G4YSS: PA/PA-006 Signaal Imbosch with PA0HRM on 22-09-25
Issue-1 pse rprt errors
A Joint Activation of SIGNAAL IMBOSCH PA/PA-006 - 1 point,
On 22nd September 2025.
(Note: PA6 was also activated solo 2-days later on 24-09-25. Report 39293 refers).
ACTIVATORS:
- PA0HRM/P Hans
Bands: 40m-20m-10m CW - G4YSS John
Bands: 40m-20m-15m CW&SSB
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 40m & 20m (30m & 15m) on a 5m CFC mast
HRB 11.1V/ 5 Ah Li-Po (No8) battery (part discharged)
UV-3R H/H. 2-Band, 2W-FM & J-Pole for 2m FM (not used)
Garmin GEKO-301 GPS
Folding chair
Folding stool (not used)
Pack weight approx 10kg (22 pounds)
INTRODUCTION:
This was the fourth joint activation of PA6 for Hans PA0HRM and I since 2019. In addition I’ve tackled it twice solo.
As usual the Bilderberg Hotel in Oosterbeek was our base for the anniversary of operation Market Garden in WW2 (see G4YSS-PA6-2024 report)
EXECUTION and ROUTE:
I picked up Hans at his home in Rheden which is about 18km to the east of Oosterbeek. Again I managed to go wrong which resulted in a doubling back on the A12. The satnav and a road sign seemed to be in disagreement. It’s a half hour journey but today around 40 minutes. Fortunately I allowed an hour.
We drove to the start point from Hans’ QTH within 10 minutes, parking up at 13:50. After passing a large café, you turn left into the car park entrance at N52.02921 E6.02426. The start point is about 2.5 km to the east of the summit but less than 25m down from it in terms of height
We walked off at 13:53, Hans with his folding table and chair and I with a newly acquired and similar chair of my own tied to the rucksack.
Route:
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 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 traditional operating position) there’s a short path off to the right to take you up to the summit proper at N52.03825 E5.99877 (110m ASL). The route features some minor re-ascent and areas of deep sand. The summit proper is where Hans operates and this arrangement gives us around 120m of horizontal separation.
There is evidence of wild boar along the way. They grub out the soil along the sides of the cycle track. Unlike the last time I walked this route when it was dark, there were no sightings of the wolves that live here. Our walk-in took 37 minutes; the same as the return. We took it easy; I am still in recovery following my Achilles tendon break on Kinder Scout on April 12th.
Setting Up:
We walked to the summit marker together for a photo and Hans deployed his 12m long end-fed single wire antenna. This normally goes horizontally between the trees at low-height but today he decided to suspend it vertically from a 10m high telescopic mast. RG58 coax feeds his QRP rig via a 1:49 impedance matcher wound on a large ferrite ring and housed in a plastic box.
When doing HF SOTA, I can’t ever remember taking anything smaller than an 80m link dipole with me but the Achilles injury has made me look at ways of saving weight. Thus my spare dipole got modified such that the outer sections for 60m and 80m got dumped. Time was saved with unreeling. However I still took the linear amp. Weight is not noticed so much when you’re barely walking up a gradient but this was to be a trial to see if I might be able to climb something slightly more ambitious at a later date, say in the Yorkshire Dales.
SIGNAAL IMBOSCH, PA/PA-006, 110m, 1pt. 14:30 to 17:13. 16C, < 2mph wind, mostly sunny. LOC: JO22XA. Acceptable phone coverage (EE) after poor or very poor past performance inc EE and Vodafone.
14.061 CW - 14 QSO’s:
I tried to work Hans on this band but despite us being not far outside near field of one another, he didn’t come back. Just then woodpecker completely overwhelmed everything for 30 seconds. Thinking about it later, I might have been calling his second harmonic. He did say he’d be starting on 40m and he didn’t mention my call afterwards.
A self spot got things going on here as it did with every subsequent QSY.
