LA/HM-157 Nordsetberget

On November 9, I activated LA/HM-157 Nordsetberget, by the way my first activation in Hedmark county. I parked at N 60 15.650, E 11 43.014. According to the map, it should be a blue-marked trail to the summit. The trail exists, but not any blue marks. It was a quite easy walk up to the summit (except for a wet and slippery ground). It was just to walk along a wide forest road/trail until N 60 16.172 E 11 42.672, and then take to right.

The HB-1B and a linked dipole was used during the activation.

I start calling CQ on 20 meter, and the pile-up was immediately a reality. In 50 minutes 36 QSOs were in the log.

DXCCs: DL, EA, G, GM, I, OE, OH, OK, OM, ON, PA, SP, UR, W.

PS1. LA8BCA wrote an article in "Amatørradio" about SOTA. His rucksack weighted 18 kg. Thus, I wanted to weigh mine. It was just 5.5 kg. It can easily be reduced with 1 kg because I usually bring with me a MP-1 antenna - just in case it should be impossible/difficult to erect the linked dipole.

PS2. The geocache GCW1GN is located only a fes meters from the summit.

LA/OL-046 Svarttjernhøgda

LA/OL-046 Svarttjernhøgda was activated last Saturday. I parked at N 60.21000 E 010.50817 around 520 meter asl (the last part of the road is a toll road, fee NOK 50 which is paid by SMS). From the parking it is a slightly less than 2 km walk along a blue-stick marked trail.

Also on this activation I used the HB-1B and a linked dipole. This is a combination which performs very well, ant it is very convenient for SOTA activations.

I called CQ on 20 meter, and immediately I got a tremendous pile-up. In periods it was simply completely impossible to pick out a call sign. All I heard was a continuous peeeep! I have never experienced a heavier pile-up! Nevertheless, the chasers were patient, and after an hour I had 48 QSOs from 19 DXCCs in the log, and there were no replies to my QRZs and CQs. Since it was quite cold, I decided to go QRT rather than QSY to another band.

DXCCs: CT, DL, EA, EU, F, G, GM, HA, HB9, I, LZ, OE, OH, OK, OM, ON, PA, SP, W.

LB/OL-001 Storhaugen

A few days ago, I became aware of the German Award Program (GMA). The rules are simple: Every summit above 100 meter which is named on a map can be included. No prominence has to be fulfilled. Thus, it is very “green” (i.e. environmental friendly) and family friendly. The family can e.g. walk to a nearby summit, drink the afternoon coffee, then the HAM can start the activation and the rest of the family return home (or to a cabin). That’s exactly the situation at our cabin. If I’m going to do a SOTA-activation, I either have to go alone, or the family has to wait (which is pretty boring for them…).

Thus, I sent an email to Mario DL4MFM, and he made it possible to include Norwegian summits in the GMA-database. I then included Storhaugen in JP41XK (its prominence is around 50 meter), which is in walking distance from our cabin.

On September 29 I activated LB/OL-001 for the first time. I used my HB-1B and a linked dipole. The QSO with OE5AUL was the first GMA-QSO from LA. I managed the required 4 QSOs before the dark came, and I had to return.

DXCCs: DL, OE, UA.

LA/BU-027 Gyrihaugen

LA/BU-027 Gyrihaugen was activated on saturday September 21. It was my first visit to the summit (and the third SOTA activation). It is an easy summit to reach. I parked at N 60 07.197 E 010 23.176, around 3 kilometers from the top. I first followed the road until N 60 06.080 E 010 23.414, and then I followed a blue-marked trail up to the summit.

The summit itself offers a magnificent view. Oslofjorden, Gausta, Blefjell, and Norefjell can all be seen.

Also at this activation I used my HB-1B and a linked dipole (BandHopper III), which both performed flawlessy. I was first QRV on 20 meter, then QSYed to 30 meter, and finally QSYed to 40 meter. Totally, I logged 39 QSOs (29 on 20, 8 on 30, and 2 on 40).

DXCCs: CT, DL, EA, EW, F, G, GW, HA, HB9, LZ, OH, OK, OM, ON, PA, UA, UT, W, YO.

PS. The geocache GCJJWN is located 50 meter northeast of the summit, and it is easily found.

