Panoramic view from Annaturm
DM/NS-122
Though the weather forecast wasn’t that good Sunday turned out to be a lovely day in the lowlands. Finally, after all the weeks of cold rain and wet snow. So out for a ‘quick’ activation on the local summits of the Deister! The Deister is Germany’s northernmost mountainious region with four SOTA summits, including DM/NS-122 Bröhn, 405 m asl and DM/NS-123 Reinekensiekskopf, 383 m asl. The surrounding area from northwest through eastsoutheast is basically flat at ca. 50 - 70 m asl. So the Deister doesn’t only offer a nice view of the lowlands, but can be easily recognised from quite a distance away.
Car park
First summit was Bröhn, which we locals call Annaturm, what is in fact the name of the view tower on top.* The car park is in a distance of 3 km and was full and … icy all over. And this was kind of a preview of the hike: all the way up to Annaturm we hiked on ice and hard snow.
Annaturm. Somebody always spoils the picture.
Hey big sender
Doppler antenna for aircraft direction finding
On the ridge are radio towers all over: air traffic RADAR, air safety, repeaters for public services (police, ambulance…) and ham radio repeaters. We found a nice shack close to one of the aircraft radio stations after I was close to frustration due to the lack of proper spots for a shack and the mass of people on the summit.
A vertical and a chicken shack
The shack was really excellent. An abandoned chicken shack (or what so ever) 70 m off the ridge way. Inside it was snow-free and there was a shelf where I put my rig and sat down in front. How comfy! The builders must have been very smart men as they placed the door exactly in the direction the sun was shining. 
Great.
I clamped the vertical to the shack door and received strong signals on 10 m from southern eu, na and sa. But i had to struggle with an SWR as high as the radio tower in the neighbourhood and nobody heard my calls. What a pity, I’d hoped to make some s2s contacts to na.
Luxury shack
I qsy’d to 17 m where the antenna performed better though the SWR wasn’t very good there either. Think the antenna was too close to the wall. Made one qso with EU3AU. While I was adjusting the vertical to 20 m, GM1INK/p was spotted. Steve heard me through the pile up on my first call , so s2s was easily made. Then I qsy’d and worked mostly regular chasers from europe (even not a single cu3 station today!) what included the second s2s that day with GM8OEG/p. After working the pile up we packed our things and left to Reinekensiekskopf. But veery carefully on the slope, icy trail!
Neighbours
As we passed the car park between the summits it was nearly empty. No surprise as it was after 1500 utc and all unlis had to go home to have coffee and cake with their families.
DM/NS-123
Nordmannsturm
As expected we were nearly on our own on the summit. Only few customers in the café and only a couple cherishing the evening sun on the terace of Nordmannsturm (what is in fact the name of the viewtower, but you can guess now how we call the summit then). He was quite interested in our activities and mentioned the fantastic weather would sure be good for making radio contacts. Yes, it’s certainly more fun to operate in the sun than in cold rain. We built the shack at a picknick table on the edge of the terace.
Winter sun
I hoped to still catch the 10 m opening but the band was dead. 20 m had strong qrm across the whole band peaking at s9+, so no operation possible. Sorry to everybody who waited. Did 7 qso’s on 17 m, mostly EA2. When we were leaving at sunset I recognised an overhead powerline crossing the activation zone. Ah, that’s why there was all the rubbish on 20 m! Will bear this in mind when activating “Nordmannsturm” again and look for another spot within the activation zone.
Shack on a picknick table
Ahoi,
Pom
*My sister just have called me:
Me: “We were in the Deister on Bröhn.”
Her: “Where?!”
Me: “Annaturm.”
Her: “Ahh, Annaturm!”
'8oeg