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:

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

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!