Hi at All,
It has been some days that I would like to take a vacation day.
According to weather forecast, Wednesday should be clear and maximum temperature should be 18-20 celsius degree.
It was great opportunity for hiking and sota activation.
I thought of four peaks around the Selvino Aviatico plateau.
I/LO-252 Corna Bianca 1224mt 4pts + 3 pts bonus,
I/LO-250 Mt Podona 1227mt 4pts + 3 pts bonus,
I/LO-234 Mt Poieto 1360mt 4pts + 3 pts bonus,
I/LO-270 Mt Purito 1136mt 2 pts.
These summits are close each other and with low elevetion gap.
A fantastic idea popped in to my head… why don’t concatenated them together?
I woke up at 5:00 utc, at 5:30utc I started driving to Selvino.
At about 07:00 I reached Salmezza hamlet near Selvino city.
From here it starts the path that takes to the top of Corna Bianca I/LO-252.
Me and my dog Zac started to climb up, we reached the summit in about 20min.
I putted the backpack on the ground and we had breakfast while we watched the enchanting landscape.
I started to calling cq at about 08:00 utc I worked 40mt ssb/cw, 30mt and 20 cw. My setup was kx3 run with 5watts when needed setting a 10watts, original microphone, vertical key j-45 military surplus from cold war, 9.5mt telescopic pole with pick support, 3mt of H155 and 1mt rg147 extra, the antenna consisted in 9 meters of awg 24 wire with a transformer 64:1 for operation in 20 and 18mt.
Otherwise I use a bnc with plugin for work 40 and 30mt.
In all case I use ATU.
I had with me 2 lipo 3s battery 2550mAh and 5500mAh and ten battery Ni-Mh Enaloop, I have used only 5500mAh for all day.
We reached the second summits, I/LO-250 Mt Podona at 10:30 utc.
the weather was great it looked like late spring. I needed a t-shirt and shorts.
After having called on 40 30 and 20 ssb cw I tuned antenna at 5.353cw and I managed a s2s with hb9afi/p, his signal was near background noise.
The fun made me lose track of time.
I climbed down the path dragged by the Zac that chased lizards and one snake, the descend was unnerving.
I crossed Selvino and Aviatico by car and I started to trek mount Poieto, I chosed the longest and less steep path.
I started to calling cq from I/LO-234 at about 1300 utc working on 40 and 20mt, I thought to contact many NA chasers but I could put a log only one transaltrantic qso, probably it was too early.
During the climb the last summit I met an old woman that seeing me running, she told me: " Ehi! Where do you run? Remember that today is a national day of slowness…" ,I thought about myself,“I’m already qrs cw!! C’on Zac here we go!!!”
I reached Mt Purito I/LO-270 the end of the tour at 15:30 utc I still had 2 hours of daylight. I started to feel a bit a tired, also Zac was tired of the tour and he fell asleep under a tree.
At this time, the prop. could be good for NA, so I decided to starting in 20mt cw. I managed some transatlantic qso some with good signal also 579 and other very difficoult to hear due to a weak signal and strong qsb, but with great patience of the chasers I could managed in a log.
To conclude I called cq sota in 40 ssb to present the virgin summit at some european chasers, after that I and the sleepy dog Zac started to comeback to home.
I added 23 points at my estate
I/LO-252 Corna Bianca n.17 qsos
40mt cw 7 qsos, 1-s2s
40mt ssb 6 qsos
30mt cw 2 qsos
20mt cw 2 qsos
I/LO-250 Mt. Podona n.19 qsos
60mt cw 1 qso, 1-s2s
40mt cw 9 qsos, 2-s2s
40mt ssb 5 qsos
30mt cw 3 qsos
20mt cw 1 qsos
I/LO-234 Mt Poieto n.17 qsos
40mt ssb 11 qsos,
20mt cw 5-qsos, (2-s2s and 1 qso transatlantic: Pennsylvania)
I/LO-270 Mt. Purito n28. qsos
40mt ssb 22 qsos
20mt cw 6 qsos, (4 transatlantic qsos: Oregon, Colorado, North Carolina
Pennsylvania)
Thanks to All Chasers!
73 de iw2obx Roberto
