Preparation:

The last time I tried this activation, the radio/antenna/cable failed on me, so this was another attempt. At least I knew where I would be parking. As with several PLOTA’s of late, this was to be a combined family trip, with my wife going to the Therme (spa) for two hours while I made some radio contacts in POTA.

As usual, the equipment was set up in the back seat of the car, and the three-magnet antenna base was put on the roof of the car the day before the activation, so that I could leave at 7 am the following day.

The Activation

POTA DE-0597

I’m glad to report that this time all went to plan. It was already 10 am local time when I got started, so too late for any long path DX. This would be a casual activation in sunny weather for a change. I would try out spotting and calling on 17 & 15 metres but get no callers, so 20 & 40m were, as usual, the “money bands”.

I started off with a P2P and hunted some others during the activation. Unfortunately, of the four P2P contacts, POTA is only acknowledging one, although the other stations have entered their logs. I suspect it is that their logs do not contain their call with and without “/P”, which mine do, in case I get logged with or without the “/P”. This is done by using the operator and club call fields in the submission. Really, the POTA P2P logic SHOULD match the calls without the extension, and then such problems would not happen.

In any case, the standard G90 radio with the Komunica PRO-2 antenna on the car roof was used. This time, with the firmware on the G90 set back to before when the data modes were added, and with the change, extra load was put on the SDR chip, causing it to emit annoying beeps when signals are low.

all in all, this was a laid back activation with plenty of time at the end to pack all the radio gear away into the boot, go and buy some snacks from a supermarket and then pick up my wife.

Photos: