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:

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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 (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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DD5LP/P – January 27th 2025 – Activation of POTA DE-0594 Münchner Jakobsweg, DE-0595 SüdostBayen Jakobsweg & DE-0797 König Ludwig Weg (3-Fer).

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Preparation:

Following along from my POTA 3-Fer (which I didn’t realise was a 3-Fer until afterwards) on January 14th, I started checking where multiple POTA entities (parks or trails) crossed or ran together. These spots often seemed to be where large churches with a hostelry were (I guess pilgrims do need sustenance after a day’s walking). A great help in doing this is a website called pota-map-info which maps out the POTA trails and parks (and also SOTA summits) for the German-speaking countries in Europe. This must have been a major undertaking as getting the exact routes of trails and boundaries of parks in a digital mapping format from many different sources is very difficult.

Thanks to this great resource, I was able to quickly see that three trails converged on what is also a SOTA summit (DL/AM-001) at Hoher Peißenberg. In the summer, this could therefore be a good choice for a combined SOTA/POTA activation however in pouring rain/sleet, the attraction to operate from within my car (which in POTA is allowed but not in SOTA) was too great. as a second purpose for this activation was the chance to test out my recently completed portable amplifier box. Normally I operate just 20 watts of SSB from my Xiegu G90 radio but there are times when a little more (such as during the international Lighthouse and Lightship weekend) when closer to 100 watts would be useful. The “pelican-like” plastic case, not only holds the converted Chinese 20-30MHz amplifier but also a band-switchable Low Pass Filter and an Antenna matching unit – the well-known ATU-100. To power all this the case has a 12 AmpHour LifePO4 battery strapped into it and this also provides the power for whichever radio I decide to use with it, whether the G106, G90 or X6200 – all have the needed 5 watts drive to produce at least 60 watts output from the box (more on some bands). This box had been tested in the cellar into a dummy load but not yet in a real activation.

    Following the same process used on recent POTA car activations, the radio gear was set up in the car ready for use, the previous day, even down to the three-magnet base being put on the car rook (but without the HF-PRO2-PLUS-T attached, so that all would be ready for an early (8 am local time, 07:00 UTC) start the following day. As usual, Ernie VK3DET had promised to listen out for me however I expected him to be one of my later contacts as the long path on the 20 metre band to Australia had only been opening around 09:00 UTC of late.  

The Activation

POTA DE-0594 & DE-0595 & DE-0797

After an uneventful drive down to Hoher Pießenberg (a run I have made, many, many times in the past), I was happy to find the car park almost empty and drove over to the parking fee machine and emptied 10 cents coin by 10 cents coin, my weighty and unwanted small change into the machine to pay the €2 fee for up to 3 hours parking.

This summit/site has the luxury of having a publically accessible toilet house where I also left some more of my unwanted small change (this time as a contribution, there is no fee for usage).

With the car now parked looking over the rolling meadows behind the church and looking towards the Ammer Lake, I took the pre-set antenna out of the back seat of the car and extended its telescopic whip to maximum length.

I powered on the new portable amplifier box, ran the ATU, found a free frequency, posted a spot on the POTA site and sent Ernie a message informing him that I was set up and running and would you know it, my first contact was with Ernie VK3DET in Victoria, Australia at 0750 UTC about an hour earlier than expected. He simply returned to my first CQ call as if I was just down the road! He was also working “barefoot” without his amplifier and this was an easy contact and nice to have him first in the log. A few more CQ calls and I slowly got up and past the required 10 contacts for a POTA activation (finishing with 14). There was no real pile-up this time, just hunters getting on and calling me when they saw the POTA spot. Contacts came in from all directions around Europe as you will see from the map and log below.

There were no calls from the US although my signal would be passing over the southern part of the US to get to Australia but looking at the clock difference, there’s an obvious reason why I got no calls from the US – they would all be in bed sleeping!

While there were no park-to-park contacts on this activation, several of the hunters were very happy to hear that they had scored 3 POTA contacts in one.    

