ON7DQ (KF0CR) HAM Radio Blog: 2026

The weather was very hot all the way, so I had to cancel a few summits, and replaced some summits where the walk would be too exhausting by easier drive-up summits.

I activated 17 SOTA summits, 26 POTA parks, and 1 bunker for BOTA (Bunkers On The Air).

Most of those were combined activations, only 1 park on the way home was a separate activation.

Some statistics for SOTA

This trip added 128 activator points.

Also adding 496 chaser points, 608 summit-to-summit points, 10 new completes, 10 new activator uniques and ** new chaser uniques.

SOTA is not a conpetition, but it's a fun game between Peter, ON4UP, and myself, to be the number one in the S2S ranking for Belgium. So I'm number one for the moment ... that is until Peter gets on the road again, at the time of writing , he's only 325 points behind, hi.

Equipment used

IC-705 in Go-Box + ATU-100 Autotuner

For this trip I took again the Icom IC-705 in it's Go-Box.
The SatRover setup for QO-100 didn't see much use last year, so I left it at home this time.

Antenna's : 9.15m random wire, with 9:1 UNUN and 4m counterpoise.
Coax 5m RG-58.
ATU-100 autotuner (built from a kit).
Sony headphones, K6ARK mini microphone.
Palm Mini paddle (green edition).
6m fishing pole from Decathlon (missing the thinnest element, so really only 5.5m).
Cellphone with data plan and Ham2k Polo for logging/spotting.

Here is the list of activated summits followed by some statistics ... click on the Day x link to go directly to the report of the respective summits.

Day 1

DM/RP-187, Wildenburger Kopf - 670m, 6 points (POTA DE-0022/0026/1015)
DM/RP-158, Erbeskopf - 816m, 8 points (POTA DE-0022/0026/1015/0623/0858)

Day 2

FL/VO-197, Hochkopf - 429m, 2 points
FL/VO-191, Helfenstein - 363m, 2 points

FL/VO-048, Grand Wintersberg - 581m, 4 points

Day 3

FL/VO-170, Le Rainkopf - 1305m, 10 points (POTA FR-3409 and 5 others)
FL/VO-080, Rothenbachkopf - 1316m, 10 points (POTA FR-3409 and 5 others)
FL/VO-082, Petit Ballon - 1272m, 10 points (POTA FR-3409)

Day 4

DM/BW-008, Schauinsland - 1284m, 10 points (POTA DE-0004)
DM/BW-105, Schönberg - 645m, 6 points

Day 5

DM/BW-233, Buchberg - 880m, 10 points (POTA DE-0004)
DM/BW-235, Hoher Randen - 930m, 10 points (POTA DE-0004)
DM/BW-359, Stöckenloch - 698m, 6 points

Day 6

POTA DA-0156, Riedlepark
DM/BW-854, Höchsten - 838m, 8 Points
The SOTA Dinner

Day 7

The Ham Radio fair
The SOTA Meeting
The SOTA booth

Day 8

DM/BW-348, Gehrenberg - 754m, 8 Points
with Second Mountain Goat !

Day 9

DM/BW-064, Heersberg - 964m, 10 points
DM/BW-147, Gespaltener Fels - 1000m, 10 points (POTA DE-0005 & DE-0929)
DM/BW-054, Hohloh - 984m, 10 points (POTA DE-0009)

Day 10

DM/RP-411, Hohe Derst - 561m, 4 points, chased (POTA DE-0016)
FL/VO-166, Stromberg - 314m, 1 point (POTA LU-0015 & FR-3232)

Day 11

POTA BE-0508 Laarbeekbos ... and going home !

Driving maps are from https://aprs.fi/

QSO maps are from https://www.sotadata.org.uk/nl/map/

Summit track maps are from https://www.openstreetmap.org/

Continue reading this story ... go to DAY 1

24/05/2026

Tenerife trip 2026

For this years' family trip we went to EA8, Tenerife.

Like last year (see the Gran Canaria report here), I promised the XYL it would not be a SOTA trip, but a relaxing holiday.

But after a visit to some very crowded places at Los Christianos and Playa de Las Americas ... she almost begged me : please, can we do another "peaceful and quiet" summit ? YES, OF COURSE !

So in the end, I still managed to activate 5 summits in our 15 day stay on the island. Several of those were also valid for POTA.

Here comes the report.

NOTE: if you're expecting a report about activating the highest peak "El Teide", it's not here.
The whole administration has gotten so complicated with permits, reserving a time slot, reserving and paying for a parking spot, the cable car etc etc. , it made me decide it's not worth the trouble.

Like last year, we stayed in three different AirBnb places, to get a feeling of the different climate zones, and used those places as a starting point for some excursions.
1 = Golf del Sur, 2 = Las Caletillas, 3 = Chayofa.

We had a Dacia Sandero rental car for the whole stay, driving 754 km in 15 days.

My equipment was basically the same as last year, containing the KX3 set and a 9.15m 'random wire' antenna, with 9:1 UNUN and 4m counterpoise. A 6m carbon pole, reduced to 5m by taking out the thinnest elements.

As a backup, I had a Komunica HF PRO 2 PLUS T telescopic vertical, but I have not used it for SOTA. I only made a few QSO's with it from the terrace of our second apartment.

Backup rig was my QCX Mini 15/17/20m with a linked 3-band endfed + Fuchs tuner, also not used.
I did use the linked antenna from that kit once, to do some WSPR tests with my WSPRLite.

OK, time to get on with the summits !

12/5/2026
EA8/TF-019, Rojar - 173m, 1 point - POTA ES-1732

Parking spot 28.037782, -16.548196
We saw some reports in the news that cars are often broken into at this parking spot, so don't leave anything valuable in the car !

