Author Archives: VK2JI DD5LP G8GLM

DD5LP/P 30th April 2025 – DE-0463 Westlischer Staffelsee mit angegrenzte moor Nature Reserve

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Preparation:

As a check of all the equipment that was used in Cyprus, having used the brilliant mapping system located at https://pota-map.info/, where I can see which parks and trails I have activated, I chose DE-0463 as I had not activated it and this trip was planned, combined with a visit to an Art exhibition in the Schlossmuseum in Murnau am Staffelsee for my wife. Murnau is on the eastern shore of the lake, and this park starts from the western edge of the lake. After searching for a convenient place to activate, I found an official parking place, located within the park, so again this will be a PLOTA rather than a “proper” POTA activation.

For once, the weather was nice, but of course that also increases the traffic with a combination of people having a day out and those “panic shopping” as the following day (May 1st) is a public hoöliday where all shops are closed.

The radio configuration in its “Ryan Air Sized” mini-carry-on bag still contained all the equipment – a small set of headphones, two 4Ah LifePO4 batteries, log sheets, the Xiegu G90 and HF-PRO2-PLUS-T antenna on a single magnet base on the car roof. I added the three-magnet base to this configuration simply because the antenna sits better on that mount. Apart from that, this was the configuration that had travelled to Cyprus with another small change – I applied the latest firmware upgrade to the G90 a day earlier, all seemed OK, but this activation would also double as a way of checking that update.

The Activation

POTA DE-0463

The trip down through Weilheim and on to Murnau went without incident, and by 10:15 local time, I had dropped off my wife near the museum and set off to go up to Uffing and then down the Seestrasse to the parking spot I had found on the map as being inside the POTA park.

On arrival, there were a couple of cars in the parking area, but not as many as I suspect would be here in high season. To my surprise, there was also a Port-A-Loo on-site (which is always useful to have). I had seen from Google Maps that this was one of several parking areas where the local council had engaged a parking control company to raise money from what in other areas would have been free parking and indeed, the recommended way was to use a parking app on my Smartphone (cash is still possible at the machine, but I suspect not for much longer). I had installed the App a day before, and indeed it worked fine, even allowing me to extend my stay without even having to get out of the car!

I started the activation on 40 metres, where I found the band both noisy and full of stations. After getting only 4 contacts on 40 metres, I decided to adjust the antenna and switch to 20 metres, which, while there were plenty of stations on it, was not as bad as 40 metres. I checked the POTA cluster and saw a UK POTA station on, went to his frequency, heard him, called and got a park-to-park in the log. After that, it was a matter of finding a free frequency, spotting myself and then calling to get contacts. All went well, but it took a little longer than I had expected, so that was when I used the parking app to extend my stay by 20 minutes (in the end, I left the parking lot with just 20 seconds left “on the clock”).

Most stations on the band were from around Europe, which was to be expected between 0850 and 0925 UTC, but interestingly, Rob, VK3EY, was putting in an S4-S5 signal from his location 80 km north of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, at what would have been around 7:30 pm his time. This was about 2 hours later than normal for long path communications. I tried calling him a couple of times without success. That is not to say that my signal wasn’t getting down to Australia – I’m sure it was, but the difference between Rob’s 400w and my 20w would mean he would need a very low noise level to hear me. Nothing lost by trying, though!

I ended up with 16 contacts in the log, without too much difficulty and was back to pick up my wife on time, before heading home. The equipment is certainly working fine. Whether the latest firmware update to the AGC logic in the SDR receiver has made this a more sensitive receiver, with just one test, it’s impossible to say, but it certainly hasn’t made it any worse.

Photos:

Equipment taken:

  • Xiegu G-90 radio.
  • Komunica Power HF-PRO2-PLUS-T loaded vertical antenna.
  • Three–magnet car roof antenna mount.
  • 2 x 4 Ah LifePO4 battery.
  • Super small headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

POTA DE-0463

Conclusions:

The equipment is certainly working fine and I’m eager now that the weather is improving, to get away from PLOTA and on to some real POTA, HEMA or SOTA activations again, which will mean transferring the equipment back from the airline carry-on bag to my 40L rucksack and perhaps start using some interesting wire antennas again, but of course with the ever-reliable Komunica Power HF-PRO2 along as backup!

73 ’til the next activation!

5B/VK2JI/P 6th-20th April 2025 – Cyprus Holidays POTA/BOTA sites activations

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Overview:

My wife and I travelled to Cyprus for a two-week holiday in April 2025. I had been there previously in September 2023 for a Ham’s wedding and wanted to come back to explore more. Again, I brought my radio equipment along (of course).

