Tag Archives: POTA

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 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 – 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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DD5LP/P – October 21st 2024 – Activation of POTA DE-0663 Lechpark Pössinger Au.

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Preparation:

This activation was planned for Sunday the 20th of October to coincide with the “Support your parks” weekend and to test out my 2-element wire beam with its elements now extended to cover 40 metres.

The weather was not as forecast, in fact, Sunday was a cold and wet day where the grass never dried out from the heavy morning dew in it.

Monday’s weather however looked better, so the cancelled activation became a postponed one and took place on Monday the 21st of October.

The Activation

POTA DE-0663

This is my closest park, a 15-minute drive away from home and while the park covers a large area along the side of the River Lech and encompasses an animal park, there are many locations where an activation is possible. I have found a field within the park, where deer often graze and is close to the road named “Pössinger Au”. As you can see from the picture below, (indicated by the red arrow) the area is bounded by trees but there is more than enough room for my antenna and is rarely visited by the general public. The Brown arrow is, in fact, part of the POTA nature trail DE-0791 LechErlebnisWeg, so operating from where the brown arrow points would be a POTA “2-Fer”. However, space there is restricted and in good weather a lot of people walk through there – so it is not a good spot to test a large antenna! 

After arriving and setting up the antenna on 40m, I put the Antenna analyser on the antenna to find there was no dip at the expected (and tested the week before) 7.1MHz. The antenna was switched to point West and I wondered if I had a bad connection in the manual switch, so I lowered the mast, switched from West to North and tried again – the same problem occurred. Repeat and try – North to east – and now there was the expected dip near 7.1 MHz – perhaps it’s just one connection on the switch that has a problem? I lowered the mast again, switched to South, raised and tested, no dip. Odd, but East works so I lowered and tested again and this time even East did not have the expected dip. This has to be a common component that has failed, perhaps intermittently. I realised I had another feeder coax with me so I changed that out and “Bingo” all directions were now showing resonance around 7.1MHz. My conclusion – it must be the RG-174 coax cable that has failed in either the BNC or PL-259 plug, but in fact, when tested after returning home, the cable was fine and it was the BNC socket that had a bad centre connection  – possibly as a 75 Ohm BNC plug had been pushed into the 50 Ohm socket, widening the grips on the centre pin. I re-tensioned those and the complete run checked out.

But, back to the activation. I had previously seen in a model that with my wire beam at only 7 metres AGL, the radiation pattern is close to omnidirectional rather than beam-like and that proved to be the case with my six 40-metre contacts coming from all points of the compass from where I was located. At least the antenna works on 40m, even if it brings no advantage over a dipole.   

It was time to test the antenna on 10 metres, so I lowered the antenna and removed the link at the end of the 10m section on all 4 elements, switched the antenna direction to West and started calling CQ.

My first caller was VE3RNH from Canada and then in quick succession another ten calls from the US or Canada, including one Park-to-Park. There was also a call from Mike R2BRJ in Moscow off the back of the beam. Ten metres was certainly “open” and with a mixture of 59, 58 and 55 reports the wire antenna with 20 watts was certainly working well.

Looking at the POTA cluster, there were several operators out in Europe on 20m – so I again lowered the mast, reset the 10m links and removed the 20m ones.  While tuning around, I came across YB7ONC from Indonesia, but even with my antenna switched in his direction I could not get a response from him. I was not alone however, he only seemed to return to very strong stations, so perhaps he has a high local QRM? In any case, it was nice to at least receive a signal from Indonesia. After this, I found a free frequency, spotted myself on the POTA cluster and waited for any calls. Unfortunately, I suspect the number of stations on the band was the problem and no one could hear me for the noise. I then saw a recent post on the cluster for another POTA operator IT9KHP in Sicily, whom I called and we had a 59 / 59 Park-to-Park QSO with no problem whatsoever.

