LA/AH-020 Mjærskaukollen

Beautiful weather when I visited Mjærskaukollen today. Sunny, calm, and around 20C. It was my third visit to this “summit” (actually it is, as most summits in this area, a hill in a forest with a prominence factor greater than 150 meter). The HF conditions were quite OK. I used my usual equipment, FT-817ND and a linked dipole (40-30-20 meter). The result was 23 QSOs from 11 DXCCs.

DXCC: DL, HB9, I, LY, OK, PA, S5, SP, W, YO, 9A.

LA/BU-026 Ringkollen

I activated Ringkollen once more on February 24. The weather was OK for SOTA, a few degreees below 0C, calm, but foggy. Usually I use a linked dipole. Not this time – I had forgotten it (but not the pole!). Fortunately, I do always bring a backup antenna with me, a MP-1.

The 20 meter conds were rather disappointing, only three QSOs came in the log (9A and EA). Therefore, I QSYed to 30 meter which was in much better shape.  At the end of the pile-up, I had 16 QSOs in the log. Especially fun to work SV with 5 watts and MP-1.

DXCCs: DL, EA, HB9, OK, ON, SP, SV, 9A.

LAFF-0439 Grandefjæra

On February 21 and 22 I had the opportunity to activate LAFF-0439 Grandefjæra. Grandefjæra is a nature reserve and is a part of Ørland wetland system (together with three other areas). As “wetland” indicates, most of the areas are over sea. Grandefjæra is probably the easiest of the four areas to activate. I parked at N 63.67978, E 9.57435. Just south of Grandefjæra amfi, a short walking distance from the parking (but unfortunately outside the area), it is a convenient location for erecting the antenna.

I used a linked dipole on a 6 meter “suitcase-friendly” pole from Lambda Halbe. The rig was a HB-1B from YouKits. The conditions were fairly good, and I achieved 66 QSOs totally on 20, 30, and 40 meter.

DXCCs: DL, E7, EA, F, G, HA, I, OH, OK, OM, ON, PA, SM, SP, UR, W, YO, 9A.

LA/OL-044 Brandbukampen

Just before Christmas it was time to an activation of LA/OL-044 Brandbukampen. Beautiful weather, sunshine, and temperature just below 0C. However, the conditions on 20 meter were poor. First, I wasted 15 minutes on SSB (no QSOs), then another 15 minutes on CW (only 2 QSOs). Then I QSYed to 30 meter and worked 21 stations in relatively short time.

DXCCs: DL, EA, F, G, GI, HB9, I, OK, OM, PA, S5, SP, UA.

LAFF-0065 Nærevann

LAFF-0065 Nærevann is a nature reserve in Ski (30 km south of Oslo), quite close to LAFF-0064, which hasn’t been activated before. It’s easy accessible, so therefore it was a non-QRP activation. I brought with me an IC-706, power around 60-70 watt. It was the same day as the CQWW test on SSB. Thus, this activation was a CW only activation (it was no problem to find a free frequency in the CW-part). I started the activation a little late. Thus, after 49 QSOs, all on 20 meter, it was so dark that I had to go QRT.

DXCCs: DL, EA, F, G, HA, I, OH, OK, OM, ON, S5, UA, UA9, UR, VE, W, YO, YU.

LAFF-0405 Austråttlunden

I had once again the opportunity to activate LAFF-0405 in the morning on October 23. I was QRV on 20 meter (26 QSOs) and 30 meter (17 QSOs) before I had to go QRT.

DXCCs: DL, E7, EA, F, HA, I, OK, OM, ON, PA, S5, SP, UA, UR, 9A.