s OK, but what can we do with the children when the dogs became again fashionable?”
   The hotel where I spent the night was very nice and a complimentary breakfast was included in the price.  It was the only meal during my 22-day trip that did not leave me hungry.
   Between the visits I had a chance to stroll around the streets of Andorra la Vella, window-shopping.  I heard that the prices in Andorra are lower than in Spain but I found the Kodak film was more expensive.  Cigarettes and gasoline are indeed cheaper in Andorra and there is a lot of smuggling going on with these commodities.
   No passports or luggage was checked at the border, neither coming, nor going.
   I started to miss my home; every day I was thinking of my dog Bella, and every second day of my wife Eva.  However it was a trip worth taking thanks to Michel C31MO and the hams of Andorra who let me in their shacks.