SOTA/POTA Winter Tour 2025

Doing the same SOTA Winter Tour every year gets a bit boring after a while, so this year I decided to do the tour in reverse. And to have some more time on each summit, I left out ON/ON-006 La Croix Scaille. I will probably visit this summit anyway later this year, during a family holiday.

Also I took my KX3 GO-box this time, with the trusted random endfed antenna, with two lengths  of wire (9.15m and 23m).

DAY 1 : Thursday, Feb 20th 2025

I started from my QTH Ostend at 05:10 local time, had my breakfast along the highway, then went to my first stop, where I arrived at 08:35 local time.

ON/ON-004, Bois de Hazeille - 586m, 6 Points + POTA BE-0453

The parking spot at 50.033045, 5.422340 is actually already in the activation zone for SOTA and POTA, but I still went a little in the forest, to find a quiet place to operate.

Since I started using the IC-705 I hadn't used my KX3 much. I had forgotten how easy it is to set up my station, just open the box, connect the antenna, put on the headphones and start operating, all within a few minutes time (see a video of my setup procedure here). 

The weather was dry but still cold at 5°C, can you tell from the picture ?

When driving to the parking spot, I had passed a large white pickup truck, and sure enough, after some 15 minutes that truck passed by on the main road, and then came driving into the forest to where I was. It was a young park ranger, checking out what I was doing. But after a short talk, and assuring that I would stay on the roads, all was OK and he left.

Since I used the longer wire for this activation, I could make a few QSO's on 80m and 60m, followed by big pile-ups on 40m and 20m. Result : 79 QSO's in just under 55 minutes, great !

This included 1 S2S and 2 P2P.

Here a map of my contacts:

ON/ON-010 Baraque Fraiture  - 651m, 8 points

Not the most scenic view, I just operated from the parking lot at 50.253847, 5.732054
Temperature was only 4°C here, and it was rather damp and foggy.

Result : 45 QSO's here, including 6 S2S. Here the QSO map:

ON/ON-013, Bois de Hodinfosse - 568m, 6 points

Parking spot as usual, at  50.316070, 5.841752

Only change here, there used to be a patch of forest that was cleared, which gave a nice panoramic view over the valley to the south. But new trees were planted a few years ago, and have now grown to the point where the nice view is obscured ...

There was also a strong wind, so I went up the hill into the forest where the wind was a bit less.

Since there is a little walking involved on this summit, I took my light aluminium table, and a "kids camping chair", that I found in a sports store for only 6€, you can still see the price tag in the picture, hi.

The label says it can withstand  100kg, so it should be ok for my "lightweight 75 kg".

It was perfect for my activation, so I am satisfied with my purchase.  

Result here : 29 QSO's with 1 S2S, here the map:

ON/ON-011, Sur Clair Fa - 601m, 8 points

Drive up summit now !

Last year, I tried to find a new approach for this summit, from the small village of  Logbiermé.

But coming from the East, Google Maps tried to send me over some forest roads, and eventually I had to return and take my ususal parking spot near the horse riding school of Mont-Le-Soie.

See last years' report here

Since I reversed my tour this time, I had more luck, and found the correct route to Logbiermé, coming from the West, via Vielsalm > Grand-Halleux > Vau > Logbiermé.

The ride over there is quite scenic, so an adventure in itself.

From ON/ON-013 tot ON/ON-011

Now the last part of the road can be viewed in Google Streetview up to position 50.341552, 5.966317

There is no forbidden sign there, so I drove further on the gravel road, and was glad to find a parking spot where that roads takes a bend to the left, in a side road at position  50.337468, 5.972298

I saw several cars also taking this road.

The side road is leading straight to the trig point, but is not possible to drive with a regular car, maybe it can be done with a 4x4, there is nothing that forbids it ...

 

The parking spot is in the activation zone (altitude is 580m there), so I set up a short distance from my car.

Result : 71 QSO's with 3 S2S, here the map:

I was a bit ahead on my schedule, and had never walked up the real summit, so I put away my radio stuff, and walked to the trig point. As you can see, not a road for a normal car.

I didn't stay long at the trig, there was a strong wind. Just took the time to take some pictures.

It must be a nice place when the sun is shining ...

The road to my AirBnb in Amel near Sankt-Vith took me along another worthwile stop, the monument for Eddy Merkckx (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_Merckx)  near Stavelot.

Merkckx, nicknamed "The Cannibal", was Belgiums' most famous cyclist. 

The monument is at position 50.383278, 5.937278

my 

Eddy Merckx

Amel Bnb

NTC QSO Party

ON/ON-009, Iverst - 693m, 8 points

ON/ON-001 Signal de Botrange

LoRa Tracker

going home