Photos:

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Equipment taken:

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

Log (same for all three POTA entities):

DE-0594 Münchner Jakobsweg, DE-0595 SüdostBayerischer Jakobsweg & DE-0797 König Ludwigs Weg

Conclusions:

  • The Portable amplifier worked perfectly, signal reports were higher than usual and no problems (such as RF Ingres) were reported.
  • A contact between DL and VK3 at 07:50 UTC on 20m SSB was a surprise and just goes to show that you can’t trust propagation to behave as you expect and the only option is to get out and try!
  • The pota-map.info site is just what I bemoaned the lack of in my last but one activation report. Thanks to Rob DM1CM for pointing me to this great resource. It’s a shame that it only covers Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein and Austria but for me it’s ideal!

73 ’til the next activation!

DD5LP/P – January 23rd 2025 – Activation of POTA DE-0458 Osterseen Nature Reserve.

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Preparation:

This activation was planned to coincide with my wife’s visit to the Penzberg Museum as a birthday treat. This would be another “family outing” with my wife getting her GlasArt exhibition visit and our dog getting a different walk. After my activation, we would meet up again and head to a favourite restaurant of ours, nearby, for lunch. This also needed to be a from-the-car simple activation with interspersed dog walks. The equipment therefore 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 just on 20 metres which had been open of late, however, the time I would be by Fohensee Lake in the Osterseen Park would be too late for long path DX (or so I thought)…

The Activation

POTA DE-0458

The weather was not particularly nice—cold and raining on and off. The location, a carpark right on FohenSee not far from Iffledorf, was half iced over, making both driving and walking a little “interesting.” The lake itself was fully frozen over from side to side!

On arrival, I paid my €2 for 2 hours, although I probably could have not paid with no one to be seen for miles, but I felt the contribution was justified even if it only gets collected from the machine in spring. The first priority was the dog’s walk from which several of the pictures were taken. With temperatures around 0-2°C, I operated from within the car, this time from the back seat, as I could lay everything out there at home before leaving! 

After the walk, I connected the antenna to the magnetic base which I had on the roof since leaving home and started searching 20 metres for contacts – It was around 10:40 am local time (09:40 UTC) and I was surprised to hear a ZL2 station on 14.317 MHz chatting happily to a couple of UK stations. He was obviously not looking for contacts but I was surprised to hear his signal so late on the band with such a simple antenna.

At this point, I found another “strange” call sign – ZA/OE8NDR who was calling CQ without a response, so I called him and we had a quick chat Fritz, was visiting Albania. This may have been the first time I have worked Albania – at least when portable.

Mike, “2E0YYY” was also out at the southern end of the Pennines in the UK on a small GMA summit called “Merryton Low” which is a GMA scheme summit but as Mike was not only fighting the cold but also some very high winds, he was operating from his car and so could not claim to be on the summit for the award. Merryton Low however is within the Peak District National Park, which in POTA is GB-0048. so with an easy contact with Mike, I had my first P2P of the day in the log (as Mike doesn’t take part in POTA however, the contact will not count for additional points). Mike and my mate, Ernie VK3DET, was also listening to the band however he could not hear me and I could not hear him. which at, now past 10:00 UTC, did not surprise me.

When I finished talking with Mike, I spotted myself on the pota.app website and a steady flow of contacts followed. One of those was DK5UR who was also out, not in one, but in two overlapping POTA parks, so this was a P2P-2Fer contact. Once my callers dried up, I needed to plan Bonnie’s second walk in the park before returning to the Museum, so I checked for other activators and managed further contacts with EA2CCG and PD3RL both of whom were in overlapping parks and so these were two more P2P-2Fer contacts!

All in All, I managed 13 contacts in 22 minutes and this gave me enough time to pack everything up carefully before returning to the Museum and onwards to our restaurant for lunch. This turned into a nice day out despite very average weather conditions.

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 (used) and seat pad (not used).
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

DE-0458 Osterseen Nature Reserve

Conclusions:

  • The activation went well. The simple car set-up worked out well and fits into plans where others’ needs have to be considered.

