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.