Daniel, HB9IIO, earned his 2000th point as a SOTA activator on HB/FR-036 Mont Vully today.
Since Daniel wasn’t aiming for a rapid rise in the SOTA rankings (and the limelight that comes with it …), it took a good 5 years before he could be rewarded with a 2nd mountain goat.
Even more, congratulations!
Daniel deliberately wanted to celebrate this event without trumpets and fanfares, just on a small but lovely SOTA hill and accompanied by his xyl Silvia.
Equally small and unspectacular was the equipment chosen, a KX2 with a pocket-sized multi-band antenna.
Unfortunately, Space Weather was not aware of this special day, hi.
To make our s2s QSOs a little more fun today, I also used a KX2 with a similar pocket-sized multi-band antenna (log HB9BCB/P at the bottom).
Because Daniel lives in Lausanne very close to Kurt, HB9AFI, it is not surprising that Daniel and Kurt had an intensive exchange of experiences about their common hobby from the beginning and Daniel then soon and successfully tried to follow in Kurt’s remarkable footsteps as a top Operator in DX and IOTA and finally SOTA.
Daniel was infected with the SOTA virus on December 19, 2012 during a joint activation with Kurt, HB9AFI, on HB/VD-044 Tour de Gourze.
Looking back, Kurt still likes to remember the successful first activation of HB/VS-178 Trubelstock together with Daniel in July 2015.
As a former amateur marathon runner, Daniel also has the necessary stamina to be able to activate particularly beautiful and challenging SOTA summits.
This good athletic condition also explains why Daniel’s activation reports (in French) almost without exception begin or end with “Jolie Balade!” … even after long and demanding tours. Another reason for Daniel to enjoy the beautiful landscape and forget the hardships is because he is accompanied on many activations and trips abroad by his xyl Silvia.
Keep it up Daniel and always take care.
73 gl, Heinz
Below: Log HB9BCB/P
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