When on the mountains I use to carry a VHF handheld with me despite I don’t use it very often.
Sometimes I doubt whether it does worth, but it is a just in case gear, you never know if you’ll have any issue in the mountain
Yesterday I went to activate Mt. Baratxueta, EA2/NV-068, carrying my trUSDX HF gear. Depending on the weather, the time I’ll have and the bands or modes of choice I grab a different rig from my collection and take the corresponding set of gear with it.
Yesterday, once in the summit I installed my EFHW aerial and when I tried to connect the coaxial I discovered I had forgotten a BNC – RCA adaptor. Yes, that silly missing little connector was a no-go for my HF activation, doh!
The guilty setup:
I then took my VHF handheld put a spot and gave some CQ calls.
Thanks to it I got 13 QSO in my log, including 3 S2S summits with @EA2DCA / @EA2DNO, @EA2EUS & @EA2EEB. A good end thanks to the VHF!
Good VHF propagation and DX
In the afternoon I received the good news from two of the friends I worked S2S, who had worked some nice DX on VHF.
First, Alberto & Iratxe EA2DCA/ EA2DNO had worked CT1DHM at 481 km far away. They activated with a handheld and telescopic whip as well!!
And Mique, EA2EUS, reported a good DX with F4HKH, near Paris, at 683 km distance, wow! Mique activated with a handheld and 1 meter long vertical dipole (homebrew Flower pot antenna). Congratulationes for them!
A succesful activation in my belt
In the end, it was a good very cold but bright sunny day and a good time on the radio.
Here you see some pictures, including a nice view of the Pyrenees from the summit. Even without the handheld it would have worth it!
The waking up in the cold wet morning
73, Ignacio
