G4OBK OE Tour

Hi All
Just about to leave the hotel to activate two summits in the Vorarlberg Region today. OE/VB-480 and OE/VB-420. I will be QRP today with FT-817 and dipole unlike yesterday when I ran 70w with the FT-857. This is a good walk with plenty of ascent so I am travelling light.
Hope to see you on 40m & 30m CW.

73 Phil G4OBK & Judy XYL

In reply to G4OBK:

Don’t know what happened yesterday you were a super signal on SSB but I was calling with lots of others then you disappeared without working us and re-emerged on CW :0(
No CW and I’ll be asleep in 10 minutes as I am on nights, but good luck with the activation.

73 Steve GW7AAV

Hi All

I did not manage to activate both summits yesterday due to a lack of time.

I think the plan was too ambitious in unfamiliar territory. On VB-480 (a unique which involved a chair lift from Bizau and then a climb over a wooded mountain) we managed 19 QSOs including several UK regulars. I don’t have the log with me but G3TJE was worked on 30m and 40m with the best sigs - I got G4SSH G0NUP GM0AXY in the log and a few others. EI7CC was the only station from EI. Running QRP was more of a struggle - the previous day on VB-473 with 10 times the power of the 817 I made about 70 QSOs of which around 20 were on SSB including many G stations. I don’t hang around if the callers dry up and either revert to CW or go QRT (sorry Steve). I don’t try and operate on SSB using QRP - it’s too much like pulling teeth for my liking!

No activity today (Freitag) due to the WX and tomorrow looks iffy too.

I will be active again as I am spoilt for choice in this area for summits and I will try and alert via this internet connection (€5 per hour in a neighbouring hotel!).

73 Phil OE/G4OBK/P with Judy XYL in Vorarlberg Region QTH Hotel Rossle, Au.

In reply to G4OBK:

Hi Phil,

I hope you & Judy are having a nice trip :slight_smile:

It was very nice to work you on Saturday 13th on G/SE-013 with a fantastic signal on 60m here in Blackburn. We must have been at just the right distance that day & you did mention that you would try to get me some Continental summits while you were on your tour.

The first came sooner than I thought it would!

I saw that you were spotted on 7.032 CW on Sunday from ON/ON-001 & took a listen. As my CW is very rusty, to say that I found it a little bit mad on there would be an understatement, & I can understand why those who may not be very proficient in CW are put off using the mode after listening on 7.032 & taking that as an example of what all CW SOTA QSO’s are like. The sheer number of stations calling at once can make it a very daunting prospect, but, realising that this may be my only chance to work you from that summit I left my keyer set at 20WPM (a bit slower than most others on at that time) & gave you a call. Thank you for replying amidst the pile up you had :slight_smile:

It all went by very quickly but I got my report & I believe you got yours too, but with all the chaos on that frequency I didn’t get anything else if it was there, despite the once again, superb signal you were putting out.

It seems so much more civilised on Top Band :wink:

It was very nice to work you a little later on SSB, which I have to say, was much easier for me.

Hopefully I will work you from another continental summit over the weekend, conditions permitting :wink:

Cheers Phil,

Mark G0VOF

Good Contact Mark - you are in the log!

Today we are out again - just about to leave the village to try and activate two more in the VB region. VB-454 and (if time) VB-476. Check the alerts page.
The rain just stopped so its a late start for us…hope it stays dry or it won’t happen. Carrying the 7 AH and FT-857 so I should log a few more and if time will use SSB also. Check around 7118 after I finish on 7032 and before I go to 10118 KHz.
73 and
Auf fiedersen

Phil & Judy

In reply to G4OBK:

Hello Phil,

thank you for the QSO and a new summit.

73, Milos S57D

In reply to S57D:
Hi Milos - All

No more OE SOTAs on this trip. Rain rain rain! All day - tmw we move on to Friedrichshafen and a change in WX is forecast.

If I can find some info-maps I hope try to do one of the easier ones in the HB AI or AR region tmw (Weds) on our way to FN and also at least one in DM and F before we come back to UK.

Tnx to all ops for the QSOs yesterday from when we visited HB0 - some regulars were worked on CW and also John GW4BVE on his 60m loop used to good effect on 7118. I was in a layby near to Vamuz the capital. HB0 had a funny feel to it as a country we felt.

I made 19 QSOs from VB-477 on Sunday running QRP the skip was short and the furthest north worked was ON5KL and G4SSH-A who just scraped into the log after many exchanges of reports. We got rained off and went QRT at speed to save the gear. The WX has been miserable since last Thurs night…dissapointing.

If anyone can think of an easy SOTA near to Friedrichshafen and also one in France verz near to Calais or around St Quentin please leave the info here on the reflector. Without Google Earth and any mapping I,m a bit stuck.

If anyone reading is going to FN please bring the info there and I will see you!

73 Phil OE-G4OBK last (wet) day in Vorarlberg,

Hi Phil,

Hope to have a good time at the FN ralley. You could have activated a SOTA summit in HB0 with it being a very rare SOTA assoctiaton

Jimmy M3EYP

In reply to G4OBK:

If anyone can think of an easy SOTA near to Friedrichshafen

Pfander. OE/VB-512.

