Category Archives: Adventure Radio

Portable radio operations.

DD5LP/P – March 28th 2024 DL/AM-177 Kirnberg.

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Preparation:

This activation was scheduled to get the 3 winter bonus points before the end of March. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t so good over the last couple of weeks but it looked like Thursday the 28th before lunch should be a pleasant sunny time to enjoy an easy morning activation on this simple summit, and soak up some sunshine. The Wednesday was indeed a sunny morning with showers in the afternoon, so all looked good for Thursday being the same. Rather than testing new versions of antennas as I have been doing on recent activations. This time I would just take the 40m dipole and small (6 metre) mast. I chose to take the Spiderbeam 404-UL rather than the linked dipole as, as well as 20m, I hoped to try for some contacts on 10 metres as part of the current 10 metre challenge. The previous weekend however there had been some really hefty solar activity meaning that 10 metres was unlikely to open but by taking the OCF, I could easily switch bands from the radio without needing to change anything on the antenna.

The Activation

DL/AM-177 Kirnberg

As normal I woke 30 minutes before my alarm went off and was all packed and out of the door at 7:30 am as planned for a 9 am (0800 UTC) start on Kirnberg. I had not realised but the Thursday before Easter is one of, if not the, busiest days on the roads in Germany. A combination of normal traffic, plus people going early on their Easter holidays, people stocking up with food and drink for the long weekend and trucks trying to get their runs completed before being banned from the roads for four days starting on Good Friday. On my route home after the activation, a government road works department had decided this busiest day on the roads, day, was the ideal day to close half of a major road so they could replace some barriers at the side of the busy two-lane “A” road that have needed to be replaced for over a year! The workers put traffic lights in, making it a single-track road and immediately caused a long, long backup of traffic (luckily more in the southern direction as I was heading north). This caused twenty minutes or more delay for travellers within 30 minutes of them starting their work.

On arriving at the normal parking spot for Kirnberg (actually at a Gigersau farm) I was surprised to find a well-prepared parking area for about three cars and a new stoned path up to the summit cross from the parking area. Previously both of these had been a muddy mess, indeed some years ago, I got completely bogged in the parking spot and had to ask the farmer to tow me out with his tractor. These improvements have been paid for by the farmer, not the community and as the cross now forms part of a walking route will get used often.

The set-up for this summit was very simple, the Xiegu G90 radio and the Aerial-51 / Spidebeam 404-UL OCF dipole at 5 metres AGL.

Initially, I started on 20m and contacts from Spain, Finland and the UK before managing a more difficult contact with Ernie VK3DET in Australia. We agreed to try 10m but although I could recognise Ernie’s voice right down in the noise, apart from call signs, I could not understand what he was saying and he could hear nothing from me. this was not a surprise as 10m with the CME hit a few days earlier was opening later than it did the previous week and we were simply too early. Soon after this attempt some of the local feathered community came by as the hens from the farm did what seemed to be their daily round seeking out food in the ground. I had hoped to stay longer and enjoy the sunshine while working more stations today but it was getting colder and while, when I set up there was no wind, there was now an icy cold one and blue skies were starting to fill with clouds.

Back on 20m, I worked another Spanish station and another UK station and then decided to call it a day. I had got enough contacts to qualify the summit and get the winter bonus points but my hope for easy contacts on 10m in the sunshine never happened. 

There’s always another time.

Photos:

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Equipment taken:

  • Mountaintop travelling 40-litre rucksack.
  • Xiegu G90 radio.
  • Screw-in sun umbrella base.
  • 6 Metre Lambdahalbe mast.
  • Komunica Power HF-Pro2-PLUS-T loaded vertical antenna and tripod (not used)
  • Aerial-51 404-UL 40 metre Off Centre Fed dipole.
  • 4 Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery.
  • 4 Ah LiHV battery(not used).
  • Painter’s thick plastic sheet.
  • Gardener’s kneeling pad.
  • Electrical hand warmer.
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for SOTA spotting.

Log:

DL/AM-177 Kirnberg

 

Contacts map

Conclusions:

  • You can’t trust weather forecasts. I’d have loved for this to be a longer activation on more bands however it was not to be.

  • The OCF and 6m mast along with the Xiegu G90 are still adequate to the task of bagging DX contacts although 10 metres didn’t play ball this time.

73 ’til the next summit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DD5LP/P – March 8th 2024 DL/AL-169 Auerberg.

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Preparation:

This activation was rescheduled three times because of bad weather. The aim was to activate DL/AL-169 Auerberg, DL/AL-170 Zweiselberg and DL/AL-172 Senklekopf. Thursday afternoon sunshine was predicted to start and continue through Friday.

 These are three different summits, with different levels of difficulty to reach and different amounts of space available for antenna installations.

Auerberg is a relatively easy summit but space is restricted, the wire beam I have been using will not fit in here. The OCF would be used on this summit as it enables quick band changing in what was likely to be cold conditions. The second summit, Zwieselberg has enough open space for the beam however is a difficult and long climb up a track but I wanted to use the beam from this summit. The last planned summit Senklekopf is even more difficult to get to along single-track farm roads and then up the edges of fields rather than tracks. Although there is enough room for the beam, the extra weight to carry up the steep route, meant that for this summit I planned to use my linked dipole. There was however a problem, with Senklekopf being in the afternoon, there was a good chance that 10 metres would be open to North America and my SOTABeams Linked dipole does not have a link in it (yet) for 10 metres.

I realised however, that if I took two of the the linked dipole elements that I had recently built and calibrated for the wire beam, I could easily build a linked dipole with those same bands (10, 12, 15, 17 & 20m) available. So a new feed-point plate with just two element connections was made up and put in the wire beam box.

All was set, three summits, three different antennas – set the alarm for 6:30 am – what could go wrong?

The Activation

DL/AL-169 Auerberg

As normal I woke 30 minutes before my alarm went off and was all packed and out of the door at 7:30 am as planned for a 9 am start on Auerberg. I normally combine Auerberg with Weichberg as they are close to each other but having already activated Weichberg this year I could not get any more points for it, so I effectively drove past the summit and onto Auerberg. There was some early morning fog which I hoped would clear. It did not, rather as I approached Auerberg, it got worse and worse so that I was slowly down considerably from my normal driving speed. Surprisingly as I arrived at the car park for Auerberg, I came out of the fog and into the sunshine however, all around was under about half a metre of snow. This is not such an issue at Auerberg as the walk from the car park up to the church which sits on the actual summit is up steps with a solid handrail. After sliding a little in the car park, however, I wished I had my shoe spikes with me (I did not).