73 ’til the next activation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DD5LP/P – Activation of POTA DE-0456 Taubenberg/SOTA DL/MF-082 Schwarzer Berg and SOTA DL/BE-093 Buchberg.

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Preparation:

These two summits are included in the around 45 summits that will disappear from the SOTA award Scheme on January 1st 2025. These two summits are the start of my “OLH” (One Last Hurrah) action. I hope to activate 2 or 3 more before the end of the year.

It just so happens that Schwarzer Berg DL/MF-082 is Taubengerg and Taubenberg has its own POTA park definition – so this location at least will not be lost for portable operators. Several other summits which are being removed from SOTA are already in the HEMA system and hence will “live on” within that scheme.

The weather and my health stopped my first two attempts to do these activations so I was determined to complete these activations once and for all. The weather looked good (as much as we can trust weather forecasts) until midday when rain was forecast. Checking the Activation Zone for DL/MF-082 the spot where I normally park my car near the St Benno chapel, is well within limits and as this will no doubt become the POTA-preferred location, I decided I could save myself the extra walk up to the observation tower where I normally set up. This also meant that I could use my 10-metre mast and surveyor’s tripod to maximise my chance of a contact with Ernie VK3DET via 20-metre long-path propagation when I arrived. (Band conditions had not been good for the last few days following CMEs and a minor G1 storm hitting the earth’s atmosphere). 

To get to Schwarzer Berg as early as possible, the car was packed the night before with the usual G90 backpack, now with the 12Ah LifePO4 battery plus the Aerial-51 OCF dipole, 10m mast and surveyor’s tripod.

The Activations

POTA DE-0456 / SOTA DL/MF-082

After rising at 06:30 am, I left home at the planned 07:30 CET, taking the cross-country route rather than the autobahn over Munich as the pre-Christmas traffic was already affecting that route. Unfortunately, only about 30 minutes away from home, the country road was closed by the Police and Fire Brigade following a road accident. Often in the country, parallel to the road there is a tarmac route used by farmers, cyclists and pedestrians and this was the case here and traffic was diverted around the completely blocked 2-lane road, first in one direction and then the other. This cost me about 20 minutes extra on top of the planned time but could not be helped and thankfully it looked like there was no one injured, just broken parts of the two cars all over the road.

I had heard in advance that, for the first time in over 20 years, the Taubenberg Park had been logged and to expect a messy (officially auto-useable) track up to the parking spot. This report was not wrong, however apart from all the logs pilled up at the side of the road awaiting collection, the road surface was not a lot worse than usual with potholes remaining the main danger although oncoming traffic was also a worry. On the way up I was lucky, on the way down later however, I had to clear the single-track road twice to allow cars coming up the track to get through.

I wish I had thought of setting up near the chapel on my earlier activations as it has a nice (fairly fat) area of grass which is unrestricted and larger than by the observation tower. Setting up the antenna took longer than hoped as it collapsed on itself twice before I finally got it erected. This has always been a problem with the DX-Wire/SotaBeams 10m travel mast. The whole set-up was, however, in place and operational almost at my planned time. I messaged Ernie VK3DET and he was ready and suggested a frequency which was clear with him but not with me, so we found another and tried again. I called Ernie and he could not hear anything – he then fired up his station with an amplifier and 3-element beam and I could hear him – probably about S2 but with zero noise level, S2 is fine but of course, it was clear, for once we were not going to make it, as I would be emitting a signal many, many, dBs less from my 20w and a dipole. We tried another time before calling it a day. 20m was short with inter-Europe contacts being easy but DX unobtainium.

Skip was definitely short as after I finished with Ernie and spotted myself on SOTA, I got a big pile-up from stations all around Europe, Scandinavia and the UK. 28 contacts in as many minutes including one S2S and the RSGB National Radio Centre GB3RS. Then I switched to POTA and in 23 minutes, made 22 contacts – one being Don G0RQL, so he got added to the end of the SOTA log as well.