Stations Worked: SP9MA Jarek - Sosnowiec; EA7GV Jose - Granada; F8DGF Nic – Stoenies de Malgoires; LZ1MG Malen - Tchirpan; DL8DXLFred - Laussnitz; I0KHY Claudio - Rome; EI2IH Hugh – Co Mayo; OH5RP Raino - Kotka; UX1CW Eugen – Kaniv, Ukraine (FB!).
LZ1HM Hristo - Sliven; EA1AER Juan - Leon; LZ4GL George - Byala; LY2BNL Valdos - Vilnius and LA1ENA Aage - Strathelle.
Reports sent were 599 except one and mostly the same coming back. The remainder were in the range 529 to 579. The session took half an hour with a power of 30 watts and there was never a pileup. In fact quite a few CQ’s were needed but I wasn’t complaining. It was not only my injury that was concerning me today but my Morse skills too. It’s been a long time and they’ve never been brilliant anyway; just sufficient to get by in SOTA activating. It was a relief to find that the recently replaced CW toggle switch (RS317-033) was working perfectly. They end up sticking and sending out continuous dots or dashes so I have to change them every 2 or 3 years. This was my last spare.
21.061 CW - 1 QSO:
Just the one station but a unique one today. SV2OXS Christos – Katerini 599/ 559. 30 Watts again.
21.199 SSB – Nil:
After the self spot, I called CQ for 7 min on here but heard nothing. Later Hans mentioned that the band was quite lively but not apparently with SOTA followers.
7.033 CW - 6 QSO’s:
First up was Jan OK2PKT (Jan – Velka Bites) who called me by name (quite a few others did too – surprising after an extended absence). Next the first G of the day G4CMZ Kevin in Norfolk, then OK8AV Victor - Loket; PA0RBA Rienus - Scherpenzeel; DL1FU Frid – Biedenkopf and LA5FHA Sven in Gjovik. Reports were 599 apart from a 579 going out. 579 to 599 came back. I was thus employed for 10 minutes. 30W.
7.152 SSB – 14 QSO’s:
As far as the QSO count was concerned, this turned out to be a good choice. Stations worked: LZ9VI Bulgaria; S57ILF Franci - Jesenice; G4OIG Gerald in Northampton – he and I have exchanged a few emails lately as have several other SOTA ops. Thank you.
Moving on: HB9DHA Ray – Wil/Zh; DL5OAH Klaus - Estorf; M0MDA Mick in Leeds and M1MAJ/P Martyn S2S on G/SB-001 The Cheviot - ‘Please listen out for Caroline.’
OE3GKQ Gerhard – Bad Grosspertholz; OE5WHR Helmut - Linz; DM6LE Lukas - Nuernburg; DG3GAI Klaus - Unterkimach; M3ZCB/P Caroline S2S on G/SB-001 The Cheviot; G3VCG Don in Chelmsford and M5RJC Rick near Wetherby.
Reports were down on earlier so the 30W was increased to 50W half way through. Only five 59’s outgoing – the rest were 55 or 57. I got similar coming back and a 44 from LZ9VI. There was QSB and a few chasers were suffering noise.
14.199 SSB – 5 QSO’s:
There was no sign of Hans walking down yet so I advertised one last session. An interesting QSO opened this session: EA6/M0DLL Dave chasing SOTA from Menorca with 100 points for the day. The final four worked with Hans now looking on were: EA1DHB Ricardo - Burgos; GM4KNU Archie in Glasgow; EA1GKP Justo at Valladolid and finally EA3EVL Pablo in Tarragona. There were no further takers so I shut down to briefly enjoy a cup of coffee handed to me by Hans before taking down the antenna.
The Descent:
It might better be called 'The Return – this is a very easy summit to activate and also a very pleasant one surrounded by trees. A steady walk was completed in 37 minutes, arriving at the car for 17:50. There, Hans gave me a gift consisting of a clear glass cube containing the famous ‘Bridge too far.’ Hans volunteers at the museum beside the subject bridge and this is something they used to sell. After dropping Hans off at home and briefly meeting his wife Ida, I made it back to Oosterbeek by 18:40; just in time for tea.