  On arriving at my usual operating position at the rear of the church I was greeted with half a metre of frozen solid snow on top of the benches which need some good repeated kicks to clear off to make space to set down my rucksack and later the radio. I used my normal way to support the 6-metre mast here by “Bongo-tie”ing it to a fence post and running out the two wires from the balun to fence posts along the border of the drop at the rear of the Church. The coax was run back across the path and to the bench and the radio set up. It was 9 am (0800 UTC) exactly.

I had arranged with Ernie VK3DET to call him at this time, so I checked the Signal messenger and he said he was just about to leave 20 metres to try for a contact with Dave G4AKB on 17 metres but he would be back. Well, as he gave me the frequency on 18MHz, I simply went there and called him and we got a contact in before Dave had left 20m. The equipment was working! As Ernie was waiting for Dave on 17m, I went onto 10 metres put up a spot and was called straight away by EA8DDW from the Canary Islands (officially Africa – so that was two DX continents in the first two contacts). That was to be the only confirmed contact on 10 metres – even though I had half a contact to another SOTA summit in Poland – that would have been groundwave as it is far too close because of the skip distance on the 10 metre band and signals were at the noise level.

Following this I bagged Ernie VK3DET in Australia another two times – once on 15 metres where he was again waiting for Dave, who I could hear, but he could not hear me and also 20 metres which was so full of stations it was really difficult to find a free frequency (and this on a Friday morning).

Although I now had four (or maybe 5 with SP9JTR/P on SP/BZ-024) contacts, these were not 4 different stations, so I still needed a couple more contacts to officially “qualify” the summit. 

Moving to 40 metres gave me eight more contacts in four minutes, after which it was time to pack up and head to the next summit.

The fog still had not lifted and it was as though I was driving down into the clouds when I wound my way back down the road from the summit. I chose not to take the small farm road that the GPS was suggesting as the shortest way to get to the next summit and continued down into Bernbeueren to take the main road. All the time I was hoping that as I approached the next summit, the fog would lift and the snow start to disappear – neither did and as I got probably 90% of the way, I could see that the small roads around had not been cleared well enough for a normal car and that would also mean that the track to the Zwieselberg summit would most likely be blocked. I made the call and turned and headed home rather than heading to either of the other two planned summits. Senklekopf would have been even more difficult to approach as that requires about 10 minutes of driving along a single-track farm road to even get to the parking spot.

Photos:

DL/AL-169 Auerberg:

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Equipment taken:

  • Mountaintop travelling 40-litre rucksack.
  • Xiegu G90 radio.
  • Screw-in sun umbrella base(not used).
  • 7 metre fibreglass mast (not used).
  • 6 Metre Lambdahalbe mast.
  • 10-metre band 2-element wire beam (manual switch version) (not used).
  • Komunica Power HF-Pro2-PLUS-T loaded vertical antenna and tripod (not used)
  • SOTABeams Linked Dipole (not used).
  • Aerial-51 404-UL 40 metre Off Centre Fed dipole.
  • 4 Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery.
  • 4 Ah LiHV battery(not used).
  • Painter’s thick plastic sheet.
  • Gardener’s kneeling pad.
  • Electrical hand warmer.
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for SOTA spotting.

Log:

DL/AL-169 Auerberg

 

Contacts map

 

Conclusions:

  • You can’t trust weather forecasts. Although disappointing, the cancellation of summits 2 & 3 was the right decision and hopefully if the weather improves, I may get a chance to activate them before the end of March (when the winter bonus points stop).

  • The OCF and 6m mast along with the Xiegu G90 are still adequate to the task although 10 metres does seem very quiet compared to other bands on the radio.

73 ’til the next summit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DD5LP/P – March 3rd 2024 – POTA DE-0282 Forstenrieder State Forest.

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Preparation:

This was to be a quick activation during a visit to Munich. It had to be fitted in between two short dig walks and so a park that I had previously researched in the outskirts of Munich fitted well. This would be another POTA activation from inside the car parked in a parking area within the park’s boundaries.

As such, the equipment was well defined – Komunica HF-PRO2-PLUS-T on my three magnet roof mount on top of the car and the Xiegu G90 as the radio. I wondered about trying for some DX on 10m but given the 40 minutes available for the activation, I decided to stick with 40 & 20 metres to make my minimum of 10 contacts.

The Activation

POTA DE-0282

The parking spot is just outside of Neuried with easy access into the forest.

Once I arrived I took Bonnie (the dog) for her first walk, down into the forest, and found a kindergarten in the forest. There was no one there as this was a Sunday but it seems this kindergarten has been set up where it is with the aim of educating young children about nature. After walking back to the car Bonnie happily hopped back into her area at the back of the car and now it was time for some radio!

The antenna was adjusted for 40 metres and then put on the roof and the radio was set up on the passenger’s seat. Immediately it was clear there was some kind of contest on as the band was FULL of stations and even picking odd “in-between”  frequency, the splatter was horrible from the obviously over-driven radios and amplifiers operating on the band. I found the best frequency I could, put out a spot on POTA and started calling CQ.

It was hard work, but after 10 minutes I had 5 contacts in the log but then the calls dried up. So it was time to switch to 20m where, again the contest was in full flow, however on 20m contesters are not supposed to operate above 14.300 MHz so I was able to find a spot between others who had moved this far up the band. After another spot on the POTA list, my first CQ brought back a pile-up of callers, who I worked through one by one, logging a total of a further 19 contacts in the next 20 minutes.

It was now time to pack the radio gear up, take Bonnie for her second walk in the other direction into the forest and then head to pick my wife up before heading home.

All in all, with nice sunny weather this was a good use of the time available and while I got no far DX, there were many good reports on 20m for the simple set-up from all around Europe.

