LAFF-060 Svartskog

I made a new activation of LAFF-060 today using the same equipment as in September. 88 QSOs came in the log, mostly on 20 meter, but also a few on 40 meter. The pile-up were in periods tremendous! It was really fun!

DXCCs: DL, E7, EA, EU, F, G, GM, HA, I, OE, OH, OK, OM, ON, PA, SM, SP, UA, UA9, UR.

LA/OL-100 Valsfjellet

Valsfjellet was one again activated on September 13.

All QSOs were made on 20 meter, and the conditions were quite good. The weather was really magnificent; sun, calm, and temperature around 16-17C (not bad in September for a QTH 1148 meter above sea level).

Also on this activation, all QSOs were made on 20 meter; 30 on CW and 10 on SSB. One S2S was also worked today; LA5WNA/P on LA/OL-263 Nårkampen.

DXCCs: CT, DL, EA, EU, G, HA, HB9, LA, OE, OK, PA, UU, YO.

LA/OL-088 Ormtjørnkampen

Also this year I activated LA/OL-088 Ormtjørnkampen. The summit is inside Langsua national park, LAFF-0021. Thus, the activations also counts for WWFF.

All QSOs were made on 20 meter; 34 on CW, and 11 on SSB. The conditions were quite good. On SSB, I used only 2.5 watts. Still, I was able to work SV2OXS, as well as receive 5-9 + 5dB from South East England.

DXCCs: CT, DL, EA, F, G, HB9, I, LX, OE, OK, OM, ON, PA, S5, SP, SV, UA, UU, YO.

LA/OL-186 Nylsfjellet

Nylsfjellet was activated on September 12. I parked at N 61 02.962 E 009 57.792. The trail to the summit starts a few meter south, and it is easily found.

At the summit, it is very easy to find a suitable location for erecting a pole.

All my QSO were made on 20 meter; 32 on CW, and 13 on SSB.

DXCCs: CT, DL, EA, EI, G, GM, GW, HA, HB9, OE, OK, ON, PA, SP.

LAFF-060 Svartskog

This was my first “real” WWFF activation. (Actually, I activated LAFF-021 Langsua national park when I activated LA/OL-088 Ormtjørnkampen last August. At that time I hadn't heard about WWFF.).

Svartskog is only a short drive from my home QTH (LA3F has also its QTH within its boundaries). It was a QRP operation with my FT-817 and a linked dipole. I managed to obtain 36 QSOs in the available time, mostly on 20 meter.

DXCCs: DL, EA, EU, F, HA, LA, OK, OM, ON, S5, SM, SP, UA, UA9, UR, 9A.

LB/OL-001 Storhaugen

I activated LB/OL-001 Storhaugen again this afternoon. The required four QSOs were made with my HB-1B and linked dipole.

DXCCs: EU, PA, YL, YO.

LA/RL-063 Vedafjellet

Vedafjellet was my second activation on July 29. At the summit, the wind was very strong, and it didn't seem to be easy to erected my fiberglass pole and dipole. Thus, I decided to use the MP-1 instead.

The conditions were quite poor. 30 minutes with calling on 20 meter CW, had only resulted in 10 QSOs. Therefore, I didn't try to make any SSB QSOs. Instead, I QSYed to 30 meter, and was able to work 2 more QSOs. I then went QRT.

DXCCs: DL, EA, F, OK, PA, SP.

LA/RL-011 Bjørndalsfjellet

The summit was activated on July 29. I parked at Gramstad, N 58 53.020 E 005 27.930, which is close to Stavanger Turistforenings cabin. From the parking lot, it is just to follow the road 2-300 meters further up, an then there are ref painted markers all the way to the summit. It is very easy to find (at least in 2014).

At the summit, I erected my linked dipole (Band Hopper III). All QSOs were made on 20 meter. In about 40 minutes there were no more chasers, 21 QSOs had been made, and I went QRT.

DXCCs: DL, EA, G, HA, HB9, OE, OM, SM, UA, UR.

LA/OL-184 Kvitberget

On June 30, I had time to do two activations. The second one was LA/OL-184 Kvitberget. This was my fourth activation of this summit.

