LA/OL-044 Brandbukampen

Today, I once again visited Brandbukampen. Last time I parked at a cabin just south of Sør-Bleiken, north of the summit.  Unfortunately, it was difficult to find the trail from this starting point. Thus, this time I parked near “Energigården”, where the paragliders park (N 60 26.64, E 010 28.59). It is 180 meter more to climb, but it was nevertheless a much more convenient walk; a forest road almost to the summit. A large part of it can also be done by car (toll road: fee NOK 50).

At the summit I erected my 7 meter pole and my linked dipole, and connected it to the FT-817. I started on 20 meter SSB. The band condition was quite good, and 35 chasers came quickly in the log. I then QSYed to the CW part and 14 QSOs were made. Two of them were S2S. The next band was 30 meter, and 14 QSOs were also made here. Finally, I made some calls on 40 meter CW. However, only one chaser was logged. Totally, the activation resulted in 64 QSOs.

DXCCs:  DL, EA, F, G, HA, HB9, I, OE, OK, OM, ON, PA, S5, SP.

LA/OS-003 Tryvannshøgda

LA/OS-003 Tryvannshøgda was activated once again this morning. I was using a FT-817ND and a MP-1 antenna.

I started to call on 20 meter SSB around 06:50 UTC. Ten minutes later no one had replied, and I QSYed to the CW part of the band. Ten minutes later, and I was still without any QSOs. A quick look at RBN revealed that no RBN-skimmers had copied me. The band was dead (at least with QRP and a portable vertical antenna). I then QSYded to 30 meter and hoped for better band conditions. It was. I got five QSOs in around 15 minutes. I then start calling on 40 meter CW, and three more QSOs came in the log. Finally, I QSYed back to 20 meter CW. Now, the band had opened, but there were no chasers, so I decided to QRT.

DXCCs: DL, HB9, OE, OK, OM.

LB/OL-002 Larvehei

Larvehei was activated again this morning in a beautiful autumn weather. Rig and antenna today was YouKits HB-1B and a linked dipole (BandHopper III).

I decided to start on 40 meter. Band condition was OK, but the band was very crowded due to an ongoing contest. Fortunately the HB-1B has a well performing IF-filter! I first heard OK3EQ/P on the GMA summit OL/US-011 was calling, and got a QSO with him. This was my first GMA S2S. I then found a clear frequency (as clear as it can be during a contest…) and start calling. I wondered if my QRP signals could be copied by someone. At least G3VQO heard me. After some 10 minutes and no takers, I then decided to QSY to 30 meter, and there 5 more QSOs came in the log.

DXCCs: DL, G, I, OK, SP.

LA/OL-085 Prestkampen

On October 2 I once again visited LA/OL-085 Prestkampen. It was slightly more than 4 years since the last time. I parked at Gamledalen (the last part is toll road, fee NOK 40).

It was very windy. A strong gale simply made it impossible for me alone to erect any pole and dipole. I thus used my MP-1 instead.

The schools have their autumn vacation this week, and many people were hiking. Prestkampen is the highest summit in this area, and thus a popular destination. On the summit itself, it was in periods crowded. I started the activation in one of these periods, and it was therefore most convenient to start with CW on 20 meter. In a short time, 16 QSOs (and among them 3 S2S) were in the log. Since it so far has only been made CW QSOs from the summit (in the SOTA program), I decided to also offer SSB for the chasers. However, after an initial spotting and 10 minutes of calling, no QSO was made! I have no idea why. The most likely reason is perhaps due to the heavy wind. This could have added to much noise to the signal. I then QSYed to 30 meter, and worked 6 more QSOs before I went QRT. The wind made it simply too cold to stay at the summit any longer! So therefore, non-CW QSOs are still to be made!

DXCCs: DL, EA, F, G, HB9, OE, OK, OM, PA, W.

LAFF-062 Pollevann

Today, I really learned the importance of being spotted at the cluster. First I started to call at 14.246 MHz. After 20 minutes, no QSOs were in the log. Then, I QSYed to the CW-part, and 10 minutes later one QSO was logged.  Then after 10 more minutes and no QSOs, I QSYed back to the SSB-part. In 20 minutes or so, I got 4 QSOs. Once again, back to CW, and this time several spotted me, and the QSO rate increased dramatically. So what started to be really disappointing, ended in much fun :).

Rig and antenna: FT-817ND and linked dipole. (Probably I should try QRO next time...).

Thanks to all chasers!

DXCCs: EA, HA, I, OE, OM, S5, UA, UR, YL, YO, 9A.

LA/BU-026 Ringkollen

On my return from LA/BU-086, I would pass quite close to LA/BU-026, and I thus decided to activate it once again.

It is a short hike from the parking lot, around 1 km walk and 100 meter to climb.

The conditions were much poorer than they were on LA/BU-086. After many calls I had in 15 minutes achieved 5 QSOs (3 EA2, 1 EA6 (and S2S), 1 YO) on 20 meter, and the band was more or less dead. I QSYed to 30 meter, and worked 12 more chasers before I decided to go QRT.

DXCCS: DL, EA, EA6, F, OE, OM, S5, SP, UA, UR, YO.

LA/BU-086 Høgfjellet

Yesterday, I wanted to once more activate LA/BU-086, Høgfjellet, which is the nearest 4-pointer to my QTH (nr Oslo). My last visit was on June 1 2013, and it was quite wet and slippery. I guessed it was due to the newly gone snow. I had hoped for better walking conditions this time. However, last week it rained quite heavily, and this time it was even more wet and slippery. 2.5 km hike and 300+ meters to climb on a soaked and slippery ground takes time…

Nevertheless, I finally reached the destination, erected the antenna, and start to activate. 32 QSOs from 13 DXCCs were logged on 20 and 30 meter, among them 3 summit-to-summit (2 SOTA and 1 GMA).

DXCC: DL, EA, EU, F, G, HB9, OE, OK, ON, PA, SM, SP, YL.