SSST ....

Or "Short Sauerland SOTA Trip"

Since I reached over 900 activator points with my Friedrichshafen trip ... I couldn't resist to throw in another short trip to the place where SOTA began for me : the Sauerland region in North Rhine-Westphalia.
More info about the area : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauerland 

So I did a 5 day trip from 6 - 10 September, keeping the motto : one summit a day keeps the doctor away ... and it would bring me another 34 points closer to Mountain Goat fame and glory ...

These are the summits I activated

Day 1 : DM/NW-194 (Heidkopf)

I started in Ostend at 05:30 to avoid traffic jams around the big cities .. and I was quite lucky, I arrived more or less on time at the parking space for Heidkopf.
I chose to ascend this summit from the Hasley Hütte, just south of Olsberg. Parking spot  51.343405, 8.490161.

The track is fairly easy to follow, still I made a few navigation errors, hi.
After removing my errors, I uploaded the track on the SMP site.
https://www.sotamaps.org/tracks/summit/DM/NW-194

It has a couple of steep places, but all in all it is a nice walk of around 1 hour, at the end you will find a lookout tower near the summit. The tower is in the AZ, so I set up my station on the lookout platform. The lookout cabin was locked, it would have been a nice shack ...

Since it was midday by then, I first had a snack ... and then started calling CQ ... 15 QSO's later it started raining :-(

So I had to pack and run ... and the rain really started pouring !
This time I made no navigation errors, but one hour later I was soaking wet when I arrived at my car ... so far for day one. I hoped that I didn't catch a cold, or I would need a doctor after all ... hi.

I rushed to my hotel in Willingen, and the nice pool and sauna there made me quickly forget the bad weather outside.

Day 2 : DM/NW-187 (Hoher Eimberg)

More bad weather was predicted for most of the day, so I did a visit of the Willingen Brewery first, and got a nice beer mug and tokens for two free beers .. to be enjoyed after my activation of course ;-)

My WETTER.COM app said it would clear up in late afternoon ... so around 15:00 local time, I drove to the parking spot at the end of the road with the appropriate name "Zum Hoher Eimberg", GPS position :  51.303752, 8.603395. Just around the corner to the right has a few more parking spots.

It's only a 20 minute walk to the summit, and you won't need a GPS to find it.
But I posted my track on the SMP for those that want it :
https://www.sotamaps.org/tracks/summit/DM/NW-187

The activation went well, but there was a cold wind, and at the end it started raining again ... so after only 17 QSO's I had to pack up my stuff and go back ... and have a beer !

Day 3 : DM/HE-046 (Hohes Gras)

I wanted to do a visit to the city of Kassel, so I chose this easy drive-up summit for the morning.
Parking is at the "Kletterwald Kassel" at 51.306301, 9.354249, and nearby is the "Waldgaststätte Hohes Gras", where you can get food and drinks for a fair price.

No track needed here, just walk past the restaurant, and find a nice place to set up. If you walk far enough you will find a bench where you have a nice view over the valley, but it is exposed to the sun. I chose a spot near the ski lift under the trees.

Since it was announced  that this Saturday was the OE5 SOTA DAY, I was hoping to catch a couple of S2S with OE, but as it turned out I worked ... NONE !
Still had a blast, with 36 QSO's in the log, and 13 of those were S2S !

Day 4 :  DM/NW-263 (Langenberg)

This was another new unique for me. I ascended this summit from the city of Willingen, 2 km from my hotel. I parked here : 51.288782, 8.583374 , in the street named Am Rodeland.
This is a very enjoyable walk along part of the famous Rothaarsteig (https://www.rothaarsteig.de/).

It took me 1 hour to reach the summit, the track is available here :
https://www.sotamaps.org/tracks/summit/DM/NW-263

Along the way, and on the summit, are several benches. If you set up on the summit itself, expect to have some curious looks from passing walkers and mountain bikers.
This is a very popular place, since it is the highest point in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Also some of these people make more noise than my radio or voice combined ... make sure you have good headphones which cover your ears, hi.