I started the activation on 20 meter. In 30 minutes, I had worked all 17 chasers. Also on this summit it had started to rain, right now quite heavely. I therefore decided to go QRT rather than QSYing to another band.

DXCC: CU, DL, F, G, HB9, OE, OK, ON, PA, SP.

LA/OL-181 Feforkampen

On June 30, I had time to do two activations. The first one was LA/OL-181 Feforkampen. This was my third activation of this summit.

I started the activation on 20 meter. In slightly more than 30 minutes, I had worked all 27 chasers. It had started to rain, and therefore I decided to go QRT rather than QSYing to another band.

DXCC: CU, DL, EA, EU, F, G, GM, HB9, OE, OK, ON, SP, S5.

LA/OL-308 Kidliknappen

I visited LA/OL-308 Kidliknappen for the first time on June 29. I parked at N 61 21.42, E 010 11.92. From the parking it was easy to find the summit. The last part of the road was a toll road (fee: NOK 50), and the last part of the road was in a more than terrible condition. Fortunately, the car was not damaged.

At the summit I put up the linked dipole, and started to call on 20 meter. 12 QSOs were logged. Then, I QSYed to 30 meter, and 16 more QSOs were logged.

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

LA/AH-008 Gåsebrenna

Gåsebrenna was activated for the first time today. As far as I could see, there are no trail leading to the summit. However, that doesn't make it difficult to reach. I parked at N 59 58.241, E 011 28.435. Then it is around 2 km walk to the summit. I followed a forest road until a road cross at N 59 58.714, E 011 28.098, and then picked out the direction and headed for the summit.

The weather was fine; sunshine, little wind, and temperature more than 20C. However, the activation was rather unpleasant. I was accompanied with a tremendous number of gnats!! I managed to stay there for about an hour, but then I had to make a quick return to my car. The gnat attacks were simply too intense.

I brought with me both a linked dipole and the MP-1. The plan was to try to make some comparisons between these antennas. Due to the gnats, this project is postponed...

I used the linked dipole on 20 meter (CW/SSB) and 30 meter (CW). I did also try to call on 12 meter using the MP-1, but the conditions was too poor. The result of the activation was 33 QSOs, among then 2 S2S.

DXCCs: CU, DL, EA, F, G, HA, HB9, OK, OM, ON, PA, S5.

LA/AH-015 Vardehøgda

Today, I visited Vardehøgda. I followed a suggestion from Turistforeningen, and parked at Svangerud, N 60 15.88, E 011 14.32. From Svangerud it is around 2.5 km to walk; first on a forest road, and then on a clearly marked trail. It was very easy to reach the summit.

At the summit, I mounted my MP-1, and start calling on 20 meter. 35 minutes and 28 QSOs later (one of them was a S2S), it was time to investigate other bands. I realized that 12 meter was open. Unfortunately, no QSOs were obtained (even though I was spotted through the RBN). I then QSYed to 30 meter and worked four QSOs. Finally I QSYed to 40 meter and worked two stations, both S2S. Fascinating that such a small antenna works reasonably well on 40 meter :). Before returning to my car, I climbed up in a tower at the summit, and tried to make some QSOs on 2 meter and 70 cm with no success.

DXCCs: CT, EA, DL, F, G, GM, HA, HB9, OH, OK, OM, SP.

LA/AH-016 Holterkollen

Earlier today I visited Holterkollen. Since WWII a lots of cabins have been built in this area. One of the cabins is in fact only 40-50 meters from the summit. Due to all the cabins, a good forest road exists all the way up to the summit (well, except for the last 75-100 meters or so). However, the road is closed for public traffic. Thus, one has to go from a small parking lot near the start of the forest road. The parking is around 260 meter below and 2.5 km away from the summit.

Also today I used my FT-817 and the MP-1 antenna.

I started the activation on 20 meter. The conditions were quite OK, and 22 QSOs were achieved. I then QSYed to 12 meter (which was closed), then to 15 meters (which was open, but with no replies), and then to 30 meter. On 30 meter 10 stations were worked. Afterwards, I made some CQs on 40 meter, which resulted in two QSOs. Finally, I had a nice QSO with LA4PGA on 2 meter. It's not very often I achieve any QSOs on that band!!