 Photos:

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Equipment taken:

  • Xiegu G-90 radio.
  • Komunica Power HF-Pro2 loaded vertical antenna with a three-magnet car roof mount base.
  • 4Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery.
  • 4 Ah 3S LiHV battery (not used).
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

DE-0282 Forstenrieder State Forest

 

Conclusions:

  • I hate operating on a weekend because of the unnecessary QRM caused by “wanna-be” contesters. The main groups are fine, they do not over-drive audio or amplifiers, it’s the inexperience of newbies taking part that creates most problems as far as I have seen.
  • Forty metres was more of a battle than 20m and generally, I received better reports on 20m than on 40m, meaning (perhaps) that the antenna works better on 20m (where less loading coil is used) than on 40 metres.
  • Overall, however, I am happy with how well the (time-limited) activation went.

73 ’til the next activation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DD5LP/P – February 21st 2024 DL/AM-178 Ammerleite (Schnalz).

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Preparation:

This was to be another test of the beam antenna to take advantage of good propagation and terrestrial weather conditions and while I wanted to try to get some contacts into North America, this would be an afternoon activation rather than my usual early morning ones.

The equipment would be the same as the last time (no tripod) but this time also no antenna analyser, I am confident enough now that, as long as I connect everything up correctly, the antenna will be resonant on 20m and 10m.

As I wasn’t sure of the 10m performance of the trapped antenna variant the last time that I was out, I also packed the non-trapped 10m elements for the antenna. As I have not got a small plastic case where I can pack the beam, both the manually switched and the non-switched feed plates would be taken along.

The Activation

DL/AM-178 Ammerleite

An afternoon activation means that I have time to pack equipment in the car, have my lunch and then travel down to the summit (about a 45-minute drive). I was expecting a muddy track to the summit, but it wasn’t too bad. The main thing was that it was not raining or windy and in fact the sun had actually come out!

As I arrived two walkers were just leaving, so I had the whole area around the cross to decide where I would set the antenna up and which of the two seat benches, I would activate from.

Setting up the antenna has now become routine and the biggest issue is trying the get the screw-in base support fairly near to vertical (I still need more practice at this, as you will see from the photos).

The fact that the antenna has 4 support cords (the antenna elements plus their extender cords) makes the mast/antenna more stable than when just using a dipole.

Once the antenna was set up, I ran the coax back to the bench and set up the radio. I decided to start on 10 metres, as I could see some other activators were already on the band.

The first contact in the log was Rob DM1CM out on Auerberg, so a local Summit-2-Summit contact. He had been on two summits and had started in the morning. The second contact was a call from Holger operating as DL/OE7HPI from another local summit – Rentschen, so there was another S2S contact. This was a good start to the activation but contacts quickly dried up and I found that 10 metres sounded rather quiet when there was no signal present. This started me wondering whether this was a problem with the new antenna or perhaps the radio.

In any case, I decided to switch to 20 metres to see what was happening there and I got a stream of thirteen contacts from around Europe until that seemed to dry up. So I used this time to test the antenna while pointing west initially on some relatively strong signals that I found on the band, I turned the antenna from West to South, to North and back to West – each time needing me to lower the mast, turn the switch and raise the mast again and then wait for the monitored station to come on again. the results I got were the same as at Rösenau Kreuz. Turning the antenna away from the direction of a signal, dropped the signal 1 S-point when side on and 2 S-points when back-on to the station. This (rough) measurement tallies what the antenna models say.

I then switched the radio back to 10 metres again (this is the advantage of having a trapped antenna, that I don’t need to do anything at the antenna when I change between the supported bands).  Just tuning around, I found another SOTA activator who was very weak but was being worked by Sid ZS5AYC out of South Africa. This was the other activator’s frequency so I could not call in, so instead, I switched the antenna to radiate to the South, found a free frequency about 5 kHz higher, spotted myself and started calling CQ. After a couple of minutes – Sid called me, so that contact with Sid and his wife Adele ZS5APT were to be my longest contacts for the day. It was interesting to hear a warbling sound on the signals – which I put down to the Trans Equatorial Propagation.   

After getting those two DX contacts in the log, I tried calling CQ on 10 metres for a while but got no takers. I even tried calling a loud US station, who was calling specifically for low power stations but unfortunately, all the callers I heard, I know have high power stations and hence I and probably most other low power stations could not get through.

I decided to move back onto 20m to at least “reserve” my frequency for a sked I had set up with Caryn KD2GUT who was out in a POTA park on Long Island New York. I got another 10 contacts on 20m into the log but unfortunately, none of those were Caryn – I “think” I heard her voice once, deep in the noise but I’m not sure and it wasn’t long before some QRO station decided to sit 2 kHz off the frequency and splatter all of the frequency making any further attempts at the POTA to SOTA contact futile.

The afternoon was getting closer to dusk and the sun had gone, so I decided to “call it a day” and pack up. I was just finished packing up when a local, walking his dog arrived, so I left him the area – I suspect he might have been there to await the sunset.

Photos:

DL/AM-178 Ammerleite:

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Equipment taken:

  • Mountaintop travelling 40-litre rucksack.
  • Xiegu G90 radio.
  • Screw-in sun umbrella base.
  • 7 metre fibreglass mast.
  • 10-metre band 2-element wire beam (manual switch version).
  • Komunica Power HF-Pro2-PLUS-T loaded vertical antenna and tripod (not used)
  • Lamdahalbe 6m mini-mast (not used).
  • SOTABeams Linked Dipole (not used).
  • 4 Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery.
  • 4 Ah LiHV battery(not used).
  • Painter’s thick plastic sheet (not used).
  • Gardener’s kneeling pad (not used).
  • Electrical hand warmer(not used).
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for SOTA spotting.

Log:

DL/AM-178 Ammerleite

 

Contacts map

 

Conclusions:

  • The wire beam antenna worked well with between 1 & 2 S-points difference on weak signals depending upon the direction it was switched.

  • Once I got home, I tried the G90 radio on the main antenna and while it was a lot more “active” than when out on the summit another point I had seen while out – that turning off AGC completely, had no effect on signals -was still there. So it looks like the “quiet 10 metres” is down to the radio more than the antenna. I then went into the settings and changed the RF gain from 50% to 72% and it made all the difference on 10 metres, the band sounded better and turning off the AGC had the expected effect of “boosting” weak signals. So I’ll be leaving the RF gain at 72% now. Unfortunately RF gain is one control which applies to all bands, there is not a separate setting for each band, which would be nice.