Propagation was very bad this day, and despite calling CQ for long stretches, I only managed 16 QSO's in total. But 3 of those were S2S, so not bad after all.



Day 5 : DM/NW-192 (Stüppel)

It was time to drive back to Ostend (a 450 km ride ...) , so I did one more summit along the road, with a short walk to the top.
You can park at the St.-Antonius Kapelle in Wasserfall, pos.  51.303273, 8.434778

It took me just 25 minutes to reach the summit, this is the track
https://www.sotamaps.org/tracks/summit/DM/NW-192

I had to make a short activation, because of the long drive home.

With 13 QSO's in the log, of which 1 S2S with another Belgian (F/ON7QR/P) , I went back to the car and started driving ... to arrive safely back in Ostend at 17:15 local time ... mission accomplished !

See you on another SOTA adventure soon ... Cheers !

73,

Luc - ON7DQ

Building a QCX 40m

While I visited the Ham Radio in Friedrichshafen, I bought another kit for a QCX QRP Transceiver, this time the 40m version. I won't describe the whole build process, see my detailed description of the 20m version that I built earlier, here.

Here just a few pictures, and the special case I put it into.
Also some additions, like extra heatsinks and an audio amplifier and a small speaker.

After mounting the IC's and capacitors ...

Finished board, mounted in a D-LINK Access Point box. Note the bigger heatsink for the 5V regulator.

Heatsink for the three BS170's, glued on with Superglue.

Preparing the cover, which holds the two external pushbuttons

Adding audio amplifier and small speaker, for monitoring without headphones.

This is what it finally looks like ... it's still a kind of  "wireless access point", since it gives you access to wireless communications on the 40m band !

A bit hard to see, but on the top left corner are an ON/OFF switch, a DC input connector, and a PTT output for controlling an amplifier.

73 de Luc, ON7DQ

ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2018 - Day 10

Two more summits ... and then going home !

The last day of my trip was just routine .. two summits I have done several times before, and then a long, boring drive home.

ON/ON-016 (Les Aisances)

I went to my regular parking spot along the Rue des Routis, position 49.767429, 5.207851

I packed all my stuff and walked a bit back South, and setup along the road, where it is in the AZ.

Since I didn't have to walk very far, I took the Spiderbeam 12m pole for a change, so my endfed could hang perfectly vertical. 

I was a damp morning, so I kept it fairly short, but still was able to log 18 qso's, and 1 S2S.

ON/ON-021 (Plantis de Mesnil)

I was a bit in shock when I arrived at my last summit.

They had been cleaning out the woods, and three large trees occupied MY parking spot ! 

No other solution than to park along the road, at position 50.177294, 4.916858 , take my stuff and walk to the cabin on the summit.

The cabin would be a nice shack, unfortunately it is always locked :-(

It must have rained a lot before I came there, the track was in very bad shape. 

And since I was going home .. I had already put on an appropriate T-shirt , hi !

This is the same summit where I ended my tour in 2017, it was "The One with the Hat", you can read that story here.

My trip ended with a good activation, 26 qso's in the log, including another 3 S2S.

The drive home went without problems, well .... with the usal traffic delays around Brussels that is !

A truck had lost its load somewhere, so I spent 2 hours driving the mere 25 km around Brussels.

I started driving at 13:45 local at my last summit, and I only arrived home at 19:00 local time !

That's all folks !

73 de Luc, ON7DQ

ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2018 - Day 9

Three summits in the Saarland .. and more

I had stayed in Kindsbach (near the Ramstein Air Base), only 37 km from my first summit for the day. So I could take a good start, hoping to do 4 summits, the 3 in the Saarland region, and one in Luxemburg.

I had received lots of info from John, DK9JC, so I had no trouble finding all the summits.

DM/SR-006 (Trautzberg)

I parked here  49.551675, 7.273230 , very near to a large windmill. I had read reports of noise from the windmills making heavy QRM, but I had no problems whatsoever.

