On a very short notice I got the chance to join a group of non-hams on a little trip to Lauhanvuori, OH/JS-032. Before we left, I put up a quick alert.
Unfortunately on our arrival it was raining very hard and we had to wait for quite some time before we could reach the top. I finally managed to put up my dipole over two hours after my ETA of 1100 UTC. I called CQ SOTA quite a few times for about 30 minutes, but I only managed to make one contact with Horst, DK5TM. At that point the temperature was down to 6 C and I was so cold that I had to give up.
So, my apologies to anyone who might have been listening to me at 1100 UTC. I’m sure I’ll try this hill again next summer, on a better weather!
I missed your alert today and there seems to be no spot either. Here at Alps we had rain too and the snow limit was around 1400 m. Likely the same cold polar air. Thus there is new snow up there on the mountains, but probably not enough for ski yet. The winter activations in Finland are also interesting. Some times with temperatures -10 - -20 C or less.
I’m thinking about activating a summit in the Kainuu area during the following winter… The cross-country skiing routes are very good and familiar from my younger years. I guess in addition to the radio gear, quite a lot of extra clothes are necessary, to stay warm while operating. I wonder how well the gel cell operates on sub-zero temperatures.
quite a lot of extra clothes are necessary, to stay warm while
operating. I wonder how well the gel cell operates on sub-zero
temperatures.
I did one activation from Räsävaara on January 1 2009 with FT817ND and internal Ni-MH battery pack FNB-85. The temperature was about -11 C. First three QSOs came quite fast and then nothing for 40 minutes. After 1 hour and about 10 minutes of operation I was finally spotted and there was a SOTA pile up.
A SLAB should work to low temperatures. With ATS3B I have been using Lithium batteries that should operate down to -40 C. The receiver current is about 35 mA for this small radio (FT817ND 450 mA). Last Christmas I tried to operate FT817ND at -23 C with internal batteries, but there was practically no output power (detected by T1 ATU).
Three layers of thermal underwear is enough for me in such conditions. While operating I use thin gloves (though some times forget to take them with me). While moving the body heat is not problem, but during the operation you will start to feel cold. In Lapland there is often a strong wind (or bad visibility) on the mountains. Thus the wind chill needs to be considered too.
