Yesterday I drove about 700 km from my QTH in IM98ri to activate three drive-on summits in EA7/AL (Almeria province in Andalusia): EA5/AT-003 Calar Alto, EA5/AL-014 Colativí and EA5/AL-015 Montahud. What promised to be a long trip with three easy activations ended up being more difficult than I thought. But I did manage to activate all three.
EA5/AL-003
After driving for 3 hours and waiting a bit for “traffic” (see picture), I got near the summit.
In EA5/AL-003 there is a 100 m walk from where I parked and a slight climb to the survey point (do not be alarmed by the picture: it is lots easier at the back).
Around this summit there are half a dozen telescopes (Observatorio Astronómico del Calar Alto).
I think it is one of the spots in the Iberian Peninsula with the least cloud cover during the year.
Set up the end-fed, tried activating with my QCX mini, but I could not get a side tone with any of the paddles (I have to figure out what happens: I hope it’s something easy), so I reached for the (tr)uSDX. I found out the power connector had one lead loose; I thought I had brought a screwdriver: maybe it was in the boot of the car. Went back. Took the picture. No screwdriver in the car (I found it at home). I got reminded that I had a Swiss army knife in the backpack. Climbed again. Repaired. But then I found I missed an SMA to BNC adaptor. Back to the car. And then climbed again. Managed to activate the summit on 20 m CW (propagation was not wonderful). Dismantled, took everything to the car, and then I took out my FT-290R (on batteries) and a hand-held log-periodic antenna (LP145435ST) to try 2 m SSB. Only one contact, line of sight. Nothing else. Then, 2m FM. People who should hear me on 2 m FM (and heard me in the past from this summit) could not hear me. Abandoned, and drove to EA7/AL-014 Colativí.
EA7/AL-014
You can park 10 m away from the survey point at Colativí. It was very hot up there (29 C, 35 C in the valley), and no shade. Xiegu G90 + SuperAntenna this time. Trips to the car to fetch forgotten gear were easier this time! Managed to activate. The Xiegu got really hot (not the first time) My mobile phone got really hot and refused to work, and it took me a while to spot myself on SSB. Hard activation on 20 m, but managed. This is not a good summit for VHF. It’s full of antennas and a big radar.
Then I drove to EA7/AL-015 (last 2 km on a dirt road).
EA7/AL-015
This place is a Roman Catholic sanctuary with a large church and some lookouts (great views). Parked the car in the esplanade at the bottom and, again, I had to make more than one trip to the car to set myself up (lots of stairs) as I had forgotten things, or things did not work. Set up the EFHW with the fishing rod. The Xiegu G90 refused to work. I hoped it was not due to it getting very hot at Colativí before (it worked later at home, phew! maybe it was the connector). Then I tried with the (tr)uSDX. One set of paddles did not work well. The other set of paddles worked but not perfectly. Managed to activate in 20 m CW and 20 m SSB.
Then I drove back home (3 hours).
Lessons learned:
- It’s OK to plan for drive-on summits filling the boot of your car with radios and antennas, but you have to plan each summit carefully (perhaps with a checklist).
- It’s a good idea to check your gear before you pack. I still have to post-mortem the faulty stuff, but it would have been easier if I had tested it at home the night before.
- Do not activate summits in Almeria in the middle of August!