Der NAC ist der „Nordic Activity Contest“, der WNA ist der „Westfalen Nord Aktivitätsabend“. Auch im Baltikum finden zur gleichen Zeit Aktivitätsabende statt, sodass das Stationsangebot recht gut ist. Zeitpunkt ist immer der erste Dienstag im Monat (NAC nur 144 MHz, 432 MHz am 2. Dienstag im Monat).
Beide Wettbewerbe starten 19.00 Uhr Küchenzeit. Beim WNA geht es um „N-DOKs“ von Bielefeld bis Münster und noch südlich davon. Austausch ist hier Rapport + DOK (z.B. bei mir: 55 D23). Der WNA findet auf 2m und 70cm statt. CW SSB FM.
Etliche OZs haben ein sehr starkes Signal hier im Nordwesten (DM/NS). Aber auch Stationen aus SM sind nicht selten, sowie ON und F, für den NAC. Austausch Rapport + lfd Nummer (z.B. bei mir: 57 JO42AH)
for a good performance I used a dipole instead the MP-1 with the Rockmite Transceiver
On 29th December 2010 reached me the Rockmite 40 kit. I build it up and on 22nd January I made my first SOTA Operation with the Rockmite in the classic peppermint case. The transceiver has 500mW output and I worked 6 stations from LA, DL, G & F with fog, drizzle and temperature about 0°C.
Am 29. Dezember 2010 traf nach ca. einem Monat der Rockmite Bausatz aus den USA ein. Beim Zoll musste ich noch 6,91€ Umsatzsteuer
The Rockmite 40 Kit
bezahlen und dann habe ich meinen Bausatz und einen ganzen Stapel Papiere mit vielen Stempeln und Unterschriften erhalten.
Der Aufbau war zwar ein bisschen fummelig, aber die Platine war tatsächlich an einem Abend bestückt. Jedoch fehlte ein Kondensator im Bausatz und ich musste bis zum neuen Jahr 2011
after one evening work
warten, um mir einen Kondensator aus dem Electronic Shop zu besorgen.
Nachdem dann der Kondensator eingesetzt war, konnte am 4. Januar der „Smoke Test“ stattfinden. Zu meiner Überraschung funktionierte der Empfänger sofort und ich hörte eine Italienische Station CQ rufen. Aber auch der Sender funktionierte.
Smoketest: all okay!
Den Transceiver wollte ich nun in eine klassisches Altoids-Pfefferminzdose einbauen. Die hatte ich schon seit 2 Jahren in einer Schublade liegen. Auch dieser Arbeitsgang dauerte etwa einen Abend, dann war das selbstgebaute Funkgerät fertig.
Klar, jetzt wird jeder erstmal fragen, was will man mit 500mW auf 40m ausrichten?
Build into a Peppermint-Case
Die Antwort gab es heute. Bei Schmuddelwetter und Temperaturen um den Gefrierpunkt bin ich auf den Piesberg gestiegen. Anstatt der MP-1 Antenne habe ich heute lieber einen Dipol ghenommen, der sicher eine bessere Performance hat. Nach kurzem CQ und einem Spot auf SOTAwatch.org meldete sich auch schon Alain, F6ENO. Schnell darauf meldeten sich auch noch DL3JPN, G3VXJ, F6CEL, G4ELZ und LA1ENA.
The finished Rockmite Transceiver
Der Run dauerte nur 5 Minuten. Der Nieselregen kroch aber langsam unter die Jacke und bevor die Elektronik Schaden erleiden würde, habe ich beschlossen QRT zu machen.
Einen ausgiebigen Rockmite Test werde ich dann nochmal bei schönem Wetter durchführen.
HermannsturmOperating Site on the PlatformGood Old Times: same location in 1985 10m Contest at -15°C. Left DL4BAH (now DC7CCC), right DL5BAD as DFØJU/p
No Conditions are Good Conditions
One of my favorite contests ever is the DARC 10m Contest. In the80’s several times per year it is reduced to only one date: The January DARC 10m Contest. Mostly there are bad conditions, two years ago I worked stations from Italy or Spain during the contest. But today the band was closed. This is a big advantage for the radio-hiker on the summit: No DX condition means, that the high-power stations with beams can work also over groundwave only.
My station today: about 20w output into my MP-1 antenna. Temperatures on the tower around 0°C, no rain or snow. So I decided to operate directly from the platform. I started 10 minutes too late, because the ascent on the „Dörenberg“ was very difficult. Crusted snow and ice-fields forced me to go very slow. A normal ascent takes 20-25 minutes, now I needed 1 hour. On the top of the summit were 30cm crusted snow, but the tower was luckily free of snow and ice.
The first call was at 09:11 UTC and was followed by the first answer. Until 10:59 I logged 117 QSO. This year SSB only. CW is in this contest a waste of time except you are in the CW class only.