73 ’til the next summit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DD5LP/P – February 16th 2024 HEMA DL/HBY-040 Rösenau Kreuz.

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Preparation:

With band conditions good as we are very close to the top of Solar Cycle 25 and the weather seeming more like spring than winter and importantly with only light winds, I decided another activation with the wire beam was in order.

This time, however, I wanted to use my screw-in-the-ground sun umbrella post base rather than the large surveyor’s tripod. I had also received my awaited rotary switch and so had built the feed-point board with switchable directions. In this case, the mast has to be lowered before the direction the beam is “pointing” can be changed, but this is less work than re-arranging the element/guy cords and less weight to carry that the remote controllable, Bluetooth controlled, relay board.

I had initially planned to activate on Thursday morning, however as Mike in the UK (2E0YYY) was also planning to go out and rain was expected for him on Thursday, we agreed on a Friday morning activation, with Ernie VK3DET also listening to help with tests (we do call ourselves the “Comms-Testers” so this all makes sense). My weather forecast for both Thursday and Friday were good and for one (thankfully) that turned out to be the case.

As usual, all equipment was packed in the back of the car, the day before to allow for an early start. This time in addition to the radio gear I also packed an electric hand warmer “stone” that had been recommended to me after my problems with cold hands on the last few activations.

The Activation

DL/HBY-040 Rösenau Kreuz

This is one of my closest summits about 30 minutes drive away so the trip down on Friday was uneventful. On arriving at my car parking spot in the forest at the first of a series of pilgrims’ holy crosses that lead up the hill into the forest, I finished packing the rucksack. I estimate it weighed somewhere between 16 and 17 kilograms but once on my back, I just had to bear it. The road itself goes further up the hill however it is restricted to non-powered vehicles apart from those with the right of access.

My usual spot is close to the cross outside of the forest where it is, but I wanted to see if I could set up closer to the escarpment which may give a better operation of the antenna. This meant heading in the direction of Schwalbenstein (a lower summit on this ridge). Upon inspection however the flat ground where I would have liked to set up is fastened off with barbed wire, so it is obvious the owner doesn’t want people going there. The activation zone for this summit spreads a little way up and down the ridge, so the next time, I may plan to explore some other areas to see if I can get nearer to the escarpment (and the wonderful views of the River Lech over 100 metres below – as you will see from the pictures). For now, though, I would have to return to my usual activation point as Ernie and Mike would be waiting for me.

Setting up the antenna and radio was problem-free and the screw-in post certainly provided enough support for the 7-metre mast and antenna, so that was one test completed successfully.

Having quickly checked the antenna on the antenna analyser I turned the radio on and tuning around on 20m, I found Mike and Ernie chatting and broke in at the point that they were saying they needed to send me the free frequency they had found. Both stations were strong and we exchanged 5-9+10dB reports between Germany and the UK and 5-7 reports between Germany and Australia. This was on 20m and while Ernie and Mike wanted to go off and try the higher bands, I asked them to give me 5 minutes of conversation, so that I could test switch the antenna direction. Well, of course, it turned out to be ten minutes but the results were worth it! With the antenna electrically pointing West (UK and long path to VK) I took reference signal values from the S-meter and then switched to the other three directions, checking back at the radio each time and on both signals (at different signal levels), I got the following results;

  • antenna 90° off – i.e. pointing North or South, signals 1-S-point down.
  • antenna 180° off – i.e. pointing East, signals 2-S-points down.

So another test was completed successfully, both on the switching mechanism and the antenna in general. 

While Ernie and Mike went off to try and get successful contacts on 17, 15 & 12m, I spotted myself and worked half a dozen stations on 20m. When the callers dried up, I decided to switch to 10m and just as I was ready, I saw that Ernie and Mike had moved there, so I tried to get in contact with them again on 10m. 10m at this time was not very good and while I could hear both Mike in the UK and Ernie in Australia, I was only able to make a minimal contact with Ernie. One problem now was that I needed the beam pointing East to get the Short path to Ernie but West still for Mike. Despite this, the tests showed that again the antenna was directional but the signals were simply not strong enough to make easy contacts.

Once Ernie and Mike had finished their QSO, I asked Ernie to stick around while I changed the elements on the antenna. I suspected that the single band (10m only) elements might work better than the trapped elements, for some reason. Although Ernie was stronger after I changed the elements, 10m it appears had also improved, so this was not a valid test and is one that I will need to repeat this comparison on my next activation, where I intend to head to a summit in the early afternoon when more US stations could be on an. An early morning activation is OK for Australia but it corresponds to the middle of the night in the US and hence there are fewer people on the air.  

  All in all, this was a good activation and some good tests were completed. It was cold to start with and the electric hand warmer “stone” was used successfully a few times, so that was another successful test and will remain part of my activation “kit” at least in the winter months.

The return down the hill was uneventful, as was the drive home in time for lunch!

Photos:

DL/HBY-040 Rösenau Kreuz:

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Equipment taken:

  • Mountaintop travelling 40-litre rucksack.
  • Xiegu G90 radio.
  • Sun umbrella Screw-in base support.
  • 7 metre fibreglass mast.
  • 10/20 metre 2-element wire beam (with switchable and simple feed-point boards).
  • RigExpert AA-30 Antenna Analyser.
  • Komunica Power HF-Pro2-PLUS-T loaded vertical antenna and tripod (not used)
  • Lamdahalbe 6m mini-mast and new metal base peg (not used).
  • SOTABeams end-fed random wire antenna (not used).
  • 4 Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery.
  • 4 Ah LiHV battery.
  • Painter’s thick plastic sheet.
  • Gardener’s kneeling pad.
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for SOTA spotting.

Log:

DL/HBY-040 Rösenau Kreuz

 

Activation Zone:

Map:

 

Conclusions:

  • The antenna worked well on 20m with between 1 & 2 S-points difference in signals depending upon the direction was switched to.

  • The need to lower the mast to switch the direction is inconvenient however the solution is lighter and stronger than the fully remotely switchable option that I tried on the last activation.

  • The 10m section of the antenna still needs to be tested as this time, the band was changing too much to make any conclusions as to whether the elements without traps work better than the trapped section on the 20m elements.