The plan was to intersperse radio days and touristy days over the 14 days we were there.

The first couple of days that we were there, both the terrestrial and radio weather were fine. The following 5 days had arctic-like winds, making things somewhat uncomfortable, with clothing choices being critical when leaving the apartment. I had booked a hire car for the length of the stay, and that, as it turned out, would be the base for all but one of the activations. The weeks had been planned to activate the close-by and easily accessible POTA parks in the first week, along with a couple of Beaches (BOTA) activations and the more difficult, not yet activated HEMA and SOTA summits in the second week. Unfortunately, as the winds died down, some CMEs hit the ionosphere, making operations difficult.

Two full-day bus trips, one from Paphos, where we were staying, to Limassol and one to the capital city, Nicosia, were to take place on the Thursday of the first week and the Tuesday of the second week. As there was a POTA park in Limassol, the radio was taken along on the bus. The second bus trip was to be pure tourism, but that trip marked the start of a mild head cold that turned into 4 days of flu, ruining the second week, and none of my planned HEMA and SOTA activations were able to take place. I had to concentrate on shaking the cold before our flight back home (which I did thankfully).

So, the following reports are only on the POTA activations that I managed.

The Activations

7/4/2025 – POTA CY-0113 Paphos Archaeological Reserve with CY-0067 Kato Pafos Lighthouse (a 2-Fer).

This activation on Monday, the first full day of our holiday, was probably the best of all activations. The weather was nice (sunny but not too hot), the radio conditions were fine, the activation was for a POTA 2-fer, and it was an activation from within Paphos, where we were staying. Indeed, this is the activation that failed on my last trip to Paphos, so I was eager to get it out of the way. The equipment – the G90 and the HF-PRO-2 loaded vertical mounted on a very small tripod with 6 radial wires worked fine. There was some (possibly military) radio interference, but most contacts were strong, so this was not a problem.

8/4/2025 – POTA CY-0115 Maa-Palaiokastro Archaeological Reserve.

The morning of Tuesday the 8th of April was taken up with a trip back to the airport to swap the Kai Rio car for a Citroen C3 which I had originally requested as it is basically the Citroen version of the Peugeot 2008 that I drive here in Germany and has support for Android Auto allowing me to conveniently use the Google maps app on my smartphone through the cars screen as a route navigator. This meant the activation could only happen in the afternoon, and as my wife wanted to see one of the famous Cyprus sandy beaches, this POTA entity was chosen, as from the car park, she could walk down to the beach while I operated. This was to turn out to be a very eventful activation (and not for good reasons) …

Once we found the way down to the beach for my wife, I went to the entrance to the reserve to find it was closed and only open to the public at certin times, so this would be an activation from the car in the car park (a PLOTA as I call it – Parking Lots on the air). I set up using the HF-PRO2 on a magnetic mount on the roof of the car to find 20m was fairly dead. A CME had hit the night before, and now getting contacts would be difficult. A combination of spotting myself on both the POTA website and the DX clusters before calling CQ and hunting and pouncing other stations on the band slowly, very slowly, brought in the contacts. I reached the agreed time when I was going to go down to the beach, and I was still 3 contacts short of the ten needed to qualify the park. I texted my wife and agreed to try for another 15 minutes. That, unfortunately, was a decision that I would regret later.

In the next 15 minutes, I managed to scrape in the needed last three contacts, so I now wanted to pack everything up. When I was about to take the antenna off the roof, a well-dressed gentleman came up and asked me what I was doing. I, of course, went straight into my explanation of the hobby and its history. He asked, “So it’s like mobile telephones”, and in order to keep things simple, I said yes. At this point, he accused me of listening in on the telephones of guests of the hotel (to whom the car park actually belonged). I explained no, our licence does not allow us to do that, at which point he asked to see my licence, of which I had copies with me for just such a situation. I also gave him a copy of CEPT TR61/01 with Cyprus highlighted as a member of the agreement. He was not happy and said he wanted to see a Cypriot licence, and although I explained I am on holiday and only residents are allowed Cypriot licences, he called the police.

