I found myself recently on a Barcelona to Mexico City return trip and decided to do a bit of SOTA while in Spain. When these work trips are rostered I normally have a look to see what’s nearby for activation or something unique. I had found a thread here about activating in Andorra, albeit on the Spanish side of an Andorran mountain - you’d have to read the threads as it seems quite convoluted. With only a small amount of time I decided to do something a bit closer to the city of Barcelona.
First up was EA3/BC-006 El Pedro, the drive here is very pleasant as the weather was very good for late October. On the motorway towards Berga I passed by the stunning mountain ranges near the monastery of Monserrat where there are a number of SOTA summits. Once near the town of Berga it is a 13km drive through the mountains to the ample car park at Creu De Cabrer. There is a small restaurant here also if you need refreshments.
There is little to no phone signal here (and none at the top) so if possible post your spots before setting off or use sotamat once at the summit. A quick look at the map shows the easiest route to the summit is to follow the old ski slopes up - this is what I did. within sight of the summit I checked the sotagoat app to get within the AZ. Elevation wise I was close to the AZ but then realised the little red arrow was pointing hard left and not towards the summit. Even worse was that the horizontal distance was over 6000ft away!!! using the compass on my trusty Garmin watch I found that I was heading up the wrong track and I was now looking across a valley at the summit I was supposed to be heading for! To call it a schoolboy error would be foolhardy - I messed up the nav side so badly that I now was bushwhacking on a compass bearing (I’ve bushwhacked before but with an entire platoon behind me to call on for support) now I was entirely alone….. The going was easy through the forest though and soon made it to the summit.
My set up this time was my trusty Xiegu X6100 and a Gabil GRA-7350 antenna supplemented by my Yaesu FT2D with a RH770 antenna. Straight off the bat I had a S2S on VHF with Oscar EA2FMD, there was a little activity on VHF but that was it for the day - the rest of the QSO’s were on FT8/FT4 using the new to me IU1WXY software for the X6100.
The return journey was a lot less worrisome as near the summit there is a map showing the preferred routes to stay away from protected areas - with a map and compass the descent was a more controlled affair than the ascent…
Mexico was next on my travels but as there is no reciprocal agreement I had to leave my radio equipment in the Barcelona hotel. Pity really as Mexico City has a bunch of unactivated summits..
On the return to Barcelona I took the opportunity to activate EA3/BC-086 Castell de Montjuïc right in the city. From my hotel using the metro and funicular it was a 45 minute journey to the cablecar station and only an easy 10 minute walk up from there to the castle. The AZ is all around the castle so no need to enter. I tried VHF from various place around the AZ but to no avail. I found a quiet spot overlooking the harbour and set up there. With time running out before my pick up I made 7 HF QSO’s including a S2S with HB9BTI/P on 20m. Try as I might I coundn’t catch the S5 lads that were activating in my home country of Ireland but the QRM from a nearby tower was too much.
Castell De Montjuic from the approach into BCN Barcelona.
As usual a fun and educational trip. Maybe Andorra on the next trip
73 DE EA3/EI3JMB