July 3, 2026
Three SOTA activations at three mountains in different countries in one day! 
I spent a few days in Wisła with my Ukrainian friend Vladyslav Polozhay (3Z3GF/UT3GF) to participate in a series of SOTA/POTA activations in the region. For this day everything was planned in great detail - access routes, timing, equipment, etc. The plan was to activate 3 SOTA locations in 3 different countries (SP/OM/OK) and, yes, we did it!
So, we started early in the morning at the Kiczorki (Trojaki) mountain, 850m (SP/BZ-060) in Poland, then went to Slovakia to the Javorské mountain, 860m (OM/ZA-107) and finished in the Czech Republic at the Girová mountain, 840m (OK/MO-024). All three peaks were successfully activated by both of us.
The weather in the morning was not so good - it was raining with short breaks throughout the whole region. We had to park the car at [49.535252,18.953199], because it was not possible to come closer to the summit, as they put a sign banning farther access. Hence, it was a 1.7km hike to the summit, of which less than half was a easy paved path and the other part was through the forest, given that the summit is located deep in the forest. It was slippery, because of the past rains. Right after we activated Kiczorki (on HF only, because VHF conditions are pretty bad out there because of the dense forest) the rain started again, so the trail back to the car was not fun at all.
Then we went to Slovakia to Javorské mountain. We parked the car at [49.460476, 18.881531], but if you have a car with higher clearance than of a regular sedan, then you can go a bit farther up and park at [49.460554, 18.878118]. Then we had a 1.5km hike to reach the activation zone of the summit, i.e. at around [49.456068, 18.873871], but in this place it’s only possible to do HF, because VHF conditions are bad there (forest + lower altitude). So, we decided to hike 1km more to reach to the top, where VHF is possible and where we could enjoy superb views. Also, there’s a nice shelter there with a table and everything. Fortunately, after a while the rain stopped and the sun came, so we could finally enjoy a fantastic weather till the end of the day!
Next was the trip to the Czech Republic, to Girová mountain. There are several paved access roads to the Girová summit, however, all of them have the sign banning access there! So, the closest park spot was at [49.518285, 18.806876], followed by a 2km hike to the summit. The activation zone is very small there, because the peak is steep, so I set up my 20m resonant vertical near the wood cabin and Vlad extended his end-fed 20 meters away. We worked on HF, but also used our HTs for VHF calls, as the summit has nice light of sight conditions for that.
We worked QRP. Equipment: I used a resonant vertical antenna with 10 radials, tuned to the 20m band, while Vlad used a shortened HWEF antenna (with a small coil) reaching the 40m band. Vlad had a FX-4CR transceiver (20W), and I worked with a Yaesu FT-818nd connected to a small amplifier (16W power).
Vlad worked mostly in CW, but he also tried SSB and FT4/FT8, plus FM (on VHF), and I worked in SSB and FT4/FT8, plus FM (on VHF). I made a total of 27 QSOs from all three locations.
We traveled about 100km by car and about 20km on foot. It was a day full of adventure, but also with a lot of effort! 