Now, at this point, it’s important to stay calm, not to tell the other person that I am fully within my rights (which I was). I was parked in his car park without permission. Rather, I inquired why there was a problem, and he told me that his hotel has guests from Israel and Saudi Arabia, and a car with a large antenna on top of it could easily cause concerns given the current political situation. I agreed with him, and his tone changed to being less accusative, and he explained that he had to be very careful. I expressed an understanding, which indeed I had for his situation. He then received a call back from the police saying they had been called to a major motor accident and would not be coming, so could he take a photo of my licence and they would look into it later if needed. His secretary had already taken a photo of my car’s registration (which, of course, being a rental was of no real value), I gave him copies of all three of my licences, the CEPT document, a brochure on the amateur radio hobby and a QSL card. We shook hands, he apologised for delaying me, and all was fine. I heard no more. It is always important to understand the other person’s concerns and to respect those.

9/4/2025 – POTA CY-0078 Ezousa River Estuary.

After the previous day’s stress, after the activation, I decided to head for a deserted area within a park, which was not far away from where we were staying, early enough to link up with friends from Australia and the UK. This was a park that, when I scouted it out at home, had not yet been activated, but the few weeks before my trip to Cyprus, there had been a few UK POTA activators on Cyprus, and so the easy not-yet-activated parks had been “snapped up”.

Upon arrival, I saw that my planned parking spot was close to a small farmer’s hut, and indeed, after I set up, he came out but had no issue with me being there (thankfully).

The bands were still horrible, and although I managed contacts to the UK and around Europe, contacts with Australia were not possible. Although my location was close to an electricity sub-station, I am glad to say that I did not have any noise from it, just the bands were bad, and the reports I received were weak compared to usual.

16/4/2025 – POTA CY-0005 Petra Tou Romiou, CY-0049 Ranti Forest & BOTA-37815 Aphroditie’s Rock Beach.

The radio conditions across the bands had improved a little, but this was a combined “trip-out” with my wife; it was not early enough for any long path contacts into Australia. I did get a couple of contacts back into the UK as well as several from around Europe. The best contact was probably with Dave G4AKC, who was actually driving between locations in the UK, so a real “mobile” contact.

16/4/2025 – POTA CY-0114 – Tombs of the Kings.

This activation did not manage the needed number of contacts to qualify the park, but as I was starting to feel the effects of a cold/flu bug, this would turn out to be my last activation of the holiday. The planned HEMA and SOTA activations planned for the following days were no longer possible, as I had to concentrate on getting better before the flight home. I’m happy to have Mike 2E0YYY/P in this log, but conditions were still not great, and getting the needed 10 contacts for POTA was not possible. This turned out to be my last activation on Cyprus, although I had hoped for more.

Photos:

Five locations : POTA CY-0113 & CY-0067, POTA CY-0115, POTA CY-0078, POTA CY-0005 & CY-0049 with BOTA-37815, POTA CY-0114

Equipment taken:

  • Xiegu G-90 radio.
  • Komunica Power HF-PRO2-PLUS-T loaded vertical antenna.
  • Sotabeams end-fed random length antenna (not used).
  • Mini-tripod with 6 radial wires (used once).
  • OPEK single-magnet car roof antenna mount (used for all but one activation).
  • 2 x 4 Ah LifePO4 batteries.
  • Super small headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Logs:

POTA CY-0113

POTA CY-0067

POTA CY-0115

POTA CY-0078

POTA CY-0005

POTA CY-0049

POTA CY-0114

Conclusions:

All equipment worked fine, although bad radio weather, Arctic winds at times and catching the local flu limited what I had hoped to achieve.

73 ’til the next activation!

DD5LP/P 28th March 2025 – DE-0462 Murnauer Moos Nature Reserve

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Preparation:

As my wife had a doctor’s appointment to attend, I decided I would fit in a POTA activation while she was at the doctor’s office. This was originally planned to be a combined POTA activation with walking our dog, Bonnie, as so many times before however this was not to be as Bonnie died just hours after being diagnosed with an agressive tumour on the heart and splene, so in many ways this beacme a trip out to take my mind off what had taken away our apparently fully fit dog within two days. She died in her sleep, and my wife and I were with her.

The radio configuration would be the one planned for use in Cyprus: a small set of headphones, two 4Ah LifePO4 batteries, the Xiegu G90 and HF-PRO2-PLUS-T antenna on a single magnet base on the car roof.

The Activation

POTA DE-0462

The trip down to Weilheim, where my wife’s doctor was, was mid-morning, which meant I arrived at the parking spot within the park at about 11:30 a.m. local time. The parking area was a little muddy, but apart from that, it was fine for its purpose, and I was set up and searching for contacts within 5 minutes.

The car park filled later with a couple of cars, one with a walker and a courier taking his lunch break, but it was never really full.

