Preparation:

This was a further combined “family trip” with my wife wishing to visit the “Stadistische Gallery” in Rosenheim, a large market town about a 1 and 3/4 hour drive away from where we live.

Of course, I looked for a park that I could activate while she went around the gallery and found one just 10-12 minutes outside of the town, “Simsee Südufer”. A park that has been in the POTA Germany scheme for some time, but isn’t activated very often, which I find strange given its ease of access, including a hiker’s car park within the park. For me, it fit the bill well. I hadn’t activated this park before, and given my limited time slot, it would again be a PLOTA operating from the car within the car park.

As usual, all radio equipment was pre-installed on the car’s back seat, as depending upon radio conditions, I might need as much time as possible to get the minimum 10 contacts to qualify the park and then get back to meet my wife and go to lunch in the old town.

The Activation

POTA DE-0296

As the gallery only opened at noon, this was going to be a lunchtime activation, and I wondered whether 20 or 40 metres would be the best choice for contacts. After driving from Rosenheim to the hiker’s parking area, I started on 20m. The band sounded noisy, and a quick scan over the band did not look very good. I checked the POTA app and went to see if I could hear the other POTA activators that were spotted as being on 20m at the time. No luck, so I found a free spot on the band, spotted myself, and started calling…

I was pleasantly surprised by a stream of callers—the first being another POTA activator in the UK, indeed in the area of the UK from which I come. So that was a nice start to the pile-up which followed. Without rushing, I managed sixteen contacts in ten minutes. In the pile up, the best contacts were Fabio CU3HN on the Azores with a booming 59 signal and Bill W1OW out of Massachusetts, America, whose signal fought to get through the really very average conditions.

Once the flow of calls stopped, I decided to see if I could give some other activators a P2P contact, as Andrew 2E0USH had done for me as my first contact. Lucy M1UCY was a strong signal out of a UK park, and when chatting with her, I mentioned the surprise call from Bill in the US, and she said, he is often the first or only station to get through on 20m to the UK. I guess he has a great station. The third P2p and last contact for the activation was Nico IU5KHP in IT-1428. I had to try for some time to get through to him, as he was also enjoying a pile-up of POTA hunters.

Once that contact was over, it was time to pack up and head back into the town to meet my wife. All in all, the visit to Rosenheim and POTA activation went very well and was blessed with dry and sunny, if a little cold, weather.

Photos:

Equipment taken:

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

Log:

POTA DE-0296

Conclusions:

This was probably as close as one can get to a perfect PLOTA activation. The equipment all worked with no problems. The band was not great with deep QSB and military-like interference going up and down the band, but the number of callers and good reports received proves once again that even operating 20 watts to a loaded whip antenna, good coverage is possible. Of course, many of the calling “hunters” may have been using beams and hence enhancing my signal, but the P2P contacts were certainly not, and that is the proof of how good this set-up continues to be. I DO want to get out REAL portable again but while restricted by time available or (very soon) weather, the PLOTA option is a good alternative.

73 ’til the next activation!