Thanks for a very interesting report, it was a pleasure to chase you on some of the summits. I was lucky when I was on FL/VO-002 a few years ago in the late afternoon, not to meet the anti-radio amateur restauranteur!
It was a great achievement that you activated so many summits solo. Only yourself to depend upon for point to point road navigation etc. I hope you had good accommodation in the Vosges and you enjoyed the food. I think your decision to return via Luxembourg and Belgium was a good one.
F/CR summits are very different to FL/VO and I have lots of them in my sights. Sadly someone has set hire car prices to the silly level. I can hire a small hatchback car at Prague Airport for €150-170 a week and the same car from Lyon Airport for €575-650 a week. Suddenly going to France has become seriously expensive. That’s bad because I don’t get to play in all the nice hills or more importantly get something really nice to eat and drink! Or even go and see my sister.
thanks for the comprehensive report. And especially the beautiful photos. It’s fun to read. I still have 111 SOTA’s to go there. So I will definitely come back.
Congrats to your many activations in the Voges, the nice pictures and thanks for the three S2S when I was in EA3!
On 24th of August, both were first activations:
1st S2S: EA3/GI-107 to FL/VO-170
All cork oak trees were black, the result of a forest fire some years ago. But these trees were the only ones that survived the fire (the cork bark seems to protect them from the fire).
2nd S2S: EA3/GI-090 to FL/VO-084
This was a complete for me, thanks!
and on 25th of August
3rd S2S: EA3/GI-096 to FL/VO-082
I activated FL/VO-002 this year and was aware of the problem one could get with the hotel owner. Therefore, I activated out of sight of the hotel, a bit below the summit peak towards West, which is still in the AZ.
This photo was taken on 31st of May and looks probably much greener than when you were there.
This may not be the perfect activation weather for me; a bit too hot… Low/mid 20s is great for me.
But many thanks for the well-wishes and I will keep the recommendation in mind next time I come to France.
Thanks for the support during my activations Phil.
Despite the pre-planning, there were some summits where I could have parked nearer.
On Wednesday, I had planned to activate a summit late afternoon/early evening but abandoned this due to a no-through-road near La Bresse requiring a 45 minute detour so gave up and had an early dinner.
Accommodation was great; I stayed in La Bresse and had counted on a single room B&B but ended up with a 2 bedroom apartment with separate living room and kitchen.
A hectic week, but can look back with some great memories.
Congratulations on a successful SOTA adventure, and thanks for a great report and photos. It was lovely to get you in the log when you were on FL/VO-170.
Nice report and images @M0RWX Robert, looks like you had a cracking time! I tried my best to call in on as many activations as possible, don’t think I missed too many look forward to your next adventure!
A pleasant surprise - and a double take - to get you in the log from FL/VO-170.
I was running on fumes at that time - final activation in FL/VO - it was dark and I was eager to get back to my apartment, have a shower and get some food.
Perhaps next time!
Many thanks @GW4BML Ben.
Believe it or not but I had originally planned to spend a week activating in Scotland, but the weather forecast swung it in favour of FL/VO in the end.
Absolutely and I recognize many of your summits by just looking at the pictures!
One thing I forgot to mention: since we both used the same but not so common rig, we could call the three contacts TX-500 S2S
To be on the safe side, I carried a 4S 4Ah LiFePO4 battery with me that was also used to charge my smartphone. Difficult to say how much energy was left after a day of activation, but the voltage in RX mode never dropped below 13.1V.
Great idea! Unfortunately, not many around of them at the moment.
Each time I take the unit out of my backpack, I am astounded by its sheer small size and marvel at its engineering.
My TX-500, 40/20 linked dipole incl coax, LifePo 4200 battery, mic (and sweatband to put over the mic to muffle windnoise), powerlead, and a plastic sheet in case of bad weather all fit into an old padded Lynx washbag the size of 26x14x12 cm (10x5.5x4.7 inch).
For SOTA I do not miss the lack of a tuner as I use resonant antennas, but my T-1 tuner would fit in the bag as well if needed.
To charge my smartphone on the trail, I tend to use a small lighweight powerbank and top my phone up in the car between activations.
To reduce the number of items that need taken care of, I built USB chargers with PowerPole connectors. The charger can then be looped into the transceiver’s voltage supply. They can be bought for a few bucks in Chinese online shops and usually allow 8-20V input and deliver max. 3A@5V output. They are sealed and therefore at least splash proof.
On the left side an older construction with a micro USB connector and a USB-C adapter and a PowerPole Y-connector that weights 55g. On the right side a more recent construction with a USB-C connector and a double PowerPole connector that weights only 26g. Moreover, this one is very efficient.
Some of them may produce some RFI on certain frequencies, depending on their load. But since they charge with up to 15W, you don’t have to run them for a long time.
Since I already had problems with charging in the car (on Android, the charge icon looks like it’s charging, but it’s actually depleting), a portable charging possibility comes really handy.
look forward to your next adventure!
