G4YSS: PA/PA-006 Signaal Imbosch on 23-09-24
Issue-1 pse rprt errors
Activation of SIGNAAL IMBOSCH PA/PA-006 - 1 point, on 23-September-2024
Bands: 20m-CW, 30m-CW, 15m-CW, 10m-SSB & 160m-CW
All times: CET (UTC plus 2hr, UOS as ‘z’)
EQUIPMENT:
FT817ND HF/VHF/UHF 5W Transceiver
MX-P50M, 50 Watt HF Linear Amplifier
Link dipole for 80m thru’ 10m on a 6m CFC mast with ends tied to trees
Home-brew tunable loading coils for 160m
6m/ 5-section H/B Carbon/ Alloy Mast
HRB 11.1V (nom)/ 5 Ah Li-Po battery (100% discharged)
HRB 11.1V (nom)/ 5 Ah Li-Po battery (90% discharged)
UV-5R H/H. 2-Band, 5W-FM & J-Pole for 2m FM (not used)
Garmin GEKO-301 GPS
Petzl Zipka head lamp
Folding stool & Umbrella (no rain)
Pack weight approx 10kg (22 pounds)
INTRODUCTION:
Hans PA0HRM and I activated PA6 together on the 19 September when he showed me the new parking place and extended route. Accommodation was at the Bilderberg Hotel in Oosterbeek for the 80 year anniversary of operation Market Garden in WW2. My XYL Denise’s father Leonard, of the First Air Landing Light Regiment, landed in a Horsa glider at Wolfheze’s LZ-Z on 17 September 1944. Hotel B&B cost for two was Euro 1,550 for 7 nights.
EXECUTION and ROUTE:
Having driven there five days earlier for the joint activation with PA0HRM, it should have been easy to just repeat the drive, missing out Hans’ QTH in Rheden. However there had been road closures since then. I took the alternative route avoiding Arnhem and driving via the N785 but somewhere in Velp I came across a road closure.
The satnav showed me the way around it but then I came to another closure and then another. It seemed like a whole area was completely closed off with barriers across many of the road ends. A local driver was behind me so I let him pass so I could follow him. Eventually we got back on track and after some panic about where the machine was taking me, I started to recognize the roads up to the Veluwezoom National Park.
Immediately after passing a large café at Postbank, you turn left into the car park entrance at N52.02921 E6.02426. Today’s start point was about 2.5 km to the east of the summit but less than 25m down from it in terms of height. After checking I had everything including an extra battery for an extended activation, I walked away from the car at 14:40.
The path to PA6 starts near the café at the NW end of the car park at N52.02931 E6.02232. Further waypoints are: N52.03124 E6.01974 and N52.03320 E6.01856 which bring you to the old parking place of 2022 at N52.03479 E6.01497. You can use the road or alternatively the cycle track to cover this section. We used both for the round trip.
After this you turn right at N52.03516 E6.01324, keeping left on Route 57 at N52.03607 E6.01338 to go via N52.03509 E6.00859 and N52.03572 E6.00439. Just after you reach a point along the sandy path at N52.03719 E5.99838 (my operating position for this and the activation) there’s a path off to the right to take you up to the summit proper at N52.03825 E5.99877 (110m ASL).
The walk-in took 24 minutes today and I set up the dipole along the south side of the wide, sandy path, identically to before. It is a fortunate that path 57 is wide here and that I was out of the way, as I would find out later.
SIGNAAL IMBOSCH, PA/PA-006, 110m, 1pt. 15:04 to 19:55. 21C (later 17C), 0 to 2 mph wind, sunny until dusk. LOC: JO22XA. Intermittent phone coverage (EE network).
14.061.5 CW - 18 QSO’s:
There was a very slowly beginning at 13:30 due to the failure of a self spot. I only worked two stations in 15 minutes until the RBN found me at 13:48.
Stations Worked: R1AR Max in St. Petersburg; G4GZG Larry - Torquay; EA1AER Juan in Leon; GM4ZMK Richard - Glasgow; IK4DRO Gino at Favaro Veneto; EA7GV Jose - Ogijares; OK1KT Vratislav in Hredec Kralove.
