ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2025 - Day 8

The one with the flat tyre and  ... a second Mountain Goat !

It was Sunday morning, and I had planned a day trip to Bavaria, to activate two summits that I needed for complete : DL/AL-273, Laubenberg (1 point) and DL/AL-148, Riedholzer Kugel (2 points).
With 3 points, these two summits would have brought my activator score at 1999 points, just one point short of another Mountain Goat.

But my car decided otherwise. 
The evening before I got this warning about a tyre with low pressure, so I first went to check my car.
When I looked around the tyre, I found a screw, which must have caused the drop in pressure, but it was not completely flat.

Since my car no longer has a spare tyre, I phoned the Toyota Assistance number in Belgium, and must admit they provide an excellent service. Around 10:30, a man from German ADAC came by to repair the tyre ... for free ... and on a Sunday morning, GREAT!

OK, I could drive again, but by then, it was too late to start my planned trip, and I decided to go to the nearest summit, trying to keep cool ... it was already 30°C in the shade.

DM/BW-348, Gehrenberg - 754m, 8 Points

I drove to my regular parking spot near the summit at position  47.742628, 9.423206.
I verified again : there is no forbidding sign if you follow the Hinterharresheim farm road, which starts at pos 47.747471, 9.403920 along the Gehrenbergstrasse. The small road becomes a gravel road, called Turmweg.

NOTE : I heard a few activators call CQ SOTA on 2m, telling they were on a lookout tower ...

There is no lookout tower on the summit of Gehrenberg, the tower "Gehrenbergturm" is not in the activation zone. Also the place called Gehrenberg on the maps, at pos 47.7371,9.39977 is NOT the summit. All very confusing, I know.

I found a spot to setup a bit away from the real summit, where often walkers and mountainbikers come by, it can get busy at the top !

Even being hidden somewhat, I got several visitors, hams and non-hams alike, who were interested in my setup. One of those was a mountainbiker AND a HAM, it was Yannick DO9YAN. He was recently licensed, and came to activate the summit on 2m, using an FT70 and a 4-element Anjo logperiodic antenna (the same antenna that I sometimes use).

I made 30 QSO's with an incredible 15 Summit-toSummit contacts, WOW !
That made my day , but wait ...

I hadn't been paying attention to my score, so with the 8 points of this summit, I made it to second Mountain Goat a bit unexpectedly.
The honour should go to Harald, DG1YBN, who was my fourth contact. He called me from his mobile on 2m FM.

Not knowing at the time that I was already there, I didn't make any special pictures, also no champagne ... hi.

After being on the summit for 3 hours, I decided to go to my apartment and take some rest.
It was 32°C when I arrived there. Also, I had some preparation to do for the next day : a trip from Friedrichshafen to Karlsruhe, with more summits of course!

Continue reading on DAY 9

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