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: 37 min
Descent: 37 min
Summit time: 2hrs-43 min
QSO’s:
Total: 41
14 on 20m-CW
1 on 15m-CW
0 on 15m SSB
6 on 40m-CW
14 on 40m SSB
6 on 20m SSB
COMMENTS:
20m-CW and 40m-SSB were the day’s clear winners but there were no pileups. That suits me fine as I can get a little flustered and start sending rubbish. I was expecting great things DX on 21 MHz but the log only ended up with one entry; a chaser in Greece. No complaints.
Modifying one of my link dipoles from 80-60-40-20m to just 40 & 20m made it lighter and noticeably quicker to deploy and pack up. True there is now no chance of 160m operation as the loading coils fit at the 40m points but I can still get four bands out of it. Full length gives a three lambda by two on 15m and with a link pulled at just on one side it’ll do 30m. If further weight reduction is required I can leave the 50W linear out of the rucksack go with 5W and a much smaller battery. It’s all just theory at the moment. We’ll see.
PA0HRM:
Hans reported that the experiment of erecting his end-fed wire vertically had been a failure as he’d only managed to work 4 stations; all of them on 10m-CW (QRP). Maybe a vertical in a forest is not a good scenario but he did mention that Italian stations were loud with the more local ones attenuated. Experimentation is what amateur radio does best but it doesn’t have to work out every time. After I wrote the above Hans text to say that he’d had his rig set on 2W not 5W which wouldn’t help the cause much. Nevertheless he got 599 from a Russian station and worked another op who was using just 1W. The RBN network picked up Hans’ signal several times and posted him on Sotawatch but despite my alerting the day before, I had no such luck. Strange.
Compared with previous years, the phone signal (EE) was much improved. My self spots were usually visible on Sotawatch within a minute, apart from one which took around five. Without spotting, which we have become used to and maybe place too much reliance on, SOTA would be hard work indeed for both activators but especially for chasers.
We had two visits from the public. Hans spoke to a man who I think was an ex-professional radio operator while I had two Dutch ladies who seemed to be seeing my antenna system more as a work of art. They made their way across to me with arms waving, big smiles and animated voices, pointing up at what they knew not. I did my best to explain but although their English was marginally better than my Dutch, communication was very far from ideal. A quick burst of Morse seemed the best option and think they got the idea.
When driving the roads or walking on tracks in the Netherlands you have to be aware of bicycles and cycle paths down each side of the roads. The rights of cyclists are enhanced in this country and there are a great many of them. The cycleways are not dissimilar to pedestrian walkways but step onto them at your peril. Motor scooters seem to use them too, as do electrified bicycles capable of 50 kph. Even the pure cyclists go along at surprising speeds and most Dutch push bikes are substantial.
For the sake of wildlife, the Veluwezoom National Park containing PA6 closes at 8pm every evening. There are different restrictions at weekends and in July and August.
Arnhem – the people.
The Dutch tell me that this area, called Gelderland, is one of the nicest parts of the Netherlands and I believe them. It’s well kept and has a lot of natural beauty in the form of forests and hills; the last ice age formed the latter including PA6. The roads are very well laid out and mostly easy to drive on though I do tend to have a bit of trouble with the town’s interchange.
You see almost no litter and any graffiti seems confined to the sides of motorways. The people are very friendly. You smile and they smile back. They will join in conversation even if it’s got to be sign language but the majority seem to have a reasonable understanding of English. The shared history is such that they are very welcoming but they are not forward; in fact quite reserved and very polite.
This is a nation of tall people and it’s noticeable too. I’m 6ft-2” (or used to be!) but most of the men are as tall or taller than me along with many of the women. When they’re speeding around on their bikes, they seem even taller.
The Achilles:
When the left one broke on 12th April (see Kinder Scout G/SP-001 report) I almost thought that life as I’d always known it would be over. After all, the outdoors is such a large part of me. That said, I was determined not to get too down about it and told my wife so. Obviously sitting around doesn’t suit me but to be fair and compared with the many other things that life throws at people, this is all rather minor.
