Preparation:

This was originally going to be another attempt at the park near FFB (DE-0591 Amperauen) that I have not as yet activated, to coincide with Helen VK7XYL and Jon VK7JON being out portable in Tasmania (along with Mike 2E0YYY in England, and as it turned out, also Ernie VK3DET in Victoria, Australia). The problem with the FFB park was that as the start time was around 0700 UTC and the FFB park sits on a small but very busy commuter route, the trip would take too long, so I decided to head to my local park, which conveniently has two POTA trails running through it and one small parking area qualifies for all three making the activation a “3-Fer”.

As I had just received another 4 Ah LifePO4 battery for my trip to Cyprus, this activation would serve to test that and also to test that it recharges without problems.

The Activation

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

Although my alarm was set for 6:30 am (CET), I was already up and about at 5:30 AM, so leaving the house at 7:15 (0615 UTC) meant that I was on-site at 06:25 UTC.

Unfortunately, the forestry commission had also decided this was a good day to trim some trees around the small car park and two large machines were already there to start work. After a chat with the tractor driver, he clarified where they would be working and it would be fine if I parked just about where I had parked the last time that I was here.

As I had loaded everything in the car the previous day, all that remained to be done was to connect the HF-PRO-2 loaded whip on the roof and the battery to the radio. I immediately heard Helen VK7XYL/M at around S5 but she was talking with Mike 2E0YYY whom I could not hear at all.

After making contacts with Helen VK7XYL/M and Mike VK7MD/M and having received only 3-1 reports from them, I decided to take a look at my antenna. I logged the correct loading coil settings about a week ago using the same antenna on the same car roof with my RigExpert antenna analyser, however now checking with the in-built SWR scan in the G90, it was not as good as I expected and adjusting the coil improved things. I wondered why this was but at the time I was more concerned with making contacts again. After this adjust I became several contacts from Poland, the UK and even one from Canada.

Considering the situation afterwards, I suspect the large tractor, towering over my car may easily have de-tuned the antenna.

Getting contacts on 20m took some time, which considering the distance I was getting, I would have thought there would be more contacts but later a caller commented there was a strong station (who I could not hear) a couple of KHz away, splattering over the frequency I was on – this may be part of the reason for a lower number of calls than normal.

As I packed up the forestry guys were also finished and stopping for a coffee.

Photos: