Dear All
I am in Kitzbuhel with another 10 members of Ryedale Walking Group and will be leading a walk today in the area. I hope to activate OE/TI-651 Stuckkogel for approximately 20 mins this morning.
We will then walk to OE/TI-461 Kitzbueler Horn. As time is limited on 651 I will start on 20m CW/SSB (If propagation) and finish on 40m. I will have more time on 461 so I will operate 20/30/40m CW/SSB for around 40 minutes.
73 de Phil OE/G4OBK/P
Well I saw your 20m SSB spot and heard the chasers calling but unfortunately couldn’t hear you clearly - checking the map, it does seem that there is a big chunk of rock in the way between us. I might have made it to you on 40m but not 20m it seems (or I may have made the journey on 20m but I was certainly not hearing you properly on 20m, so a call would have been pointless). Unfortunately I think you ran out of time with the other walkers and never got on 40m from TI-461.
73 Ed.
Yes, my time was limited Ed on both summits and so 20m where I had propagation it had to be.
When with a group and (allegedly!) the leader I have to rely on a friend to take over leadership for part of the walk. The activation of the first summit put me 25 mins behind the group, but we met up at an Alm for our lunch a few miles further on the trail. When we finally reached the top of Kitzbuehler Horn at 4.15pm my time was limited by the cable car finishing at 5.00pm, so 20m it had to be again. Propagation was generous to me there again and I made 14 QSOs in 15 mins of contest style operation.
My 3rd and final activation (weather permitting) will be on Friday on TI-557 Rauher Kopf. I will again deploy the same methods using 20m and will only go to 40m if there is no propagation due to the lack of time with my group. We will catch the bus from Kitzbuhel to Kirchberg and walk over the summit of TI-557 into Reith and then catch the bus from there back to Kitzbuhel.
It would not have been the lump of rock in the way that prevented 14 MHz QSOs with Germany Ed but that the Sky Wave went over the top of DL and landed in the UK. Germany and other near EU mainland would have been in the dead zone.
73 Phil
Hi Phil, all understood but without one too many lumps of rock in the way, I’d be looking to make a ground wave contact (i.e. line of sight) with you on Kitzbuehler Horn. Skip distance on 20m & 40m is far too long normally, to chase any Alpen activations from here.
It sounds like you need a quick-deployment set-up when with the walking group. Unfortunately, those often use compromised antennas and the current radio propagation isn’t very forgiving of low-efficiency antennas at the moment.
Perhaps we could start a “RADAR-like” section in SOTA once conditions improve a little.
In the meantime, enjoy your tour and take care on the hills.
73 Ed.
Just fuelling up in Penglstein Hut on my way to OE/TI-453 Swarzkogel ETA around 1230z. SOTA Complete will try 20m, time limited due to walking group and Hahnenkahn lift times.
73 Phil
Hello Phil,
Very nice that you activated Scharzkogel that I first activated on the way to Friedrichshafen just this year. Congrats for the complete just within weeks after 
I hope you enjoy the hike ahead. Keep us updated.
73 Joe
Hello Joe,
I’ve had a busy week since getting back from Kitzbuhel, but thank you for your message. It was down to you why I went to climb Schwarzkogel, which was the only summit out of the 4 activated in the Kitzbuhel area which I visit on my own 
So if it would not had been SOTA Complete after our QSO on 17 June 2019, (when you were there) I would not have activated TI-453 - SOTA Complete floats my boat as I strive to the 1000 Completes hihi - how many years will it take me? Maybe another one or two as I am currently on 855 Completes.
Schwarzkogel had not caught my attention but a member of our walking group had planned to lead a walk from the Hahnennkann lift top to Penglstein, and further investigation using the superb SMP revealed TI-453 to be within an hours walk from Penglstein, so I decided to go there. I was pressed for time, and racing back to the Hahnennkann cable car lift which closed at 1500z. I reached there with 9 minutes in hand. My last QSO was with Eric F5JKK at 1240z, so I reckon it was a good two hour walk back to the lift. I ran the last half mile to be sure. If I had missed the cable car it would have been a 5 mile walk back down to my hotel with 900m of descent, meaning a late dinner and a disgruntled XYL! I met two seperate French hikers on the summit, and talked Brexit with them both, coincidentially they were both had the same name. The first Guy I met said he was “climbing his first Kogel of the year”, as he works hard in his business near Toulouse and gets little time off for hiking. Albeit, he did own an apartment in Kitz and was looking forward to retirement in less than 2 years time.
Here is that French Guy with me at the summit cross:
One meets some lovely people when activating I find and many want to have a chat. I have only met one “bad apple” in Wales twoyears ago, who took offence to me talking into a microphone on the summit and I had to move as he looked very threatening and crazy…
Me on Schwarzkogel:
Path down to col and Penglstein:
During the week I activated 4 OE/TI summits. On the other 3 I was accompanied by friends from my walking group;
TI-651 Stuckkogel (Accompanied by XYL + 5):
TI-461 Kitzbuhler Horn (Accompanied by XYL + 5). My seat on the top - the others stayed in the restaurant drinking cold beers:
TI-453 Schwarzkogel (Unaccompanied - pics above))
TI-557 Rauher Kopf (Accompanied by friend Chris only)
Friend Chris pictured and our Weiss beers at end in Reith. Friday - the only hot day we had:
Some of us will be returning to the Neustift area in Tirol in summer 2020. I haven’t yet looked at the SOTA potential there as other overseas tours are planned before that one - although if the £1 falls below €1 I may have to reduce the tours I have in mind and remain in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales for the SOTA. Another hiker I met who was Austrian on the day I activated Raher Kopf was laughing about the whole thing at my expense! He worked in the automotive industry and thought that the £ would eventually drop to 50 cents €. I hope he is wrong! Exchange rate on this tour using a bank card was £1 = €1.07, whereas in June 2016 in Germany the day before the Brexit Referendum I was getting £1 = €1.30, so the British wallet is suffering significantly now on these SOTA Tours… once I get the 1000 Completes I will likely give up on the touring and concentrate on Chasing and working DX from home and spend my pension on something else.
Another two good things came out of this holiday - I got my XYL Judy drinking the local lager which she enjoyed, and she finally made the decision to get back on a bicycle again, 13 years after recovering from a similar condition to which Guru EA2IF is currently being medically treated for.
73 Phil
Hello Phil,
Nice pictures. Weather was quite good overall. Sounds like you had an excellent time. I did 4 days on the KAT (KitzbĂĽhel alpine trail) last year. We started in KitzbĂĽhl and hiked up the skiing slope and continued to Pengelstein. But it was to late for Schwarzkogel and I only had a handheld with me so save weight.
Let’s see how the reality post-Brexit… if it happens … will be. You can always combine it with Friedrichshafen. OE is just around the corner.
That remindes me that I will need to pay Scotland a visit again 
73 Joe