Time was passing and while the 12Ah LifePO4 battery showed no signs of reducing its voltage I decided that I had done enough testing and given a lot of North American POTA chasers a new park and it was time to pack up and head home for tea.

Photos:

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Equipment taken:

  • Xiegu G-90 radio.
  • 7-metre mast and screw-in sun umbrella base.
  • 2-element wire beam.
  • 12 Ah LifePO4 battery.
  • 4Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery (not used).
  • 4 Ah 3S LiHV battery (not used).
  • Plastic painter’s sheet (used) and seat pad (not used).
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

DE-0663 Lechpark Pössinger Au

 

Conclusions:

  • The activation went well. It served the purpose of testing the antenna and its expansion to cover 40 metres however, my conclusion is to remove the 40m extensions and keep this as a 5-Band 10-20m antenna.

73 ’til the next activation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DD5LP/P – June 28th 2024 – First ever activation of POTA DE-0766 Seewald Landscape Reserve.

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Preparation:

While preparing my trip to Ham Radio Friedrichshafen this year I saw a second POTA park defined in Friedrichshafen, other than the one I activated in 2023. As I normally activate both SOTA summits near “FN” when I am there, I decided instead to activate this new POTA and the closest SOTA location over the weekend. The weather forecast was for mixed sunny and rainy weather, so I could fit these activations in around the weather and the actions that I had planned at the HAM RADIO event. I added the location of one of the park’s car parking areas into my GPS in the car to simplify finding the location.

The Activation

POTA DE-0766

After arriving at Ham Radio and completing my first trip around the halls, I decided on a morning activation before lunch. The radio gear was already in the back of the car so it was a short 10 minute drive from HAM RADIO at the Neue Messe to this new park.  

I was hoping for a quick activation and operation from the car using a loaded vertical on a magnetic mount on the roof. The band of choice was 20m as higher bands had not been working well. Mode would be SSB as usual and with 20w from the G90 radio, I found a frequency and started calling and then spotted myself on the POTA spots list. The band was a little noisy atmospherically and as time went on, noisy from other stations. Add into this QSB and this was not the simplest of activations especially when in a rush. The chasers thankfully were there and after 11 contacts and when the QRM from a station that had fired up 1 KHz away from where I was got unbearable, I closed down, packed up and headed back to the show.

Photos:

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Equipment taken:

  • Xiegu G-90 radio.
  • Three magnet car roof mount.
  • Komunica Power HF-PRO2-PLUS-T loaded multiband vertical.
  • 4Ah Eremit LifePO4 battery.
  • 4 Ah 3S LiHV battery (not used).
  • Plastic painters sheet and seat pad (not used).
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

DE-0766 Seewald Landscape Reserve

 

 

Conclusions:

  • The activation went well for a rushed activation of a park. Initially, I was not sure if indeed I was the first to activate as one of the other 13,000 hams at the show could have activated first however as it turned out I was.
  • I would have preferred to have done a “proper” portable activation well inside the park however a PLOTA was all that was possible in the available time.

73 ’til the next activation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DD5LP/P – April 16-19 2024 – Short Break to the Oberpfälz with POTA/HEMA/SOTA activations.

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Preparation:

A short 3-night break with the family to the Oberpfälz region (in English Upper Plantine) of Bavaria near the Czech/German border brought the chance of some portable radio activations. The problem of planning ahead with this trip was the uncertainty of the weather with high winds rain and even snow forecast as possibilities, this was going to have to be, grab the activation when you can. Our base for the short stay was the medieval town of Nabburg between Regensburg and Weiden. The Oberpfälzerwald nature park covers a large area of land around our base and hence the likelihood would be that POTA DE-0017 would be activated at the same time as a HEMA or SOTA summit. Very near to the town was an unactivated HEMA summit Darlesberg and this would most likely be the summit in the park, dual activation. The only reasonable summit to take the family to was Fahrenberg (DM/BM-321) and this 8-point, drive-up summit is in the next POTA park northwards, DE-0024 Nordlicheroberpfälzerwald NP so this could be a combined SOTA/POTA activation. On the way to our holiday flat, my wife wanted to see an art exhibition in Regensburg, so this was planned to coincide with me activating the Donaupark which is within Regensburg city.