Ferry/train to Bregenz, cable car to top, 5 mins walk (if that) to summit, activate on handy, back down to restaurant for lashings of schnitzel and ice cold beer, cable car back down to Bregenz and ferry or train home.

Easy peasy 8 points, nice grub, excellent beer, nice friendly Austrain people, great views. Could you ask for more? :wink:

Andy
MM0FMF

(2 days till I leave for the rally, not that I’m counting!)

In reply to G4OBK:

If anyone can think of an easy SOTA near to Friedrichshafen …] please leave
the info here on the reflector.

Phil,

you may consider Gehrenberg DM/BW348 (8 points) near Markdorf (close to FN).

Another one worth visiting / activating - depending on how you drive back - DM/BW846 Burg Hohenzollern (10 points) near Hechingen - this summit has an impressive castle & museum on top.

73,

Gerd DF9TS

Thanks Andy and Gerd - I knew of Pfander Andy but having done several in the OE-VB region I want to activate at least one DM SOTA - so I now have a map and I will look at the one suggested by Gerd. Hopefully we can have a walk in the more hilly region north of Friedrichshafen and find the summit this afternoon!

73 and thanks to both.

Phil DL-G4OBK

Thanks to all chasers yesterday for being so brief when I activated HB-AI-011 St Anton. Weather was claggy again with a little drizzle but we managed to make 78 QSOs in around an hour and there were plenty of UK stations in the log on 40m SSB once I was spotted.

Hopefully I will appear this afternoon (Thursday) from one of the BW summits in the area (Probably BW-348). It will be the usual script of 7032-7118-10118. It has been interesting comparing results in QSO terms between QRP (5w) and QRO (60w) on this trip as I have kept to the same bands of 30-40m. I reckon with QRP I can make 20-30 QSOs in an hour once I become active but on QRÖ this leaps up to 60-80 as people can hear me and it is easier to keep control of the frequency. With QRP I get a few stations calling blind (a very small minority) who can’t really hear the puny signal. They can´t hear me at a decent strength and it is obvious when I go back to them on CW that the timing is wrong. I normally give them 3 attempts to make the QSO a good one and if the timing is still wrong when the exchange comes back to me they do not get into the log. Other louder stations who can hear me waiting during the pregnant pause sending K to “help” do not help me assure that the QSO is good!

It is not good prectice to call an activator that may hear you when you have no hope of hearing them sending a report back to you!

73 and good hunting

Phil G4OBK (QTH Internet Cafe in FN)

73 Phil

In reply to M3EYP:

Hi Phil,

Hope to have a good time at the FN ralley. You could have activated a
SOTA summit in HB0 with it being a very rare SOTA assoctiaton

Jimmy M3EYP

Hi Jimmy
It would have been good but…
Weather too bad, snowing above 1800m, unhappy XYL, time short. Mebbe next time with more planning…

73 Phil

tnx to gerd we did bw-348 this aft. condx good for long skip not good for dl hb9 etc

53 stns logged including 11 ssb -mostlt uk. bw-348 is in woodland.
73 phil (on pda in hotel )

Hi All

I had hoped to but it is doubtful now, that I will be active for SOTA in France on HF tomorrow. For my own amusement I may just come on air by the roadside en-route for a few minutes around our lunchtime (11-1200z) to make a few non-SOTA QSOs from France on 7032 KHz instead.

I have just spent some time trying to find an easy to access summit en-route using Google Earth and Google Maps without success. Sorry folks. It is not easy doing SOTA in umfamiliar territory without proper mapping and the lack of time available makes this more so.

I should be QRV however on 80/40/30m on Monday at around 1300z from G/SE-015 on our way from the boat in Dover. Roy G4SSH will spot me. I will also try a few CQs on 50108 at the end of the activation with my 30m dipole in case we have sporadic e.

73 Phil

In reply to G4OBK:

I will also try a few CQs on 50108

50.108 ? In France? I though the French 6m allocation was 50.200 up?

Nice to meet up with Phil&Judy here at the rally.

Andy
DL/M0FMF

In reply to MM0FMF:
Andy I think you will find G/SE-015 is not in France :wink:

Roger G4OWG

In reply to G4OBK:
Phil

Will try to listen for your non SOTA activation from France.
It will count as a WAB book holder in a DXCC country :slight_smile:

Roger G4OWG

Yup you’re quite correct Roger on both counts! OK on the WAB situation with overseas op’s I wasn’t aware of that not having done WAB for over 20 years. My book number (ancient) is 2996.

73 Phil

In reply to G4OBK:

My book number (ancient) is 2996.

A mere newcomer! My WAB book number is 894. I’m sure somebody can trump that.

An easy French summit to try is F/NO-026 Mont Le Communale. It is a “drive up” summit midway between Boulogne and Saint-Omer, and a mere five minutes from the N42 dual-carriageway between the two. Exit at Escoeuilles and drive north up the hill sign-posted Loquin. The coordinates of the summit are 50 43 17 N / 001 56 55 E. From there it is about half-an-hour to Calais, either using the minor roads through Ardres or Guines, or joining the A16 autoroute (free) at Boulogne. It’s a pleasant summit with a flat top, very similar to the Kent summits SE-013/015.

73 de Les, G3VQO