M0BKV Damian Week St.Mary (Cornwall); SP6F Pawel - Wroclaw; SV2HJW Kostas – Platanorema Kozani; SV2OXS Christos - Katerina; EI7CC Pete in Dublin (it’s been long time); UR5XBH Vlad - Ukraine; PA0HRM Hans – Rheden and LA6FTA Gudleik - Lena.
The session spanned 35 minutes with a power of 50 Watts. Incoming reports ranged from 549 to 599 with a 229 from Max. Everybody was 599 to me apart from R1AR and OK1KT at 559, so the band was good for Europe, though nothing was heard from beyond.
10.118 CW - 3 QSO’s:
At around 2:1, VSWR was a bit high but with the dipole offset at 20m one side and 40m that other, I worked three stations: ON4DN David in Hoegaarden; G0TYM Tim at Stokesley, North Yorkshire and G3ILO/P (unknown). All six reports were 599 with power remaining at 50W.
A t this point a column of fifty or sixty young soldiers marched past carrying full gear including rifles. Morse code was ringing out from the final 30m QSO as they approached. Several glanced my way and I nodded back. One or two returned my ‘hello’ but the rest looked too hot and too tired to even look up from their deliberations. I felt like inviting them across for some water but moving fast and obviously under orders, they were past and out of sight as quickly as they’d appeared. This was more like shirt-sleeve weather than full battledress. I felt sorry for them but they are to be admired for doing what they do and given the gratitude they deserve.
21.061 CW - 4 QSO’s:
The dipole I had with me has a link for 15m but in the past I’ve had success just using a dipole configured for 40m. Either way, it didn’t have much demanded of it so after sending two spots, not knowing if the first one worked or not, I logged four stations with 50 Watts.
EC8ADS Alfredo on Gran Canaria island 599/ 559; EA7GV Jose – Ogijares 599/ 529; WB2FUV/P Michael S2S on SOTA W2/GC-112 449/ 559 and SV2HJW Kostas again with 599 both ways. 50 Watts as before and this took about ten minutes.
28.655 SSB - 4 QSO’s:
The seldom used 10m WAB frequency was in the rig’s memory but thanks to the SOTA spotter, I was found by KC2WLR Pat in Schenectady NY 57/ 41-51; EC8ADS Alfredo in voice this time 59/ 55; K3TCU Gary in Seneca PA 57/ 55 and F4WBN Christian in Urcuit 57/ 59.
29.600 FM: Nil after 5 minutes
Power was maintained at 50W for 10m but battery No1 was now empty after its FM stint.
1.832 CW: 3 QSO’s/ 1.843 SSB: Nil
In a total of four previous activations of PA6, I only managed one 160m QSO and that was to Ostende in mid afternoon. This time I was hoping to add a few more QSO’s by staying as late as possible without infringing the rule about being out of the park by 8pm local (7pm BST/ 6pm UTC). It would be very tight.
Sunset was at 19:31 local which, if I was forced to stay that late, would give me half an hour to pack up and get back to the car. Barely possible. I was hoping that I could make QSO’s before sunset and then get out fast but you can’t rush nature. The ionosphere would only be ready in its own time and so it proved.
After connecting a full battery, I added the coils and tuned them to half way between the two frequencies I’d be using. Time to call CQ. This was at around 6pm local but after a short while my friend Hans PA0HRM called in and with a big signal too, he being only a few km away in Rheden. At least now the day’s 160m log wouldn’t be empty and Hans seemed excited enough to request a QSL card as his first 160m QSO from Rheden.
I sent an email to Phil G4OBK on the off-chance he’d see it but although I’d heard him calling me on 160m four days earlier, I wasn’t expecting much. With 50 Watts for the next hour and a half, I called CQ on 160m, alternating between 1.832-CW and 1.843-SSB, in quarter hour sessions. I sent quite a few self spots out but heard nothing except static crashes ranging S4 to S8. I was forced to extend my QRT deadline of 7:15pm local to 7:30 and in the end I was still there at sunset.
Bang on that time (7:31) I heard some CW. It wasn’t strong but no I wasn’t imagining it. Between the crashes I copied enough to know that this was Phil G4OBK calling me. Good chap; he’d either read the alerts or seen my chancer email. The question was, could I get back to him? If Phil was that weak I would be still weaker but I sent his callsign and a 449 report several times. Every Top Band QSO is a minor triumph but Phil heard me and gave me 339. Just for belt and braces I sent his report again a few times followed by some ‘FB’s’ and the QSO was good.
