Just worked Bruno from HB/UR-074 under very weak conditions! Thank you Markus for the info here and Bruno for his patience.
When I thought I got him, somebody started CQing right on HB15SOTA’s working frequency. Bruno moved a little bit up in the band and we could complete a QSO. He was just 339 here.
I need to improve my antenna as soon as the weather gets better. I am using a dipole resonant for the 30m band with the built-in tuner of the KX3. I am thinking of getting a 2x 14 m dipole cut and trimmed for 60 m. For me it is way easier to work 60 m during activations than from home.
Thanks Markus for the heads up and you Bruno for the activation and the QSO.
I barely heard you on 60m from time to time when making QSO with others, so I decided to give a call, but our QSO couldn’t be completed because I never heard you coming back to me, so NIL on 60m.
A completely different story on 40m, where the QSO was 100% OK. I hope to chase you on some other bands later, if other duties allow.
[EDIT] A second pass over the 60m band finally produced a good QSO. With pretty buried-in-QRM signals and QSB received on my side, but a good contact
Thanks Markus for the alert and to Bruno for the UR activation!
GL and AI left on the to work list!
Thanks to all the activators and the SOTA Group for this challenge!
For FR it won’t be too late, since I just added an alert for tomorrow for HB/FR-036.
Further, in case somebody is looking for BE, I’ll activate HB/BE-113 afterwards for which I also added an alert.
. . . and there are many more enjoying their personal success stories with HB15SOTA partners. Congrats also to Roman, DL3TU, catching his last canton HB/VD.
Some lollipops are alerted for tomorrow Saturday, April 17, among them Rautispitz, HB/GL-029. This summit is a tough one in the winter period, with an ascent of 1,400 m over 3 hours according to Christian’s planning, permitting only 2 m FM.
Some need HB/NE on SSB, and that is my own trip for tomorrow, since I enjoy the scenery there at the French–Swiss border. I hope that I can manage that since this is a trip based on public transportation.
Hoping here, together with the buddies, to meet you tomorrow on the bands!
Wow, that was fun!
Thanks to all activators who didn’t bother getting up early, travelling across half of the country, facing cold and stormy conditions on the summit, QSYing to particular bands or odd frequencies upon request of a single chaser, arranging skeds silently in the background, and last but not least for managing logs and awards.
I can’t name you all but want to thank the whole HB9SOTA-gang for making this fun-event possible.
73, Roman
P.S.: Since there are still some cantons missing for S2S, the fun continues tomorrow
So let’s sum these frequencies up: 2 m from Luc first, then 2 m from Phil, and then 2 m from Guru – this results in 6 m only, hi, but not in reasonable shortwave frequencies like on 20 m, 40 m or 60 m. And not in GL on shortwave, unfortunately.
Bringing GL to the chasers is based on many requirements:
being in the mood for a tough day hike
free time to plan a tough day hike
availability of experienced and fit winter hikers
availability of ascent support like cable cars and ski lifts
availability of a trail head nearby enough
mass of accumulated snow varying the landscape
availability for weekend activations for wider coverage of needs
favorable seasonal restrictions regarding snow quality or avalanche patterns
risks from a heavier equipment
summit situation permitting shortwave operation
dependency from other people on the hike and their needs
restrictions from the personal agenda
favorable weather conditions
national and local Covid restrictions
suitability of the terrain for winter operation
operators willing to operate HB15SOTA
a positive decision of the possible activator to really do it after his personal assessment
and finally really doing it, even with green flags on all these topics
Maybe we’ll have to wait until the snow layer has receeded substantially, so it could occur that GL wouldn’t become available until the end of the award period.
In the meantime we don’t forget our further chasers for the HB15SOTA award listening for other HB regions than GL. Since I was not able to decide on a HB/GL activation, I opted for canton HB/NE nearby the French–Swiss border, and it was certainly also a good option. Not only for the chasers, but also for the activator, since such activities are a good way to reset one’s mind to be ready for a new week of home office.
And let’s be prepared to get used to probably boring times when this exceptional award period is over. What does this mean? Enjoy SOTA from the basics that are valuable for you, these are the best constants for your personal happiness with it.
