Category Archives: POTA

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!

DD5LP/P – February 20th 2025 – Activation of POTA DE-0729 Ammersee-südufer Bird Sanctuary.

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Preparation:

A park quite close to me that I haven’t yet activated is also near to my wife’s dentist so I decided to plan a short POTA activation from the car, while she was there. After searching Google Maps and Street View, I found one very small pull-off where I could park on the only section of the road that actually passes through the park.

My last couple of activations were what I call PLOTA, so the plan was easy to use the same radio and antenna set-up as in the last two activations however in the last activation when packing up I had managed to bend a break-off the top section of the Komunica Power HF-PRO2-PLUS-T antenna which I rely on for such activations. I contacted the company in Spain to see if spare parts were available and within 24 hours the replacement telescopic whip was delivered (that’s a service that you won’t get if you buy one of the Chinese/Taiwanese copies of this antenna!). So with the repaired antenna, magnetic mount for the car roof, the Xiegu G90 20w radio 8 Ah Lifepo4 battery and log sheets, everything was ready for the afternoon trip.

The Activation

POTA DE-0729

After dropping my wife off I arrived at my spot by 14:30 UTC and was set up and on the air by 14:40 when, while tuning around, I came across an unusual callsign, C31MO from Andorra – he had a strong signal so I called and that was the first one in the log for the day. I then searched to find a free frequency, spotted myself on POTA and called  CQ. Fourteen more contacts came in over the next 18 minutes, one of which was a call from a hunter in Canada and another was a Park-to-Park contact into the UK, so for a quick “Fuill-in” activation, this worked out rather well. While the weather is so cold, these car-based activations are so much easier than the normal activations and in this case, I would not have been able to go anywhere into the park to set up and activate, so the car-based activation was a good solution.

Once I had packed up (this time taking great care not to damage the antenna again) I was back at the dentist’s in good time to pick up my wife. So all in all a good use of what otherwise would have been wasted time!

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-magnet car roof antenna mount.
  • 8 Ah LifePO4 battery.
  • 2Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery (not used).
  • Plastic painter’s sheet (not used) and seat pad (not used).
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

DE-0729 Ammersee-südufer Bird Sanctuary

Conclusions:

  • Another good activation from the car but as temperatures slowly rise above zero, I hope to soon be back to “proper” portable operating but “Static-Mobile” is better than no portable operations.

73 ’til the next activation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DD5LP/P – February 17th 2025 – Activation of POTA DE-0942 Via Julia Nature Trail.

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Preparation:

I came across the trail when looking for somewhere to activate that I haven’t yet activated using the fantastic POTA / SOTA map for Germany at pota-map.info The trail runs from the Bavarian/Austrian border at Salzburg and goes south of Munich, then cross-country and through Augsburg before finishing at Günzberg about 20 km west of Augsburg. On its route from Munich to Augsburg it passes through several small villages, including one called Dünzelbach and that is where I decided to head to, to activate what was at the time, a never-activated POTA trail.

The activation had been planned for Sunday 16th of February 2025 but a sudden, unexpected snowfall, meant the roads were snow covered and especially the small roads to my chosen destination could be completely blocked, so I put off the activation until the following day, by which time, the roads “should” be cleared.

Given the -6°C temperature, this would be car-based “PLOTA” activation and I found a small track/road junction, near Zell just outside of Dünzelbach where I expected to be able to park without blocking access for the farmers.

So, to ensure an early start with the possibility of a DX contact to Ernie VK3DET in Victoria, Australia, all radio equipment was loaded into the car and the magnetic base for the HF-PRO2 antenna was put on the car roof (I wanted to be outside of the car for the minimum time with temperatures so low).

The Activation

POTA DE-0942

Thankfully, although there had been more snow overnight, it had stopped and by 8:05 am (local time – 07:05 UTC), I was on the road following the route given by my GPS system in the car. Most of the route I knew however the last few small roads – which, while cleared through once by a snow plough were still snow-covered in many places.

I arrived at my spot by 07:30 UTC and was set up and on the air by 07:40. These car-based activations are so much easier than the normal SOTA/HEMA activations but I doubt I would be climbing any summits in these temperatures, so at least I was out portable.

