Trip to JA, Fujisan JA/SO-001 report

Hello everyone,

Just a little info about my planned trip to JA :slight_smile:
Flight from OE via DL will depart tomorrow 30th August 2017.
My JA guest license I have in hands and my callsign in JA will be JJ1FJK.

Saturday I will visit the Tokio Ham Fair 2017 and hope to meet fellow SOTA enthusiast there? Anyone visiting too?

The “big” adventure is to summit the highest mountain in JA - the world famous - Mount Fuji aka Fujisan Kengamine
http://www.sota.org.uk/Summit/JA/SO-001
And do a SOTA activation of course. Alert on sotawatch is set.

Typical way is to ascend from the hut (the so called 8,5th station, 3400m) during the night to see the sunrise. So pls expect an early morning activation. I guess 20:30 UTC (5:30 local time, +1 or 2 h).
WX forecast is windy and cold (with chillfactor down to -5°C) so I will not stay on the summit for a long time. The two friends of mine that will join me for that hike will probably also not be that patiently waiting :disappointed:

Equipment planned:
Radios:

  • FT817ND + 5Ah LiFePO4 + 6m telescope pole
  • FT1XD for 2m/70cm and APRS

Antennas:

  • Lambdahalbe.de 5 Band vertical dipole (20/17/15/12/10 m band)
  • Antenna that comes with the FT817nd for 6m band
  • 2m/70cm J-pole wire antenna
    Will see how much time I have to work all bands but plan is 70 cm SSB, 6m FM/SSB, 2m SSB and 20m SSB.

Don’t know if it can work out but VK could be in reach using the 817ND 5 Watt if the 20m band is open? Watch out for my spots.

I will try to activate other summits too whenever time allows.

Wish me luck :blush:
Will keep posting in this thread whenever I have news.

73s de Joe
OE5JFE, JJ1FJK

3 Likes

Hi Joe JJ1FJK

I’ll be at the Ham Fair and will probably drop by the SOTA booth too. Hope to meet you there!

There is a typhoon right now off Japan 気象庁|統合地図ページ not sure where it’s headed yet so please take care during the climb. Forecast is rain until Sat, but sunny on Sunday.

Sunrise viewing is a big thing with the Japanese climbers (and tourists) so the summit might be packed! You will probably be hiking up using the Yoshida trail, it is the most popular trail for people comming from Tokyo. It can get crowded but it conveniently ends up on the east side of the crater. There are small structures/buildings here, a shrine, a post office that can protect you from the elements, if needed, but most are in close proximity to the hiking trail.

On the west side of the crater (you can hike around the crater) is a steep hill with a building on top. I think this is the true highest point of Fuji-san. The building is a weather station. Some people use the structure for protection from the wind. If it is not crowded it can be a good place to setup.

Summit is mostly loose volcanic rock. Nothing to support a pole unless you’re near a structure.

Goodluck and safe travels.

72
Mela JI1KBF
(not very active w/ SOTA at the moment)

Hi Mela JI1KBF,

Thank you for your information.
I have observed the actual weather change but I’m optimistic.

Looks like the typhoon will pass by without too much snow. Hope that the trails will be open on Sunday.
Yes, we will take the Yoshida trail from 5th Station.
You are correct that I will need to go to the highest point to comply with SOTA rules (25m elevation around summit).
The fence poles next to the weather station would make a good mounting for my teleskop pole:

and should be in the activation zone.

73 de Joe

Hello Joe JJ1FJK

May you have good weather on your climb and activation! As I look out my office window I see the sun!

The approach to the meteoroligical station varies from steep to very steep depending on which side you climb it.

http://www.fujisan-climb.jp/trails/others/m8bimq0000000umi-img/m8bimq0000000v4m.jpg

At the summit, if you hike counter clockwise you will use the steep approach. If you hike a clockwise route, you will use the very steep approach. This approach is the left side (with the fence posts visible) of the photo you posted. People sometimes grab the fence posts to keep themselves upright and to keep from falling over backwards. サービス終了のお知らせ

Also, I saw your alert as JJ1FJK/P just to minimize the confusion to local chasers … JA doesn’t usually use “/P” when we are mobile or portable. Instead “/(call area)” is used. We annunciate “/” as “portable” (not “stroke”).

So if I was portable or mobile in Shizouka (call area 2) I will be annunciating as “juliet india 1 kilo bravo fox portable 2” (“JI1KBF/2”). If I operate in the park 2km from my apartment, I use “/1”. If I was using my radio in my apartment (the specific address used in my license) I drop the call area.

http://www.motobayashi.net/callsign/enigma/designator.html

72
Mela JI1KBF

Hello Mela,

Thank you very much for the valueable information about mobile opertation and the trail info. Very much appreciated.

Always good to learn how the local rules are. I was looking for them but did not find them at the JARL homepage.