73 ’til the next summit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DD5LP/P – February 12th 2024 DL/AL-179 Weichberg.

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Preparation:

This was a re-try of the attempted activation from the previous Wednesday when high winds made me call off the activation from the car park before I climbed to the summit. This day was supposed to be a fine, warm, sunny day but as usual, two days before the activation, the forecasts changed to overcast, cold and possible winds.

Despite that, I was determined to be ready for an activation and as long as there were no high winds or torrential rain, I would activate. All the gear was packed in the back of the car on Sunday evening ready for an early start at 7:30 am the next day.

“All” this time was to include the surveyor’s tripod and the large feed-point board for the 20/10m wire beam – this would be the first real test on a summit of the ability to switch the antenna direction from my smartphone, something that had been giving me problems for the last six months. Of course, the usual backpack with radio, battery, masts, backup antennas, food and drink, would also be included along with the RigExpert Antenna Analyser.  

The Activation

DL/AL-179 Weichberg

On arriving at the car park for the summit, after an easy (and wind-free) trip down, the winds started to howl between the trees and some threatening-looking clouds were approaching. Despite this, I was determined not to call the activation off again as Ernie in VK3 was going to be available and Mike 2E0YYY/P was heading up to Mow Cop (HEMA G/HSP-020) so that we might make this a three-way contact today (at least on 20m, if not on 10).

After a hard trek up the forest path to the summit, with a loaded rucksack, the tripod over one shoulder and carrying a bag of documents, the antenna plate and antenna analyser in a shopping bag in the other hand, the top was reached and I put most of the gear down at the wooden table.

I unpacked the antenna, mast and Tripod and went straight to the complex installation including the relay board with Bluetooth switching and the trapped antenna elements. If this did not work, I could go back to the simpler setup as I had brought everything with me. Using my Rig Expert antenna analyser I could see that the antenna (initially set in the Long Path Direction (West)) was looking fine, so then I sent a message via the Signal app to the other two, who were both almost ready.

First in the log was Ernie VK3DET followed by Mike 2E0YYY/P a minute later. Both 5-8 to 9 signals on 20 metres. For once, it seemed the system was working well, the first time. My biggest problem was using the messaging app with frozen fingers. There was a light wind which grew over time but was always icy cold. The measured temperature would have been around 3°C but with windchill nearer to -3°C!

We actually managed an easy “net” between the three of us on 20m until Mike said 10m was open and he wanted to try there, so we moved up two bands and I switched the antenna to Short Path for Australia (East from my location). After trying several frequencies, we eventually found a free one and although Ernie was getting to me at around S2, he could not hear me. When Mike tried, I had to switch the beam around to West before I could hear him (again at about S2) again, he could not hear me. So the added problem I had was this need to switch directions to hear the two guys but as they could not hear me at all on 10m, nothing was really lost. they managed to make contact and I told them I’d head off spot myself and try to get some contacts in the log. To me 10 metres sounded rather quiet  compared to other days when I have use the simplified version of this antenna but this could also be propagation. in any case I was glad of a ground-wave call from Mario DJ2MX in Munich, so that I had at least one contact on 10m from the summit.

As I was still short of the needed 4th contact, I switched back to 20m, found a frequency, spotted myself and another 15 contacts came in, in quick succession. I was certainly getting out on 20m!

All of this time, I was fighting to have gloves on to try to stop losing all feeling in my fingers and taking them off when I needed to do something on the phone. Time was also passing, so when there seemed to be no more chasers, I called it a day, packed up, returned down the steep forest path and when I got to the car, it started to rain. That was lucky timing!

Photos:

DL/AL-179 Weichberg:

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Equipment taken:

  • Mountaintop travelling 40-litre rucksack.
  • Xiegu G90 radio.
  • Surveyor’s tripod.
  • 7 metre fibreglass mast.
  • 10-metre band 2-element wire beam (full version).
  • RigExpert AA-30 Antenna Analyser.
  • Komunica Power HF-Pro2-PLUS-T loaded vertical antenna and tripod (not used)
  • Lamdahalbe 6m mini-mast and new metal base peg (not used).
  • Aerial-51 UL-404 OCF dipole (not used).
  • 4 Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery.
  • 4 Ah LiHV battery(not used).
  • Painter’s thick plastic sheet (not used).
  • Gardener’s kneeling pad (not used).
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for SOTA spotting.

Log:

DL/AL-179 Weichberg

Contacts map

Conclusions:

  • The antenna worked well with between 1 & 2 S-points difference on weak signals depending upon the direction was switched to.

  • It would be nice to have a method to have a one-button direction setting action rather than the 4 actions needed at the moment. Perhaps I will need to try to get another model of relay board to which I could script commands.

  • The 10m section of the antenna did not perform very well. Whether that was because of propagation or whether the capacitor does need to be a different value can only be tested by switching between models of the antenna (i.e. with and without the traps).

73 ’til the next summit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DD5LP/P – February 5th 2024 SOTA DL/AM-176 / HEMA DL/HBY-052 Rentschen.

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Preparation:

With progress made on the 2-element wire beam and success at Peissenberg a week previously in the 10m only form, it was time to test the antenna this time with the trapped elements which should make the antenna a dual band antenna able to operate on the 10-metre and the 20-metre bands. This was not to be a test of the Bluetooth relay switching board but rather purely to test out the dual-band nature of the elements. Testing the full system with remote switchable direction will need to wait until another day.

After some days of rain showers, Monday had a good forecast with winds supposed to cease by 9 am and then the day to be sunny if not warm.

After a couple of tests in the muddy local field, the simple feed-point plate with the trapped elements had been trimmed to length, so everything was set for a test from a summit and so the surveyor’s tripod, the 7-metre mast, the antenna analyser and the antenna components were all loaded in the car on Sunday evening along with my 40-litre rucksack containing radio, battery and several antennas and masts, ready for an early start on Monday morning.

The chosen summit “Rentschen” is a plateau and as such a good summit for antenna testing with lots of space and few obstructions. This is a summit that is both in the HEMA and SOTA schemes and so is a “twofer” as POTA activators would say.

