Mt. San Martín EA2/NV-151 by EA2IF/P on 11/05/2020

After the strict lockdown we’ve had in Spain over 7 weeks due to Covid-19, we entered some days ago into Phase 0 of the plan to slowly come back to what they call the new normality. We finally were allowed to go out and do individual exercise in this Phase 0, although only at certain hours in the morning or the evening.
Today we moved forward into Phase 1 at EA2/NV and we are now allowed to do SOTA activations within the own province of residence (i.e. EA2/NV for me).
>Después del estricto confinamiento que hemos tenido en España durante 7 semanas debido al Covid-19, entramos hace algunos días en Fase 0 del plan para lentamente retornar a lo que llaman la nueva normalidad. Finalmente se nos permitió salir y hacer ejercicio individual en esta Fase 0, aunque solo a ciertas horas de la mañana o de la tarde.
Hoy pasamos a fase 1 en EA2/NV y ahora podemos hacer activaciones SOTA dentro de nuestra propia provincia de residencia (o sea EA2/NV para mí)

The morning was busy enough and I couldn’t make it, but the planets aligned properly in the afternoon, so I grabbed the rucksack and my car to go activate something I would decide on the road. The road I took offered me the possibility to choose up to 4 different summits in a not too big distance, but it started to rain and I drove to my house in the village, which was in my route, to pick up some stuff and bring it back to our rental appartment in the city. Fortunately, the rain stopped not much later and I again thought about going to activate SOTA.
>La mañana estuvo suficientemente ocupada y no pude hacerlo, pero los planetas se alinearon bien a la tarde, así que agarré la mochila y mi coche para ir a activar algo que decidiría en el camino. La carretera que tomé me ofrecía la posibilidad de elegir hasta 4 cimas diferentes a una distancia no demasiado grande, pero empezó a llover y conduje hasta mi casa del pueblo, que estaba en mi camino, para coger algunas cosas y traerlas de vuelta a nuestro piso alquilado en la ciudad. Afortunadamente, la lluvia paró no mucho después y de nuevo pensé en ir a activar SOTA.

It was a bit late by then and I decided to go to EA2/NV-151 because it was pretty near and I had not activated it this year, so it would give me a nice new single point.
All the weeks of lockdown and spring have had a noticeable impact as the grass and weeds in the summit area were very tall compared to how they have been in other occasions I’ve been there.
>Era un poco tarde y decidí ir a EA2/NV-151 porque estaba bastante cerca y no la había activado este año, así que me daría un bonito nuevo punto.

I setup with my 10m long endfed wire nearly horizontal:
>Instalé con mi cable de 10m de largo alimentado en el extremo prácticamente horizontal:


As usual, a 6m long counterpoise wire, which was laid on the grass today.
The rig was my usual FT-817ND at 5W + MFJ-941B antenna tuner.
It was windy and the temperature was 10-12º C.
>Como de costumbre, un cable de contraantena de 6m de largo, que fue dejado sobre la hierba hoy.
Había viento y la temperatura era de 10-12º C.

The activation went like this:

  • 20m CW: first caller copied was @VE1WT, but I gave him signal report and he never was heard back again, so NIL. The same happened with @DJ5AV: after my report, he didn’t come back and I was called by @KB7HH to whom I came back immediately as I knew this would probably be our only small chance to QSO, while I was sure there would be other chances for Mike DJ5AV to chase me, as it happenned later on 40m. I managed to log 7 QSOs in 12 minutes, 2 of which were DX with the USA.

  • 30m CW: I logged 10 QSOs in 25 minutes. 5 EA stations with very good signals made it to the log.

  • 40m SSB: 4 EA stations were logged in 10 minutes. I had to leave the frequency because other stations (their language sounded like Russian) started to chat in my frequency and I guessed they would make my QRP very hard to copy to any other chasers.

  • 40m CW: 5 stations were logged in 7 minutes. After a number of unresponded CQ calls, I went QRT because 70 minutes operating in the wind and being the sun pretty low already, made me start to feel cold.

>La activación fue así:

  • 20m CW: el primer llamante copiado fue @VE1WT, pero le di reporte de señal y núnca más se le oyó de vuelta, así que No En Log. Lo mismo ocurrió con @DJ5AV: después de mi reporte, él no volvió y yo fui llamado por @KB7HH para quien volví inmediatamente pues sabía que esta sería posiblemente nuestra única pequeña oportunidad para hacer QSO, mientras que estaba seguro de que habría otras oportunidades de cazarme para Mike DJ5AV, tal como ocurrió después en 40m. Conseguí anotar 7 QSOs en 12 minutos, 2 de los cuales fueron DX con los EE.UU.

  • 30m CW: Anoté 10 QSOs en 25 minutos. 5 estaciones EA con señales muy buenas entraron en el log.

  • 40m SSB: 4 estaciones EA fueron anotadas en 10 minutos. Tuve que dejar la frecuencia porque otras estaciones (su idioma sonaba como ruso) empezaron a charlar en mi frecuencia y supuse que harían que mi QRP fuese muy difícil de copiar por parte de otros cazadores.

  • 40m CW: 5 estaciones fueron anotadas en 7 minutos. Después de un número de llamadas CQ sin respuesta, quedé QRT porque 70 minutos operando en el viento y estando el Sol bastante bajo ya, me hicieron empezar a sentir frío.

This is the log with 26 QSOs in 70 minutes.
>Este es el log con 26 QSOs en 70 minutos.


