LA/RL-076 Eidlandsfjellet

I had the opportunity to activate a summit during our vacation in the Sandnes area. I chose Eidlandsfjellet (also called Edlandsfjellet or Nonsfjellet) for (at least) two reasons; it is easy accessible, and I hadn’t been there

I parked at N 58.75600, E 5.863179 at an excellent parking place. From the parking, it was just to jump over a fence (which was easy), and follow an unmarked trail to the summit. It was an easy walk in beautiful surroundings.

It was no problem to erect my linked dipole at the summit. I started at 20 meter SSB, and had planned to operate on 30 and 40 meter as well. Everything started fine. After I had worked all chasers on SSB, and QSYed to 20 meter CW. Then the problems started a few minutes later. A thunderstorm was in progress, and suddenly, the QRN was severe; S8 – S9+20. It was simply impossible to hear anything but QRN. The conditions were exactly the same on 30 and 40. Thus, I had to go QRT. I did so, and when I started to descend, it started to rain.

20 QSOs with 11 DXCCs came in the log.

DXCCs: DL, EA, F, G, HB9, I, OE, S5, UA, YO.

LA/BU-165 Haraldsberget

Finally, at last a bunch of new LA summits has finally been released. Norges Kartverk released digital maps a few years ago (for free), and all SOTA summits for many counties have now been identified (Oslo, Akershus, Østfold, Hedmark, Oppland, Vestfold, Telemark, Aust-Agder, Vest-Agder, Finnmark, and the southern part of Hordaland). Among the new summits, is a “summit” (actually, hill is a more correct word), at Hurum peninsula south of Oslo. I have already activated the other summits at Hurum, and it would be fun to activate this one as well.

A little bit south of the summit is the nature reserve and flora-fauna area LAFF-421. Unfortunately, the activation zone ends just north of LAFF-421. Since these areas are disjoint, a common activation is impossible.

I parked at Hurum Golfklubb, around 1km away and 180 meter below the summit. I followed more or less the perimeter of the golf course to N 59.546090, E 10.450536, which is the trailhead of a clearly marked (blue marks) which takes you to the summit. Except for a very steep part, it is an easy ascension.

It was not suitable to put up a dipole at the summit itself (a GP hadn’t been difficult, but I would like to be able to operate on several bands). Therefore, I found an excellent position around 30 meter away (and 5 meters below) the summit. (The rig was FT-817ND.)

I started to work 20 meter SSB. Six QSOs came quickly in the log. Then it was quiet, the conditions must have changed, I QSYed to the CW part of 20 meter, and 20 minutes later I had only got F6EAZ in the log. I then QSYed to 30 meter, which resulted in seven more QSOs. Before I went QRT, I tried 40 meter. SSB didn’t result in any QSOs. However, CW gave me 13 QSOs! Before leaving the summit, I also made a few calls on 2 meter with the usual result; no response. This sums up to 27 QSOs from 13 DXCCs.

DXCCs: DL, ES, F, G, HB9, OE, OH, OK, ON, OZ, SP, UA, YO.

LB/OS-001 Grønliåsen

After I had put up the gear, nothing happened when I switched on the power. The problem was a broken power cable which I hadn’t been aware of. Somehow I was able to fix a solution so I could participate in the 2 meter activity contest. However, except for SK7IJ in JO77ol (QRB 364 km), I did only hear (and work!) local stations.

DXCCS: LA, SM.