LB/OL-002 Larvehei

I took a little hike to a nearby summit from my cabin. It’s within walking distance. However, it doesn’t fulfill the primary-factor requirement for neither SOTA nor HEMA. Fortunately, it can be activated under the Global Mountain Activity (GMA) program.

The weather could definitely have been better; it was a cold wind, cloudy, and a little fog from time to time. I tried to call on 40 meter CW. One QSO came in the log. I then tried 40 meter SSB with no success. The conds weren’t good enough for QRP SSB on 40 meter. I the QSYed to 30 meter, and 5 QSOs were logged. When all chasers were worked on 30, I went QRT. It was still quite cold, so I didn’t try to make any calls on 20 meter. Hopefully next time…

DXCC: DL, OK.

LA/OL-067 Blåhøe

I have for some time wanted to activate LA/OL-067 Blåhøe (called so in Vågå, Jetta is its name in Dovre). Pictures I’ve seen show a magnificent view of the valley and nearby mountains. Today, I had a chance. However, the weather did not collaborate. It was foggy, more or less no visibility, cold (temperature around 1 C), and a freezing and icing wind (after my 40-45 minutes long activation, it was 2-4 mm ice around the antenna wire). So, I really need to come back on a nice summer day.

The antenna was quickly erected, and I was soon QRV. The conds on 20 meter was quite good. Total 23 QSOs, 10 on CW, 13 on SSB. Due to the cold and unpleasant weather, I did not try any other HF band. However, I had brought with me a vertical dipole for 2 meter with a hope to achieve a QSO or two on that band. But it ended as usual, no replies. SOTA activations on VHF or higher in LA is waste of time.

DXCC: DL, EA, F, HB9, IS, OE, OK, S5, UA0, YO.

LB/OS-001 Grønliåsen

 

On September 7, I participated in the first hour of the 2 meter activation test. The conds were not great, and my 50 Watts and a 3 el yagi was insufficient. Nevertheless it was fun to be out and participate. I ended up with 6 QSOs, all from LA.

LA/RL-102 Rossåsen

 

Also this year I had the opportunity to activate a summit on our family vacation in Rogaland. I had to choose the easiest summit from Sandnes, which most probably is Rossåsen. It was almost “same procedure as last year”.  I parked at N 58.7800 E 005.8127, and walked the few hundred meters up to the summit. There, I discovered that my linked dipole had broken. Instead of trying to fix it, I used a wire-GP for 20 meter, which – together with the HB-1B – worked very well. I ended up with 24 QSOs from 11 DXCCs in the log, all CW.

DXCC: DL, EA, EI, F, G, HB9, S5, SP, UA, W, YU.

LA/OL-184 Kvitberget

Kvitberget was the last activation this weekend, and in fact my 11th visit on this summit. The weather had improved, and the temperature was 23C, ant it was a very pleasant stay at the summit. Moreover, the conditions were still excellent. 40 stations from 14 DXCCs (12 CW, 28 SSB) were logged. Among them were 12 S2S and 3 FF-areas. All QSOs on 20 meter.

DXCC: DL, EA, EI, F, G, HB9, LA, OE, OK, OM, ON, UA0, Z3, 9A.

LA/OL-181 Feforkampen

This was the first summit on the second day, and my 11th visit on the summit. The weather was partly cloudy and a few rain drops, and the temperature of 20C. Excellent conditions, and 22 stations from 13 DXCCs were logged (7 CW, 15 SSB), 3 S2S. All on 20 meter.

DXCC: CT, DL, EA, F, G, HB9, I, LA, OK, ON, SP, UR, W.

LA/OL-263 Nårkampen

This was the second summit today, and my 8th visit on the summit. The weather was still nice, and the temperature of 22C. Really nice conditions, and 31 stations from 15 DXCCs were logged (17 CW, 14 SSB), 2 S2S. All on 20 meter.

DXCC: DL, EA, EI, F, G, GM, HB9, LA, OE, OH, PA, S5, SM, YO.

LA/OL-200 Segalstadsæterkampen

I repeated last fall’s activation tour, four summits in two days. LA/OL-200 was the first summit on the first day. Fine weather temperature around 20C, and good conditions. 21 stations from 11 DXCCs came in the log (14 CW, 7 SSB), 2 of them were S2S. All on 20 meter.

DXCC: DL, EA, EI, F, G, GM, HB9, LA, S5, SP, UA.

LA/BU-026 Ringkollen

A winter activation to Ringkollen is always fun. Nice terrain for skiing, beautiful scenery at the summit, beautiful weather, temperature abt 2C and valid for SOTA. I activated it once more on March 23 2021.

I started on 20 meter, the activity didn’t seem to be very high, but 7 QSOs came in the log (5 SSB and 2 CW). Thus, I QSYed to 40 meter and was able to work 13 more stations (10 SSB and 3 CW). I got two S2S, both from HB9. It was especially fun to work HB15SOTA as one of the S2S.

The stations came from 10 DXCCs:

DXCC: DL, EA, F, G, GM, HB9, OM, PA, SV, YO.

LA/OS-003 Tryvannshøgda

I activated LA/OS-003 Tryvannshøgda earlier today.

First, I was QRV on 40 meter SSB and five chasers came in the log.

Next, I QSYed to CW and put a spot on Sotawatch. So far, so good. But when I started to call, I discovered that the cable to the paddle was partly broken – I could only send dashes! What should I do? I had two options; either to QRT or to (try to) use one of the paddles as a keyer. I tried the latter one. The result was an awful poor CW, but fortunately sufficiently OK for the chasers to decode. I can only apologize for the CW, and nevertheless 12 chasers were worked.

DXCCs: DL, EA, F, G, GM, HB9, I, OM, ON, PA, UR, YO.