SOTA Winter Tour 2023

 

Last year I did most of this tour together with Rob, ON4ROB. Rob has decided he wants to go for 100% uniques, so I was on my own again this year. The weather looked good, cold but dry … at least that was the forecast.

So I booked a room on AirBnb for one night near Bastogne, and off I went on Saturday Feb 11^th, at 05:30 local time.

The weather was not exactly as promised : quite a bit of fog the whole day, and some drizzle, mostly in the afternoon. Well, at least the roads were without snow, so still a good day to tour these “Winter Bonus” summits. Here a short overview of the tour, with some summit info.

Total distance driven: 745 km, fuel cost €91.14, AirBnb €35.

DAY 1 - Saturday, Feb 11^th

05:25 Leave home

07:15 Have breakfast along the highway (193km)

08:25 (258km)
ON/ON-001, Signal de Botrange - 694m, 8 points (GPS : 50.501208, 6.093355, is in AZ)

Big surprise here: the parking lot had been asphalted, it looks very nice now, no more mud pools …

I set up near the South end of the parking lot, and hey … I even managed to get the spike for my fishing pole into the ground, that never happened before.
I used my longer random wire (22.3m) so I could start my activation on 80m.

I got 6 callers on 80m CW, and then made 24 more on 40m and 20m, both in CW and SSB.

But I got another surprise when I wanted to switch to SSB. My headset has a microphone (see it in the top picture), but there seemed to come no sound from it ...
That had happened before, and I could repair it each time , but maybe after 8 years of use on over 250 summits, it's time to look out for a new one , hi.
This headset has cost me only 5€, and so far I always was told the audio sounded better than any other microphone that I have used.

Time for plan B: get out the little Hama plug-in PC microphone that I always carry in the KX3 bag.

The headphone of the headset still worked, but I had a better one in my "backup/QCX bag", a fold-down Sony headset.

I also wanted to make at least one S2S QSO on each summit, it was earlybird Marcel, DM3FAM that saved the day here.

30 QSO’s, 1 S2S

10:15 (288km)
ON/ON-009, Iverst - 693m, 8 points (GPS: 50.408333, 6.369756, is in AZ)

Since 80m was not a good candidate any more, I put up the short random endfed (9.15m).

A light drizzle started coming up, so I had to protect the KX3 with some bubble plastic and a towel.
Mostly 40m and 20m , CW and SSB.

29 QSO’s, 11 S2S

12:25 (332km)
ON/ON-011, Sur Clair Fa - 601m, 8 points (Car GPS: 50.318907, 5.964020, there drive forest road to parking spot here 50.319000, 5.972406, then walk NE for about 250m until in AZ).

The short stretch of forest road to my parking spot was a real mudpool at the end, so I drove my car into a grassy patch, where I hoped to have some grip with the front wheels of my car. After the activation, I just put my car in reverse and let it roll backwards through the mud … until I got onto some firmer ground, then turned  the car and drove off to the next summit ;-)

WX was still very wet and more drizzle … So I had to get out my small umbrella.
Not so pleasant, but there was virtually no wind all day, so with a temperature of about 6 °C, it was still a good activation.

30 QSO’s, 7 S2S

14:20 (348km)
ON/ON-013, Bois de Hodinfosse - 568m, 6 points (GPS: 50.316070, 5.841752, walk about 450m SE)

I had begun to like this summit, for it’s very nice view over the region, and because I had found an easier way to reach the AZ.
But this time no luck … I was lucky enough that I could still see my car in the foggy conditions.

My usual operating position (50.314322, 5.847850) was OK, but no views.

I set up my short antenna between the trees.

And one forgets about the miserable weather when you make some special QSO's.

After working a few S2S on 40m and 20m, I started CQ'ing on 15m CW, and WOW, I couldn't believe what I heard. After already working a few DX (4Z4DX, W4JKC), I was called by Gary W0MNA from Kansas, and a bit later by his XYL Martha, W0ERI. I had met Gary and Martha on a summit in Missouri (W0M) in April 2015. Great to have those famous chasers in my log ! 

24 QSO’s, 6 S2S

16:10 (362km)
ON/ON-010 Baraque Fraiture  - 651m, 8 points (GPS: 50.253847, 5.732054, is in AZ)

Just setting up at the end of the parking lot, no scenic views there. There was still some snow left. My big umbrella protected my gear and myself from the drizzle.

This time I tried my luck on 10m, and would you believe ... my first two callers there were again Gary and Martha. Wonderful !

Getting a bit tired after the four previous summits, I kept it short and CW only, on 17m, 20 and 40m, and then drove to my AirBnb, the first day was certainly a success.

26 QSO’s, 2 S2S

17:45 arival in my AirBnb near Bastogne (408km)

Shower, eat, sleep …

Oh, and disassemble my fishing pole, it was completely damp inside, so I put all the pieces on the heating, to dry nicely.

DAY 2 - Sunday Feb 12^th

09:45 (22km)
ON/ON-004, Bois de Hazeille - 586m, 6 Points (NEW GPS position:  50.033045, 5.422340, walk 100m NW, is in AZ for SOTA and valid for POTA ON-0453)

Much better weather today, it remained dry the whole day, and I even got a glimpse of the sun at times.

I had seen that this area also has a POTA reference, ON-0453 Foret de Freyr.
But my usual operating position behind the radar tower is not valid for POTA.
So I  looked for a position where I could do a valid activation of both.
See parking position above, from there just walk North for about 100m, where you are in the POTA forest, and still in the AZ for SOTA.
So you also don't have to drive the road behind the radar station, which is in a terrible state.

I put up the long antenna again to work some 80m.

I would advise to do this one in the weekend though, when no forest work is going on. Here a panoramic view from my operating position.

Attracting chasers from both SOTA and POTA resulted in quite a pile-up, and while trying to please everyone … I got a 30 minute delay on my schedule.  But still got time to take a few nice snapshots of the environment.

45 QSO’s, 4 S2S

 12:20 (73km)

ON/ON-006, La Croix Scaille - 503m, 6 points (GPS: 49.954181, 4.844514, is in AZ)

Last year I climbed to the top of the Tour du Millenaire, but since I had already some delay, I didn’t do that this year.

I quickly set up and started my activation. It was rather calm for a Sunday, normally I see more walkers passing by, and asking some silly questions (talking to the aliens? listening to the birds ?).
None of that today ;-)

33 SO’s, 9 S2S

I had some time left to do an extra summit, no winter bonus points here, but a chance to make some more S2S QSO’s.

14:25 (115km)
ON/ON-021, Plantis de Mesnil - 306m, 2 points (GPS: 50.17735, 4.91669, walk up the forest road if you like, but even the parking spot is in the AZ).

There were again forest works going in , the whole place was a mess, so I had to park along the road.
I didn’t care to walk up to the cabin, I just  set up along the track, some 50m away from the road.

No winter bonus points on this one, but still good for some more S2S.

At 15:30 local time, I packed up, since I still had a long drive home. Traffic was not too bad, I got home without problems.

22 QSO’s, 7 S2S.

18:05 Back home in Ostend ! (336km)

See you on another SOTA adventure !

73,

Luc ON7DQ