LA/BU-026 Ringkollen

Yesterday, on September 12, I activated LA/BU-026 Ringkollen. The weather was really nice and SOTA-friendly; calm and sunny with temperature around 20 degrees. I parked at N 60 10.241, E 010 23.513 (close to Ringkollkapellet), 670 meter away and 100 meter below the summit. Not exactly a drive-in, but it is only a short walk to the summit. The path was clearly marked.

As for my last activations, I used my HB-1B rig and a linked dipole (BandHopper III), which both work very well. I started the activation on 20 meter and worked 9 stations. Then I QSYed to 30 meter, and worked 13 more stations. In total, 21 QSOs in about 45 minutes.

DXCCs: DL, F, G, GW, HB9, OE, OM, PA, UT, YO.

LA/OL-088 Ormtjørnkampen

After LA/OL-185 was activated, I drove in the direction of LA/OL-088 Ormtjørnkampen. It's only a relatively short distance between these summits. I parked at N 61 11.064 E 009 49.247. Around 90 meters away, at N 61 11.078 E 009 49.343 the trailhead to the summit is found. It's around 900 meters away and 300 meters below the summit. Thus the ascension is rather steep.

Still, the conditions on 20 meter were very good, and I logged 29 QSOs in 40 minutes. Also here, I made calls on 2 meter and 70 cm, but no one replied.

After having logged the geocache GC2WMBQ, I returned to the car and drove home.

DXCCs: DL, EA, G, GM, HB9, I, LZ, OE, OK, OM, ON, W, YO

LA/OL-185 Skjervungfjellet

On August 14, I left home at 06:15 local time, and around 9 o'clock (still local time) I parked at N 61 07.980 E 009 52.223. The trail up to the summit starts at N 61 07.971 E 009 52.342. It is slightly less than 2 km to walk. The walk is very easy and enjoyable.

I used HB-1B and a linked dipole. The conditions on 20 meter were very good, and after 40 minutes of operation, I had logged 29 QSOs. Then it was no more replies to my CQs, and I went QRT on HF. I did, however, make calls on 2 meter and 70 cm, but no QSOs were achieved (as usual...).

DXCCs: DL, EA, G, GM, HB9, I, OE, OK, OM, ON, PA, SP.

Before returning to the parking area, don't forget to log the geocache GC35BBT!

LA/AH-014 Toåsen

LA/AH-014 Toåsen was activated earlier today. It was a CW-acitivation where I used my YouKits HB-1B rig and a linked dipole (HandHopper III) - an excellent combination!

In about one hour, 21 QSOs were achieved (13 on 20 meter, 5 on 30 meter, and 3 on 40 meter), three of them were Summit to summit.

DXCCs: DL, G, GI, HB9, I, LA, OE, OM, ON, S5, UA, UR.

LA/OL-184 Kvitberget

Yesterday afternoon I once again activated Kvitberget. The weather was excellent, and the activation was a real pleasure. My family was together with me. Hence, the activation couldn't last for too long time, hi, hi.

 

The equipment used was HB-1B and a linked dipole (BandHopper III).

 

All QSOs were on 20 meter. Only 9 chasers were calling, and they were worked in a little while.

DCXXs: CT, DL, EA, G, HB9, LA, OK, OM, W.

LA/RL-102 Rossåsen

Rossåsen, LA/RL-102 was activated on July 18. The summit is easily activated. I parked at N 58 46.837, E 005 48.759, 330 meters away and 90 meter below the summit. A few minutes I arrived in a terrible weather; rainy, foggy, and quite windy. Really unpleasant!

I erected the pole and linked dipole, and started to call. Fifty minutes later 31 stations were worked on 20 meter (20 on CW and 11 on SSB). Then everything was wet (included the logbook), and I returned to the car.

DXCCs: DL, G, GW, HB9, I, OE, OH, OK, OM, PA, W

LA/BU-124 Vardåsen

Yesterday, I activated LA/BU-124 Vardåsen, and all summits on Hurum peninsula are now activated :). I parked at N 59.7054, E 10.4705, slightly less than 2.5 km away from and some 160 meters below the summit. The first part of the walk was on a axcellent forest road. However, when I was 900 meter from the summit, there were no trails to it. It became a rather time consuming apporach. The terrain itself was quite unfriendly, in addition it was also wet and slippery due to the last period with rain. But finally I reached the summit.

The fiberglass pole with a BandHopper III was erected in the cairn, and I was rewarded with 34 QSOs (9 on 20 meter, 14 on 30 meter, and 11 on 40 meter), among them 2 summit-to-summit. As usual, no QSOs were obtained on 2 meter and 70 cm.

