SOTA Winter Tour 2026 - Day 2

Day 2 - Wanne to Schleiden (D)

I stayed the night in this hotel in the small village of Wanne, which is only 5 km from the first summit of the day. I had this nice morning view from my balcony:

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

WX : Sunny and 8°C.

I drove to the small village of  Logbiermé first, and there I took the gravel road which leads to a parking spot in the activation zone, pos 50.337472, 5.972281

Beware of some large potholes, drive slowly !

If you don't want to drive the gravel road, you can park along the hedge at pos 50.342258, 5.963365 (check it out in Google StreetView), and walk the 650m to the operating position (about 15 minutes walk).

After weeks of rain, the last part of the track was also quite muddy, but still doable with a regular car.

Here is an overview map if you're in doubt how to get there.

The track to the real summit could be driven with a 4x4, but is not advised with a regular car (see picture below).

I set up on the side of the road, where it was dry, and the activation went very well.
I made 45 QSO's in just 40 minutes, including 3 S2S. Here a view of my setup.

And here a map of all QSO's.

Since I intended to go to Germany for some shopping, I included the next summit, which also has a POTA reference.

DM/RP-003, Schwarzer Mann - 697m, 6 points + POTA DE-0039

WX : Sunny and 9°C

The parking spot is at pos 50.256470, 6.359259, and is indicated on the maps as "Wanderparkplatz Nr. 7 Am Tranchotstein". Maps are available for some nice walks in the area, but of course I had no time for that. There is a statue of the Schwarzer Mann nearby, on a viewing platform.

The picnic bench at the parking makes a nice operating table.

I spent 1.5 hours on the summit, and made 33 QSO's, with an incredible 11 S2S. Some time was spent calling on 2m CW and SSB, but again with the same result : no replies.

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

WX : Sunny and 13°C

This was the last summit for this day. Parking position as usual : 50.408317, 6.369818

Again a  nice activation, with 32 QSO's in 50 minutes, including 6 S2S, and working 3 US states!

I was happy to see Gary W0MNA and Martha W0ERI in my log again.

At 15:30, it was time to go shopping, and find my AirBnb near Schleiden in Germany.

My secret tip (well, no longer a secret now) : in the evening , I went for a hamburger and fries at "Onkel Smash" in Kall (GPS 50.545984, 6.573900).
It's a small place, but the hamburger was BIG and very tasty, if you have the chance to visit there, I can only recommend the place !

Continue the story here ... Day 3

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