I got good treatment initially from Chesterfield and then from Scarborough hospital and good advice from many sources including the people who frequent this reflector. That’s not to mention the Glossop Mountain Rescue who were magnificent on the day. I sent them some cash which appropriately (I thought) will be used for new radios for their vehicles. You can’t put a price on what they did for me and anything you can send is never enough.
The treatment was a rigid boot with foam wedges under the heel for 3 months followed by physiotherapy appointments at which I was given daily exercises to do – mainly stretches but also standing on one leg or tiptoes. I still can’t properly do the latter but it’s improving. The left leg’s calf muscle is somewhat waisted.
The wedges force the heel up and thereby the two halves of the broken tendon together to place it in a better position for healing. I was lucky. In my case the scan revealed that a sliver of it was still joined, which surprised me considering the audible crack at the time. Once the boot was on, pain was more or less eliminated though my heel did feel a bit weird and still does.
After a month you remove a wedge, then after two months another and so on until it’s just the boot. With the boot on, all I could manage was 1km a day round the village on crutches, although I did go a bit further on occasions, even managing to take Finn out with the help of my XYL.
At the three month point in July the orthopaedic consultant said I could remove the boot but after so long wearing it, with it went my confidence. I just sat in a chair all that evening not daring to move but the next day I found I could walk after a fashion and with care. The doc said, ‘Just wear your trainers.’ What trainers, I though? I’ve never owned any! Soon my wife fixed me up with a pair (I specified non-trendy!) and they have been invaluable ever since.
I soon built up to 10 miles a week and later 20 and I can walk 4 miles in one go even if it takes over an hour rather than under as before. I get the message from my heel about when to take it easy and I am far from confident about going up steep gradients; just keeping to easy ones. Even so I feel I’m slowly getting there and provided nothing goes wrong, am beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel in the form of slow and easy SOTA sorties in another month or so?
We cancelled the trip to GM on the grounds that my wife thought it cruel for me to be looking up at Schiehallion and not climbing it. She rebooked for the Yorkshire Dales in October so all being well, I’ll see if anything can be done then. WX and heel permitting of course.
This outing with Hans has built confidence too. Knowing I can do the distance over relatively rough, albeit not steep ground has helped. That, added to the fact that I still remember how to activate, has boosted me up a lot.
This was the first time I’ve walked with a rucksack of any size since the accident and it didn’t feel too bad. I instinctively know what moves are the most likely to cause a recurrence and therefore what to avoid doing. Basically anything that puts the Achilles in excessive tension. It’s all about engineering really.
THANKS:
To ALL STATIONS worked and the SOTA spotter. Many thanks to Hans PA0HRM for his excellent company and guidance. We had a great catchup. Thanks to all the people who have given me advice and encouragement throughout my down time.
73, John G4YSS
Photos:
PA6: 1-2-1430-1431-1531-1532-4-5
Around Arnhem: 041-227-800-920-802-530-027-045-203
Above: On the walk in. Calf
Above: Hans PA0HRM (Netherlands SOTA Manager)
Above: Joint ops John PA/G4YSS (at left) and Hans PA0HRM (rt)
Above: SOTA PA/PA-006 - Signaal Imbosch summit marker
Above: 40-20m link dipole on 5m carbon mast - G4YSS
Above: PA/G4YSS/P station inc my new chair. £10 on ebay. Height 58cm, weight 800gm
Above: Activating PA6 on 14 MHz-CW
Above: Antenna
So few photos so below are a some from around Oosterbeek. Can you spot the No19?
Above: Jeep in hotel car park
Above: Mass parachute drop at Ginkel Heath
Above: Mil transport aircraft
Above: Enterprising young lad selling chocolate brownies for a Euro each
Above: GMC US Army lorry
Above: Ex Para Lee with his jeep brought from England
Above: 1940’s Morris car
Good luck for further activation’s, but at a slower pace, till you get better. A great read.