I started by checking who else was activating POTA on 20m and went after searching for those possible park-to-Park contacts first. This was when I noticed that, despite being Friday, some kind of contest was underway with loud splattering stations filling a lot of the band. Luckily the very top of 20m above 14.300 MHz was fairly clear and indeed apart from one or two, the top end of the band was where the POTA activators were. There were a few to hunt.

The log below shows several P2P contacts, and I only really had two sessions where I found a clear frequency, spotted myself at pota.app and then called CQ. The band was difficult with very deep QSB as well as the occasional QRM. All in all, I made 15 contacts before packing up and heading back to pick up my wife from the doctor’s practice. We had had a CME hit on the previous day, so I was not expecting any great DX contacts but it’s always very nice to get some of the regular chasers in the log and a few P2P contacts as well. The equipment all worked without issues, so it seems a stable package for use on Cyprus in just over a week.

Photos:

  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • Station.
  • Antenna.

Equipment taken:

  • Xiegu G-90 radio.
  • Komunica Power HF-PRO2-PLUS-T loaded vertical antenna.
  • OPEK single-magnet car roof antenna mount.
  • 2 x 4 Ah LifePO4 battery.
  • Super small headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

POTA DE-0462

Conclusions:

It was a very strange and sad activation without our lovely Bonnie. All equipment worked fine, so at least I can be confident that the equipment will be ready for Cyprus.

73 ’til the next activation!

DD5LP/P 21st March 2025 – DE-0663 Pössinger Au, DE-0791 Lech Erlebenisweg & DE-0968 Romantische Straße National Historic Trail (3-Fer)

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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:

  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • Park Sign.
  • Antenna.
  • Station.

Equipment taken:

  • Xiegu G-90 radio.
  • Komunica Power HF-PRO2-PLUS-T loaded vertical antenna.
  • OPEK single-magnet car roof antenna mount.
  • 2 x 4 Ah LifePO4 battery.
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

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

Conclusions:

The activation went well. The new battery worked without issues, so it becomes part of the equipment I will take to Cyprus.

73 ’til the next activation!

DD5LP/P 17th March 2025 – DE-0663 Lechpark Pössinger Au RP

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Preparation:

As Dave (G4AKC) was going to be out, possibly for his last time in Cyprus, the usual culprits, Mike 2E0YYY, Ernie VK3DET, Jon VK7JON, Steve G4NVF and I decided to get on to work him from around Australia and Europe. Target activation time for me was 7:15 am local time (0615 UTC) to coincide with Dave’s plans – so my local park “Pössinger Au” was chosen for the activation and to keep things even simpler, I would head to the official car park, rather than the car parking area where 3 POTA entities come together. As per the last operations, all was packed in the car and the magnetic antenna mount was put on the car’s roof the Sunday before the Monday morning activation. One test change to the radio configuration, planned for use in Cyprus in 3 weeks was a smaller set of headphones, that would pack better for transport. Apart from that change, everything was the same – Xiegu G90, 4Ah battery and HF-PRO2-PLUS-T antenna (which I even preset to position to save time the next day).

The Activation

POTA DE-0663

The Monday morning was a little cold at -2°C as I left home at 6:55 am however the run over to the park went without issue and I was the first in what is a walkers car park. As soon as I mounted the antenna and took a few photos, I already got a message from Dave saying he was set up and ready for calls. On tuning to his frequency, I found Ernie VK3DET calling Dave and after a couple of minutes, we had a three-way QSO going. While I had expected to hear Dave, Ernie from Victoria, Australia coming in with a strong signal so early in the morning was a surprise. Apparently, it is normal once Spring starts that the long path opens earlier.

A few minutes later we were joined by Jon VK7JON/M in Tasmania. He had a good signal but also local S6 noise so he could not hear me. Later when the local noise had died down we managed a contact. Over the next hour, the stations from the UK joined, however, I could not hear them – which is not unusual on 20 metres at that time of day. Later however I also got contacts with Steve G4NVF-Byclcle Mobile and Mike 2E0YYY/P.

Just to be able to qualify the park with at least 10 contacts, I left the group and hunted for an available frequency to call CQ POTA. It was not easy and only after trying three different frequencies, the first two gaining QRM after I had been on them for 15 minutes, did I get some calls and was in the end able to have 11 in the log.

Photos:

  • Map of park.
  • Walking routes in park.
  • History of park.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • Station.
  • Antenna.