I sent Ernie VK3DET a message and he said he’d head to his shack and be listening for me in 10-15 minutes. I had checked, called and found 14.290 MHz free on 20 metres and that is where I was to make the majority of my contacts, despite some eastern European station starting up a net on the same frequency without checking the frequency was free! The location also had another type of QRM, the farmer had a high-powered electric fence around his horse paddock and the spikes from that were a constant annoyance during the whole activation.

To start with it was hard work to get any callers despite spotting myself in the POTA system but eventually, they started coming in, with Ernie from VK3 popping up as number 4 right in the middle of the European caller with a true 5-8 signal. He later told me he was running 400w and his 3-element mono-band beam – so that was certainly doing the heavy lifting. My report was 3-3 but we got the reports across after a couple of tries.

Signal reports around Europe were generally good to very good with my little 20-watt radio and loaded HF-PRO2 getting 5-9+ reports on several occasions.

With 12 in the log and no more callers, I decided to call it a day, pack up and head home. Unfortunately while pushing the telescopic sections of the HF-PRO2-PLUS-T in, I bent the top section, which then “knicked” and later broke. This has become my “go-to” antenna, so I will see if I can repair or get a replacement part. Luckily it was the very top section which broke, so I can operate without it, by simply adjusting the base to include some more coil in the configuration. it is annoying, however, having used this antenna for almost 10 years now. It has proved to be ever reliable. I guess the cold weather froze the top two sections together and I didn’t realise.

On the drive home, the sun was already melting the snow and the roads had improved a lot.

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-magnet car roof antenna mount.
  • 8 Ah LifePO4 battery.
  • 2Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery (not used).
  • Plastic painter’s sheet (not used) and seat pad (not used).
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

DE-0858 Via Julia National Trail

Conclusions:

  • The activation went well. It appears that I will be listed as the first activator of this new trail. I think that’s number 4 of the parks and trails of which I have been the first activator. I wish I hadn’t broken the antenna section but I can’t complain that it hasn’t given me long-time service (and it will most likely still work without the top section)!

73 ’til the next activation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DD5LP/P – February 13th 2025 – Activation of POTA DE-0858 Via Sancti Martini Nature Trail.

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Preparation:

This “pilgrims trail” runs from the North of Germany down to Italy. I had planned it as a part of a “Two-Fer” with another POTA entity however as the opportunity came up to fit in a small POTA activation while taking my wife for an appointment, I decided to take the option to combine a POTA activation with walking the dog, before I needed to pick-up the wife again.

Lately, I have been doing what I call “PLOTA” activations where I operate from a parking lot within a POTA park or on a trail and this would be the same. In this case, I would park by the trail after it goes under the railway line near Kaufering, a suburb of Landsberg am Lech.

As usual, I was able to load all of the radio equipment onto the back seat of our car and put the magnetic base on top of the car the day before, so that the set-up would be quick as my time would be limited.

The Activation

POTA DE-0858

The weather was raining on and off, then, later after the activation and a meal at a Bavarian restaurant, that rain turned first into sleet and then snow in a matter of 15 minutes.

The location that I had marked out, behind the railway lines and near the water board base in Kaufering, was as expected. After the mandatory dog walk, set up was literally extending and then adding the Komunica HF-PRO2-PLUS-T antenna to the roof mount, getting in the back seat, connecting the LifePO4 battery to the radio and I was on-air.

I searched for a free spot on 20m, spotted myself on the pota.app website and then started calling CQ. Within a couple of minutes, I had calls coming in. One by one to start with and then a small pile-up later. The complete activation time was only 15 minutes but long enough to get 17 contacts in the log. It’s amazing what is possible with 20 watts of SSB and a loaded vertical whip. As you will see from the map below, contacts came in from all directions of the compass. several of the callers were people I knew from earlier activations which is part of the POTA community feeling.

After quickly packing up, I arrived back to collect my wife and then we went for a very nice (warming) meal before heading home in the rain/sleet/snow.

Photos:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Equipment taken:

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

Log:

DE-0858 Via Sancti Martini National Trail

Conclusions:

  • The activation went well. I am always amazed at how well this radio/antenna combination works. The simple car set-up works well in plans where others’ needs are to be considered.

73 ’til the next activation!