Gheorghe Șincai (1754-1816)

The radio club of our school is named after the great scholar Gheorghe Șincai,  director of Romanian Greek-Catholic schools in Transylvania, fighter for the rights of Transylvanian Romanians, historian, philologist, translator, representative of the Transylvanian School (Școala Ardeleană).

Gheorghe Șincai was born in 1754 in Râciu - a village that is now in Mureș county, Romania. The place where he was born is 1 km far from our radio club.

https://www.qrz.com/db/yo6kgs

He is best known for the fact that he founded more than 370 Romanian schools in Transylvania and wrote the first history of all Romanians - ”Hronica Românilor și a mai multor neamuri...” - ”The Chronicle of the Romanians and of several nations...”  

In the picture: Gheorghe Șincai (painted by Bacali Radu Călin -teacher)

* In 1774 he received a scholarship to Rome, where due to the fact that he studied well, he was taken under the protection of Cardinal Stefan Borgia, who was secretary of De Propaganda Fide College. He appointed Sincai custodian of the library of this institution, and then asked and obtained for him from Pope Pius VI the favor of being able to visit the libraries of the Vatican, Sopra la Minerva and Benedictina. Sincai also received a specialist to guide him through the libraries. Borgia showed him the books about Romanians.

* During his time as principal of schools in Transylvania, he opened more than 370 new Romanian schools. During this time, not only did he inspect the schools, but he collected any documents that referred to Romanians. He began to write "The Chronicle of the Romanians and of several nations in how much they were mixed with the Romanians, how the things, events and deeds ... "

* In 1803 Şincai went to Buda(Pest), where together with Samuil Micu he worked feverishly, gathering documents and interpreting the facts described in them, but S. Micu died, and Gheorghe Şincai remained to continue the work alone. He thus printed the Buda Calendar, at the end of which he published, in 1807, "The History of the Romanians". In the following years, he published in the same calendar and in the same way fragments from "Hronica românilor ...", until finally it was banned by censorship.

* In 1811 Şincai appears in Oradea, where he is well received by Samuil Vulcan. Here he will work diligently on "Hronica Românilor ...", writing only about the period until 1739, when he stops, for fear of upsetting the authorities and not arousing his enemies. In 1812 he went on foot to Blaj, carrying bags of documents and manuscripts on his back. After finishing the Chronicle of the Romanians, Şincai disappeared without anyone knowing where he took it. He was last seen in Transylvania in 1814, then no one found out about him, not even when he died.

* It was found out only late that Gheorghe Şincai died on the estate of Count Vass, near Košice, in Svinica in Slovakia, on November 2, 1816.

* Many of his works are known only by title because they were lost. These include "Dialogue", a Romanian grammar, a Romanian dictionary and a Daco-Romanian one.

YO6KGS SOTA Expedition - August 2019

VIDEO:

SOTA Expedition Diary - August 11^th -14^th , 2019

Day 1 

Our adventure began today, Sunday morning, when we enthusiastically boarded the school bus, guided by our teachers, well equipped for what was going to happen during the next three days: expedition to the mountain and SOTA.

After three hours driving by minibus, we arrived in the small town of Bălan, where we stocked up on bread. We walked for a few minutes to the base of the Hășmaș Mountains where we had a lunch break and met with the amateur radio specialists in SOTA: Sorin Barbu YO2MSB and Suciu Mihai YO6SM who were going to accompany us. After that we started the difficult route, with the heavy backpacks in the back, but also enthusiastic about the desire to discover the mountain and nature.

We were extremely happy when we reached the chalet, at an altitude of 1504 m, because after more than three hours of climbing we were exhausted. We settled in the rooms, and then Sorin YO2MSB, introduced us to SOTA and the QSOs on the peaks of the mountains, which we were going to do. We ended the day with a barbecue for dinner, well worth it.

           * * *

Day 2 

This morning we woke up around 7:30 LT, had breakfast and prepared to climb the Hășmașul Mic Mountain (Ecem Peak), where we would make our first SOTA QSOs. The departure was preceded by a small training.

When we arrived at the destination, Sorin Barbu taught us how to mount the antenna and the other equipment, then started making SOTA connections to activate the Ecem Peak on Hășmașu Mic Mountain YO / EC-078, and we followed the microphone, the members of the radio club YO6KGS, guided by Baciu Adrian (YO5IA), Sorin Barbu (YO2MSB) and Mihai Suciu (YO6SM).

We gathered the equipment and went back to the chalet, we had lunch. In the evening we watched the Perseids and then woke up at 4 in the morning to watch them in their maximum intensity.

          * * *

Day 3 

This morning, after having breakfast we set off for Hășmașu Mare Peak, at 1792m altitude. We arrived, installed the equipment and activated the YO / EC-012 tip. Everything went like yesterday, but this time we did much better.

We returned to the chalet where YO2MSB and YO6SM provided us with other information about SOTA, radio amateurism and others.

In the evening we gathered at the campfire where we felt good dancing, singing and saying jokes, taking advantage of the last evening of the expedition
* * *

Day 4 

On the last day we woke up, ate in the morning, packed our bags and set off at 10 o'clock, going down the mountain that made us so difficult to climb.

We went down half the time for the climb, and at the base of the mountain I took a short break. Later we arrived in the city of Bălan, we bought some food, then we took the bus to the train station in Sândominic. There we waited for the train for more than an hour, and the trip took another four hours. However, it was four beautiful hours, which we spent together.

We arrived in Târgu Mureș at 21:00, from where we went by minibus to home. In half an hour we reached Râciu, we said goodbye to each other, hoping to meet again in such experiences in the same formula.

Authors: Covaci Daria (YO6CDC) and Covaci Horațiu (YO6HDC)

members of YO6KGS Radio Club.