ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2018 - Day 9

Three summits in the Saarland .. and more

I had stayed in Kindsbach (near the Ramstein Air Base), only 37 km from my first summit for the day. So I could take a good start, hoping to do 4 summits, the 3 in the Saarland region, and one in Luxemburg.

I had received lots of info from John, DK9JC, so I had no trouble finding all the summits.

DM/SR-006 (Trautzberg)

I parked here  49.551675, 7.273230 , very near to a large windmill. I had read reports of noise from the windmills making heavy QRM, but I had no problems whatsoever.

My comfy operating position, in the company of a bunch of large windmills.

I had a nice run of 20 qso's, on 7-14-18 MHz , CW & SSB. This included two S2S qso's.

DM/SR-012 (Schaumberg)

Schaumberg is a very touristic place, there is a nice info page here.

The official parking is free, and is at position 49.486934, 7.027537

You could operate from the parking lot, since it is completely in the AZ. 

But to attract less attention, I went around behind the trees at the end of the parking, and then to the left, and found a nice spot to setup, and wasn't disturbed by any visitors.

I logged 23 qso's here, on 40m and 20m, a mix of SSB and CW.

I had 5 S2S, one of which was with good friend Phil, G4OBK, who was still hanging around in the FL/VO region.

DM/SR-075 (Langensteinchen)

I drove a bit further than suggested by DK9JC, right to the end of the road ... and parked here 49.530285, 6.569698, close to a nice shelter, which is in the AZ.
So I had a nice shack in the woods ...

I fixed the endfed and 9:1 UNUN to a wooden beam in the roof, and it seemed to work ok.

And boy , what a nice operating table, all to myself !

I had only 12 qso's and no S2S. Could it be that the roof of the shelter dampened my signal a little ?
I did not care too much, and quickly packed up for my last summit.

LX/LX-002 (Grengenwald)

EDIT : this summit is no longer valid for SOTA!

This was the third time I was at this summit.
The first time I followed the route by G4OBK (see track on SMP)
The second time I tried a route from the North, which is easier and shorter.
So of course, I went "my" route again this time.
Parking spot is here 49.670817, 6.206297, and just before the gate, to the left, there is a place for one car between the trees. This is what it looks like in Google Streetview.

NOTE : if you come from the South, it is forbidden and DANGEROUS to go left to drive into the parking spot, continue driving to the next intersection at 49.6689, 6.2034. Take a turn there and return to the parking spot, which is then at your right.

Follow the forest track beyond the gate, and take the left bend, which will get you in the AZ.

This time I kept walking until I was at a picknick table, which is a nice place to setup shack.

Not a big pile-up here, but still a nice activation with 8 QSO's, and 2 S2S. A happy activator at the end of another wonderful SOTA day.

Now, the AirBnb place I had booked in Luxemburg had been canceled just the day before I would stay. In a hurry, I had to look for another place, and found one in Arlon, in Belgium. 

So I still had some driving to do, but not after filling up with cheap fuel in LX, and having a good meal in the Lunch Garden, Arlon. Whenever I go there, I have to taste the "Boulets à la Liégeoise" ... mmmm.

More info on this typical dish here

The best place to taste them would of course be the city of ... Liège !

Continue reading ... go to DAY 10

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