Preparation:

My previous activation attempt failed without any contacts being made from a park near FFB (DE-0591 Amperauen) that I have not as yet activated. The problem was that the ever-reliable G90 radio for some unknown reason kept losing power and when that happened, the radio reset various settings and indeed following one re-power-on, it started to squeal and flash an error message on the screen in red. As I could not do anything in the back of the car, I had to abort and head home.

At home my actions included reloading the radio’s two firmware files, doing a factory reset, replacing the microphone lead as well as building a new power lead for the radio. This was all tested in the shack and the problems did not re-occur but of course, the only true test is to run the radio in the field again. As this was the configuration that I intended to take with me on my holiday to Cyprus in a few weeks, I needed to know that all was now fixed so planned this activation.

Rather than heading back over to FFB, I decided to just head down to my most local park (DE-0663) / trail (DE-0791) (2-fer) which is about a 10-minute drive away from home. In fact, after completing the activation, I saw that a brand new trail has been added to POTA (DE-0968) and it also runs through my exact location, so this has become a 3-Fer activation, not just a 2-Fer!

The Activation

POTA DE-0663 / DE-0791 / DE-0968

Saturday and Sunday saw major Solar Storms, with high noise levels and a suppressed MUF expected for Monday morning. Nevertheless, I set my alarm for 6 am (CET) to be at the site and set up by 0615 UTC as originally Dave G4AKC (who was on holiday in Cyprus) had planned to come on, but unfortunately, he was not feeling well. 20 metres often opens “locally” across Europe before the long path opens down to VK and hence I had hoped to get a contact with Dave on the rocks alongside the Mediterranean Sea.

Surprisingly after setting up, I could hear Jon VK7JON/P in Penguin on the north coast of Tasmania and we managed a contact despite an S6-S7 noise level at his end. Next in the log was Mike VK7MD/M about 10 km down the coast from Jon. It took a little longer before I made a scratchy contact with Ernie VK3DET, but the signals improved a little later. This was very early for 20m long-path. Mike 2E0YYY was also out portable at Merryton Low near Stoke on Trent but despite trying many times during the 2 hours that I was operating, I was unable to make contact with Mike today. “0 metres was not a good band today – apart from the usual Italian, Greek and Russian stations and the three VK stations, I heard no one on the band.

Switching to 40 metres enabled me to collect enough POTA hunters to qualify the activation. Some told me they had listened for me on 20 metres and heard nothing as the band was so bad.

The main result of this activation, however, was that the radio had operated normally and while I will make at least one more test activation before leaving for Cyprus, I am relieved that this one went so well.

As I packed up rain started and persisted for the next 3-4 hours, so I was lucky after all with the early start.

Photos:

Equipment taken:

• Xiegu G-90 radio.
• Komunica Power HF-PRO2-PLUS-T loaded vertical antenna.
• OPEK single-magnet car roof antenna mount.
• 4 Ah LifePO4 battery.
• 8 & 2Ah Eremit LifePO4 batteries (not used).
• Lightweight headphones.
• Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

POTA DE-0663 / DE-0791 / DE-0968

Conclusions:

The activation went well. The bonus that I will be listed as the first activator of yet another new trail is a nice bonus. If the next activation using the same equipment goes without issues, I will be more happy with the equipment planned for the Cyprus trip.

73 ’til the next activation!