The Activation

The trip down was uneventful and I arrived at my usual car parking spot at around 8:15 am local time with my plan to be on the air before 9 am to catch the 20m long path into VK (I had set up a sked with Ernie VK3DET) and then to try the antenna also on 10 metres.

I chose a spot not far from the trig-point stone and I unpacked the mast, tripod and antenna first. These went up well, in the same way as I had installed them on the local field for the earlier tests and trimming. The four wires go out at 90° to each other and because of the combined length of the element and its cord extender (also acting as the guy cords for the mast), form a 56° angle with the vertical mast (the mast is a 7 metre mast but with the top section removed so that the feedpoint board sits at 5 metres above ground level). 

Before unpacking the radio, I attached the antenna analyser to make sure that all still seemed  OK with the antenna – it did. Then the Xiegu G90, headphones, battery and log book were unpacked and laid on my painter’s thick plastic sheet on the ground.

After sending a short Internet message to Ernie and agreeing on a 20m frequency that was free at both ends, I called Ernie and there he was – armchair copy, solid signal! I had the antenna “aimed” long-path (West from me) for this contact. When I needed to move to 10m, it would need to point short-path (East from me) so, rather than going straight on to 10m (a bad decision as it turned out), I decided to work more chasers (HEMA & SOTA) on 20m first.

In the middle of the SOTA callers on 20m,  Matt ZL4NVW from Otago on the South Island of New Zealand called in. This suggests that 20m would have still been good for contacts into VK for another hour or so at least.

Another surprise contact was Alan G7KMW actually mobile while heading into work in the midlands of the UK. An easy copy so I think the antenna is definitely working.

When I decided to switch to 10m it was getting close to 0900 UTC and after dropping the antenna, turning the feed-point board 180° so that the beam would be pointing short-path to VK and raising it again, Ernie VK2DET  and I tried for a 10m contact but if I hadn’t known he was calling I would have mistaken it for just part of the noise. The signal was so weak that there was no chance of Ernie hearing me (but I did try). What was strange was that two VK2 stations VK2CPC and VK2GM were both booming great 59 signals on 10m. Initially, I had thought my antenna wasn’t working on 10m but later I found it was most likely a propagation problem with an X-ray flare hitting the Ionosphere over Australia and pushing the MUF down over VKs 3,5,6 & 8 but not affecting VK2.

image

I only got one contact on 10 metres and that was off the side of the beam with Mario in Munich.

The next test will be to fit the Bluetooth-switched top board, to see if I can hear any difference in signal strengths as I “rotate” the static antenna electrically. I also want to see if I can support the mast with just a ground peg rather than using the surveyor’s tripod. On Rentschen at the start of the activation, there were only very light winds but when I went QRT, they had increased to a level where I may have had issues putting the antenna up so I had timed it right in that respect.

Photos:

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Equipment taken:

  • Mountaintop travelling 40-litre rucksack.
  • Xiegu G90 radio.
  • Surveyor’s tripod.
  • 7 metre fibreglass mast.
  • 10/20-metre band 2-element trapped wire beam.
  • RigExpert AA-30 Antenna Analyser.
  • Komunica Power HF-Pro2-PLUS-T loaded vertical antenna and tripod (not used)
  • Lamdahalbe 5m mini-mast and new metal base peg (not used).
  • SotaBeams linked dipole (not used).
  • 4 Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery.
  • 4 Ah LiHV battery(not used).
  • Painter’s thick plastic sheet.
  • Gardener’s kneeling pad.
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for SOTA/HEMA spotting.

Log:

HEMA

SOTA

CONTACTS MAP

Conclusions:

  • The antenna worked well on 20 metres. The problem with getting through on 10 metres to VK3 was later found to be an X-ray flare hitting the atmosphere over part of Australia, explaining why VK2 and JAs were getting through but not VK3. Others in Europe experienced similar problems.

  • Once the band is open and DX stations are coming in, the “search & pounce” approach can be forgotten as there are too many high-powered stations with large beam antennas that believe it is their right to get in contact with the DX station and if they hear someone else calling ahead of them, they repeat their call after the portable station finishes to make sure that if the DX station goes back to the portable station, he/she can no longer hear the DX station because of the DQRM they are causing. Hardly in the spirit of ham radio!

73 ’til the next summit.

DD5LP/P – January 30th 2024 DL/AM-001 Peissenberg.

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Preparation:

The saga of the 2 element wire beam has continued for some time (months in fact). First with physical feed point board mounting problems, then apparent electronic problems with the Bluetooth relay switching board, then I managed to blow that board by connecting the supply in reverse and when I got what I thought was an exact replacement it wasn’t, meaning that my direction switching scripts on my smartphone no longer worked and had to be replaced by single button switches in the app.

Then along came gale force winds, 30cm of snow and heavy rains in several different sequences delaying testing of the “fixed” electronics on the local field. While stuck inside not able to test the complete solution, I built up an elementary (no electronics) feed-point board, so that I could test out the straight elements and the elements with HF-Kits traps in them (making them suitable for 10 & 20m usage), without having to worry about electronics, Bluetooth or Smartphone issues. In this configuration, it is not possible to switch the direction of the beam, it points in the direction that it is erected for

After a couple of tests in the local field (still rather muddy, but with only three days of dry weather forecast I had to put up with that) the simple antenna was ready for use from a summit for which Peissenberg was chosen, being one of the closest that had room for my surveyor’s tripod, 7m mast and the wire beam. After a further test before lunch, where the trapped elements proved to still need some trimming but the simple 10 metre elements were spot-on, I decided to make this a 10-metre-only activation (even though a CME had just hit the Ionosphere, the MUF was still up above 30MHz) in the late afternoon when 10 metres had been opening up to North America.

The Activation

DL/AM-001 Peissenberg

On arriving at the car park for the summit, it was obvious that others were there, waiting (I believe) to watch the sunset while having a light meal.

I unpacked the antenna, mast and Tripod first before returning to the car for the radio later. I luckily had also brought my antenna analyser along that I had used during my tests in the morning, as after setting the antenna up, the 10 metre band sounded rather quiet and the ATU in the radio took some time to match it to the radio – a sign that something was wrong. I could have then tried the SWR scan feature in the G90 but while I had the Rigexpert AA-30 with me, I put that on and it was obvious that the antenna was not connected. I checked the PL-259 plug at ground level but it quickly became obvious that the problem lay on the feed point board up at 6 metres in the air, so down it had to come down.