My comfy operating position, in the company of a bunch of large windmills.

I had a nice run of 20 qso's, on 7-14-18 MHz , CW & SSB. This included two S2S qso's.

DM/SR-012 (Schaumberg)

Schaumberg is a very touristic place, there is a nice info page here.

The official parking is free, and is at position 49.486934, 7.027537

You could operate from the parking lot, since it is completely in the AZ. 

But to attract less attention, I went around behind the trees at the end of the parking, and then to the left, and found a nice spot to setup, and wasn't disturbed by any visitors.

I logged 23 qso's here, on 40m and 20m, a mix of SSB and CW.

I had 5 S2S, one of which was with good friend Phil, G4OBK, who was still hanging around in the FL/VO region.

DM/SR-075 (Langensteinchen)

I drove a bit further than suggested by DK9JC, right to the end of the road ... and parked here 49.530285, 6.569698, close to a nice shelter, which is in the AZ.
So I had a nice shack in the woods ...

I fixed the endfed and 9:1 UNUN to a wooden beam in the roof, and it seemed to work ok.

And boy , what a nice operating table, all to myself !

I had only 12 qso's and no S2S. Could it be that the roof of the shelter dampened my signal a little ?
I did not care too much, and quickly packed up for my last summit.

LX/LX-002 (Grengenwald)

EDIT : this summit is no longer valid for SOTA!

This was the third time I was at this summit.
The first time I followed the route by G4OBK (see track on SMP)
The second time I tried a route from the North, which is easier and shorter.
So of course, I went "my" route again this time.
Parking spot is here 49.670817, 6.206297, and just before the gate, to the left, there is a place for one car between the trees. This is what it looks like in Google Streetview.

NOTE : if you come from the South, it is forbidden and DANGEROUS to go left to drive into the parking spot, continue driving to the next intersection at 49.6689, 6.2034. Take a turn there and return to the parking spot, which is then at your right.

Follow the forest track beyond the gate, and take the left bend, which will get you in the AZ.

This time I kept walking until I was at a picknick table, which is a nice place to setup shack.

Not a big pile-up here, but still a nice activation with 8 QSO's, and 2 S2S. A happy activator at the end of another wonderful SOTA day.

Now, the AirBnb place I had booked in Luxemburg had been canceled just the day before I would stay. In a hurry, I had to look for another place, and found one in Arlon, in Belgium. 

So I still had some driving to do, but not after filling up with cheap fuel in LX, and having a good meal in the Lunch Garden, Arlon. Whenever I go there, I have to taste the "Boulets à la Liégeoise" ... mmmm.

More info on this typical dish here

The best place to taste them would of course be the city of ... Liège !

Continue reading ... go to DAY 10

or

Go back to overview HERE

ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2018 - Day 8

Car trouble solved ... and two more summits

In the morning, it became clear that one cell in my car battery was dead.

Still, with only 10.8 Volt on the battery, I was just able to start my car , and so I drove off to the nearest repair centre. 

Next problem : for service, I had to make an appointment, and would have lost half a day !

So I asked, what if I replace it myself ?

Ah, no problem then, and they were kind enough to lend me a wrench , and I quickly put in the new battery and off I went ... 

DM/BW-077 (Braunberg)

A new summit for me, and as it turned out, quite a long walk too ...
I drove to this parking spot 48.44922, 8.20571
From there it took me one hour to reach the summit.

There are no views from the summit, but it is a very nice and quiet place.

I found a large flat rock to use as a shack table .. and as there was no wind , I used my brandnew SOTA flag to decorate my operating position, hi.

This activation went extremely well ... 30 qso's in the log.
This included some special ones .. I worked Mike, 2E0YYY on ... 10m FM !
And at the end of my activation, which already included some S2S contacts, my phone kept spitting out spots for summits that I probably could work ... so I kept searching and calling ... and in the end I had 11 S2S qso's, a good catch.