The equipment would be the 6m telescopic fishing pole, umbrella base and the 404-UL OCF dipole from Aerial-59. The reason not to use the usual linked dipole was the probably need for band changing given the variable radio conditions present. This set-up would be used for the summit activations and the Komunica HF-Pro2-Plus-T on a mag mount on the car roof for the POTA activation from the Regensburg park (or any others that might be needed/possible). 

The Activations

Tuesday 16th April – POTA DE-0376 DonauPark.

Apart from a delay finding my way to the parking area in this city park, the planned combination of dropping the wife off at the gallery, driving to the park, taking our dog for a walk, setting up the radio in the car, activating the park (10 contacts needed), closing down and packing away, taking the dog for her second walk and then going back to pick up my wife, went to plan and we were able to continue our journey on to our flat in Nabburg.

The activation itself brought in strong signals from around Europe on 20m but contacts number nine and ten took a little longer to get than the first eight which started me worrying a little that I would not manage the needed number of contacts in the time I had available. I tried 40 metres but with so many stations on that band, it was impossible to find a free frequency to call CQ on and when I did eventually find one, after calling CQ another station starting calling CQ without even asking if the frequency was free. It was a jungle of animals on 40 metres. Luckily I did manage to get the needed ten contacts on 20 metres. 10 metres was totally closed at the time.

Wednesday 17th April – POTA/SOTA DE-0024 NordlicherOberpfälzerWald NP / DM-BM-321 Fahrenberg.

As the first day proper of our holiday we had planned to split this between radio and visiting the town of Weiden about 5 km north of Nabburg and that’s what we did, We spent the showery morning in Weiden (well worth a look, especially in the large church there) and by midday, we were heading up to the Fahrenberg. Unfortunately, the restaurant was not open on Wednesdays but again, it has a nice baroque-style church that is worth a visit. Behind the church, there is a perfect grassed area to put the mast and dipole up on and while it was sunny when we got there we did not know how long that would last, so I quickly set up and got calling. An impressive 25 callers got into the log in 16 minutes when the calls dried up on 20 metres I considered switching to 40 metres but as I could see black clouds approaching, I thought better of it and packed up the equipment. Just as I lifted my rucksack to my shoulder the first few flakes of snow started to fall, so timing could not have been better.

As we drove off the snow stopped but it was clear rain at least was on the way.

A good day’s radio operating and sightseeing.

Thursday 18th April – HEMA DL/HBY-226 Darlesberg

This should have been the easiest of the activations. The parking spot I had found on the map was less than 10 minutes drive away from our flat and then it was about a 1.25 km walk up a forest track to a picnic area followed by a smaller walking track of about one kilometre to the summit.

Admittedly with this activation, I carry my rucksack laden with gear for the longest distance but despite that, I did not expect any problems. I arrived at the parking spot around 9 am local time, loaded up and started up the forestry vehicles-only track, the start was a little steeper than I had expected but then it got better. I kept following the main track until after about 45 minutes, it started to go downhill, which made no sense. Rather than take my rucksack off to check my printed-out paper map, I decided to use my smartphone to check how much further it would be to the picnic area. What I saw was that I was on the wrong track. I used Google Maps to start with but then switched to the Mapy.cz app for confirmation which, unfortunately, it gave. about 10 minutes earlier I should have taken another much smaller muddy track (which on the maps is shown as being of the same type as the one I was on – it isn’t). In fact, I was now level with the summit but about 60 metres below it. There was a track to go up through the bush to the summit from this point, but it was a boggy mess and with the steep climb that would have been needed, I decided it was not a good option to try in the drizzle in a remote location. If I slipped there would be no one coming by to help.