The connection problem was traced to the BNC end of the RG-213 coax cable where it plugged into the BNC socket on the simplified feed point board. Once I detached and reattached the BNC plug to the socket on the feed-point board all worked OK for the whole of the activation. I need to find a better solution and indeed after returning home I have been able to make this connection a far more solid “match”. Should the problem re-occur I will solder the co-ax straight to the antenna element connectors.

 Once I had sorted out the connection, 10m sounded a lot more like it should on receive, but despite that and having spotted myself several times on the SOTA cluster, I was not getting calls that I had hoped for,  that was until I heard ZS5APT calling me!  This was Adele and after exchanging reports she said -please wait I have another South African ham that wants to call you – who was ZS5AYC – Sid (her husband). So my first two contacts on the new antenna were in South Africa! I should be happy at that except … the wire beam was pointing at the US (which is West of me), not South Africa (which is South of me). This simple (one direction) antenna would be receiving Adele and Sid off the side of the beam, they were both 5-6 and gave me 5-8/5-9 – not bad for 20w and a wire antenna.

But it left me thinking – would the signal have been better with a simple dipole? I obviously need to do some more testing to prove the directional properties of this antenna.

The next three-quarters of an hour were difficult, I was not getting calls and when I tried to call other stations which I could hear well from the US and Canada, I’d get hammered in their pile-ups.

Two semi-local German stations (DA20XOTA and DJ0AL/P) did persevere through the QRM and QSB, but after that, I could not seem to get any more contacts. Other SOTA activators who were out in the area were too close for me to get S2S contacts, I could hear people chasing them but not the activators themselves. 

I had just about decided to pack up as it was getting towards sunset and more campers were turning up so I used the magic words “LAST CALLS” – and who comes back to me?  Gary K3TCU, from Pennsylvania. He was 5-8 and gave me 4-4 which sounds like an honest report. He kindly ventured from his normal CW to SSB to give me a call.

Photos:

DL/AM-001 Peissenberg:

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Equipment taken:

  • Mountaintop travelling 40-litre rucksack.
  • Xiegu G90 radio.
  • Surveyor’s tripod.
  • 7 metre fibreglass mast.
  • !0-metre band 2-element wire beam.
  • RigExpert AA-30 Antenna Analyser.
  • Komunica Power HF-Pro2-PLUS-T loaded vertical antenna and tripod (not used)
  • Lamdahalbe 5m mini-mast and new metal base peg (not used).
  • SotaBeams linked dipole (not used).
  • 4 Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery.
  • 4 Ah LiHV battery(not used).
  • Painter’s thick plastic sheet.
  • Gardener’s kneeling pad (not used).
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for SOTA spotting.

Log:

DL/AM-001 Peissenberg

 

Conclusions:

  • The antenna definitely works. It can be set up on a summit without too many problems but this time I used the surveyor’s tripod for support, next time I’ll try just the ground peg and the 6m mast rather than the 7m one.

  • If the feed cable issue re-occurs I have enough RG-316 coax (that’s the thin, lightweight stuff), so I will simply solder a length onto the feed plate element connectors and put a PL259 plug on the other end.

73 ’til the next summit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DD5LP/P – January 22-23 2024 – Short Break to Füssen with POTA & HEMA/SOTA activations.

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Preparation:

A short 3-night break with the family to Füssen near the Austrian/German border brought the chance of some portable radio activations. The problem of planning ahead with this trip was the uncertainty of the weather and indeed two of the days were ruled out due to high winds or constant rain but a POTA activation and a combined HEMA/SOTA activation could take place. See previous reports to explain how a summit can be in both HEMA and SOTA. As my new wire beam has, because of long-term sub-zero temperatures and snow cover, not been able to be tuned as yet (and its supporting surveyor’s tripod could not be taken along due to lack of space in the car), the good old 6m telescopic fishing pole with a linked dipole would be the antenna of choice on any summits and the Komunica HF-Pro2-Plus-T on a mag mount on the car roof for the POTA activation which would be again a PLOTA (Parking Lot on the air) from a car park, just within the boundaries of the park. 

The Activations

Monday 22nd January – POTA DA-0003 Ammergauer Alps NP.

This POTA park is quite large and the last time I activated this, it was a joint activation with the SOTA “Laber” summit which is in the East of the park. This time I would be activating from the western edge of the park.

After checking into our hotel and dropping off my wife at the Spa, our dog Bonnie and I drove to the parking area that I had found on the map to be within the park’s boundaries. Of course, before starting operating, a higher priority was to take the dog for a walk up into the forest on the side of the hill. Once this was taken care of I could set up the station in the car. The G90 radio and its battery were put on the front passenger seat and the antenna was located on the magnetic mount on the roof.

I had decided to start on 40 metres as normally this is a sure way to get a few contacts in the log and with POTA 10 contacts are needed to qualify the park. This was more difficult than expected with the spot on the POTA site not bringing the expected flood of calls. I tried a different frequency in case there was someone, that I could not hear on my chosen frequency and after a little while longer I managed four contacts but then the calls dried up. It was about noon and perhaps this is not a good time for 40 metres? 

So after a switch to 20m and re-adjusting the antenna, we had a totally different story with lots of calls getting into the log. Indeed the final count was 23 contacts in 45 minutes, with a few of those being a little longer than the usual report exchange.

Tuesday 23rd January – HEMA/SOTA DL/HBY-036 Eisenberg / DL/AL-171 Eisenberg.

I had considered activating some summits closer to Füssen, that I had not activated before, however as most tracks were still snow-blocked and some others simply dangerous at this time of year, I decided to drive a little further and activate a summit that I know well and have activated several times over the last few years. Eisenberg has a publicly accessible castle ruins on its summit with a wooden platform added to one end, where I normally set up.

En route the rain that had started soon after I left the hotel stopped just as I was arriving at the starting point for the climb. The walk up from the (unfortunately closed) Schlossalm Zell restaurant needed me to fit my shoe spikes as the path was thick ice and as I got closer to the summit, the winds were increasing.