Approaching the summit of Gros Crêt, HB/NE-006, north of La Chaux-de-Fonds. There are many old dry stone walls in the region, and even new ones like here.
Hi Markus,
Thank you for this wonderful description of the
Problems arounhd activating GL.
I thank you for the activation and the successful QSO
with you on NE, even if I already have it, it always does
Joy.
Thanks to the advice from you and Stephan, I was able to reach FR, so that now, how could it be otherwise, GL, but also JU, TG and VS are missing. You still have a good time to prepare for the home office and a good remaining weekend.
And thank you for the nice pictures to your activation on HB/NE-006
73 ’
Paul DL6FBK
Hi Stephan,
I was very happy to reach you on HB / FR 036.
Now only four are missing, GL, JU TG and VS.
Thank you and all the best until next time.
Best 73
Paul DL6FBK
Thanks for your message. As you know this from both the chaser and activator side, the list can be enlarged with all common amateur radio topics, e.g.:
Propagation was difficult yesterday. Even 60 m was not ready for nearer areas of some hundreds of kilometers. I rarely give then 80 m a try where I managed a contact to the Teck summit south of Stuttgart. How suitable is my 20 m/40 m EFHW for 80 m? It is, as I add 20 + 20 + 40 = 80 m, hi … It was just enough then for the QSO on 80 m. This was QSO #23 on 80 m on more than 8,000 so far.
Timing is another joker. Heinz OE5EEP on this secluded summit Zeckertkogel had just left 30 m CW when I had to head down to the bus running only each second hour. Would have enjoyed a contact but this would have shaked up me timetable of the day. The day was even without troubles long enough from 5 to 18 UTC.
Multitasking is not ours. Some chasers write notes into SOTAwatch what is quickly overseen. Beside the MT not liking this it is difficult to message regarding the activation running well or not. I don’t like to keep the cellular out in rain, snow or – like yesterday – in the cold. Something important is overseen quickly. A bell utility calling the operator is not yet part of the facility, hi.
And of course: equipment is key. Everything for SOTA contacts between @EA2DT and me seems optimized, even his voice is part of the equipment since his audio pierces through any type of pile-up or QRM. @G0FEX is also one of this category.
So there are also a lots of points influencing the setting of me and my chasers. Sometimes I compare it to love, since this also needs exactly two, hi.
It’s not even in sotadatabase yet. Only in a piece of paper in my shack of my house in the village near Pamplona and also in this picture taken to that paper with my phone.
This was the last Canton I needed to achieve Edelweiss.
Since Markus had informed me that Uli HB9CGA will not likely activate this Canton over the weekend and he would do it in a week day, I decided to go to my house in the rural village to do the mowing of the evergrowing grass.
When I got to the house, I first switched the radio station from remote to local, letting the Icom IC-706 in stand-by and switching on my Kenwood TS-940S. A quick look to SOTAwatch let me see that, to my big surprise, Tom @HB9DPR was activating my needed Canton AI on 30m, but he was on 10.121, which is the frequency where I always have a permanent QRM caused by who knows what. A look to the previous spots showed me that he had already been active on 40 and 20m. I was fool in desperation because his current pass on 30m may just be my last and only chance to chase AI Canton and I wasn’t copying him at all with the QRM I have. But I heard some of his chasers being received with stronger signals and when I copied that one QSO with other chaser was finished, I transmitted blindly in the hope that Tom would copy me. I said something like this: HB15SOTA DE EA2IF PSE QSY VY QRM HR PSE QSY UP OR DWN NO CPY HR VY QRM. I also sent a spot for him on 10.121 with this same request in the comment field. When the spot was published, my smartphone screen refreshed and then I saw a new spot for Tom on 20m CW 14.063
There I went immediately, I fortunately copied him and we quickly completed our QSO.
Many thanks, Tom HB9DPR, for the activation of this Canton using HB15SOTA and also for the QSO.
You’ll surely get my request for the Edelweiss diploma right away.
[EDIT]
But what is next on your to-do list (after mowing and cutting your trees)? Other HB9SOTA awards, e.g. the Lowland Award (only 8 missing)? Enjoying spring in Spain from time to time? First of all good success for your next treatments since this is the base of all!
GL - Éric