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.
  • 2Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery (not used).
  • Super small headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

POTA DE-0663

Conclusions:

The fact that the VK stations came though about an hour earlier than expected, indicates that the Ionosphere has switched into “Spring-mode” and these early morning contacts should continue to be possible – probably still once I am in Cyprus for my holiday in a few weeks. The equipment now seems to be behaving itself again, which is a relief.

73 ’til the next activation!

DD5LP/P 12th March 2025 – DE-0641 Via Romea Germanica

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Preparation:

After the previous day’s “on-the-spare-of-the-moment” activation this one was planned to coincide with Dave G4AKC, being operational on the beach from Cyprus and also hopefully Jon & Helen (VK7JON & VK7XYL) and Ernie VK3DET all from Australia. So, this meant an early start again, to catch the 20 metre, long path propagation into VK but even earlier to try to catch some intra-Europe (actually to be accurate Europe to the most westerly point in Asia) propagation to get from Germany to Cyprus. I had left all the equipment still in the car so my target was to leave home by 7 am local time and be on the air on the POTA trail by 07:30 am local time (06:30 UTC and 08:30 am in Cyprus). l had found on the map a large carpark, right by the trail, near Igling, a village about 15-20 minutes drive from here. So the alarm set and all ready for the next day.

The Activation

POTA DE-0641

The first slight problem was when I got to the car park, it had closed and locked barriers across its two entrances, so I had to search for an alternative location to park. After a few minutes, I found a large field entrance on the road that the pilgrim’s trail runs along the side of and I was able to park there without blocking the entrance. Indeed later another car joined me and a man got out and took his dog for a walk, so this was indeed an acceptable spot used by the locals to park in, it seems.

After attaching the HF-PRO2 antenna to the mount on the roof and the battery to the radio, I got into the back of the car for my “mini-shack” and then received a message from Australia (Ernie) of the frequency where Dave was transmitting. At the same time Ernie told me that there was a major thunderstorm approaching and he would have to unplug all antennas and unless the storm passed quickly, he would not be able to be on-air this morning. at the same time, he said that Jon and Helen were still heading out, but it turned out later that more stormy weather had hit Tasmania and they had to abort their plans as well.

I tuned to the given frequency for Dave and could hear him, not strong but with (at the time) no local noise, it was certainly a good copy. He was already talking to some European stations and I tried to call in between the overs but in the end, it was only when Ernie sent Dave a message that he took a break to listen for me and we made the contact. Unlike my quiet location, Dave’s location on the beach at Pathos was noisy from all of the electrical and electronic devices in the hotels and houses around him.

I was happy to have made the contact with Dave and as it turned out later that Jon & Helen had to cancel, I was left to gather some more contacts to make the needed 10 contacts to “qualify” the trail. These were very hard to get which surprised me. Even switching to 40 metres and 10 metres did not bring in the expected contacts. 40 metres seemed to be totally dead, while on 10 metres I was hearing DX stations from South Korea and Japan, but they were not hearing me. So I went back to 20 metres and searched around for stations that were calling CQ (but not CQ DX) and got a few that way before sitting and calling CQ POTA for quite some time. Eventually, I got the required 10 contacts (in fact 15) so I could pack up and head home just as the rain got worse.

When I got home I checked and there had been a major solar storm when I was out, so it is no wonder that the contacts were difficult to make. This was another test of the radio equipment that I intend to take to Cyprus and all had worked as it should, so hopefully that is the last of the problems.

Photos:

  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • VView around site.iew around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • Station.
  • Antenna.

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.
  • 2Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery (not used).
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

POTA DE-0641

Conclusions:

The activation went as well as could be expected given the bad radio conditions. The activation was in total contrast to the previous days, which was is bright sunshine, this one was cold and damp. This was another activation using the same equipment that went without issues so I am now more confident with taking this equipment to Cyprus.

73 ’til the next activation!

DD5LP/P 11th March 2025 – DE-0963 Wiesengänger NHT, DE-0964 Wasserläufer NHT & DE-0858 Via Sancti Martini NHT (3-fer)

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Preparation:

Although I already had another activation planned for the following day, the combination of a dry sunny day and having spotted two, as yet unactivated, POTA trails while entering my activation from the previous day spurred me to get out and activate the two trails, along with a third, which I had already activated but coincidentally met with the two new ones above the town of Marktoberdorf, about 45 minutes drive away from my home.

I already had all my equipment ready for the following day packed in a small rucksack, so I took this to the car and drove to this 3-Fer location!

