YO3AAS Pays a Visit to Ceuta (EA9)

Dear friends,

As I promised on my previous article, I will relate you a new story about an “exotic” radio entity.

A few weeks ago, due to my official duties, I had the chance to visit CEUTA, Spanish territory located on the northern coast of Morocco.

The strategic location represented by CEUTA, at the crossroad of several cultures and religions, mostly due to its ability to control the GIBRALTAR Strait, made this land the wanted pearl for various powers of the world, as early as the 5th century, when it was called ABYLA. In the year 42 B.C., the Roman Empire took over this land, transformed it into a commercial port, with a new name, SEPTEM, and protects it with a very strong military fort. After 400 years, the area was attacked and conquered by the Spanish Visigoths, and later by the Muslims from the Byzantium Empire. While under the control of the Muslims, CEUTA became an entry point for attacks on the Iberia Peninsula against the Visigoths until the year 931 B.C. when they were beaten by Caliph of Cordoba. Until 1249, CEUTA along with the southern part of the Iberia Peninsula was dominated by chaos due to rivalries between different monarchs, and a state of normality was imposed by King Fiz of Granada. In 1640, Portugal gain independence from the Kingdom of Spain and in the same time the inhabitants of CEUTA obtained Spanish citizenship.

The formal allegiance of Ceuta to Spain was recognized by the Treaty of Lisbon by which, on January 1, 1668, King Afonso VI of Portugal formally ceded Ceuta to Carlos II of Spain. However, the originally Portuguese flag and coat of arms of Ceuta remained unchanged and modern day Ceuta flag features the configuration of the Portuguese shield. The flag's background is also the same as that of the flag of Lisbon. When Spain recognized the independence of Spanish Morocco in 1956, Ceuta and the other areas of sovereignty remained under Spanish rule as they were considered integral parts of the Spanish state.

Culturally, modern Ceuta is considered part of the Spanish region of Andalusia. Indeed, it was until recently attached to the province of Cadiz - the Spanish coast being only 20 km away.

Ceuta is known officially in Spanish as Ciudad Autónoma de Ceuta (lit., Autonomous City of Ceuta), with a rank between a standard Spanish city and an autonomous community. Ceuta is part of the territory of the European Union. The city was a free port before Spain joined the European Union in 1986. The official currency of Ceuta is the Euro; however it’s common to use also the Morocco’s dirham. Now it has a low-tax policy within the European Monetary System. As of 2006, its population was 75,861. Ceuta is one of two Spanish port cities on the northern shore of Africa, along with Melilla. They are historically military strongholds, free ports, oil ports, and also fishing and smuggling centers. Today the economy of the city depends heavily on its port (now in expansion) and its industrial and retail centers and tourism.

Its border with Morocco is in fact a fortified €30-million razor wire barrier, made of concrete, metal bars and barb-wires, that stretch for 8 km, financed by the European Union. It consists of parallel 3-metre (10-foot) fences topped with barbed wire, with regular watch posts and a road running between them to accommodate police patrols or ambulance service in case of need. Underground cables connect spotlights, noise and movement sensors, and video cameras to a central control booth. Morocco has objected to the construction of the barrier since it does not recognize Spanish sovereignty in Ceuta; however the law enforcement presence on the other side is considerable high.

I guess the most interesting about CEUTA, at least for me, it was the happy cohabitation for centuries of 5 different religions: Catholic, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Protestant. CEUTA is packed with military bases and official buildings of the Spanish authorities (Police, Guardia Civil – like Gendarmerie, Customs, Foreign Legion, Civil Defense etc). I can say that the “pure breed” Spaniards are mostly military personal, public officials and their families, which are on assignment to this land.

The connection with the main land it’s done via a permanent (when the weather allows it) ferry-boat line, with departures every 30 minutes. The ferry boats are huge, since they can take very easy 100 vehicles and 300 passengers. Since there’s no airport, only charter flights by helicopter are available. Price wise, it’s very expensive for the non-resident of CEUTA to cross the GIBRALTAR Strait. Just for one way, for one vehicle, the price is around 200 Euros; however, the residents of this land have a 65% discount. They don’t pay any taxes and they have a lot of financial privileges. This applies to the military personal and public official also, which receive huge bonuses to their salaries, just because they work on this territory.

My advice is to cross the GIBRALTAR Strait without your vehicle, just as passenger on the ferry-boat, since you will have no need for a vehicle, unless you plan to move over there. By foot, you can cross CEUTA in aprox. 2 hours and the streets are quite narrow and parking places are a nightmare. Also, driving manners are an issue and most of the vehicles have bents and scratches on all corners. The relief of CEUTA consists mostly of hills and peaks.

From the ham radio point of view, although CEUTA, along with Melilla (other Spanish “colony” on the African continent) is Spanish land, they are considered different radio entities (DXCC list) with the prefix EA9. The same rules apply to CANARY Islands (EA8) and BALEARE Islands (EA6).

Before taking off on my journey to this “exotic” destination, I got in touch via email with the president of the Amateur Radio League of CEUTA (UREC), Mr. Jose Antonio MENDEZ RIOS (EA9CD), who was more than happy to welcome me. During my visit I learned that the hospitality of the people from CEUTA is at its highest level.

The trip, by car, from Madrid to Algeciras (the port on the Spanish coast that connects to CEUTA) lasted almost 8 hours, on highways. Then, 30 minutes by ferry to CEUTA. The weather was great, quite hot, once again a sign that the African continent is just on the other side of the strait. If you’re lucky, during the crossing, you can see the GIBRALTAR Island – British land, by the way, PEREJIL Island and the MOROCCO Coast.

After arrival, I got in touch over the phone with Jose-Antonio and we later meet at the hotel. Jose-Antonio is working for the City-hall of CEUTA, as a radio communication engineer and his main task is to install and maintain emergency communications systems for the public authorities (police, fire department, civil defense etc). He was appointed not too long ago as the president of UREC, since the previous president, now a retired military officer, have left CEUTA, and, according to the rules, this appointment has to be taken by a permanent resident. At the meeting was also present, Roberto Cabanillas Moyano, now EA9ZL, a retired engineer, which held, along his career, several callsign: LU3HAK, F0CA, CN2CA, LU7Z, CN8UIT and LU0ZD.

From them I learned that in CEUTA are licensed 15 amateur radio operator, but, unfortunately only 8 are active on the air, mostly on VHF/UHF, as a way to communicate with the main-land. So, basically the HF band is covered only by 3 hams, which are practically “hunted” when the breast their call on the waves. The complained about huge pile-ups, similar to a DXpedition on an isolated island, activated every 100 years, hi, hi!

Due to the tax-free privileges they enjoy, a basic setting consists of the latest and most modern transceivers and a 6 element beam.

Some time ago it was active a repeater, but due to its mountainous relief, it was not able to cover the whole area, so they preferred to use the ones installed on the mainland, accessible even by HTs. However, an echo-link simplex connection is available.

I couldn’t notice the moral and financial support that the amateur radio community receives from the public authorities of CEUTA. Their work is highly seen by the leaders of the City-hall in emergency situations, but also as ambassadors of this place to the world. The radio-club is hosted by the city-hall, and it’s equipment partially paid by the public budget.

I was taken, by my hosts, on a tour of the city, by foot. The architecture was new to me, influenced by the different cultures that cohabit here. One of the buildings that draw my attention was a church, a tasteful mix (in my opinion) between a catholic cathedral and a Muslim mosque.

As we were rambling through the center of the town, we passed the house of other ham, Emilio (EA9IL), who immediately joined the “pack”. In the traditional Spanish way, I was “forced” to stop in several different bars to try the local beer and famous Spanish “tapas” (small snacks, usually as a sandwich, with different toppings: cheese, sea food, ham etc).

Unfortunately, since I wasn’t on vacation, I had to shorten my ham radio “activity”, not before I promised to come back, and maybe operate as portable from EA9 – CEUTA.

You can reach EA9CD, if you’re in the neighborhood (hi,hi) at:

MENDEZ RIOS JOSE ANTONIO
Calle Martín Moreno 15-1º
CEUTA 51002
SPAIN
ea9cd@mixmail.com

Yours truly,
EA/YO3AAS Ely (“Amateur Globetrotter”)

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