On November 4, our small team left Ufa and headed towards the Ural mountains. Our task was the first activation of the P9U/SO-089 summit. This mountain (Abdrakhmanova) was on our plans specifically for activation in late autumn. At this time, the dense forest on the slopes loses its foliage and becomes transparent. And the dirt on the forest roads is already freezing. The first snow is not a problem for us and for our cars.
In the right place, we just turned off the lumber road, straight into the forest.
We managed to find a fairly flat area on the slope for the camp.
It was not far to the place of activation, and my comrades were not too lazy to drag the table to the summit. Alex R9WGK and Oleg R9WCJ chose 14 MHz. They had a TX-500 transceiver and a dipole.
I found a good site for my position, 100 meters to the north, in the middle of the forest. In order not to disturb my comrades, I was QRV at 10MHz.
A vertical on a fishing rod 10 m high and my SOTA suitcase - this is my setup.
The weather was exceptional - a little frost and a clear sky. Only the cold wind made our task more difficult.
I was hoping that at 14 MHz there would be maximum activity, and my friends would not get bored on the air. And me, at 10 MHz, i can be satisfied with a few QSOs. But it turned out quite the opposite. On 14 MHz, only a few QSOs each. And at 30m I got a small pileup. I was very pleased to hear old comrades - enthusiasts of the SOTA program. I was also called by quite remote correspondents. There were JA in and once I heard the CE prefix among the pileup. Unfortunately, it was not possible to hear the full callsign. The pace was good, and with 94 QSOs in the log I didn’t even have time to freeze. I tried to go to 18 MHz but it gave QRM to my mates.
Since our camp was not far away, we took a break for lunch. We had lunch and went back to our positions.
Autumn daylight hours are short. Without waiting for twilight, we finished the activation and began to fold the antennas.
The wind grew stronger at night. Sleeping in tents was quite noisy.
When I woke up at dawn, I found that the sky was obscured by clouds. And only a narrow strip of clear sky made it possible to see the rising sun. The sun rising from behind the white mountains.
Without waiting for the worsening weather, we had a quick breakfast, turned off our camp and began to descend.
We will return to these mountains!
Short video about this activation:
73!
Vlad
RX9WT