Only one group hikers visitied the tower today. After the first hour of the contest wind came up … the last 30 minutes the windchill gave me a -20°C feeling. I was glad when the contest ended and I left the tower quickly. I cancelled also the planned additional 40m SOTA operation.
Results: 117 QSO, 1 DXCC, 58 DOKs = claimed score 6903 points. I hope it won’t give too much deduction of the points. Some stations had problems with DC7CC and DL7CCC and DC7CCC 🙂
December "Westfalen Nord" Activity EveningCo-Operator Anton
I continued operations from DM/NS-108 through November 2010 and continue during December 2010 … but now in snow. Last Saturday, 4th December, it was very cold. We wanted to make a handful QSO only but then a pile up started and after 30 minutes were 40 stations in the log. My first CW activation operating with gloves. ICECOLD! stn: 5w, MP-1, 7MHz only
Yesterday at WNA / SAC my ball pen failed … it was empty. I made only 5 qso, that was the maximum brain-storage yesterday 😉
This weekend was the Marconi Memorial CW Contest on 144 MHz. I wanted to take the chance to work some stations in CW on 2m this morning. I was one hour qrv during a walk over NS-108 Piesberg. It was my first participation in this contest since I am licensed (1978). I heard a lot of stations but mostly with low signals. In spite of my qrp station ( 5 wtts / HB9CV) I worked new ODX from DM/NS-108:
TM0W in JN36BP 645km
OK2M in JN69UN 501km
OK1DC in JN69JJ 465km
I heard some stations far far away like OM7W (885 km), but no chance to work them (today).
Saturday and Sunday I tried true RaDAR (Radpid Deployment Amateur Radio) activation. That means: Setup the station in 5 minutes or less and use qrp output. Yaesu says, that the internal batteries of the FT-817 produce 2.5w. I used this weekend first time the internal batteries only, the MP-1 antenna, 10m RG-58 and the PalmRadio Keyer. All very easy in the rucksack 😉
For the first activation I decided Saturday morning. That’s the easiest (subjective) time to qualify a summit. I made in 9 minutes 12 QSO. For Sunday I decided the late afternoon. Not the best time for SOTA. I stopped the time:
arrived on the summit until qrv: 4 min 14 sec qualified the summit (4 QSO made) : 3 min 42 sec (made 8 QSO in 8 min 1 sec) from qrt to setdown the station and leave the summit: 3 min 41 sec
with MP1 antenna and DK7ZB 144/432 yagi on the walking stick antenna pole
On Sunday, 10.10.2010, was the DARC District Northsea (I) Activity day. I decided to look into the 28MHz and the 144MHz part. The weather was great, temp. about 16°C and windy. I heard and worked some stations on 10m and called a long period CQ in CW. But no answer. The 144MHz part should start at 1300 local, so I qsyed on 40m where I made a nice s2s QSO with HA4FY/p on Hálás-tetö (HA/KD-042) and another 27 QSO in the following 20 minutes until 1300 local. Meanwhile the summit was full of trippers. When I tuned over 2m I heard a lot of SM6s and OZs with S9 and stronger. But no chance to break the pile up with QRP. I worked some local DLs for the Activity Day and heard >S9 G-Stations. I tuned into the CW band and called „CQ CQ CQ …“. No answer again. But a selfspot on SOTAwatch brought G0BPU with 468km from JO02OB into the log.
After that QSO I wanted to go home and tuned to our local channel 145.450MHz FM. Just wanted to say Tina (XYL), DC1BF, that I will return now. But there were two SM6-stations talking – with S9++ 😉
The HB9CV stripped on the hiking stickFT-817ND with SLAB, in the background the lights of Osnabrück
The first tuesday in a month: WNA (Westphalia North Activity Evening) and NAC (Nordic Activity Contest) on 144 MHz. After surprising QSOs to Denmark in September I decided to take part in this evening again. Uncommon warm weather for October. 21°C. As antenna mast I used this evening only a hiking stick … plus my barefoot FT-817ND (5w).
First I worked some „local“ stations within a radius of 100km, only DK5QN in telegrafy. Then I heard a lot of OZs, OZ1ALS had true S9 on the Piesberg and it was easy to work with him. 322km. OZ9KY was not so loud, but for 423km surprising easy QSO. Then I heard S9 / S7 SK7MW. Is it possible to reach this station near Malmö with 5watt and HB9CV? A lot of DLs called him. After some QSO SK7MW returned with „The DELTA CHARLY SEVEN …“ Of course in this moment the signals dropped down to S1. But the operator at SK7MW was very patient. Tack så mycket! The QSO was complete and my QRP VHF ODX from a SOTA summit.
If the wx allows – cu in November 2010.
Diese Seite verwendet Cookies, um die Nutzerfreundlichkeit zu verbessern. Mit der weiteren Verwendung stimmst du dem zu.