Despite the time spent getting them, the two QSO’s would have made me more than happy but a bonus was provided by a third caller in the form of G4CLO who gave his info as ‘Roy in Cromer.’ Conditions must have been coming up rapidly because Roy was 599 to me and I got back 569; albeit he missed some of my second over. Of course he was a lot nearer to PA6 than Phil was.
Descent:
I called a few more times without result, flicked up to the SSB channel and tried again. There was nothing further and now the time was 17:42 which left me just 18 minutes to dismantle the station and walk out. I would never make it but after donning the head torch I packed up ASAP and sped off at 19:55 as fast as I could, considering the heavy pack.
The Lone Wolf:
In places the sand on route 57 is deep and it’s hard to get traction but once back on tarmac it was much easier. I was back to the car by 20:16 but just before that a wolf had silently crossed the road just in front of me. I saw enough in the headlamp beam to identify it by its shape and the way it moved. Was it part of a pack? Melting into the night, it seemed to be a loner but I didn’t hang around to find out.
To be fair I was more concerned about getting censured for breaking the park rules, if only by 16 minutes. In the event there was no one there to enforce them and I did spot the lights of three bicycles doing the same as I.
The drive back to Oosterbeek was interrupted by another closed road. The satnav alone knew which places we passed through but I know it wasn’t Velp this time. That was avoided! At least my home-brew ali foil car headlight masks seemed to work. I got no flashes.
ASCENT & DISTANCE
(Start point approx 94m ASL but dipping to 86m on the way):
Ascent 32m (105ft) / Distance 2 x 2.5km (3.1 miles in total)
Walking times:
Ascent: 24 min
Descent: 21 min
Summit time: 4hrs-51 min
Total time: 5hrs-36 min
QSO’s
Total: 32
18 on 20m-CW
3 on 30m-CW
4 on 15m-CW
4 on 10m-SSB
0 on 10m-FM
3 on 160m-CW
0 on 160m-SSB
COMMENTS:
I had a phone signal and 5G on and off which enabled self spotting some of the time. Apologies for doubling up.
Propagation was good to Europe on most bands but I logged fewer QSO’s than I expected on 30, 15 and 10m. That was compensated by more than expected on 20. I managed to work DX on both 15 and 10 including my first ever S2S with the USA. When I say ‘managed,’ S2S’s just ‘happen’ to me. However,they are always welcome and provide extra interest but I don’t go looking for them. This one was especially satisfying because I could barely hear him at first. After several requests for repeats I finally cottoned on by realising that ‘S…2.S’ was not part of a callsign with letters missing in QSB!
I should have done more SSB. The intention was to try 7.160 but it was busy. I could have tried a nearby frequency but self spotting with the phone coverage I had would have been difficult.
160m was truly a labour of love. Who but this fool would spend close to two hours perched on a tiny buffet less that the size of a sheet of A4, calling ‘CQ SOTA’ in the hope of a QSO or two? In the end I got three, which considering I had to leave just before 160m really becomes useable, was more than satisfying. Another time I’ll spend more time on the other bands and just allow the time for 160 to arrive. I could have tried some basic VHFM, albeit with very little chance of success from only 110m ASL in a forest.
Just a reminder to activators. The Veluwezoom National Park, which opens at 9am, closes at 8pm every evening and 6pm in winter but maybe in the latter hangs a 160m opportunity! There are other time restrictions.
THANKS:
To ALL STATIONS worked and to RBN host S53WW. Also to the Sota spotter. Many thanks to Hans PA0HRM for his excellent company on the 19th September activation and his guidance on a route that keeps changing. Thanks to the 160m chasers who help to keep this obscure frequency going.
Thanks for your comments on my PA6 report for 19th September.
73, John G4YSS
Photos: 2-3-5-4-9-13-15-16-17
Above: The PA/PA-006 Activation QTH beside route 57
Above: Fifty soldiers march past unexpectedly. The only people seen.
Above: The buzzing wasn’t coming from the rig!
Above: I always photograph the precious log
Above: After the final CQ
Above: Op on the lookout for wolves!
Above: Last car in the car park