We used the same track as Heinz, OE5EEP. Very easy to follow.

No shadow anywhere, so take enough water.

This is the last part to the top.

I fixed my 5m carbon pole to the railing, but made sure it leaned out to the outside, so as not to hinder any other visitors (and there were many). I operated sitting on some flat stones, putting the KX3 on top of my backpack.

We had a nice view all around, here a view of the village of La Tejita and the beach with the same name. It was also fun to watch all the planes take off at the nearby airport.

Result : 19 QSO's, with 1 S2S.

The next day we did the walk through the Malpaís de la Rasca at Palm Mar. See info here
A view over the area from the lighthouse, and the island of La Gomera in the distance.

14/5/2026

EA8/TF-018, Güímar - 278m, 1 point - POTA ES-1731

On this day, we had to move to our next AirBnb. Along the way, I planned to activate this summit.
Parking spot 28.315219, -16.380938

NOTE : The track that was published by Heinz, OE5EEP is now forbidden !

They even dumped a bunch of stones on the start of the track to make the passage difficult.

Since we had already parked, we took the flat walk around the summit to check if we could ascend from the East. There is an information panel at the start of the walk.

At this position: 28.311416, -16.373640, we could see the start of a track, and with the help of my phone, we could easily follow the track to the summit marker.

This is the complete walk.

At the top, the wind was very strong, so I took shelter behind the fallen "vertice" (see picture above). My carbon pole was fixed to some bush, and the wind blew the antenna wire in a curve, but it still worked OK.

I kept the activation short, and made 18 QSO's in 20 minutes, but alas no S2S this time.

Our second AirBnb was in Las Calletilas, just North of Candelaria. It had a large roof terrace, where I used the Komunica telescopic antenna for a few QSO's.

15/5/2026
EA8/TF-008 Taborno 1020m 8p - POTA ES-2210 +2070

This day, we first wanted to visit the Parque Rural de Anaga

Studying the route, I had seen a special street in the city of La Laguna ... I just had to go over there for a picture ! (if your Spanish is not so good, the street is called Radio Amateur Street)

We then made the typical tourist stops at the "Miradors" along the TF-12 road, and took the walk along the "Sendero Bosque de los Enigmas" and the "Sendero Hija Cambada", which were still nice, despite the wet and foggy weather.

After that, we arrived at the summit of Taborno, which is an easy drive-up summit.
Take the small forest road at 28.535128, -16.272175, see map below. Drive carefully, the road is in bad shape, but can be driven with a regular car.

Parking spot is 28.536057, -16.269830, in front of the gate to the radar station.

Walk a little back and there is a clearing in the forest, which is in the AZ (altitude 1010m).

Since it was very wet, I also kept this activation short, and made only 5 QSO"s, no S2S.

We continued the trip to the viewpoint at Pico del Inglés, but after seeing this ...

... we called it a day and returned to our apartment.

Later that day, we took a nice walk along the coastal promenade, from Las Caletillas to Candelaria.

Interlude

On Sunday May 17th, we visited the nice town of La Oratava, famous for the many balconies, and the sand carpets. 100% worth a visit !

Here a view of the beautiful Victoria Gardens (Jardines del Marquesado de la Quinta Roja).

And now, back to SOTA !

18/5/2026

EA8/TF-013 Montaña de la Atalaya - 778m, 4points

Parking spot 28.497442, -16.344608, in front of the "Ermita Santa Rita"

We followed the track from the Sota Maps website by Joe, OE5JFE. This track contains a short but steep section.

At the summit, you have a nice view over the area (see picture above). We had taken our lunch, and had an enjoyable stay on the summit, amidst the smell of the eucalyptus trees.

Note that when in need, there even is a toilet on the summit 😁

The activation went well, and I could even make a few QSO's on 2m FM, with stations from Tenerife and Gran Canaria.

Using my FT1D and Chinese telescopic antenna

Result : 25 QSO's with 3 S2S.

We didn't want to descend the steep part of the track, so we chose to go down another way.

I posted this track on the Sota Maps page, it is a bit longer but less steep, and as a bonus, it goes through some nice wildflower fields (at least in May it looked very nice).

21/5/2026

EA8/TF-014 Roque de Jama - 762m, 4points

We left our AirBnb at 07:00 local time, and started our ascent at 07:30, trying to avoid the heat.

Parking spot 28.095092, -16.641025, where the road is a bit wider, place for several cars along the wall.

We followed the track from the Sota Maps site, by Mikhail, LB8CG.

Halfway our ascent, I took a picture where you can see where we parked (see the yellow arrow).

At the summit, we first took our breakfast, then it was time for SOTA.

I could fix the carbon pole between some rocks, and found myself a nice operating spot near two rocks, that have a third rock lying on top of them, I wonder who put it there ? 😉

Result here : 35 QSO's with 3 S2S.

And that was the last summit of this trip ... but I still had some "radioactivity" planned.

21/5/2026

The same evening was also the

NTC QSO Party

Now our AirBnb in Chayofa was a large house with FIVE bedrooms !

(and a jacuzzi and a large (shared) swimming pool).

So I chose one of the top floor bedrooms as my shack, and could easily put up my 9.15m random endfed.

Above you can see my improvised shack, with the KX3 and a small Panasonic Toughbook, running N1MM+ for logging.

Result : 9 QSO's, with even one DX contact, not bad for only 15W and a piece of string !

My log:

or on a map:

So far for this report. The last few days were spent making a car tour to see El Teide from a distance, and really some 'relaxing' ... that was what I promised the xyl after all, right ?

See you soon for another adventure!

73,

Luc ON7DQ