ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2024 - Day 13

This day saw some 240 km of driving, one last SOTA activation ...and rain again !

FL/VO-023, Le Donon - 1007m, 10 points

I activated this summit on my own last year, and liked the rather tough mountain walk over a cobbly track. So I wanted to take the XYL on the same experience ... it don't have to be drive-up summits all the time, right ?

See my previous report for the parking spot and how to get there.

Last year I had beautiful weather, not so this time. During the walk to the summit it was more or less dry, with a very light drizzle coming up when we approached the summit.

I quickly set up my station, but already feeling more and more rain, I chose an operating spot inside "The Temple", there were only a few visitors anyway. I couldn't find a good place to put the spike for my fishing pole, so my antenna was sagging and hanging low above the ground, but it seemd to still work ok.

Sitting behind a pillar, and at the right angle, I could protect myself and the rig more or less.

Considering the circumstances, the activation went well. With 13 QSO's and two S2S in the log, this concluded the SOTA tour.  

After a wet descent, we decided not to activate the closeby summit of Le Petit Donon, and drove to our last AirBnb in Pont-a-Mousson. There was no rain there, so we enjoyed the last evening of our trip at the borders of the Moselle river ... and with a view of nearby summit Butte de Mousson FL/VO-060.

This was the last post of this trip. Day 14 was just driving home, nothing special to report.
Thanks for reading, and see you on another SOTA trip soon !

73 de Luc, ON7DQ & XYL Karine

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ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2024 - Day 12

 Triberg Waterfalls

Proudly presented as "Deutschlands Höhste Wasserfälle" with a height of 163m ... that is if you sum up the height of seven small water chutes along the way ... none of those are actually spectacular.

We parked here 48.123249, 8.222143 (Parkplatz Adelheid), but there are several other entry points where you can park and start your visit.

With a 3.75€ parking fee, and another 8€ per person to get into the park, this looks a bit like a tourist trap ... but it's still a nice day out, and the whole place is well maintained. 

At midday, we had our lunch on the parking lot near the car. The weather looked nice enough to have a second attempt to activate Kandel. So off we went ...

DM/BW-009, Kandel - 1241m, 10 points

DA-0004 Südschwarzwald Nature Park

When we arrived at the parking for Kandel (pos 48.065336, 8.016146), it was cloudy but still dry. 

But just as I was setting up, it started raining, so I had to move all my stuff up in the watchtower. I still had to set up my antenna, in the pouring rain, so by the time I got under the roof, I was already quite wet. 

I tried to keep the equipment dry with a towel and the plastic cover of my Go-Box. 

But the situation was getting worse, the wind was sweeping the rain under the roof, so I had to keep the activation very short and abandon ship after only 5 QSO's, just enough to have a valid activation. Not even one S2S this time, oh well ... 

Driving down from the summit was a bit dangerous, the visibility was very bad, but we made it safely  back to our Bnb.

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ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2024 - Day 11

This day, we left Friedrichshafen, our final destination was Teningen near Freiburg im Breisgau.
First, we visited the largest fortress ruins in Germany, the Hohentwiel Castle

(source https://www.festungsruine-hohentwiel.de/en/)

DM/BW-101, Hohentwiel - 690m, 6 Points

The parking for the castle is here 47.766977, 8.818272

We had some trouble getting there, because there was a cycling race going on in Singen, so we made a large detour to finally get to the access road to the parking.

Entrance fee was still 5€/person like last year, tickets must be bought in the info center near the parking, no tickets are sold at the entrance gate to the castle. Note that you can not activate this summit other than by being inside the castle walls.

From the info center, it is about 25 minutes to the castle, not too difficult but steep in some places, take enough water on a hot day!

Don't miss the graveyard at the start of the walk, it has a special atmosphere.

I had done the castle visit last year, so this time I set up my station as quickly as possible, and  let the XYL enjoy the views, and take some pictures.

This time, I set up in plain view of all the visitors, in the center field, where there are two nice picnic benches. No one made a problem of my presence. 

From the summit, you have a nice view of the other two "Hegau volcanoes", Hohenstoffeln, DM/BW-085 (left) and Hohenwewen, DM/BW-086 (right), which I have activated in 2019 (see that report here).

I spent more than an hour on the summit, resulting in 28 QSO's with an incredible 10 S2S !
Conditions were so-and-so the whole trip, so again no DX on the map.

Another view of the nice location of my outdoor shack ...

I had planned to also activate Kandel, DM/BW-009, but had to cancel because the rain was pouring by the time we got near the summit. Visibility was very bad so we just went looking for our AirBnb, and that was it.

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ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2024 - Day 10

The Ham Radio, the SOTA meeting, a SOTA presentation by KF0CR ... AND a SOTA activation!

Ham Radio

I had only bought a ticket for the Saturday, so I had to divide my time between all offerings on the fair.
I first visited the flea market, which was again reduced in size compared to last time. All stands together barely filled one hall, where it used to be two fully populated halls.

The second hall ... those few tables could easliy have been put in the first hall, where there was also lots of empty space. 

 

My only purchases were a set of large crocodile clips, and a Czech Army key.

After that it was time to have a quick visit to the main hall, and of course, my first stop was the combined QRP Labs/ Palm Radio Keys stand.

As a CW fan, I liked this display of CW keys.

