Tryvannshøgda, LA/OS-003

Tryvannshøgda, LA/OS-003, was activated once again this morning. The weather was beautiful, although a bit cold (-7 C). The conditions weren’t too good, neither on 20 meter nor 30 meter. However, 10 CW QSOs were logged in a relatively short time. Then all chasers (which I copied) were worked, and I went QRT. And once again the MP-1 antenna worked flawlessy.


DXCCs: DL, EA, OM, ON, S5.

Skreikampen, LA/AH-005

Skreikampen, LA/AH-005, was activated last Saturday. I parked at N 60 33.151, E 011 09.491 (which was easily found). From the parking lot it is a slighly less than 3 km walk to the Summit. The trail is clearly marked.

 

The view from the summit is excellent. Much of lake Mjøsa and it surroundings can be seen.

 

I had planned to stay on the summit for some time and try to work as much as possible on various bands. However, the temperature was only a few degrees, and the wind was terrible strong. Thus, I was soon freezing heavily, and I had to leave Skreikampen after 1.5 hour (for future activation I will remember to bring with me warm clothes and gloves).

 

I used my trusty old FT-817 and an MP-1 vertical whip. All QSOs were on 20 meter. I started with CW and worked 23 stations, and then 10 more stations on SSB. One of the SSB QSOs was a S2S with S57MS/P, who activated S5/KS-061.

 

As usual, I did not get any QSOs on 2meter FM and 70 cm FM.

 

DXCCS: DL, EA, G, HA, HB9, OK, OM, ON, PA, S5.

 

(When I came home, I searched for my callsign on Reversed Beacon Network, and found that I was spotted by skimmers as far away as Maryland and Quebec with good signal levels, which really indicates that the antenna radiates well.)

Ruten, LA/OL-099

On August 14 my family and I went on a hike to Ruten, LA/OL-099, and I had the opportunity to make a short activation. We parked just in front of the toll gate at N 61 28.133, E 009 28.219. Then we were 5.5 km away and almost 600 meters below the summit, and we simply followed the signs.

This was the first activation I used my YouKit HB-1B, which I purchased some time ago. The antenna was a MP-1. Both the rig and the antenna worked really great, and they are very suitable for SOTA purposes. Since it had to be a relatively short activation, I chose to operate on 20 meter. The conditions were strange ("patchy") and poor. No DL, F, G, PA, ON, ... were worked (as I often do). Immediately after my first call, I had a QSO with a S5, then with a LA, and then nothing more happened. Some CQs later I worked an HB9 and an OE, and nothing more happened. Some minutes later and a lot of new CQs, I worked two OM stations. I still made some calls, but no one answered, and I then decided to go QRT (remember: the activation had to be fairly short!).

Later I saw that N4EX had spotted me. Even though I believed the conditions were poor, I nevertheless was heard in North Carolina! BTW, I actually heard a N4-station, but I couldn’t realize he was calling me…

Before I left the summit, I did as usual make calls on 2 meter and 70 cm FM, but no QSOs were achieved.

DXCCs: HB9, LA, OE, OM, S5.

Skotjernfjellet, LA/AH-012

Skotjernfjellet was acitvated two days ago (on August 9). When driving towards this summit, I simply followed the instructions given in the geocache GC2GX0W description. I drove in Bjørgeseterveien at Bjørgeseter station (where in fact the trains no longer stop!). This is a toll road (fee NOK 40), followed the signs to Brovold until I was NE of Sølvtjernet. Then I drove up a small hill, then to SE until the road ended. Then I was located around 800 meter away and 110 meter below the summit.

A hike to Skogtjernfjell is highly recommended. It offers untouched nature and magnificent views. The area around Skotjernfjell is designated as one of the few places with untouched forest.

As on my last activation, I used my MP-1 antenna. It seems to work great for SOTA activations. Easy to erect and adjust, and easy to carry. I start working on 8 stations on 20 meter CW, then 5 stations on 20 meter SSB, and finally 3 stations on 30 meter CW. I did also made some calls on 40 meter SSB, but no one answered. Neither did (as usual) any reply to my calls on 2 meter FM and 70 cm FM.

DXCCs: DL, G, HA, HB9, I, OE, OM, S5, YO

(BTW, there are 2 easily found geocaches in the area; GC2GX0W and GC2AP6N.)

