Best of Chasna: Tenerife’s Gateway to the Satellites

LOS CRISTIANOS, TENERIFE — Beneath the volcanic cliffs of southern Tenerife, at the municipal pavilion in La Camella, lies one of the most technically sophisticated outposts of Spain’s amateur radio landscape: EA8URE, the Chasna section of URE. Helmed by J. Román Rodríguez Hernández (EA8RH), this club is where high-altitude island terrain meets low-noise innovation—and where space communications feel almost local.

The Edge of Technology, at the Edge of Europe

Chasna’s station setup would not look out of place in a small-scale research observatory. With an antenna farm featuring a TONNA 23-element beam for 1296 MHz, two satellite dishes for QO-100, and a full suite of gear from Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood, and DX Patrol, the section is laser-focused on microwave, satellite, and portable digital operations.

Notably, QO-100 satellite communications are handled both at the base and in the field. Portable operations with an ICOM IC-705, SG Labs transverter, and helix-fed dishes are frequent. Few clubs on the Canary Islands—or mainland Europe, for that matter—show this level of portable precision.

Community, in the Age of Constellations

But Chasna is not just about rare grids and GHz conquests. Every Friday evening at 18:30, members gather at their social hub in Los Cristianos, exchanging knowledge and stories as naturally as SSB contacts across continents. Their multilingual, multiband spirit reflects the diversity of Tenerife itself—a place where tourists meet technophiles, and DXpedition veterans teach young satellite chasers.

Their online presence (urechasna.com) documents their antenna arrays, rig configurations, and mobile setups with engineer-like clarity, making it a benchmark for other sections across Spain.

A Canary Outpost with Cosmic Reach

In EA8URE, the Canary Islands are more than sun and sea—they are staging grounds for moonbounce, satellite relays, and HF experimentation. If amateur radio has an island frontier spirit, Chasna is the place where that frontier is expanding skyward.