I then had to face the decision, of whether to go back and go up the correct track and then join the official walking track to the summit, as originally planned or to abort the attempt. By the time I got back to the junction, I would have walked as far as I would have needed for the complete walk to the summit and then would have to face probably another 30-minute walk. I decided to cancel. Had I been carrying less weight or if the ground had not been so soaked I may have made a different decision. I know now not to rely on my memory of a paper map in my rucksack and either to have it out to check junction by junction or as I did on the return walk to the car, follow my position on an online map.    

Friday 20th April – POTA DE-0017 OberpfälzerWald NP

As the previous day’s activation (which would have been a HEMA/POTA one) had to be aborted, I was still left with the POTA activation available to coincide with a break to our return journey home to allow the dog to have a walk and so it was decided that another car based POTA activation would be made near Steinberger See about 30 minutes drive away from the flat, So after packing all our luggage into the car again (which of course got in the way later when I wanted to get to the radio gear) we set off but unfortunately in this area of Germany, the GPS (navi) doesn’t always see enough satellites to navigate accurately. There is also a US forces training base nearby, so what signals they may be putting out could also be part of the problem for car-based Euro-GPS systems. In any case, we ended up near Wackersdorf (famous for anti-nuclear-power rallies in the 70s) and found a parking spot near some woodland which would serve the purpose needed. So with my wife taking the dog for a walk, I set to, finding the radio equipment mounting the antenna and calling for POTA hunters. The contacts took longer than I am used to with SOTA and again there was time pressure to get the needed ten contacts but as this was around 0715 UTC, long-path on 20m was open into VK and I managed a Park-to-Park contact with VK2USH, which while difficult, especially as it suffered heavy QRM from another station was completed.   

Photos:

POTA DE-0376 Donau Park

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SOTA DM/BM-321 Fahrenberg / POTA DE-0024 NordlicherOberpfälzerWald NP

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HEMA DL/HBY-226 Darlesberg (failed attempt)

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POTA DE-0017 Oberpfälzerwald NP

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Equipment taken:

  • MountainTop 40-litre rucksack.
  • Xiegu G90.
  • Komunica Power HF-Pro2-PLUS-T loaded vertical antenna. (used with magnetic mount for the first and last activations).
  • Three-magnet car roof antenna mount.
  • Lamdahalbe 6m mini-mast (used on 2nd activation).
  • Aerial-59 404-UL OCF dipole (used on 2nd activation).
  • 4 Ah LifePO4 Eremit battery.
  • 4.5 Ah LiHV battery (not used).
  • Painter’s thick plastic sheet and gardener’s kneeling pad.
  • Lightweight headphones.
  • Smartphone to spot and back-channel comms. 

Logs:

POTA DE-0376 Donau Park

POTA Contacts Map

POTA DE-0024 NordlicherOberPfälzerWald NP

POTA Contacts Map

SOTA DM/BM-321 Fahrenberg

SOTA Contacts map

POTA DE-0017 OberpfälzerWald NP

POTA Contacts Map

Conclusions:

  • The weather was a problem mainly on the third day, combined with the mis-navigation that was a “bad” day – lesson learned to use the Smartphone map/tracking app when attempting to activate a new summit.
  • The Xiegu G90 continues to work surprisingly well even when only using the Komunica Power HF-PRO-2-Plus-T on a mag mount on the car roof. That park-to-park contact with Australia was a highlight of the trip.

73 ’til the next summit/park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

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Preparation:

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

The Activations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Photos:

POTA DA-0003 Ammergauer Alps National Park

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

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Equipment taken:

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

Logs:

POTA DA-0003 Ammergauer Alpen NP

POTA Contacts Map

HEMA DL/HBY-036 Eisenberg

SOTA DL/AL-171 Eisenberg

SOTA Contacts map:

Conclusions:

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

73 ’til the next summit/park/island.