Will you be at the Tokio Ham Fair on Saturday?

73 de Joe

Hello Joe JJ1FJK

Glad to be of service.

I’ll be at the ham fair tomorrow unless something comes up.

AFAIK no standalone SOTA booth but there is a “Yama to Musen” booth (booth J-27). I think Kawauchi-san @JH0CJH will be at this booth. Yama to Musen (literally “mountains and radio”) shares the SOTA passion and was established before JA SOTA … AFAIK.

Where in Tokyo are you staying? Do you already have information on how to get to Tokyo Big Sight by local commute?

72
Mela JI1KBF

Hello Mela,

Excellent I will visit Yama to Musen booth. Mountain and radio is the best combination.
See you there.

I have change my SOTAwatch alert callsign to JJ1FJK/2 and will use it for the activation.

Yes, we drove by Tokio Big Sight with Yurikamome train yesterday so I will find it. I stay at Harumi Grand Hotel.

73 de Joe

Hello,

Thank you for the nice meeting at the yama to musen stand.
Toru thank you for showing me around, learning more about SOTA in Japan and informing everyone in the community @JH0CJH

I got confused with the time zones so now it should be correct on sotawatch alerts.

73 de Joe

Hi Joe
Thank you for your visit to Yama to Musen stand in Tokyo Ham Fair 2017. Hope you enjoy your activation of Mt Fuji tomorrow and day after. All the best and take care mate.

4 Likes

Hi Joe. I will most likely be around tomorrow and will listen for you, of course propagation gods have the last say in this matter :wink: but I worked JS1UEH on JA/SO-001 9th September last year at 20:35utc 20m so it is possible to work ZL. Hope the WX is good and a safe productive trip. 73 John ZL1BYZ.

1 Like

Hello all,

Thanks a lot for the successfull activation of Mount Fuji. Here the begin of the sunrise. Too many clouds for full effect but a great view.

APRS tracking of JJ1FJK-7 (learned at the Tokio ham fair that an experimental APRS digipeater is installed at the WX station on the summit)

Due to freezing temperatures a little shorter than planned. Focused on 70cm and worked 5 QSO. Thanks to Takeshi JS1UEH for spotting me. He is the first activator of Fuji.

20m had a contest ongoing so was difficult.
Called on 6m FM too but no success. No data connection and somehow spotting over SMS did not work. But those are situations one has to deal with as activator.
Here a picture from the activation at the Fuji crater just below the Kengamine Monolith (3775,6 m) setup for 20m:

A tough hike as I have never been at such an altitude before. Especially staying overnight at 3400m was hard. Had only 2 hours of sleep but a great adventure it was :grinning:.

I will try to do more SOTA activations from Yakushima hopefully with more time to work multiple bands. Will set alerts when I know more.

73 de Joe

5 Likes

Hi Joe
Well done mate! Congratulations.
What a gorgeous photos! Thank you for update and keep safe journey in Japan.

Toru JH0CJH

1 Like

Hi Joe JJ1FJK

Congratulations on the successful activation!
Stay safe and enjoy your stay in Japan!

72
Mela JI1KBF

1 Like

JJ1FJK and JG1GPY activation at Mt Ooyama JA/KN-006

http://www.kawauchi.homeip.mydns.jp/jh0cjh/blog/2017/09/21/jj1fjk-qrv-from-mt-ooyama-jakn-006/

JH0CJH Toru K

3 Likes

Hello Toru-san,

Thanks for recording my QSO to ZL. For me a new record in distance with about 8800 km. 5 Watt were enough even with bad solar conditions and high K values that day. I guess I was lucky and thanks to John and Jacky having good SSB ears hearing me with report 3 and 1. @ZL1BYZ

An Takeshi-san JG1GPY made a very nice video about our activation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLba90H8YY4

Btw. I have updated my QRZ page with a little summary:

And the GPS track for Mount Fuji via Yoshida trail is added to SOTAmaps.

73 de Joe
JJ1FJK
OE5JFE

3 Likes

Hi Joe! Thank you for making the effort to activate Mt Ooyama, it gave me a thrill to work Japan on SSB. The recording of our contact was a surprise and thanks for posting it. Hearing my own voice is very interesting, not what I thought I sounded like! Sorry conditions were not better as I completely missed your request for my handle. Hope to hear you again on the airwaves one day.
Kind regards, de ZL1WA, Jacky

1 Like

Hi Jacky,

You can’t imagine how thrilled I was to first hear John and than a second ZL station which was you :smiley:

Don’t worry I have also not fully understood everything but the important information for a valid QSO was exchanged. I feel you on hearing the own SSB voice. I also have an recording of myself from 70cm FM and I actually like my SSB voice better :slight_smile: . But still it is a bit strange.

I plan to join the VK/ZL/JA <> EU S2S Event 21 Oct 17

so who knows how band conditions will develop.

73’s de Joe