Well how convenient! I didn’t realize this event was going on this weekend. I will be in Shenandoah NP in Virginia (US) activating W4V-SH-011, Robertson Mtn. Hope to work some SOTA DX.
Stuart, KB1HQS.com
I’m in, good luck to those taking part and may the propagation gods be kind to us.
73 Chris M0RSF
I hope to be QRV on 20m CW but as my summit attempt includes a 40 km mountain-bike trip, anything might happen.
Yes looking forward to some S2S contacts - at least within Europe Gerald. Would have liked to use Heersberg as I did last year, but this time I think I’ll air on the side of caution.
Should be a nice sunny afternoon on Falkenstein with a light wind - probably only about 3C but I can live with that. I hope to get up into the top of the castle ruins if the gate’s not locked. Great views from up there. This was King Ludwigs last project - it never got started as he was drowned suspiciously in Starnberger lake before he could progress his plans. It’s also the highest castle ruin in Germany.
Ed.
At least you have a wide enough time window to aim for. If you are up north, then there might be the possibility of an S2S with you from down here in Cornwall. Anyway, enjoy the cycling. 
1 Like
Presumably you will visit the castle before the activation. Overall it sounds like being a pleasant day out.
Currently the forecast here is 11C, light cloud, 18kph westerly. Pity it wasn’t today which is 12C, sunny and still, but you can’t have everything. I won’t be that bothered if there isn’t a view - operating from a china clay spoil heap isn’t exactly the most pleasant of locations, but this will re-complete G for me. 
No I will make the activation from WITHIN the castle ruins. A couple of years back they built a platform and stairs inside it for public access. There’s even a small table on the platform - very considerate!
Here’s my last activation report if on any interest: DD5LP/P – March 28th 2016 – DL/AL-167 Falkenstein. | DD5LP / G8GLM / VK2JI blog
Hey SFI is up to 74 again and K is only at 2 - that’s not great but it’s a lot better than a week ago!
Ed.
I think that the custodians of the castle would be asking you to move on if the location was the UK. Personally I would be looking for the least publicly accessible spot within the AZ, subject to having a reasonable take-off on VHF that is.
Hope to work you tomorrow.
73, Gerald G4OIG
Nope, I’m more likely to be “annoyed” by the continued interest and questions. AR is something novel and “quaint” after all.
(there’s no roof on the ruins by the way - so it’s not as if I’m dragging dirt inside).
I actually managed to get the linked dipole up inside the ruins the last time I was there, so the 20m vertical this time is going to be less obtrusive.
Good luck everyone tomorrow. I hope to talk to a few of you.
Early finish for me. Mind you I wasn’t expecting to be involved at all. But with the cancellation of all this weekend’s gigs, I decided to make a rare visit to the Moss Rose to watch the football, and beforehand, an activation.
Conditions weren’t exactly sparkling, but 43 QSOs on 20m was 43 more than I got last night. I operated on 20m CW, 20m SSB and 2m FM.
48 QSOs
13 S2S
1 SWL
QSOs into NA: 3
S2S into NA: 1
The propagation over the pond was just getting going and I thought about sticking around, but I decided to stick to Plan A and go to the match.
2 Likes
My report from Falkenstein DL/AL-167 will be up on my blog in a few days but in short - not good.
On 40 metres I had S8/S9 local noise all across the band (I think from a cell phone tower about 100 metres away) and on 20m, I had no chance of hearing any NA Summits once an SSB Contest started up at 1300 UTC! The band went from usable with some QSB to totally unusable due to QRM!
Whatever this contest was, I think they were the ITU region number - so some ITU contest that we missed when planning?
At least I got about an hour of Sunshine in the middle of the activation!
Ed.
1 Like
Well, I feel a bit guilty being so early back home, sipping beer and waiting for my burger, but here goes:
WX was much better than forecast a week ago: some sunshine and just light WNWesterly winds. The only downside was the temperature, with windchill over -7 °C. I had every stitch on, but it wasn’t enough.
A shelter would have been very nice here, but then I could not use the bench, which is very well appointed:
I had some good contacts stateside with some stations coming through 589, but no S2S on 20m. I called on 17m, and had just gone SK when I heard N1EU/P. Thank you Barry for being so patient with the ref. I had BC interference, as is normal on the Schöckl, so I had turned off the pre-amp. I had to turn it back on and close the filters to get the ref in the log. To make matters worse, I have to have the phone in flight mode due to interference with the KX3, so no spot data coming up automatically. Well, we got there in the end. I went QRT early so I could get down the mountain before it went pitch black. I got the feeling conds were good, and I’m sure others will have done much better than me. Still, I have a bulging log and plenty of S2S; great day!
73 de OE6FEG
Matt
3 Likes
Hello Matt,
Weather looks a lot better than my todays choice.
About 0 °C at the summit. Sometimes the wind was shaking down some frozen snow from the trees. Needed to protect radio and logbook.
But with multiple layers very managable to be QRV about one hour 15 minutes.
The way up…
Today shack:
Linked vertical dipole up:
Already warmed up during the way down: 
Summary:
One QSO to NA @N1GB
3 more on 20 m band with S2S to @OE5YYN
and 2m band S2S to @OE5JKL and @OE9HRV
73s de Joe
4 Likes
We went to our usual location for such event OE/OO-330 Mayrhofberg and had to put up with fog, drizzle, wind and temperatures around 3° C. Conditions were fine on 20m with quite good reports from the usual takers but wouldn’t take us across the pond - except for a contact with N1GB. We were told that some NA stations had called and seemed to have heard us but - sorry - we just couldn’t hear them due to a noise level of S5. We couldn’t hear any of the NA CW SOTA stations, either 
15 contacts, 3 S2S, 1 contact to NA
Let’s hope for better conditions (and better weather!!) next time!
73, Sylvia OE5YYN & Peter OE5AUL
2 Likes
Snow, howling wind, and frigid conditions on the summit resulted in me deploying the EFHW about half as high as I planned (fed by my KX3), and only operating for one hour, starting at 1340Z. Propagation seemed very marginal with most signals quite weak. 17M seemed a bit better than 20M. DL6FBK had a nice signal but he couldn’t hear me. I heard a few of the EU ssb activators weakly but also couldn’t get through. I cq’d on 20M and 17M ssb (a very rare occurrence for me) and had a grand total of one caller (W0MNA), even though I self-spotted. My other ssb qso was s2s call to KI4SVM, who was also much weaker than normal. I had better luck on cw, although many of the cw qso’s were tough going. I managed cw s2s with OE6FEG, G4OIG, G4OOE and LZ1GJ - thanks for the good ears! Thanks to everyone who participated. Hopefully next year will be a month or two earlier - better weather, more daylight, and perhaps better propagation.
73, Barry N1EU
1 Like
Heard and called you, but you couldn’t quite hear me - I guess that S5 noise level at your end was the reason - we would have been working ground wave if we’d managed it I think.
73 Ed.
Yes, I remember we were listening out for a DD/P - that must have been you!
It’s the second time we seem to have had that noise level and we are wondering whether it’s got something to do with the commercial repeaters up there on the tower.
73, Sylvia
Perfect conditions in PA… for Hypothermia!
As a new CW op, I have enough trouble under good conditions… with freezing fingers it was pretty much a no-go… but I made a few S2S so it was a worthwhile effort… I thought I heard M1BBU (18Mhz) at one point but then it was gone…
I made a few USA S2S and then packed up.
Richard // N2GBR
1 Like
Yeah, QSB was pretty bad on 17m today! Oh well, maybe next time!
73, Colin
1 Like