ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2018 - Day 4

Hamradio 2018 - SOTA Activations - SOTA Dinner

Hamradio 2018

Day 4 of my trip was first spent at the Hamradio fair, visiting the fleamarket and the companies showing off and selling the new stuff. 

Here an impression of the "Funkflohmarkt" as the Germans call it.

Some nice collectors item ...

And here he is, Jean-Bernard F4EOH, at his stand in Hall A3, and his xyl in the background.
He's the one I talked to from FL/VO-001 (see here).
He sells a whole assortment of BALUNS and UNUNS, and much more.
I felt a bit sorry that I didn't buy anything from him, but I build my own baluns.
So the least I can do is give him some free advertising on my blog, hi.
Visit his shop here http://f4eoh.free.fr/

The SOTA meeting at the QSL Wall

At noon, it was of course time to see some familiar faces ... I'm looking out to this meeting more and more each year.

Mike DJ5AV and Tom DL1DVE.
In the background Andy DL2DVE, Karel ON4FI and Phil G4OBK.

Ian GI0AZB and xyl Esther GI0AZA, Luc  ON7DQ and Joe OE5JFE

And of course Ed DD5LP, at work ... making reports with the ICQ Podcast team, but also organizer of the SOTA dinner (see below).

Sota Activations

DM/BW-348 (Gehrenberg)

This is the third most activated summit in DM/BW.

After the visit to the fair, I went to activate the two summits close to Friedrichshafen.
Both are very easy, and the first one was the Gehrenberg, and it is almost drive up.

In Markdorf, take the road to Harresheim, which is just called "Gehrenberg".
Don't get confused by the sight of the Gehrenbergturm on your left, that is not the summit.
Continue until you are close to Harresheim and take the road "Unterharresheim" on your right, and follow it to the parking spot.
There is a "verboten" sign if you can read German, but it is not an official traffic sign (with a red border), and it is not very well visible either ... so it's open to discussion if you can drive up the forest road or not , hi.
My parking spot was here 47.742420, 9.423273 (along the "Turmweg"), and from there it's just a 5 min walk to the big rock which marks the summit.

Last year , there were some activators just before and after me, like we had it all planned to the minute ... this year I didn't see anyone else.
So I had a short activation with 14 qso's in the log.
Three of those were S2S with activators close by.

DM/BW-854 (Höchsten)

This summit is also very easy, the road goes over the summit through the activation zone.

It became only valid in January 2018, but it sure will be a very popular one too ...
G4OBK posted some nice pictures on the SOTA Reflector here.

If you are in a hurry, park here 47.819991, 9.401837 and it is only a few steps to the nice lookout.
I parked a little further , at position 47.818279, 9.404315 near the Berggasthof Höchsten.
Yes, you can stay the night on this summit if you like !

I then took the nice walk to the lookout, along some nice panels with German texts about food and drink, and the translation in to the local dialect " Schwabisch".

This summit was rather crowded, as we were close to SOTA Dinner Time ...
Already on the summit was Herbert, OE9HRV.
By "shouting", I found out Herbert was on 20m, so we agreed that I would get 40m, hi.

I had setup my HF station at the watchtower, and a bit later Peter, DO4TO and his xyl showed up.
Lucky for me, Peter was only doing 2m SOTA, so no problem.

Lots of visitors there too .. and many asking questions ...
A friendly lady asked if she could take some pictures of me, no problem, but of course I made here take one with my camera too, hi

Later on, even more company !
Phil, G4OBK had already activated the summit the day before, but just stopped by to say hello, because this summit is also on the way from the Hamradio to the village of Pfrungen, where the SOTA dinner was held. Here Phil is talking to Jürg, HB9BAB.

With all the local "QRM", this was no quiet activation, and in the end, I only got 10 qso's in the log.
And just as I was ready to go .. three more hams showed up, and I was happy to give them my spot on the bench !
(Also, can't recall who they were, so if you know their calls and names ..please fill me in)

The SOTA Dinner

The SOTA dinner is becoming a "classic" .. around 22 people attended this year.

Here a new ham from Austria,  Alex OE5LXR & xyl, our "organizer" Ed DD5LP, and Andy DL2DVE.

Some familiar faces : Fritz, OE5DUL , Heinz OE5EEP, Phil G4OBK and xyl Judy.

If you follow my blog closely, you will surely remember the SOTA dinner with "THE HAT", where I won the SOTABEAMS WsprLite prize.

This year Ed had collected no less than 15 prizes !
In the picture : Ed DD5LP, Heinz OE5EEP, Andy DL2DVE and DM Manager Michael DB7MM.

And lo and behold, I did win another prize this year !
It's a kit for an 80m ARDF receiver, with a Chinese manual ! Luckily, there was also an English translation in the box, hi.