SOTA DL/BE-093 Buchberg

I had taken the shortest (small roads) route from Bad Tölz to Schwarzer Berg, but I decided to take the main roads to get back to Bad Tölz (where Buchberg is located) expecting it to take less time but the same road is used to come down from the Autobahn to the Tegensee tourist area which meant it was busy and this route took longer than planned. On arrival at my usual parking spot, I found trees stacked awaiting collection, so I had to find another sport further along the road before walking back and then up to the Holy Cross on Buchberg. This time, as it is quite a steep climb, I decided just to take the G90’s 40L rucksack and operate using the loaded vertical on its photo tripod. 

Once I had all the equipment set up I was surprised to find that received signals on 20m were now stronger from this, lower summit with a smaller, less efficient antenna. One spot and a couple of CQ calls brought in 12 contacts (including one S2S contact) in 12 minutes. By noon the temperature had dropped somewhat so I decided to call it a day and just as I finished packing up, the first raindrops started. So, good timing.

The journey home was thankfully, uneventful.  

Photos:

Taubenberg/Schwarzer Berg

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Buchberg

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Equipment taken:

  • Xiegu G-90 radio & 12 Ah  LifePO4 battery.
  • Aerial-51 OCF UL-404 dipole antenna (used only at first activation).
  • Ten-metre mast (used only at first activation).
  • Surveyor’s tripod (used only at first activation).
  • Six-metre mast (not used).
  • Screw-in Sun umbrella foot (not used).
  • Komunica Power HF-PRO2-PLUS-T loaded multiband vertical (used only at second activation).
  • Photo tripod with radials (used only at second activation).
  • 2Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery (not used).
  • 4 Ah 3S LiHV battery (not used).
  • Plastic painter’s sheet and seat pad.
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Logs:

SOTA DL/MF-082 Schwarzer Berg

POTA DE-0456 Taubenberg

SOTA DL/BE-093 Buchberg

Conclusions:

  • The activations both went well, considering the limited time available.

73 until the next activation (s)!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DD5LP/P – November 21st 2024 – Activation of POTA DE-0888 Staffelwald bei Irsee Nature Reserve.

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Preparation:

This is a park that I recently got added to the POTA system – I had planned to activate it the previous week but plans changed and I could not add this to the list of my “First Activator” parks – but that’s OK. At the same time as proposing this Natura 2000 park, I also proposed the Crescentia Pilgrims nature trail walk, which at 77 km long, I consider a long trail. Unfortunately under regulations brought in, by POTA Germany at the start of November 2024, the minimum length of any new trail to be added to the scheme is 150 km – so just the major European trails which either start or pass through Germany will be accepted. So be it – it’s a shame as I believe a trail even a “short” one of 77 km gives many more opportunities for activation than a park. The location I chose on the park’s edge was also on the Crescentia trail, as you will see from the photos, so this would have been a “2-fer” for POTA hunters.

This activation was planned to coincide with another Museum for my wife, this time “Kunsthaus” in Kaufbeuren. As with the last activation I also needed to have the dog along and as such, I needed an easy (work from the car) spot with good dog walking trails. I found this on the very southernmost part of the park’s border on the outskirts of the village called Ölmuhlhang. At least that is what it is called on Google Maps. In my “Navi” however, I could not find it and signposts were not indicated until I got to my parking spot. The village is known as Kleinkemnat and only a very small part of it is called Ölmuhlhang. In any case, this location was only 6 minutes drive from the centre of Kaufbeueren so a very practical solution for a “family outing”.

The equipment would again be the ever-reliable Xiegu G90 and the Komunica HF-PRO2 antenna on a magnetic mount on the car roof. I planned to operate on 10 and 20 metres.

The Activation

POTA DE-0888

The weather was not nice—around freezing. The trip to Kaufbeueren went quicker than expected. At least it did until we got into the town to find the main road closed completely and the diversion very badly signposted. Luckily guessing where the diversion was “supposed” to go, we got back to the part of the main road that we recognised after the section that was closed. After dropping my wife off near the “Kunsthaus” Museum, I carried on along the roads that I felt were heading in the correct direction, hoping to see a signpost to Ölmuhlhang but not seeing one until the point where I recognised the car park from my check of the area using Google street view, the day before.

