Activation report from activating the following two SOTA summits: ‘Grasberg’ DM/NS-107 & ‘Fast’ DM/NS-121
Joint activation: @DL1CR Chris & @GW4BML Ben
So, I was flying over to Hannover in Germany for business reasons, and thought why not activate some SOTA summits while in the area. I asked on the reflector was there any local activators and both Chris @DL1CR and Pom @DG7AC got back to me 
After leaving my home QTH in Mid-Wales at 00:30 hours on Sunday morning, I arrived in Hannover midday to be picked up by Chris who had kindly offered to take me to two local summits in Hannover. I was very excited and looking forward to activating using ‘DL’ before my call-sign. Chris arrived, we had a good hand shake and brief chat before leaving to tackle the first summit of the day - ‘Grasberg’ DM/NS-107. I must admit, the scenery in Hannover was very similar to my home country, Wales. Green fields, lots of wooded areas and large forests, but slightly flatter ground. We arrived, Chris parked up and it was time to go:
After about 5 minutes of walking, the heavens opened and it started to pour down - I said to Chris it was like being back in Wales, hi!
We had a nice walk on very wide paths with a gradual climb to the summit AZ zone:
Once arrived, I set my equipment up on a luxury bench, (we don’t get these in Wales!) which consisted of a homemade very compact linked di-pole antenna for 20m & 40m, that I had made especially for the trip. This was sat on my 4m tele pole, fed into my Xiego X6100 radio pushing 10W with the 14.8v Sunpadow external battery:
I first put a spot up on the 40m band, called CQ SOTA using my ‘DL/G4BML/p’ call-sign and managed to work a great pile-up finishing with 33 itl. Conditions seemed to be good! I then called out on 20m only managing 2 itl and I ended with a S2S on 2m FM with Pom who was activating the next summit Chris and myself were going to - he was warming the luxury bench up for us! hahaa.
After putting some final call-outs and receiving no response, it was time to pack up and make for our descent. On the route back, we were in touch with Pom, and decided to all meet up at a very good pub/restaurant for some lunch before moving on to our next summit.
We parked up, met Pom and went for lunch and a traditional German ‘Weiss Beer’ - my favourite!
It was cheers all round and then time to walk our lovely food off! Pom moved on to our previous summit and Chris and myself began the hike to ‘Fast’ DM/NS-121:
Again, this was a nice gradual climb with wide paths to the summit. Once we had reached the top, I had another comfy bench to set my office up on. This was really luxury SOTA
Using the same equipment as before, I spotted on 40m and put out a CQ SOTA call. My activation on this summit was rather like the name… FAST! Conditions had dropped dramatically, so I only managed 6 itl. I then moved over to 20m to work a further 2 stations and ended with a S2S with Pom on 2m for the complete:
I must say a massive thank you to a very good friend I’ve made, Chris, for your great company and helping me out by taking me to both summits! I would also like to say thank you to another good friend Pom for meeting us and giving me a S2S on both activations to gain a complete. I had a fantastic time and will deffo be over to see you again soon!
Thank you very much to all chasers for your great support as per normal and to any S2S contacts I made on my DM day!
Until next time, 73. (DL)G(W)4BML. Ben
it was a great trip!
no bad head in the morning!
Thanks for the nice report on it.
they certainly were gents! I’ll be going back again (if they’ll have me, hi) soon!