2017 SOTA trip to Portugal, by HB9BIN
From April 19 - 27, 2017, I activated 13 summits in the Algarve (CT/AL) and Baixo Alentejo (CT/BT) regions. While most of the summits in AL were almost drive-ups, the remaining few along with those in BT were possible using simple hiking trails, something my XYL appreciated very much. Virtually all the summits have a large trigonometrical point made of concrete that often can be seen from a far distance and is painted white-blue-white. For finding your way, you need nothing more than a navigation device and the free “Iberian Peninsula” map from Kowoma.
During my stay, propagation was quite unusual (inhomogeneous ionization of the atmosphere) and I also had to deal with an electromagnetic storm. Several Swiss stations reported via e-mail that they heard me on certain days on 20 meters but could not hear me at all on other days. Using my KX3 and an end-fed half wave antenna, I made a total of 561 contacts. Of them, there were 280 unique calls and 29 S2S contacts. Signals on the 30m and 40m bands were consistently weak, and so I worked primarily on 20 m CW and SSB. Many thanks to all the chasers, and I have confirmed all my contacts with a postcard from Algarve via the QSL buro. It is not necessary to send a reply QSL card.
73 de CT7/HB9BIN, Juerg
Hopefully I will activate ct/al-001 tomorrow. Next time we should coincide! It’s always a pleasure to activate a summit with another amateur radio operator.
GL and if you need any help during your stay here just email me or give me a call (phone sent by pm)
Many thanks for the information. I still need to work some of your First Priority list for Completes. Hopefully one or another band will work out okay. Enjoy the summits.
Hi
I say thank you for all your replays. But let me tell you this:
After long discussions at the security check at the airport of Zurich we made it. They did not bother about the small high risk Li-on 10.8 V 2800mAh battery packs of Tenergy for the KX2. But I had long discussions with three officers about the less risky LiPo 14.8V 4000mAh battery packs for the KX3. I was told by a lady, that next time only “160 wattNewton” (hihi are allowed! But we finally made it! Due to the worldwide terror thread the situation for hams is getting worse every year. It is my first trip abroad without any large battery packs for 100 W rig. Therefore I was surprised by the discussions of today! We will see what the security staff will say when we are flying home. By the way: My XYL went with a pocket knife trough the same security check! With a smile she got it back from the security staff. When I saw that Orwell came in my mind: “All animals are equal but some a little bit more!” …
I look forward working you!
73 de CT7/HB9BIN, Juerg
Hopefully the staff at Faro will be as relaxed as when I went through with equipment. The greatest concern was the 817 itself, but the supervisor had seen it all before and waved the assistant away when she tried to ask him about it. Like you I had more trouble with the LiPOs on the outgoing journey - providing a copy of the aviation rules eventually got us through.
Unfortunately I couldn’ t hear you on any of the spotted freqs.
Last night we had some big thunderstorms in some areas of the country and the conditions for short distance contacts on the HF bands are really bad.
I hope things get better and expect to work you before you leave Portugal.
If you need some kind of assistance, email me.
As we say in the UK, you have to keep her indoors happy.
Many thanks for the summits so far. Pity that I had to be in London on Saturday as I missed one potential Complete, but that’s life. Apologies for the signals from my side being so poor, but I only have the 40m dipole up at the moment. I hope to be on the vertical tomorrow.
Yes, but it is sadly misunderstood in many parts of the world - not as though we care!
I checked the logs and I have actually managed to scrape through 5 contacts with you, so thanks for having good ears to make those possible. So far there is only one Complete - AL-002. The main getaway was AL-001 which was annoying as I’ve tried on several occasions to work that one, but I am sure there will be many more opportunities in the future. The CT/BT summits with the exception of BT-001 are “Completes in waiting” as my brother has an apartment in the Algarve, so many thanks for those. As for the others, I had very poor conditions here on 21st April and was out all day on 22nd. C’est la vie.
Hi Juerg,
Just to confirm that it was me that called you not ON4FI at 10:34z today when you were on CT/AL-003. I sometimes get mixed up with ON4FI, it is quite amusing! I think you understood but just to confirm …
Thanks for all the CT summits, I think I managed 8 in total so missed you on some CT summits. I must say that whenever I chase you you always put out a great signal, congratulations!