Some sites near Barcelona on 17&18 March

Activation Reports Pre-Planning
1

I’m staying in Barcelona, Spain for the next few days. I have most of Fri and Sat (17 and 18 Mar) free, and I’ve reserved a rental car. After staring at Sotamaps for a bit, I’ve concluded that my top objective is to activate Turó de L’Home (EA3/BC-008). It’s a four point peak and about 80km drive, but mostly on larger roadways. The site looks interesting, and from pictures, it appears that there should be a few objects to which I can lash my pole.

I’ve noticed that there is a string of peaks along the coast (BC-015 to BC-018), and it’s tempting to try to hit a few of them in a string, but the roads look tortuous and based on color on Google Maps, I would guess they are dirt. Weather has been okay here, but I’m not sure how well the rental car would like those roads, even if dry. GoogleMaps suggests the drive between each of them is on the order of an hour to hour and a half, but they are only about 20km or so from each other, so I have to guess that the extra time is because the roads are rough. It also seems that the coordinates for the peaks listed in the database are near but not quite on the highest points for this range. Tentatively, I think I will aim first for Turó De L’Home and then drive down to EA3/BC-015, Turo Gros, which seems to correspond to a fire tower, so probably accessible. While BC-016, 17, and 18 are a straight line back to Barcelona, I imagine I won’t have time in the day to attempt them, but will head directly back after accessing Turo Gros.

The next day, will probably head towards Sant Jeroni, a 2 pt peak, but of historical interest. I’ll take the furnicular to Pla de Tarantules and then the stairs upward. I think that will be it for day two.

Equipment will be the FT817, external 7Ah Pb SLA battery, LNR 10/20/40 end-fed dipole, and Sotabeams telescoping pole. As usual, mostly CW, but will also give a shout out on SSB, 2M and 70cm. Unless anyone has suggestions to the contrary, for 2m, I’d call on 145.500 and on 70cm 446 Mhz.

Any suggestions or tips about my route (or more generally about driving in this region)?

  • Jack
    EA/AI4SV
2

Hi Jack,
Unfortunately I can’t give you any tips because I’ve never done SOTA in that area, but let me recommend you to try contacting Daniel EA3HP, as he is an active SOTA activator in that area.
He has posted some activation reports here on this reflector some time ago, but I don’t know whether he checks and reads the reflector regularly.
You may wish to try contacting him by e-mail, assuming his e-mail address is available on QRZ.com
Good luck with your activations in EA3.
73,

Guru

3

Hi - Thanks Guru (EA2IF) for working my recently at EA3/BC-008). I made some guesses about where to activate – mostly places already visited by EA3HP. I ended up posting details about my activations on my blog (EA3/BC-008 and EA3/BC-016). I loved the area near Barcelona and hope to return! 73 - Jack

1 Like
4

Hi Jack,
Chasing you was a nice surprise and a pleasure for me.
I have read the nice report on your blog and enjoyed it a lot.
Should you come near Pamplona some other day (about 500Km West of Barcelona), let me know and I hope we will be able to do some joint activation if you can and want to.
73,

Guru