The Activation

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

The drive down was uneventful and has in the past formed part of my drive to several SOTA and HEMA summits. On those occasions though, I had only driven around Marhktoberdorf, this was my first time driving into the town and indeed the point where these trails shared the route is up on a hill overlooking Marktoberdorf which also has a large church and a music academy on top of it. Indeed the car park was quite full and soon I saw why, as there was a constant stream of school groups with their instruments going into and coming out of the academy.

I parked as far away from the buildings as possible in the large (free) car park and despite that something was putting out a horrific electrical interference, making communications on 40 metres absolutely impossible. While this was around 1 pm, 40 metres was the band where I expected to get the ten contacts I needed, the quickest. I tried for about 15 minutes, but it was hopeless, so I re-adjusted the coil on the HF-PRO2 to 20 metres and then tuned around. Thankfully whatever was creating the horrible interference on 40 metres was not affecting 20 metres. As I tuned around, I came across a really big signal from SP9VNL who was calling CQ, so I called him to make sure that I was getting out and had a nice chat with him. I then went searching for a free frequency and started calling “CQ POTA” having spotted myself. It took a while but I did start getting called – two of them from stations in other parks. Or in one case, it was to turn out, another activator on one of the trails I was activating but a lot further north along its run.

I had to move frequency once because of QRM from another station, but this is normal on 20 metres when only running 20 watts to a loaded vertical antenna and the new frequency worked out fine. With 13 contacts in the log, the calls dried up and as this was a “spare of the moment” activation, I decided it was time to pack up and head home – after all had an early start planned for the next POTA activation, the next day!

After entering my logs at home, I was amazed to see that the two new POTA trails had changed from being unactivated to one having been activated in September 2024 and the other in June 2017! Before these trails were added to the system – upon investigation, the POTA organisers allow, indeed wish activators to enter logs from activations at the POTA park or on the trail that were completed even before the entity was added to the award scheme.

“POTA welcomes your log files for QSOs predating POTA, as long as your activation was POTA-compliant! If you operated in a POTA park per POTA rules, your log would likely be accepted in the POTA system, even if your activation predated POTA.”

https://docs.pota.app/docs/activator_reference/activation_styles.html#activations-prior-to-pota

Once again, the other purpose of this activation was to make sure the radio operates normally again before leaving for Cyprus, I am relieved that this activation went so well.

Photos:

  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • National Trail Information.
  • National Trail Information.
  • National Trail Information.
  • View around site.
  • Music Academy.
  • Music Academy.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • Antenna.
  • Station.

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.
  • 2Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery (not used).
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

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

Conclusions:

The activation went well. What is wrong with the POTA database will decide if, at some point, I get one or two more “first activation” tags on my account. 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!

DD5LP/P 10th March 2025 – DE-0663 Pössinger Au, DE-0791 Lech Erlebenisweg & DE-0968 Romantische Straße National Historic Trail (3-Fer)

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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:

  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • View around site.
  • Park sign.
  • Antenna on car.
  • Station.

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!

DD5LP/P – January 14th 2025 – Activation of POTA DE-0663 Pössinger Au & DE-0791 Lecherlebnisweg (2-Fer) (revised report).

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Preparation:

Having not been out portable for some time, I was eager to return to nature. The problem is the sub-zero temperatures that we have here in Bavaria in January. Given that it is allowed to operate from a vehicle in the POTA scheme (not so in HEMA, GMA or SOTA), I decided to see if I could activate from the car, just with the HF-PRO2 loaded vertical antenna on the car roof, so that the only action outside (apart from taking photos) would be attaching and detaching the antenna – everything else would be prepared the day before inside the car (on the passenger’s seat).

Looking for a location, I have two POTA entities close by. One is DE-0663 Pössinger Au Park and the other DE-0791 Lecherlebnisweg Trail. At a few points these combine (such as when within the animal park south of Landsberg am Lech. The problem is that no cars are allowed in the “Wild Park”. However, at the southern end of the Au (forest), a small car park fits my hopes of combining the two entities into a “2-Fer” as it is still in the “au” and on the “weg”.

It was only the day before the planned activation, that I read some comments on Google Maps that the car park is private and only for use of residents of Pöring, where it is located. I did have a reserve location but I decided to go and see for myself and if there were any issues, then drive to the alternate location – which was in the park but not on the trail, so it couldn’t be a 2-Fer activation.

The equipment was all packed into the car and set up on Monday afternoon for an early start on Tuesday to catch the 20m long-path propagation opening to Australia (somewhere around 0730-0800 UTC).