Åslandsnuten, LA/RL-061

Åslandsnuten, LA/RL-061 was activated on July 17. I parked a few hundred meters from Figgjo along the road from Figgjo to Kverneland (near the highest part). There, I was slightly less than 700 meters away and 180 meters below the summit. Thus, it is a relatively steep ascend/descend, and it took 30-45 minutes to reached the summit. However, it was easy to access the summit, it just took some time. I follow the route indicated by www.turinspirasjon.net.

I had purchased an MP-1 portable vertical whip-antenna from England some time ago, and this was the first time I tried it on a SOTA activation. It proved to work great, and since it is no vegetation at the summit, it was very convenient to use (opposed to a wire antenna). I first started on 30 meter. However, the conditions were bad, and I only managed three QSOSs, all with poor reports. I then QSYed to 20 meter, and here the conditions were much , much better. I first worked 17 QSOs / 8 DXCCs on CW, and then 8 QSOs / 5 DXCCs on SSB. Among them were two CTs (it was the first time I have worked Portugesian chasers).

As usual, I also made calls on 2 meter FM and 70 cm FM. And as usual, no one replied.

DXCCs: CT, DL, EA, F, G, GM, HB9, OK, OM, ON, PA.

PS. If you plan to activate Åslandsnuten, remember to log the geocache GC14XNQ when you are on the summit.

Varingskollen, LA/AH-013

Varingskollen was activated yesterday. This is one of the summits which easily can be reached by public transportation (followed by a hike!). Just take the train towards Gjøvik/Jaren/Hakadal to Varingskollen station, and you are around 1.5 km away and 360 meter below the summit. However, I came by car and parked at the station.

I started the activation at 30 meter and worked 14 station in about 30 minutes. After having worked all who called me, I QSYed to 20 meter SSB, then to 40 meter SSB, then to 80 meter SSB, then to 2 meter FM, and finally to 70 cm FM without obtaining any QSOs.

DXCCS: DL, F, G, HB9, OK, OM, PA.

You can see more pictures at flickr.

PS. When you are on the summit, remember to log the geocache GC1NMG8 – Varingskollen 2^nd edition.

Kvitberget, LA/OL-184

Almost 8.5 months without a SOTA activation is a very long time. On June 11 I had fortunately once again the opportunity to activate a summit. Due to limited time, I chose a summit which is reached easily,
Kvitberget – LA/OL-184.

I also activated Kvitberget two years ago. As last time, I parked at Rudlandsseter (toll road, fee: NOK 30,-)., which is less than one kilometer away and around 80 meter below the summit. The last time, it was very convenient to mount the antenna pole to the trigonometric point. Now it had unfortunately been removed, but I found a small pine which was an excellent substitution. I mounted the antenna (13 meter longwire as an inverted L, three counterpoise wires, and MFJ-16010), keyer, microphone, and power. Then, I realized that the power cable had broken… Sad. Luckily, the internal batteries in the FT-817 was newly charged, and these had to be used during the activation. Therefore, I used the default power setting (2.5 watts). But 2.5 watts were shown to be sufficient.

I discovered that the six meter band was open to S5 and southern part of DL. Thus, I started with working some QSOs on six, because Kvitberget is located within a relatively rare locator (JP41). After a while, I QSYed to 30 meter, then to 20 meter SSB, and finally back to six meter. It was by the way fun to be the first activator the SOTA chaser DJ5AV worked on six. Before I left the summit, I also worked one LA on 80 meter, and made some calls on 2 meter and 70 cm. As usual, no QSOs were achieved, neither on 2m nor 70cm.

All I all, a really fun activation. A total of 13 DXCCs were worked (1-80, 11-30, 7-20, 2-6).

DXCCs: DL, F, G, GW, HB9, I, LA, OE, ON OM, OZ, S5, YL

Amadores, EA8

This was not a SOTA activation (it was a HOTA - Hills On The Air, hi, hi). Nevertheless, it was great fun. One week from March 28, we were on a vacation at Amadores, south at Gran Canaria, EA8. I brought my FT817 and a MFJ-1899T whip antenna with me. In addition I also had some (long) wire and a MFJ-1610 antenna tuner - just in case the 1.6 meter whip antenna should behave like a dummy load.

Our hotel was located along a hill, and the top of the hill was just a few hundered meters away. It showed to be a great QTH. The ten meter band was open, and during slightly more than an hour operation, the FT-817 and whip antenna gave me 18 QSOs with excellent reports from 9 DXCCs. All but one were on SSB. In conclusion, EA8/LA1EBA/P will certainly be QRV the next time we visit Gran Canaria.

DXCCs: DL, EA3, F, G, I, PA, S5, UT, 9A

More pictures can be found at flickr.