I have built the kit and it works ... but haven't got around to use for real foxhunting though.

Continue reading ... go to DAY 5

or

Go back to overview HERE

ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2018 - Day 3

Leaving my BnB in Pfastatt near Mulhouse at 08:15, I arrived on my first summit at 09:00. 

DM/BW-018 (Blauen)

Last year the road was blocked, so I had to skip this summit.

This time I had more luck. Blauen is an easy drive up to the parking at the hotel "Zum Hochblauen", position 47.777251, 7.701115

A short walk North, until you are behind the transmitting and lookout tower, and you will find a pile of rocks, with a nice bench in front of it, where you can setup and have a wonderful view.

Looking back from my operating position, both towers were in the fog, it was still early morning ...

A few walkers came by when I was operating, but no one asked anything.
But just as I had finished my activation, and was ready to pack up, a couple of walkers stopped and wanted to know what I was doing. Always happy to explain ... but after that, I was in a hurry to pack, and forgot to pack my counterpoise wire !
I only discovered this when I arrived at the next summit of course ... too late to go back.

It was a 4m length of flexible wire, covered with grey plastic.
So if anyone found it ... I hope you can use it or disposed of it in a proper way.
I was not intentionally leaving rubbish on a summit (I wouldn't leave a small paper ...)

HB/SH-002 (Wannenberg)

In 2017 I have been to OE and HB0 to add two new regions to my list, but I hadn't activated one single Swiss summit .. what a shame !

So this year I had to make up for that, and selected the Wannenberg.

Driving over there was a terrible experience, I had trouble with many roadblocks, deviations and traffic jams .. I left Blauen at 10:30, and only got to the parking spot at 12:50.
Parking is here  47.665549, 8.492130, driving further is forbidden, but I saw some locals drive the left road in the picture below anyway ... so you go at your own risk.
There is a track by HB9BRJ on the SMP Tracks page.

Anyway, I walked the left road in ascent, and it took me 20 minutes to the summit. Coming down I took the shorter but steeper path (the right one in the picture), and got back at my car in around 15 minutes. The whole walking + activating took me just 2 hours.

Near the summit is a blockhut, where I set up my station 

Nice place to set up a station ... but it's also the place where I got bitten by a "Swiss tick", so better lookout where you sit, hi.

I could only log 7 qso's here, but 2 were S2S, so I was still happy with the result.
Being way behind on my schedule, I had to skip my third summit DM/BW-235, Hoher Randen, and went straight to this one ... an old favourite.


DM/BW-193 (Schächer)

This is again a super easy drive up summit, with a nice bench to operate.
Parking is at  47.888662, 8.577274 , and the operating spot is right behind the trees.
The real summit is a bit further south, but this spot is well in the AZ.

This time, 11 qso's int he log, and 2 S2S, so again a happy operator !

As it was already after 17:00 local time, and I still had to drive a 100 km and find a place to eat ... I quickly packed up and got driving ...

I had a nice dinner at the highway restaurant "Rastanlage im Hegau - WEST", along the highway 81, GPS position 47.861209, 8.785982
They are not the cheapest (lookout for the salad bar, you pay per WEIGHT of your plate !), but the food is excellent, way better than in most highway "junkfood" stops.

After that I still had some driving , and finally arrived at my AirBnb place in the city of BERG (near Ravensburg), what better place could a SOTA activator dream of  ?

Continue reading ... go to DAY 4 

or

Go back to overview HERE

ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2018 - Day 2

FL/VO-153 (Bois de Montenoy)

At 08:35 I left my AirBnb place in Ay-sur-Moselle, and went looking for my first summit. 

Since the renumbering of the FL/VO summits, nobody had activated this one yet, so here was my chance  to get a "first activation" !

Bois de Montenoy is an easy drive up summit. Coming from the south, find this spot along the road D913 : 48.775491, 6.274659

There take the Rue des Vergers, direction northwest, and follow the main road ... left, right, left, right, then follow the Rue du Fort, which becomes a farm track.

At the end you will arrive at a parking spot here : 48.784860, 6.249853, which is already in the AZ. Don't park on a farmers field, but close to the forest.

I walked a while into the forest to set up, to be in the shade, and not to attract more attention than needed ...

I got some problems setting up, the KX3 autotuner wouldn't tune ... strange.

I changed out the coax, even put a piece of random wire on a BNC-to-banana adapter to exclude a coax fault, nothing ! The SWR stayed high ... what could be wrong ?

After several restarts of the KX3, finally everything went back to normal. Very strange, and it never happened again on this trip ...

Is it a bad sign that I made also only 13 QSO's on this summit ?  