On my way back to the car, I met LA1GPA, who was on his way to the summit. This was in fact my first SOTA eye-ball QSO!

DXCCs: CT, DL, EA, EU, F, G, GW, HB9, I, LA, OK, OM, ON, OZ, SP.

LA/OF-002 Tremannsrøset

Tremannsrøset (probably better known as Buråsen) is new summit in Østfold, and I had the opportunity to activate it on April 16. I parked at N 59 21.65, E 011 08.70. As far as I have found out, there are no trails to the summit. Based on some information I found on the net, I chose to walk a forest road to Pommen. From there, it is around a 650 meter long walk to the north. The summit is easily found.

The equipment used was my FT-871 and the MP-1 antenna. As usual, I started on 20 meter, and 14 QSOs were obtained. I then made some calls on 12 meter (both on CW and SSB), but no stations were worked (despite the band was open). Finally I made a call on 30 meter and worked 3 more stations. As usual, no QSOs were obtained neither on 2 meter nor 70 cm (only some invalid repeater QSOs).

DXCCs: DL, EU, F, G, HA, HB9, OE, OM, ON.

PS. If you have time, there are a few geocaches in the area.

LB/OL-002 Larvehei

Larvehei, LB/OL-002 is another summit I included in the GMA-database. I activated it during our Easter vacation on April 20. It was quite warm and sunny, and a lovely day for portable operation.

I used the HB-1B and a linked dipole, and made five QSOs.

DXCCs: EU, G, OK, S5.

LA/OS-004 Puttåsen

A new summit in Oslo has recently been discovered, and it was approved last week. The summit is rather easy accessible, and yesterday I had the opportunity to activate it.

I parked at N 59 55.51 E 10 52.39. Alternatively, I could have taken bus no 69. The bus stop "Ole Messelts vei" is next to the parking lot I used. If one take the metero to Trosterud, one is 1 km away from the parking lot.

The parking lot is slightly more than 2 km away from the summit, and it easy to reach. It is just to walk along the forest road to Lutvann, and then on blue marked trails.

The weather was relatively poor; cold (2C), windy, and a little bit rain. I used my FT-817 rig and MP-1 antenna.

I tuned the antenna to 20 meter and started to call. Around 30 minutes later, 20 QSOs were in the log. I then decided to QSY to 12 meter, but unfortunately the band was closed. Due to the cold weather, I decided to go QRT rather than QSY to another band. Before leaving the summit, I did also try some calls on 2 meter and 70 cm but with no luck.

DXCCs: DL, G, HB9. OE, OK, OM, PA, SP, SV.

LA/OL-043 Buhammaren

The spring has come, and I decided to activate LA/OL-043 when it still was winter season (and bonus points). Since I didn't know how much snow was left, I brought snow shoes with me. Fortunately, I didn't need them.

The Equipment used was FT-817 and MP-1, a well-performing combination. I started on 20 meter CW. The pile-up was huge  - as usual. In periods it was simply impossible to pick out any call signs in the QRM. After a while, 27 QSOs were achieved. Since it is CQ WPX conteston SSB this weekend, it was no reason to work SSB on a very crowded SSB-part of 20 meter. I therefore QSYed to 12 meter, and there worked 11 more QSOs on SSB and CW.

Finally and as usual I made calls on 2 meter and 70 cm. However, also as usual, no QSOs were obtained.


DXCCs: DL, EA, G, HB9, I, OK, OM, PA, SP, SV, UX, W

LA/OS-003 Tryvannshøgda

LA/OS-003 Tryvannhøgda was once again activated on Friday 14. The weather was fine, temperatur +4C, and calm. Close to the coast the spring has come weeks ago, but here it was still around 70 cm with snow.

I mounted my MP-1 antenna, and connected it to the FT-817. I started the activcation on 20 meter CW. One call, and the pile-up was established :). Later on I worked SSB. In around 70 minutes 43 QSOs were made, among them one S2S. As usual, I also made calls on 2 meter as well as 70 cm, and as usual, no QSOs were obtained.

DXCCs: DL, EA, EU, F, G, GM, HB9, OE, OM, ON, PA, SP, W.