Ok,I meant to post an introduction here as soon as I have a picture taken from me on a beautiful Swiss mountain making my QSOs.
I just got my license last October and did my first SOTA activation on my 40th birthday in November.
Since I was into mountaineering long before I started with ham radio, SOTA was the perfect addition to a hobby I already had. Sadly I forgot to take a picture on any of the following activation, being busy getting my QSOs together. So long story short: Here I am without a picture but I thought I’ll post an introduction anyway.
I live in a valley surrounded by mountains in Central Switzerland (i.e. the German part), so this is definitely a place to be an activator rather than a chaser. However I try to answer to activations from the surrounding mountains as often as possible - which got a lot easier with home office during Covid times.
I prefer ski mountaineering because I don’t like walking downhill. Never the less, as soon as I started with SOTA I realized that activating a summit in summer might be a lot more attractive - unless you enjoy freezing hands…
Looking forward to talk to some of you on the frequencies on an activation.
73, Beni HB9HNT
PS: For English speaking countries, my name is pronounced Benny
Nice to have met you yesterday on the frequencies, even since I’ve been somehow on two of your “own” summits. It was a beautiful day, good for loading my personal batteries. I’ve spent a small part of this energy to share this beauty on the air with that many hobby fellows spread allover Europe.
The ticket of the carrier, remembering me of a bright day.
You may have already noted that many SOTA participants enjoying the programme on a higher level have let traces here on the reflector. So you’ve certainly made your first step to good vibes carrying you through pleasant SOTA adventures! So go ahead and enjoy.
Thank you for the welcome, Markus. I gladly leave those summits to whoever want to claim them until the skiing resort closes in spring. I prefer summits without ski lifts.
I’m still having a bit of a hard time convincing my ski mountaineering friends that we need some time on the summit for me to work the radio and get my QSOs in. So for the foreseeable future I will sadly climb some SOTA summits without activating them…
Hope to hear you on a s2s QSO soon. Let me know if you ever happen to be in my area for skiing or climbing mountains.
I think I could consider this approach assuming my fitness level will stay the same for some years to come.
At least with a some friend this approach wont work because we tend to get up early, get to the top fast and be back on a sunny restaurants terrace before the masses arrive, around or not long after lunch time