The equipment would be the ever-reliable Xiegu G90 and the Komunica HF-PRO2 antenna on a magnetic mount on the car roof. I planned to operate only on 20 metres.

The Activation

POTA DE-0663 & DE-0791

The weather was not nice—around minus nine degrees when I set off on the 10-minute drive to the parking spot. Thankfully the small country roads were not iced over as they had been a couple of days previously. The trip to the spot was uneventful and when I arrived the small (perhaps 5-car,) parking spot was empty. There were no signs restricting its use only one saying please leave space for two fisherman’s cars. This spot has a small ramp and (as you’ll see in the pictures) a few dingies moored in the water. The footpath that leads from this spot goes to the well-known “Devil’s Kitchen” restaurant and I suspect the issue is that in summer, the fishermen can’t get to the ramp for cars parked here by those walking along the river to the restaurant rather than using the (further away) allocated restaurant car park in the woods. In winter, it seems, people park here and go for walks, with or without their dogs. So no problem with my using the spot.

It was literally a 5-minute set-up time and then I found a spot on the (empty apart from Russian amateur stations) 20m band. I got no replies to start with. Then John EA5JMN called from 80km west of Alicante in Spain, with a very British accent he was a good 59 signal and gave me a 58 as we chatted for almost 10 minutes. He was not a POTA chaser and had just heard me calling and wanted to let me know I was getting out. What a gentleman. So the day started with an ex-pat to ex-pat contact! The contact with John was followed by two more Spanish and one French contact before things went quiet again – at this point Ernie let me know that he was heading to his shack and 5 minutes later we tried for a contact but while I could give Ernie a 52 report, he could not hear me. The third of our merry group, Mike 2E0YYY/P was setting up on Merryton Low (a GMA summit in the UK) but as he was also suffering the cold weather he would also operate as I was doing from inside his car (coincidentally also a Peugeot). At 0813 UTC we managed an exchange at 31 both ways, the band certainly had not opened up fully yet. 4 minutes later however I had a contact into eastern Cornwall to Steve G4BVB in the Taemar valley with 59 +10dB signals both ways – indeed I was off the back of his beam! it looked like conditions may be getting better so at 0825 UTC I managed to contact Mike 2E0YYY/P and Ernie VK3DET at 53 all around. Mike had some of his club members on frequency, who wanted to try for a contact with Ernie, so I said my goodbyes as I still needed several more contacts to “qualify” the park & trail. Ten contacts are needed in POTA whereas only 4 are needed in the mountain award schemes. It could be worse the WWFF scheme needs 44 contacts!

I managed another 6 new contacts in the following 10 minutes, so with a total of 12 different contacts in the log, I went back to see how Mike and Ernie were getting on. The band had really changed now and both were good 59 signals so I called again to say I was closing down and heading home to the warmth but to also say that 0845 UTC rather than 0745 UTC now seemed to be the best time to get onto 20 metres for some SSB contacts half-way around the globe! Next time I should try for 40m Greyline into New Zealand first as the greyline should once again become useful for DX contacts and it is less affected by solar storms.  

Photos:

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Equipment taken:

 

  • Xiegu G-90 radio.
  • 6-metre mast and linked dipole (not used).
  • Komunica Power HF-PRO2-PLUS-T loaded vertical antenna.
  • Three magnets, car roof antenna mount.
  • 8 Ah LifePO4 battery.
  • 2 Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery (not used).
  • Plastic painter’s sheet and seat pad (not used).
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log (same for both POTA entities):

DE-0663 Pössinger Au & DE-0791 Lecherlebnisweg 

 

Conclusions:

  • Operating from the car does work fairly well, once set up, especially in sub-zero temperatures.
  • 0845 UTC is when I should have been starting, not 0745 UTC.
  • There needs to be a better map showing all POTA trails – at the moment, they are only shown as one dot, somewhere along their length.

73 ’til the next activation!

 

DD5LP/P – March 5th 2025 – Activation of 3-Fer POTA location at Hoher Peißenberg – DE-0594, 0595 and 0797.

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Preparation:

As I will be in Cyprus for two weeks in April, I wanted to test out the equipment that I intended to take with me – to make sure I had not forgotten something essential. As I am flying there I will be limited on both space and weight, so I need to find a configuration that minimises both while still being effective.

