Almost time to head north and with another hot day in sight, an easy SOTA would fit the bill.
Driving there from our campsite near Rochehaut wasn’t as easy as suggested since some of the roads towards the planned parking were closed due to roadworks. So at one point, 18 minutes almost doubled in time with all the detours. But, this is Belgium and detours, hi.
We parked at 49.767429, 5.207851 (suggested by I think ON7DQ) and from there it is a short walk to a path leading up towards the summit. You actually follow the dashed track turning left. This leads to a nice open spot to setup gear. There is a nice log to sit on.
I tried to install my antenna in a tree, raised from the sandy ground, but it got quite tilted. Not ideal for a nice takeoff (see photo).
Setup was an Elecraft KX2 at 5W, Chameleon Hybrid Mini with SS25 and a Bamakey TP3.
Cdx didn’t look too good, so after 15CW QSO’s (with 5x S2S) and 2 SSB QSO’s, I went QRT to head back to the campsite, for a cool dip in the Semois River.
Thank you for the QSO’s. I now made it to 1/10th of a MG in 9 years of SOTA. In 81 more years I will reach the coveted MG-status! But only with unique activations, so it might take a tad longer
I am infected, don’t worry, hi. But sadly work still gets in the way of SOTA fun, so I can’t simply drive down to say HB/OE for a weekend to grab a couple of SOTA summits. In my next life I will put in a written request, in 3-fold, to make sure I am born in Switzerland!
Think that’s the only flemmish I remember from my 2 years in Belgium. There must have been a lot of diversions.
The uniques bug is a hard one to escape from. 2.7xMG here and all uniques. I know one day I’ll have to start doing reactivations, but it’s a big step: just one re-activated summit & that 100% unique value is never coming back. There’s no ctrl+z or rewind to get it back if you change your mind!
Wegomlegging. Think that’s the only flemmish I remember from my 2 years in Belgium.
Deviation are a mysterious thing in Belgium.
Wow, amazing! There are plenty of summits in the EU to reach that goal with unique activations, so I stand a chance.
But, just like with geocaching and trying to get a FTF, I like to do a bit of FTA as well (first to activate). Which is sometimes hard, as you are the one who needs to find the way first.
Now that one I can help you with. The solution is simple: upend your life and move to a country / region that is either newly established in SOTA or has very few activations!
I’m sure any partner / family you have will understand!