Well, I didn't let it bother me too much, and went on to some very well known summits.

FL/VO-002 (Le Hohneck)

Easy drive up to the official parking lot here 48.037926, 7.015268

BUT OH WHAT A DIFFERENCE !

When I was here in 2017, I almost got blown off this summit and had to abandon the activation after just one qso (read that report here ).

This time the weather was beautiful, which also meant a lot of visitors on the summit.

This included a group of very loud British people who thought that making noise on a French summit is a way of being "important". They belonged to a UK BMW Oldtimers club (http://bmwhistoricmotorclub.co.uk/ ).

They drove some really beautiful BMW's on a trip through the Vosges region.

If you're interested in what other cars were on the summit that day, read some more in this report from our "Big Chief" Andy MM0FMF, who also was on the summit that day.
His report is here.

I did set up away from the central lookout point but not far enough as it would seem ...
I had to interrupt my activation when this group came to "admire the views" with a lot of commentary !
I guess the pints they had in the café before increased their "dB level" ... they were 59+++ , even using my  headphones ... I just couldn't hear the chasers any more !
Luckily, after a while the went away and I could continue my activation.

Not a bad result in the end, with 18 QSO's in the log, and 3 S2S.
It was time for the third summit ...

FL/VO-001 (Le Grand Ballon de Guebwiller)

The parking lot for this summit is here 47.904615, 7.103006

It is only a small walk to the summit.

And same story as on the previous one ... much better weather than last year, when I was on the summit but could not possibly set up an antenna. 

There was another small problem though, the shortest path to the summit was blocked ! 

Being hams ... we know a solution to that , see pictures below ;-)

To avoid the wind, I set up my station at the "stone field" near the summit, which is still in the AZ.

Only 14 QSO's here, all on 40m CW.

But just for fun, being on the highest summit in FL/VO after all ... I took my FT1D and called cq on 2m FM. After a while , I did get one call back, from a mobile station.

It turned out to be Jean-Bernard, F4EOH. We had a nice qso, and he told me he was on his way to Friedrichshafen, and he had a stand in hall A3. I went to visit him a few days later ... see report on Day 4.

After this I had one more summit on my list ...

FL/VO-017 (Le Molkenrain)

Parking is easy at the Ferme Auberge du Molkenrain, at position 47.853331, 7.135684
I took the shorter track by HB9DIZ, which is on the SMP. It starts right in front of the cars on the left in the picture above.

Don't walk towards the radio towers, the summit is the other way ...

With a nice 22°C , I enjoyed the short 10' walk to the summit, and set up under a tree near the pile of stones which mark the summit.

From this one, you have a nice view of FL/VO-001 with it's typical radar-dome.

As for SOTA, I ended this day with 12 QSO's in the log, all in SSB this time, and on 7 and 14 MHz.

Continue reading ... go to DAY 3 

or

Go back to overview HERE

ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2018 - Day 1

ON/ON-017 (Bois Haut)

I left home in Ostend at 05:40 local time, still I got into several traffic jams. So with some delay , I arrived at my first summit at 10:40 local time.

EDIT : This summit is no longer valid for SOTA!

The parking spot is next to a bench which is in the activation zone, at position 49.545825, 5.753395.

It was raining all the time, so I had to make it a short activation

I quickly set up my 6m fishing pole away from the bench, and hanging the 9.15m random endfed as a sloper , connecting to the 9:1 UNUN, which I tied to the bench.

Operator and rig were kept as dry as possible with a large umbrella, and a plastic container.

I had the container on its side, thereby covering the KX3, CW paddle and logbook.

A nice comfy mini-shack !

After only 7 CW QSO's, all on 40m, I had to quit, the rain was getting really heavy, so I packed up, and went to a shopping center in Luxemberg for lunch and fuel ... and kept myself warm and dry there for a while. After that, I drove South to France , and went to this summit.

FL/VO-057 (Côte de Drince)

I arrived at 15:40 local time, found a forest road in very bad shape, and flooded with water ... still I took the risk and drove to this parking position : 49.220599, 6.08632, next to an old forest house.

The start of this forest road can be found here : 49.216107, 6.080344, along the road D112C (Rue de Verdun).

From there I followed a track through the forest, up North, until I was in the activation zone. This track was also flooded in places, so I had to find a deviation through the trees ...
Because of all the bad weather, I didn't record a track, sorry.

And when I finally had found a suitable (fairly dry) spot to setup my TWO umbrellas ... the rain stopped and the sky cleared up a little.

I had double the number of QSO's here, so 14 QSO's in the log, a mix of CW and SSB , on 40-30-20m.

So far for a wet start of what would otherwise be a very nice and sunny trip !

Continue reading ... go to DAY 2

or

Go back to overview HERE