Don’t worry, that was my very own problem. This bus service runs only every two hours and I realized only on the descent that it would leave the trail head 5 minutes earlier on this round as an exeption.
Dear Heinz
HB/GR is on my list, but unscheduled so far. There are 4 lowland summits and 2 popular tops of ski areas with cablecars in GR. But most of the other summits are covered in meters of snow at present and the domain of the specialists or of nobody. In case you prefer CW, we should alert our CW guys like Jürg, @HB9BIN, or Bruno, @HB9CBR. But they are not from this region and it takes them longer trips from their homes. So any type of availability remains part of this HB15SOTA game since we can’t provide any cantons for sure. And yes, unfortunately even not all HB15SOTA operators alert their activities although this would help the chasers and especially the S2S operators!
But in case you take a microphone with you I’d certainly love to come back to your calls on 60 m SSB as already done earlier – enjoying it here that 60 m is allowed now even in your country. A major problem at present are the primary user on 5363.6 and some “long talkers” on the only remaining reasonable SSB QRG. Since I’m not yet retired I can travel only on Saturdays, and same problem probably on your side.
Just added for tomorrow at 09:30z an alert for HB/SO-012. Probably I’ll try also 60m and activate HB/SO-013 afterwards, after I checked-out the nearby castle. I like to combine sightseeing with SOTA, there is always something new to be discovered.
Since I live in the very Nord-West corner of Switzerland (Basel), the alps are pretty far away, especially canton GR. This would need an overnight stay.
Therefore, before COVID border restrictions, I activated a lot in the Black Forrest (Germany) or in the Voges (France) that are much closer to me.
I still need GL and NE preferably 40m. or 60m. CW. My rig is QRP and my antenna is a windom dipole. I would like to complete the 24 cantons that I have so hard pursued. I ask for information one day in advance. Many thanks to the activators.
73 Oscar
Yes, I had some difficulties with QSB on 60m, but we finally made our QSO. Thanks Bruno!
Great that we made it on 60m because I had to leave for some errands and I wasn’t home when Bruno activated on 30m, which is usually the best band for EA-HB contact.
I already qualified for my Enzian diploma
After returning from the two SO-summits today and hearing that some chasers still need BL, as well as seeing that the weather doesn’t look too good from Sunday on, I decided to activate a BL summit tomorrow: I just alerted for HB/BL-015 from 10:30z on.
Can I congratulate yourself and the HB15SOTA team on a very professional approach to this award it has been very satisfying to take part I don’t think I will make the Edelweiss Award as I was late in starting but it is the taking part that counts and have had countless hours of fun. Thanks again for all the hard work that the team has put in.
I feel really blessed to have made 11 Cantons from this side of the pond.
So far Alpenrose is all I qualify for but with the condx I am glad I got this
many so far. Thanks to all the activators. JohnPaul//AB4PP
Thanks for the flowers, which I pass to the organizers of HB15SOTA that indeed do a great job! Thanks to the logging app I use (VK-port-a-log) it’s super simple to send the logs also to the diploma manager Tom HB9DPR who merges all the data .
Thank you Brian and all the others for the contacts of today. In total I have 67 in the log, of which are 16 S2S and two Flora&Fauna ones.
Propagation was not that great and changing. Except a station that I could hear during the whole stay on 15m from South Africa, there was hardly any DX noticeable.
It was pretty warm and the sun was mostly shining. Also the location that I chose this time was perfect: there is a public hut with a table and bench that gives shelter from rain. Even a nearby grill is available. This is really a deluxe SOTA activation place and recommended for longer activations. HB9CYV with whom I a had a S2S uploaded a photo to SOTLAS.
After I packed up and hiked within the activation zone to a better VHF place, I saw that Markus @HB9DIZ spotted on HF. Unfortunately, I soon had to leave and 2m FM probably didn’t make it to HB/AR-012.
I made “Enzian” today thanks to Stephans activation of HB/BL-015!
I missed Markus, HB9DIZ on both his activations because of bad timing on my side. I left the summit a few minutes before Markus became active on 60m, but I had to be home in time. On 40m I could not get through the pile-up.
I doubt that I still can reach “Edelweiss” I worked HB15SOTA only occasionally last year but started serious chasing in March after I became aware of the SOTA diploma through this thread.
Thanks for all your efforts in activating and organizing this special call!
Hunting HB15SOTA is lots of fun!
I consider completing the Edelweiss level difficult, too, in your case, since a certain number of cantons are still missing, and most of them are difficult from one perspective or another. We have still winter conditions in big parts of the country, and summer access to the higher peaks will be possible in most cases from July to October for the general public. The award period ends in 4 weeks indeed.
But I’m happy that you enjoy “working” on this award, so I suggest that you look on the summits you have collected so far and not on the number missing. Since you are an experienced activator it might be difficult to be always on a summit in time to chase HB15SOTA. And the same even for chasing from home: as long as you are in your professional life there are duties with higher priorities what is evident. So enjoy what you have, and Enzian level is a good thing. All contacts count for the regular HB9SOTA awards, too.
This thread has started after my activation on Rochers-de-Naye on February 22 only, to bring over some sunshine of a HB15SOTA “service” to the audience. Thinking back now, I could have started it earlier. Or someone else of the gang. But there is no general rule on that. An award is only a paper in general (resp. a PDF file nowadays), but it is linked to souvenirs or experiences – the Latins named this “memorabilia”.
I’ve noticed soon that in this case these souvenirs were valuable for many of you since we operators simply brought good vibes into the whole thing and have enjoyed to share our 15-years-anniversary on the frequencies and also here on the reflector. Roger, Bruno, Stephan and many others have contributed so far. This has aimed to produce some happiness in difficult times. Maybe a bit late for award completion purposes!
But I am looking forward to a next thing making us happy. SOTA has good ingredients to provide it. Let our suns shine!
Bruno’s activation of Gros Crêt HB/NE-006 this morning took me up to “Enzian”.
Likewise, as the weather’s been good for working outside, and there’s a lot of work I need to get done in the garden in the next few weeks, so my chasing’s limited to coffee breaks and such.
Thanks to all those activators putting HB15SOTA onto summits.
A rare one is alerted for tomorrow Thursday, April 15, 2021: Bruno, HB9CBR, will activate Brandegg, HB/UR-074, in Canton Uri. Uri is a land of 10-pointers that are spicy targets in our mountain summer time, but they are covered in snow except for about two summits. And Brandegg is one of them.
So listen for Bruno tomorrow, but take note that he is a CW guy. Listen, catch, enjoy!
And this is your teaser: outlook from the ascent to Brandegg with the village of Seelisberg in the foreground, the Lake of Lucerne and the basin of Schwyz with the village of Brunnen nearby the lake:
Bingo, Heinz and Guru are in Bruno’s log.
