Day 1 - Ostend to Wanne
I left my home in Ostend at an early 05:20, having my breakfast along the way, and arriving at my first summit at 08:30 local time.
ON/ON-006, La Croix Scaille - 503m, 6 points + POTA BE-0468
There was a clear sky, but only 2°C.
I set up near the information panel at pos 49.954181, 4.844514
FYI : the tower "Tour du Millénaire" is still closed for restoration works, and they even use half of the parking lot at the tower as a construction site.
Despite being early on a Sunday morning, a lot of chasers showed up. I had a blast, making 80 QSO's in 1 hour ! This included 3 S2S and 6 P2P contacts, a great start.
ON/ON-004, Bois de Hazeille - 586m, 6 Points + POTA BE-0453
WX : some clouds, but temperature had already risen to 7°C.
Looking for a new parking spot, and not having to walk into the forest, I found a nice place, at position
50.029505, 5.418564. It's in the AZ for SOTA , and also valid for POTA BE-0453.
Only problem ... it's just in front of the gate to the military domain, but the place looked deserted as always. So I set up my antenne and started making QSO's.
But sure enough, after a while, halfway my activation, a car came through the gate and stopped.
A man came to me and showed me his military ID card, asking what I was doing.
I asked if it was forbidden to be there, but no, that was not the problem.
We had a nice chat (in French), and I even showed him my QR codes pancarte, which he scanned with his phone.
His concern was that since the attacks on Iran had just started, someone setting up a radio near a military base looks rather suspicious ... hi.
After reassuring him I was not a spy, he left me alone, and wished me good luck.
A man came to me and showed me his military ID card, asking what I was doing.
I asked if it was forbidden to be there, but no, that was not the problem.
We had a nice chat (in French), and I even showed him my QR codes pancarte, which he scanned with his phone.
His concern was that since the attacks on Iran had just started, someone setting up a radio near a military base looks rather suspicious ... hi.
After reassuring him I was not a spy, he left me alone, and wished me good luck.
I didn't have the good luck as I had in my first activation though.
Only 27 QSO's here, but still 4 S2S, in about 50 minutes.
Only 27 QSO's here, but still 4 S2S, in about 50 minutes.
Time to move on to the next one ...
I had my lunch at a secluded parking spot along the N89 road, pos 50.059742, 5.411123
It's away from the main road, and there is a nice picnic bench.
WX: sunshine with some clouds, and temperature 8°C
Nothing special about this summit, I set up at the big parking lot as ususal, pos 50.254142, 5.731518
During this activation, I wanted to try some 2m CW/SSB, so I used my fishing pole for a lightweight Moxon antenna (with a mounting bracket that allows both horizontal and vertical use).
To save the time to change antenna's, I set up my "all band" Chinese vertical (see solution Nr 2 here), with the ATU-100 in automatic mode, at the base.
I worked on HF first, making 32 QSO's in about 50 minutes, using all bands from 15m to 40m.
I also had 6 S2S here.
I did get weak reports on 40m, so I suppose the Chinese vertical is less efficient for that band, but it works very well for the higher bands.
Then came 2m ... I called CQ for a while, both in CW and SSB, while turning the Moxon in all directions. I had spotted myself on SOTAwatch ... but it resulted in ZERO replies. So I gave up and packed my stuff for the last summit of the day.
ON/ON-013, Bois de Hodinfosse - 568m, 6 points - NOW ALSO A DRIVE UP SUMMIT !
I arrived at 15:30 local time, WX was sunny and 10°C.
I have already posted some information on the summit page about a new parking spot, from which it is a mere 10 minutes walk to a spot in the activation zone.
But last year, I noticed that the nice view from the operating spot is gone, because the new trees have grown a lot.
So I studied the maps again, and found out that the road that I normally drive, could possibly be driven one block further, where it ends in a T-crossing.
So this time I tried it ... and indeed !
One can drive (with care) to this position 50.318948, 5.843781, which is in the Activation Zone (altitude is 545m there).
There is even a forest road to the right that can be driven somewhat higher, but then you're completely surrounded by trees. My new parking spot is in an open area (for the time being, until they plant new trees there as well ... hi).
I set up in the sunshine, having a nice view over the valley.
I made 30 QSO's here, with 2 S2S.
But the highlight of this activation was hearing the top chasers from the USA, Gary W0MNA and his xyl Martha W0ERI. My third DX contact was with KC1NDQ ... all calls that end in DQ are special to me, hi.
I left the summit at 17:15 local time, it was time to find my hotel for the night, very close to the first summit of the second day.
Continue the story here ... Day 2