You can see it on the map:
>Pueden verlo en el mapa:

Before dismantling, I took a couple of pictures:
>Antes de desmantelar, tomé un par de fotos:


I didn’t notice that bright round spot on the grass until now when posting the picture here. I have not idea of what’s that. May be a drop of water from the earlier rain.
>No vi ese círculo brillante sobre la hierba hasta ahora cuando pegué la foto aquí. No tengo idea de qué era eso. Tal vez una gota de agua de la lluvia anterior.

It was great to be back activating again after quite a long while.
Thanks dear chasers for your calls and QSOs.
I’ll be looking forward to copying you all again soon from a summit.
>Fue fantástico volver a activar otra vez después de bastante tiempo.
Gracias estimados cazadores por sus llamadas y QSOs.
Estaré esperando copiarles a todos pronto otra vez desde una cima.

73,

Guru

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Well done on getting back onto the hills, Guru. I hope you are not feeling unwell following the exercise. A little at a time is the best route I think.

73 Ed.

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Merci Guru pour le super QSO.
Thanks a lot for sharing your part of world.
I do hope hear you soon on summit
73 QRO Roger

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Not at all, Ed. I’m feeling great!
I’ve been walking fast for 1.5 or 2 hours along the natural circuit by the river Arga in Pamplona several days since we were allowed to go out for individual exercise, so I feel very well and in good shape now.
It will change a bit tomorrow Wednesday and the few following days, as I’ll receive my 6th and last chemo treatment.
The chemo session, as all the previous sessions I’ve had so far, will start on Wednesday and finish on Friday, after which I’ll experience about 3 lowish days, but I hope I’ll be back in good condition by May 19th or 20th latest.
Furthermore, let me tell you that I got an interesting report yesterday about my speech compressor. I’ll write about it later on the thread about testing the DYC-817.
73,

Guru

2 Likes

Hola Guru,
Happy to hear you, what envy gives me, here (EA7/GR) yet lockdown. Good signals in 30m, very weak in 20m, but heard you despite some ‘ansia viva’, my antenna to SA.
Fuerza y un abrazo

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Guru, I tried to chase to but NIL from my QTH, what a pitty!
Congrats for this first sota post- lockdown, I am waiting for change grade alert of my province.

Dear Jon,
I’m sorry too that we couldn’t make QSO. I guess you are still based in EA3/BC. I was chased by EA3NO on 30m and signals were good both ways. On the other hand, no EA3 chasers were logged on 40m or 20m. Let me know, please, if you listened for me on 30m.
I hope your province will soon move forward into Phase 1 and you’ll be able to go out and activate SOTA.
73,

Guru

Encuentro placer en leer los relatos de activaciones bien escritos. Mil gracias por las fotos y por escribir en las dos lenguas. Saludos desde los EEUU y que nos encontremos en el aire.

:es: Encantado de saber que mis reportajes de activación en dos lenguas gustan. Es más trabajo pero lo hago encantado sabiendo que gusta a los lectores. Recibo frecuente apoyo y retorno positivo de parte de muchos lectores y eso me llena de satisfacción.
He mirado tu página en QRZ.com y en ella he descubierto y me ha encantado la forma de ver los datos de actividad registrada por RBN de un cierto indicativo y lo voy a compartir aquí para el conocimiento de todos porque lo encuentro muy interesante.
RBN activity of EA2IF/P

================================================================
:uk: Pleased to know that my activation reports in 2 languages are liked. It’s more work but I do it with pleasure knowing they like to the readers. I receive frequent support and positive feedback from several readers and that lets me full of satisfaction.
I’ve looked to your page on QRZ.com and there I found and I loved the way to see the activity data recorded by RBN of a certain callsign and I’m going to share it here for everybody’s knowledge because I find it very interesting.
RBN activity of EA2IF/P
All you have to do is copy and paste the link above to your browser and change the callsign to whatever you want.

73,

Guru

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Hello Guru.
Is it possible to activate summits in phase 1? I hope you do not have problems with the authorities and you are healthy.

Yes, it is, even in Phase 0, we could (or we can) if the summit is in the municipality of residency.
See the underlined key sentences in the B.O.E. that I posted here:

And here:

Finally, you can also read my post in Spanish on the URE forum:

73,

Guru

These new laws are a bit ambiguous to interpret individually. To avoid problems, for my health and that of others, I prefer to stay safe for a reasonable time. The mountains will not move from their place … 73

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If that makes you feel better, that’s absolutely fine and entirely up to you!
I’d have liked activating some more summits this week, but weather is a bit rubbish lately and also several other duties are making difficult for me to find the necessary time for that. Hopefully, next week I’ll be able to make it.
Take care, Jon. Good luck and good health.
73,

Guru

Hi Guru, Have you seen the ea8dds post in URE forum?
According to government delegations phase 1 activations are not allowed.
Manda carallo!! (I don’t know how to translate this)
73

Hi José,
I have just seen that now and I don’t see any arguments in that statement to support such position. What I know is Madrid remains in Phase 0 and it looks like so it will still remain for a while. In the mean time, since we are at Phase 1 in my province Navarra, I’ll stick to what it’s written in the B.O.E. and I’ll keep doing it the way I did last Monday as soon and as much as I can.
Anyone is free to interpret the rules in a more restrictive way.
73,

Guru

I totally agree, I will go to the mountains when we are in EA7 / GR in phase 1.
73

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The white spot in the distance Guru is the (now shrunken) large white ball from The Prisoner - a cult TV series from the 1960s, written and acted by Patrick McGoohan in the main part as No.6. It must have blown into the sea from Portmeirion in Wales, crossed the Bay of Biscay and landed in Northern Spain before blowing up on to NV-151…

Many thanks your report and hope you are feeling better now after the last treatment.

73 Phil

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