With all that I had been 1 hour and 15 minutes on the summit.
With the car problem, I had so much delay, that I decided to cancel two of the summits that I had planned, and just do one more and take it easy ... 

DM/BW-019 (Hornisgrinde)

For this summit, I took the "back road" which leads to the SWR transmitting tower, and parked here 48.610682, 8.202058
A short walk along the windmill to the summit, and I found a nice bench to operate.
The fun didn't last long though, as soon as I started operating, it started to rain slightly.
I kept operating as long as I could, but finally had to give up and return to the car.
Only 7 qso's in the log, and no S2S, oh well ...

After that, it was still a long drive to my BnB in the Saarland area, home of 3 nice summits in the DM/SR region, which I hoped to activate the next day.

Continue reading ... go to DAY 9

or

Go back to overview HERE

ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2018 - Day 7

Five summits in a day ... and car trouble !

This day I had to start my return trip back home, in three days.

I had planned 5 summits of 10 points, so I started early in Berg near Ravensburg, and my first trip would end in Lahr/Scharzwald, some 200 km further West.

DM/BW-156 (Lindenberg)

I was lucky that it hadn't rained over the weekend, so I could drive right to the operating position.

I parked here 47.993078, 8.674807

Your GPS probably won't guide you there because it's off-road, but study the map and you will get it.

Setup was quick and I had 15 qso's in just 15 minutes, CW and SSB on 40m and 20m.

DM/BW-195 (Zundelberg)

This summits involves a bit of walking, the parking position is here 48.052282, 8.73324 

I took the same track as described by HB9CZF, arriving at the operating position after about 10 minutes.

Now after setting up, I discovered that my trusty 5€ headset had broken again.

One side was already repaired with rubber tape. Now the other side had fallen off !

No problem if you carry some Velcro straps in your backpack (who doesn't ?).

Later at home I repaired it better, also with rubber tape, and I'm still using it because my audio reports were never better than with this cheap headset. Not the original Elecraft MH3, nor any other headset that I tried were any better. So I'll try to keep this baby as long as I can !

The activation went very well, 23 qso's in the log, and 4 were S2S.

DM/BW-228 (Hummelsberg)

This summit is near a glider airfield. The parking is here 48.112037, 8.759774
From there it's a short walk along the airfield. During your walk, you can admire the sheep .. but don't count them,you might fall asleep ;-)

Only 15 qso's here, and 1 S2S. But time to move on .. I was in bit of a hurry ...

DM/BW-042 (Rainen)

EDIT : This summit is no longer valid for SOTA!

This is another drive-up summit, I parked here : 48.179708, 8.808539

Setting up was quick again, and I made 13 qso's, all on 20m SSB.

DM/BW-046 (Plettenberg)

Last summit of the day, and also a drive-up if you go on a weekday.

Parking position was 48.20681, 8.80741

The whole place was deserted, so I installed myself at a nice bench on the playground, hi.

Only could catch 7 chasers here, but one of them was F/G4OBK/P who was "nearby" on FL/VO-070.

Strange enough, I could work him on 20m CW !

My day had been so wonderful and everything went so smooth ... this had to fail somewhere ...

After packing up , it was time to drive the last 100 km to my AirBnb in Lahr/Schwarzwald.

Surprise ... MY CAR WOULDN'T START !!!

I could try to call for help, but how long would that take ?

As if I had some feeling this would happen, I had parked my car backward on a slope near the cafetaria, nose pointing to the road.

So hoping for good luck, I let my car roll onto the road ... and after gaining some speed, I let it go in third gear ... and YES ! It started !

I drove the whole end without stopping, afraid that I would get stuck again .. and safely reached my destination ... SIGH !

The people where I stayed were very friendly, they helped me get the battery out and put it on a charger all night. I had a good shower and was offered a nice meal, and went to bed ...

To be continued in the next report  ... read on !

Continue reading ... go to DAY 8

or

Go back to overview HERE