A brief visit at the SOTA stand, where Michael DB7MM was showing a novel base for your CW paddle.

I also wanted a new hat, so I had one made with my name and callsign on it, and of course it had to be in my favourite color : ORANGE !

Not cheap at 30€, but doesn't it look great ?

 

The SOTA Meeting

Lots of familiar faces in the room "Austria", I won't even try to put names and callsigns ... I would forget too many. After the presentation of the Elecraft KH1 by Eric WA6HHQ came my moment of glory ...

Presentation by KF0CR : SOTA fun in the USA

I made a trip to the USA in 2015, which actually was the start of this blog (see that report here).

I offered to give a short presentation about this adventure to Juerg, HB9BIN, when he was still organizing the SOTA meeting, but there was never an opportunity. So, after Sylvia, OE5YYN, took over the job, I offerd her the same, but also had to wait a few years ... until this year, there seemed to be a shortage of speakers, so now was my chance.

I had asked Sylvia to leave out my name and home call, so it would be a surprise to most who would be this speaker... hi.

So after 9 years, I could finally show some slides and a short video about how my SOTA adventure in 2015 went along. Also in my presentation, a visit to the OzarkCon QRP conference which takes place each year in Branson, Missouri (see that report here).  

The video I showed can be seen on my Youtube channel here

After my presentation, there were two more, one by Markus HB9DIZ, and one by Dzianis DD1LD.
But I had to leave the meeting a bit early, my XYL had been alone the whole day, and I promised her a dinner with a bit less people around ...
But before the dinner we still had time for a short visit to a popular and easy summit ... she's married to ham and she'll know it, hi!

DM/BW-854, Höchsten - 838m, 8 Points

Not much to tell here, see my previous report for info. I made 14 QSO's with 3 S2S. One of the S2S was with Phil, G4OBK on 10m.

And that concludes my report on a very busy day !

Tomorrow , we leave Friedrichshafen, in the direction of the "Schwarzwald" ...

Continue reading ... go to DAY 11

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ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2024 - Day 9

A brief visit of Friedrichshafen ...and the SOTA Dinner !

We started the day with a visit to Friedrichshafen, for some shopping and sightseeing. Amongst other things, we climbed the "Moleturm", a nice lookout tower at the Bodensee. Gets you a nice view of the ferryboats and the Zeppelin museum.

In the evening, there was the SOTA Dinner in the same restaurant as last year, Gasthof Adler in Hefigkofen. 70 guests attended the dinner, it was great to see so many familiar (and some unfamiliar) faces. Let the pictures speak for themselves ...

After the dinner, my XYL and myself were in for a big surprise ... 

As we were recently married, Ludwig DH8WN came to us to hand us a "wedding present".

It was an old vacuum tube, a Tesla E88CC (a copy of a Siemens ECC88).
Ludwig told me a whole story about how the properties of this tube (gold contacts among other things) would ensure us a long and happy marriage. Thanks Ludwig ! 

And that was not all, the present was accompanied by some harmonica music by Uli, DC1UH. 

This will be a SOTA Dinner that is not easily forgotten !

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ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2024 - Day 8

This day, another long drive, from Saulgrub to Friedrichshafen.

The APRS track shows how we got there.

  

DL/AL-171, Eisenberg - 1053m, 2 points  

A first stop at a SOTA summit, free parking and free access to the Eisenberg Castle on the summit.

Parking spot is here 47.612489, 10.592553
It's only a 10 minute walk to the castle.
I found a nice bench opposite the entrance to set up my station.

And how thoughtful, on the wall of the tower behind the bench, someone had put a hook where I could attach my 9:1 UNUN.

Strange results of this activation : 12 QSO's, and most seem to come from one direction !
Maybe the castle worked as a reflector ? hi

Anyway, 9 of the 12 QSO's were S2S, incredible !

Lindau

Then it was again time for some tourism ... we made a short stop in Lindau, 

This is a town built on an island in the Bodensee. We parked outside the city on the mainland (pos 47.550631, 9.691787), and took the Landtorbrücke for a short walk around the city. It has a nice harbour where some ferryboats come and go, connecting several cities around the Bodensee.

After that it was time to find our AirBnb in Friedrichshafen, where we arrived around 16:50 local time.

Continue reading on DAY 9

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ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2024 - Day 6

 Day 6 ... driving from Kiesheim am Ries to Saulgrub... and one SOTA summit.
APRS track:

We took a detour from the normal route to visit the East coast of the Ammersee, and found a nice picnic place in Breitbrunn (free parking at pos 48.034012, 11.133652).

DL/AM-001, Peissenberg - 988m, 1 point

This is a drive up summit, the large parking is at pos 47.801233, 11.013914
Parking is not free, it was 2€ for 3 hours, so plenty of time to do my activation.

At the western end of the church, I found a nice bench in the shade, and with a nice view over the valley. Ideal to set up my outdoor shack !

I had 17 QSO's in the log, including 3 S2S, no DX. Here the QSO map.

On the summit is also the Hohenpeißenberg Meteorological Observatory. It is in use since 1781, and is considered the oldest mountain weather station in the world.

And of course, like on many summits, there is an impressive transmitting tower ... must have picture !

With that, we were at the end of the  Romantic Road.

There was no SOTA on day 7, we spent a quiet day in Saulgrub, which is in the Ammergauer Alps.

Continue reading on DAY 8

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