I was not worried as I knew I had a good strong point to strap the mast to and could shelter alongside the wall on the platform. On arriving at the platform, I was surprised to see a new fence across it as it seems half of the platform has rotted away and is awaiting repair. This messed up the idea of setting up on the platform so I searched around in the ruins in the hope of finding a large enough area to string out the antenna and at the same time have some shelter from the winds.

No such spot was to be found but I did find a sheltered spot with enough room to put up my backup antenna, the Komunica HF-PRO2-Plus-T on its tripod with radial wires. This was going to have to be the option and as I could see further clouds heading towards me, I wanted to make a fairly quick activation (for both HEMA and SOTA only 4 contacts are needed to qualify the summit)

Learning from the previous day’s experience I decided to start on 20 metres rather than 40 metres and given the incoming weather, this was going to be a single-band activation.

This activation racked up 17 contacts in 14 minutes (several of these regular chasers who I had not yet talked to in 2024) before I packed up and headed back to the car at which point the incoming rain started – I had been lucky with the weather.

At this point, an activation of Falkenstein (another summit with castle ruins on it), had been planned for either Wednesday or Thursday but very strong winds on Wednesday and constant rain on Thursday, meant that activation never took place.

 Photos:

POTA DA-0003 Ammergauer Alps National Park

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HEMA DL/HBY-036 / SOTA DL/AL-171 Eisenberg

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Equipment taken:

  • MountainTop 40-litre rucksack.
  • Xiegu G90.
  • Komunica Power HF-Pro2-PLUS-T loaded vertical antenna. (used with magnetic mount for the first activation and on a tripod with radials for the second activation).
  • Three-magnet car roof antenna mount.
  • Modified mini photo tripod with clip-on radials
  • Lamdahalbe 6m mini-mast (not used).
  • SotaBeams linked dipole (not used).
  • 4 Ah LifePO4 Eremit battery.
  • 4.5 Ah LiHV battery.
  • Painter’s thick plastic sheet and gardener’s kneeling pad.
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone to spot and back-channel comms. 

Logs:

POTA DA-0003 Ammergauer Alpen NP

POTA Contacts Map

HEMA DL/HBY-036 Eisenberg

SOTA DL/AL-171 Eisenberg

SOTA Contacts map:

Conclusions:

  • The weather was a problem mainly on the second two days, stopping the hoped-for third activation.
  • The Xiegu G90 continues to work reliably.
  • Again the Komunica Power HF-PRO-2-Plus-T – again saved the day on the summit activation.

73 ’til the next summit/park/island.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DD5LP/P – December 27th 2023 – POTA DA-0458 Osterseen Nature Reserve.

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Preparation:

As part of a family day out I wanted to do some radio and I have had this park on my list of “close-by” locations for some time and as my wife wished to visit a Museum just 20 minutes away, this all got planned together with two dog walks for our dog, Bonnie.

Checking the maps, I found that the “Wanderparkplatz” was in the park boundaries and while the other two parking areas in the park shown are off the road next to private businesses, this patch of muddy ground would have to do.

I would operate from the car, as I have done for all of my POTA activations so far and that means the G90 radio on the passenger seat and the Komunica HF-PRO-2 on the three-magnet roof mount.

The plan was to operate for between an hour and 90 minutes while fitting in the drive to and from the spot from the Museum and two dog walks.

This would be the very first activation of this park within the POTA award scheme although it is also in the WWFF scheme, where it has been activated before.

The Activation

POTA DA-0458 (WWFF DLFF-0441)

The walker’s parking spot is just a few hundred metres outside of the small town of Seeshaupt on the Southern end of Lake Starnberg. When I arrived there was no one there so I parked up next to the map of the area and took Boonie for her first walk, down into the forest, across the railway line and then over towards the lake. On our return, another car had joined us in the parking area and the couple with the car were getting ready to start the walk around the lake. It was dry and sunny but still cold, so everyone was wrapped up well.

Now it was time for some radio!

Bonnie was put back in her area at the back of the car and she settled down. The antenna was adjusted for 20 metres and then put on the roof and the radio was set up on the passenger’s seat. To start with there was very little on the band except for two very strong Spanish stations who I heard were returning calls from European stations even though they were calling CQ DX, so the band was obviously not open. I called the stations and with my little 20 watts and loaded whip antenna got them with no problem at all (obviously their antennas were pointed in my direction). Both were running 1 kW output.

I then chose a frequency, checked it was free and then spotted myself on the POTA website and it wasn’t long before I got a stream of calls coming in. There seems to be a lot of people in Europe willing to chase POTA stations but far, far fewer activators active than in the SOTA system for example. I know this is not the situation in the US, so it seems the POTA scheme is still finding its feet in Europe.

With 19 contacts in 29 minutes on 20m, I was happy but also surprised that despite this number of contacts, the majority were more than just signal report exchanges and all exchanged greetings for Christmas and New Year. Contacts were from all around Western Europe, from Italy and Spain in the south to Sweden and the Shetland Islands in the north.

When I decided to move over to forty meters, I only managed three contacts before giving up with all of the QRM but one of those was with a French amateur activating a 10-point SOTA summit in Germany.  I think I was his last contact before he packed up to head back down the mountain.

Before heading back to pick my wife up from the museum Bonnie got her second dog walk of the day.    

All in all, this was a nice use of a couple of hours, in the fresh air and it turned out to be another FIRST-TIME POTA activation for the park.

 Photos:

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POTA DA-0458:

Equipment taken:

  • Xiegu G-90 radio.
  • Komunica Power HF-Pro2 loaded vertical antenna with a three-magnet car roof mount base.
  • 4Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery.
  • 2.5 Ah 3S LiPO battery.
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

DA-0458 Osterseen Nature Reserve

Conclusions:

  • Once I finally got some POTA hunters calling me, it was fine although to start with I thought I would be hunting down the needed 10 contacts simply from stations on the 20m band.
  • Forty metres was an uneven battle – so many stations on and not enough space. I’m glad that I got so many contacts on 20m and didn’t need to rely on 40m.
  • Interestingly the majority of the contacts that I had were longer than the usual callsign and signal report exchanges and several stations waited until I had finished before trying to get through to me again. This was like the bands 10 years ago – a big improvement on more recent experiences. Perhaps there was still a little “Christmas Spirit” around?

73 ’til the next activation!