This was a simple, free car park, that might hold perhaps 6 or 7 cars, but for my purpose it was fine. So I parked up and decided that after the drive from home, the first priority was the dog’s walk during which, following the Crescentia trail, took us down into the forest, over a small bridge over a stream and up to a nice secluded grassy area, which would be fine for a “real” portable (i.e. not from the car) operation, when the weather is warmer. the trail is marked by crosses – one was at the car park and the next could be seen at the top of the next rise but we decided to turn around at this point to return to the car and set up for operation. Several of the pictures below were taken from this trail.  

Once the radio and antenna were set up, after my disappointment last time starting on 10m, I decided to start on 20m and it paid dividends with lots of hunters. This time there were no park-to-park contacts in the log and the skip on 20m was short apart from a contact with a station in the Azores, all contacts were in Europe. Initially, calls were slow coming in but after a while, I had a pile-up that lasted about 25 minutes. Following this I decided to give 10 metres a go – it was a waste of time. I could not raise any calls and the only stations I could hear on the band were the usual high-power Russian ones. I decided that as I had 24 contacts in the log, this time I would take the time to pack everything up correctly and take the dog for another walk – this time along the track that marks the edge of the park and after that it was time to return to pick up my wife and head home for lunch.

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.
  • 12 Ah LifePO4 battery.
  • 4Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery (not used).
  • Plastic painter’s sheet (used) and seat pad (not used).
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

DE-0888 Staffelwald bei Irsee

Conclusions:

  • A nice trip out with a good number of contacts in a short time. Again, the simple car set-up worked out well.

73 ’til the next activation!

DD5LP/P – November 13th 2024 – Activation of POTA DE-0458 Osterseen Nature Reserve.

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Preparation:

This activation was planned to coincide with my wife’s visit to the Buchheim Museum in Bernreid on Lake Starnberg. So, in addition to fitting her schedule, I also needed to have our dog along. Hence, this would be a simple activation from the car, interspersed with dog walks. The equipment therefore 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 just on 10 metres which had been open of late, however, the propagation gods were not with me …

The Activation

POTA DE-0458

The weather was not particularly nice—cold and a little foggy. However, the location I found within the park, a carpark right on FohenSee on the outskirts of Iffledorf, was a nice spot despite the weather. In the tourist season, I suspect this will be a bustling spot with a caravan park, restaurant, and a narrow access road, but in November, I had the whole area to myself.

After dropping my wife off at the Museum, it was a 20-minute drive down to my activation spot.

On arrival, I paid my €2 for 2 hours, although I probably could have not bothered with no one to be seen for miles, but I felt the contribution was justified even if it only gets collected from the machine next spring. The first priority was the dog’s walk from which several of the pictures were taken. Had I wanted to set up away from the car, there is a nice lawned area with picnic tables and benches but in this case, I was limited for time and with temperatures around 0°C, I preferred to operate from the car! 

After the walk, I set up the radio and antenna and started searching 10 metres for contacts – I was somewhat disappointed and after spotting myself, getting only 2 contacts on 10m and seeing that most activators were on 20m, I decided to switch band and initially went hunting the Park-to-Park contacts. I “bagged” five in a row and after the fifth a chaser F5PYI called me to QSY 5 down to have a QSO, which I did and then stayed on this new frequency, spotting and calling CQ, this brought in 19 chasers contacts but the operation on 10 metres had taken some time and hence I had to pull the plug before heading back to the museum.

All in All, I managed 26 contacts in an hour, which is quite good and shows that the number of POTA chasers on a weekday (this was a Wednesday) is increasing, almost to the level of SOTA chasers.

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.
  • 12 Ah LifePO4 battery.
  • 4Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery (not used).
  • Plastic painter’s sheet (used) and seat pad (not used).
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

DE-0458 Osterseen Nature Reserve

Conclusions:

  • The activation went well. It didn’t start well but later I had to apologise to callers as I had to pack up and leave to collect my wife from the Museum. I had only one DX call but plenty of European activity on 20m. The simple car set-up worked out well.

73 ’til the next activation!