Arrival at Avoriaz ski station a little before 7:00 on Saturday morning. The station is now closed but there is still some snow left at 1700 m on the North face. The day was promised to be warm and the sun was shining already in the morning. I walk on the skis to the highest end of ski lift d’Arare at 2275 m. After that the climbing becomes more technical and more risky too. I have to remove the skis and fix them to my back bag. Still the snow is too soft to make any good steps in it. Finally I pull up my rucksac with a cord. There is a short section of relatively easy rock climbing which takes 40 minutes more before I reach the summit F/AB-270 Les Hauts Forts 2466 m. I was there first and a group of three skiers on more exposed North face arrives half an hours later.
Set up the antenna as usual. I had to fix the APRS tracker supply cable, but still no packets reached the internet. 0842 UTC call on 18088 kHz and 0904 UTC on 14058 kHz. Thanks to G4SSH for spotting me. 0922 UTC 10118 kHz is busy and move to 10119 kHz. Finally two more QSOs on 7032.6 kHz and QRT 1000 UTC. Descent is technical and I am worried about the steep part still covered with snow. At the ski lift the easy slopes start and the ski down is more relaxed.
Radio: ATS3B.1 2.3 W, 8xAA alkaline, T1 ATU, 10 x 5 m loop
Map: IGN 3528ET
Photos: in camera
Sunday more relaxed outing to F/JU-007 Vielle Maison 1512 m. I wanted to test the link dipole for 80/40/30/20/17/15 m bands. I have also a small rollable solar cell, which can supply some current to the radio. In parallel the same alkaline cells can be used for higher power. These two supplies are isolated with diodes from each other and the solar output is regulated to 12 V. In direct sun light the output from ATS3B.1 was measured to be 0.24 W solar only. Start to call CQ 0913 UTC on 18088.7 kHz with solar only. No QSOs and I connect the battery in parallel. Now the receiver is still operating from solar, but the transmitter drains the battery. 0946 UTC move to 14058 kHz. Finally 1001 UTC reply from G4SSH on 10118 kHz. Thanks for spotting. I am confused by an other activation going on the same frequency and QSY to 10119 kHz. Some QSOs on 7031.5 kHz too. To test the antenna I try to call on 3558 kHz and 21058 kHz, but not QSOs there.
Radio: ATS3B.1 2.3 W/0.23 W solar, 8xAA alkaline, T1 ATU, link dipole 80-15m
Map: IGN 3327ET
Photos: in camera, dipole link update 132_3263 | Dipole link made from DX-wire FL, mini-insulator,… | Flickr