Ruten, LA/OL-099

On August 14 my family and I went on a hike to Ruten, LA/OL-099, and I had the opportunity to make a short activation. We parked just in front of the toll gate at N 61 28.133, E 009 28.219. Then we were 5.5 km away and almost 600 meters below the summit, and we simply followed the signs.

This was the first activation I used my YouKit HB-1B, which I purchased some time ago. The antenna was a MP-1. Both the rig and the antenna worked really great, and they are very suitable for SOTA purposes. Since it had to be a relatively short activation, I chose to operate on 20 meter. The conditions were strange ("patchy") and poor. No DL, F, G, PA, ON, ... were worked (as I often do). Immediately after my first call, I had a QSO with a S5, then with a LA, and then nothing more happened. Some CQs later I worked an HB9 and an OE, and nothing more happened. Some minutes later and a lot of new CQs, I worked two OM stations. I still made some calls, but no one answered, and I then decided to go QRT (remember: the activation had to be fairly short!).

Later I saw that N4EX had spotted me. Even though I believed the conditions were poor, I nevertheless was heard in North Carolina! BTW, I actually heard a N4-station, but I couldn’t realize he was calling me…

Before I left the summit, I did as usual make calls on 2 meter and 70 cm FM, but no QSOs were achieved.

DXCCs: HB9, LA, OE, OM, S5.