DXCCs: CT, DL, EA, G, GW, HB9, I, OE, OH, OK, OM, PA, SM, SP

Høgfjellet, LA/BU-086

LA/BU-086 Høgfjellet was activated last Saturday (June 1). I parked at N 60 23.849 E 10 00.395 on the road towards Ringerudseter at 700 MASL and 2.5 km away from the summit (toll road, fee: NOK 60). The first half of the walk was terrible due to a very wet and slippery ground. If I had known these conditions in advance, the activation would have been postponed for some weeks. However, I was rewarded with a magnificent scenery when I finally arrived at the summit.

 

It was easy to use the cairn for securing my pole and Band Hopper III. Also this time I started the activation on 20 meter CW and worked 13 stations. Then 4 chasers were worked on 20 meter SSB before I QSYed to 30 meter CW and worked 8 more stations. Finally, as usual I made some calls on 2 meter and 70 cm, and as usual, no QSOs were achieved.

 

DXCCs: DL, EA, G, I, OE, OK, OM, ON, PA, UA, YO

Villingstadåsen, LA/BU-122

LA/BU-122 Villingstadåsen was activated last Friday evening (May 31). In principle, it is possible to drive quite close to the summit. However, the road is private, and only driving to the properties is accepted. I therefore parked close to the public road (N 59.72586, E 10.44858), and then it was slightly more than 3 km to walk and 275 meter to climb. The summit is easy accessible; there are roads/trails until the last 250 meters.

 

At the summit, I found a bush for the pole, erected my Band Hopper III, and started the activation on 20 meter CW. 23 stations were relatively soon in the log. I then QSYed to the SSB part of the band and worked 2 more chasers. I then had planned to QSY to 30 meter, but due to all mosquitos and the fact that it was around 20:30 in the evening, I decided to go QRT.

 

As usual there were no replies to my calls on 2 meter and 70 cm.

 

DXCCs: DL, G, GW, PA, HB9, OE, OM, S5, UU, W

Knivsfjellet, LA/BU-123

Knivsfjellet - LA/BU-123 was activated on May 10. I parked at Klokkarstua which is around 2.5 km away and 140 meters below the summit.

This was my first activation with the Band Hopper III (three band linked dipole from SOTAbeams (for 40, 30, and 20 meter)). As rig I planned to use the HB-1B. However, I also brought with me my FT-817 and MP-1 just in case I would like to do some SSB and/or work higher HF bands.

The QTH was excellent (also with respect to HF conds). Very little noise on the bands made this activation very enjoyable. I started on 20 meter CW, and I soon realized that many chasers were in the shack. Twenty QSOs came in the log. I then decided to try 20 meter SSB before making any changes with the linked dipole. This resulted in 20 more QSOs. It was especially fun to work AE4FZ who gave me report 5-4. Finally, I QSYed to 30 meter, and worked more 14 chasers. Before leaving the summit, I made a couple of calls on 2 meter and 70 cm, and this resulted in a chat with LA5ITA. Totally, the activation resulted in 55 QSOs.

Three summit-to-summit QSOs came in the log; HB9BIN/P at HB/TG-004, OE5REO at OE/NO-144, and GM4COX at GM/SS-216. Always fun to work HAMs on other summits.

DXCCs: DL, F, G, GM, HA, HB9, I, LA, OE, OK, OM, PA, S5, SP, W.

Tryvannshøgda, LA/OS-003

Tryvannshøgda was activated this morning in a quite cold (-11 C) and very windy weather. Fortunately, I had bought a pair of "iPad-gloves", which really proved to be useful. Without them, I guess the activation had to be cancelled.

I started on 20 meter CW. However, the conditions seemed to be poor, and only one QSO was logged. I then QSYed to 30 meter and worked 7 QSOs. Then all chasers which I copied were worked, and I QSYed to 40 meter. I would guess that the efficiency of the MP-1 is relatively poor on 40 meter. Nevertheless, I worked three QSOs (G, PA, DL) without any problem. Finally, I made some calls on 20 meter SSB, but didn't obtain any QSOs.

After an activation, it's always interesting to see which skimmers on the Reverse Beacon Network which have copied me. Todays surprise was W3LPL in Maryland, which copied me on 30 meter with a SNR of 23 dB. Not bad with 5watts and a small vertical antenna only slightly more than 2 meters.

DXCCs: DL, F, G, GW, PA, S5