The spot I chose for this test was the SOTA Summit DL/AM-001 Hohen Pießenberg however as the exercise was to be executed from my car, this would be a pure PLOTA activation. POTA DE-0594 Münchner Jakobsweg, DE-0595 SüdostBayen Jakobsweg & DE-0797 König Ludwig Weg all cross as Hoher Peißenberg and hence this would be a “3-Fer” for POTA hunters.

As usual, all equipment was packed into the car and the magnetic mount was put on the car roof, the day before as it would be an early start to be able to get some DX via 20 metres long path propagation. This time however the mount to be used would not be the normal 3-magnet one as that would be too heavy to carry to Cyprus. Instead, I took an Opek single magnet base and, as the base affects the calibration of the multi-band loaded Komunica HF-PRO2 whip, decided to re-calibrate settings at home instead of on location and it was lucky that I did as the PL259 on the base turned out to be faulty. rather than repair it, I went back to my cellar and brought up an unused “noName” single magnet base – which worked fine, and measured with my antenna analyser the needed setting on the HF-PRO2 for each band. With this now documented everything was as ready as it could be for the next day’s tests.

The Activation

POTA DE-0594 / DE-0595 / DE-0797

I could probably drive the route to this summit with my eyes closed and on some previous winter mornings in thick freezing fog, I had in fact effectively done that. This time, however, the weather was kind (if still cold) and the trip took around 40 minutes. After buying a 3-hour ticket (€2) for the car park (it used to be free but like many well-visited locations, someone decided they could make more money out of tourists). I first set up the station using the HF-PRO2-PLUS-T on the single magnetic mount on the roof, planning to test it later on the super-small mini-mini tripod.

I had arranged a sked with Ernie VK3DET and Jon VK7JON/M for 07:30 UTC (08:30 am local time) and indeed was set up and on the air by 08:15.

I saw that Ernie VK3DET had already messaged a frequency of 14.290 MHz and as soon as I tuned there – there he was! It was great to get contacts with Ernie and also soon after Jon VK7JON/M and Helen VK7XYL/M into the log and while we all tried and failed to get Mike 2E0YYY/P (out at Merryton Low) and G3PWP into the complete QSO group, while Ernie could hear Mike, he could not hear Jon or Helen and while I could hear the VK3 and VK7 stations with no problems, the UK stations were in the noise and not workable. Skip was obviously long and that is not unusual at the time of day. Later on at 0837 UTC, I had a contact with a UK foundation “M7” station (also in a park) with no problem whatsoever.

The main purpose of the outing though was to test the gear that I plan to take to Cyprus next month. I found two issues with the equipment. One was that the Eremit 4 Ah battery’s BMS literally turned itself off at one point (resetting the radio to default settings in the process). I thought it strange as the battery should have been fully charged (I had obviously forgotten the last time I used it). When I got home, it took over an hour to charge at 3 amps – so that makes sense … but … testing it out at home, fully charged with the same radio connected now to my home antenna, it cut out again. While at Hoher Peißenberg I put a different battery on and all was OK. My guess is that it was a bad connection in the battery socket Which I refitted and will re-test the complete set-up again. The other problem was a simpler one – the SO239 socket on my mini-mini tripod was a little loose, so I tightened it up but when putting it back together the coax connection broke off, so needless to say that is now re-soldered and far stronger – again it will need to be tested in action. I don’t want any of the equipment failing next month in Cyprus.

Following the group contacts and before I moved off frequency to get enough POTA contacts to qualify the activation, Ernie kindly waited for me to set up the small tripod on the grass behind the car so that we could see if I could get through with the configuration that I am more likely to use from HEMA summits on Cyprus. It appeared perhaps one S-pint down however as the radio conditions change a lot around this time of day, that may have been coincidental. The main point was that Ernie and I exchanged a couple of overs using the HF-PRO2-PLUS-T on the small tripod – so (apart from the loose socket), that all worked as well.

Photos:

  • View around the site.
  • View around the site.
  • View around the site.
  • View around the site.
  • View around the site.
  • Station.
  • Antenna on roof.
  • Antenna on ground tripod.

Equipment taken:

  • Xiegu G-90 radio.
  • Komunica Power HF-PRO2-PLUS-T loaded vertical antenna.
  • Single-magnet car roof antenna mount.
  • 8 Ah LifePO4 battery.
  • 4Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery.
  • Mini photo tripod with radials.
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

POTA DE-0594 / DE-0595 / DE-0797

Activation Log
Contacts map

Conclusions:

The tests did what they were planned to do – find any weaknesses in the equipment that I plan to take to Cyprus next month. To make completely sure, another portable activation with the repaired items is planned.

73 ’til the next activation!