F4WBN - 60K SOTA pts and more... (Part 1)

Congratulations, Christian! It was pleasure to make regular CW contacts with you from California. You are an outstanding operator!

73! Oleh

F4WBN is very often one of the first callsigns I hear after calling CQ SOTA. Iā€™m grateful to Chris and the many other regular chasers [too many to mention here but you know who you are] that I hear each time I activate a summit. Itā€™s nice and reassuring to hear familiar callsigns and easier to pick them out in a pile-up. I know when I go portable but not from a SOTA summit how much more work it is get QSOs.

Sometimes, when the weather is poor and the descent will be long, Iā€™m glad to get the summit qualified early so I can go QRT if need be. Fortunately, conditions are normally such that I can work through all waiting chasers and on lots of bands ā€“ a nice situation to have.

Here in Europe at least, which is my only SOTA experience [although I would love to do SOTA activations on another continent if I could afford it] we CW activators are spoilt by having such an active chaser community.

Thank you to all chasers,

73 Andy

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Congratulations. I love telling friends and family that I made a contact with France. I do wonder when you sleep though!

Brian, NM5BG

Yes Eric, Chris has built a fantastic score in a short time - dedicated 100% to the chaser cause as a few more are in EU, that I hear operating on all modes and all bands every day. The three most prolific chasers I hear currently are F4WBN, EA2DT and SA4BLM. Itā€™s great fun chasing!

No sign of chaser ā€œburn outā€ yet for Chris, but it does happen to some of us. I find it hard now, despite being fully retired since April 2018, to dedicate so much time as I did a year and more ago to the chaser cause without neglecting other stuff around the home, other hobbies, going on holiday and activating SOTA summits myself.

I may be wrong but I never see anything from Chis on this reflector. Maybe he will come on the thread and say a few wordsā€¦

Well done Chris, onward to 100,000 chaser points OM!

73 Phil G4OBK

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Bravo Christian pour ce challenge. Merci pour tous tes appels.
Cordiales 73
AndrƩ

Hello Christian,

congratulations for this great achievement! Thanks for all the QSOs. Itā€™s always a pleasure to hear you. Looking forward to our upcoming QSOs

73 Clemens | DD2TC

FĆ©licitations Christian
Marci puor les qsos!

Thank you all for your messages !
The SOTA program is very pleasant and makes it possible to satisfy the activators and chasers. Thank Activators for your activities on summits.
For those who have questions I do not use the web-sdr for my listening, do not use much power (only legal power in France 500W) and do not use a remote station ! My geographical position is simply privileged and the big antennas do the rest. Hi 73 QRO to all and the look forward to contacting you.
Chris - F4WBN

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Congratulations !

73 Ivica

Hi all,

Courtesy of Christian @F4WBN you can view these antennas. :+1: :wink:
The towers are not in the high positionā€¦

The little house you see is not the shack but the services for the swimming pool.

73 Ɖric

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The German Optibeam are great antennae and I think this is what Christian has. I used an Optibeam 11-5 at my previous QTH and an OB1-30/40. The Hexbeam I have now is OK - but no comparison in terms of performance. The good antennae Chris has are not the whole story:

  1. As a Chaser you need to be there and in a state of readiness to get the contact - he usually is!

  2. As a Chaser you need to know how to use your equipment in all modes to best effect - and he does!

Thanks to Eric for putting the photo on. It must be a marvellous view from the swimming pool as you look to the skyā€¦

73 Phil G4OBK

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Iā€™m right there with youā€¦ but my wife would not agree :thinking:

73 Armin

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Christian

Impressive antennas and thanks for all the calls.

Ariel NY4G

This thread explains so much. The first time Christian came back to me on a California Peak I couldnā€™t believe it! Invariably he is loud and clear here on the West Coast. I still get a thrill when I hear his distinctive call emerge from the background noise.

Christian has chased me 16 times in my first year of activating SOTA summits. #11 on my list of chasers.

Thank you F4WBN!
73 Eric KG6MZS

Congratulations Chris.
You must spent very long time on radio even if you have superior equipment. I respect your acomplishment very very much, very well done.
In comparison:
I chase SOTA with 5W QRP and a 3m long whip antenna: from January 1st 2021 until August 24 2021 I logged 409 activators totalling 1548 points.
In ON I hold in CW for 2021 3rd place at present.
73 Patrick

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Hello Chris and congratulations on your accomplishment! I am always amazed by your signal and to hear you working the QRP DX activators! Thanks for the many chases and I look forward to many more when I return to the US. 73 de CT7/K9PM Paul

Christian,
Iā€™ll say your setup is working! I hear you all the time, and many times
you are stronger than the activators! And stronger than some of the
USA chasers, too!
73,
John, K6YK

He is often in my log, many thanks and congrats the result !

73, Jarek

Christian is one station I hear a lot while chasing. I am amazed at how well he hears US stations. Well done Christian. Tom NQ7R

Hi Chris
Thanks for the QSOs!
I understand that the QSOs that we have had at approximately 0800 UTC were through short pass. But the ones we had at about 2100 UTC were through the long pass? Due I work with a dipole or vertical is something that I can not confirm. But the times I heard you very loud there was a little echo.
Anyway, thanks for being the first sounds from Europe!