For me, the ideal holiday is the one where you can bring along your hobby which also allows you to discover new and interesting places. This year with all my family we spent two weeks in the EA3 Barcelona area and I took the opportunity to go hunting for new Sota peaks and also for Pota Parks. In total I managed to do six activations activating five Sota summits and six Sota parks. I have always tried to find Sota peaks close to the city within a park in order to activate the Pota and Sota references together.
Operating from EA3/BC-081 La Coscollada
The first Cima Sota was EA3/BC-081 La Coscollada a 466m hill south of Barcelona. The top can be reached with a nice walk in a park and on the top there is a large fire lookout tower. The tower was very useful in my case and gave me the necessary shade to activate in the cool air and make 27 qsos and S2s with @OE6STD @EA4HIH @OE9HRV @ea3o @ea3avv @hb9cbr @ea3m .These days the temperature has never dropped below 33 degrees.
My setup on EA3/BC-080 TurĂł de Can Pascual
The second peak was EA3/BC-080 TurĂł de Can Pascual (470 m) which is located in the Collserola Nature Park (the same as the famous Tibidabo) and which offers plenty of space at the top for activation. With my usual EFHW line for 20 meters I reached 42 qsos from this summit. S2S with dl6gca s57vv in3adf ik2ley oe6std pa2aab iu0ktt dl8dbn
Operating from EA3/BC-008 Turó de L´ Home
The third was the only “real” mountain these days, for me used to the Italian “appenino” peaks, EA3/BC-008 Turó de L´ Home with a height of 1705m. The ascent lasted about an hour with an ascent of 500 meters in altitude. Here too very hot and little shade at the summit for a total of 41 qsos but a beautiful view of the Montseny park and the sea. S2s with iw3ago oe5reo ea2ese
Top of EA3/BC-077 La Morella
The fourth peak EA3/BC-077 La Morella (593 metres) was instead found in a park about 40 km north of the city in a very arid area with few trees. Thanks to the concrete signal on the top I finally found the shadow and was able to activate and make 42 qsos. S2S with S55VN DL6GCA IX1IHR
Top EA3/BC-016 Montalt
The last peak was inside the Montnegre-Corredor Natura 2000 park and was the EA3/BC-016 Montalt with an altitude of 596 metres. Beautiful 3 km trail to reach the summit in the middle of a pine forest. Very little space at the top to be able to install my antenna well but thanks to the double reference Pota & Sota I was able to make 40 qsos on 20 and 40 meters in cw and ssb. S2W with @IK2LEY @HB9BAB
My station on the El Tibidabo EA3/BC-079
And last but not least, today , the day befor my return to Roma, i had made maybe the most mad Sota activation ever from El Tibidabo EA3/BC-079 from the hills of Barcellona. I just use a wire on the balcony of the church on the top and calling cq sota on 20 meter band. A lot of tourists around asking “what are you doing ?” and a lot of wind, but at the end 8 nice qso with a S2S with G4OOE/P
Overall very nice activations, with the pleasure of connecting many EA radio amateurs on the 40 meter band and also of connecting several Italian friends on 20 meters. I advise everyone to take the radio on holidays and explore peaks and parks, it’s a beautiful way to get to know the places.
Thanks for all the chases !! 73 de IW0HK Andrea