TF (Iceland) Activations Mid-September

I’ll be traveling to TF next week and hope to do a fair number of activations. Since the weather is dynamic, I don’t have a set schedule, but plan to be an ambitiously opportunistic activator. If all goes well, I’m hoping to get in quite a few summits and may operate from my campsites in the evenings. I’ve seen several trip reports and have gotten some great info from TF3EO, the association manager, but would love to hear any recommendations from anyone who may have visited the area. Also, this will be my first time operating that close to the Arctic Circle. I’ve heard that it can be a bit different. If anyone has tips, tricks, or caveats that they could share, I’d love to hear more. TU!

14 Likes

N0QLR,

I have been there twice (2 volcano activations!), but have not operated. Ultimately, I was too new of a ham and not ready to operate internationally.

Travel, staying, driving, and interacting with people in Iceland is really easy. The people are genuinely great. Roads are well built and maintained. Signs are solid. Well, point made.

Iceland has a ton of great parks and no where near all of them have been activated. Your trip sounds great! I’ll watch and do everything I can to hunt you! Have a great time.

73,

KN4TCV

3 Likes

Thanks for the feedback. Indeed, I’ve heard great things about traveling to Iceland. I also consider myself a fairly new operator, and I’m sure there will be many learnings along the way. But that’s one of the things that makes these activations so interesting. I’ll try to post a follow-up with some of my takeaways, in case others may be able to use them.

1 Like

I will be listening for you on CW

de W6LEN Jess

1 Like

Thanks, Jess. It’d be great to get you in the log again! I’ll try to post alerts as the days take shape and I have the context to know which activations will be possible.

1 Like

I did a few summits when I was there and had a lot of fun. Beautiful country and so easy to get around. Planning to go back next summer.

I had no problem reaching EU and NA..I wish you good propagation as well.

Enjoy your trip!!

Mike

2 Likes

FB, Mike! Thanks for the info. You didn’t haul your kayak up any of those summits, did you? :slight_smile:

Were there any notable differences when operating at that latitude?

2 Likes

I’ve activated from TF once in 2022. Car rental company were very happy for me to use gravel roads but did say the insurance would not cover me if I crossed any rivers! (Although I did cross one or two). There are many summits with good hiking trails and lots that have yet to be activated, so plan to get your call on at least one new one. My best contacts were to Europe, especially Christian (F4WBN) who chased me on a couple of peaks. Weather is certainly dynamic, after a long slog up our final peak I made only one contact and that despite resorting to FT8, so my suggestion would be if the wind, rain and low cloud come in, turn around and save your energy for another time. Have a great trip, I loved the visit, great people, geography and hiking.

3 Likes