PAFF-0234, Lingezegen

On my way from the SOTA activation to a family visit I passed Lingezegen, a large park between Arnhem and Nijmegen. I found a nice spot at a picknick bench surrounded by hedges.

After 30 minutes into the activation the skies darkened and temperatures dropped seriously. Propagation wasn't great also. I tried another 30 minutes and then packed up, it got to cold. Plenty of P2P QSO's with OK7DA/P, OH2NBC/P, HB9CBR/P, DL4FDM/P and F6KEX/P, all on 30 meters. One nice DX QSO with NK2S on 20. Only 28 QSO's in the log but great fun!

First SOTA close to home

From my home town it is a nice bicycle trip along the river Rhine towards Arnhem, a 50 km ride. From the outskirts of Arnhem it is less then one hour to Signaal Imbosch, the highest point in the national park Veluwezoom at 101 meters.

Close to the summit my path got blocked by a couple of dangerous looking Scottish highlanders, but they were quite relaxed and I saw several bikers passing them.

The last stretch I had to push my bike through the sand and up a steep path. The summit marker was easy to find and was enough space between the trees to put up my 20/30m vertical.

Good propagation and 61 QSO'S in the log after one hour. It may have helped that my activation was both valid for SOTA and WWFF. Equipment: QMX mini and a 30 Watt amplifier. Have been using a Palm mini paddle.

2 PAFF activations on one day: Mariënwaerdt and Loevestein

It's March 20 and another sunny day with above normal temperatures. This will be my first attempt to activate 2 parks on one day by bicycle. From Culemborg it's only a 10 minute ride to the Zeedijk. From here a couple of paths run across the water to nature reserve of Mariënwaerdt (PAFF-0266, new area). Walking along my bike I arrived at a large pasture where I set up my station.

It took some effort to make the required 44 contacts but I had a nice QSO with KD1CT on 30 meters and a P2P QSO with OK3DM.

From the Zeedijk it is a 30 km trip to Loevestein, PAFF-0135. I found a great spot along the river Waal with a direct view of the 14th century castle. 

Propagation was better here and being close to the river also helped. I made a nice DX QSO with KG8P in Michigan and two P2P QSO's. The final contact was a rag-chew with Stew GW0ETF who was camping on an island at the Welsh coast, Ramsey island EU-124. Around 5 o'clock in the afternoon I arrived home, tired but satisfied.

Early morning activation of a new park: PAFF-0261

Only a 20 minute bicycle ride from my house to Everdingerwaard, PAFF-0261. This park has been added to the WWFF list over the weekend. Another nice spot along the river Lek and many stations trying to work me... It took around 30 minutes to get the required 44 QSO's.

Got 55 QSO's eventually before packing up. Good propagation to the east with R0WA (Krasnoyarsk) and RN9J in the log. One P2P contact with F6EOC in FFF-0300.

 A good spot to go back to! 73 and 44 de Jo PG4I

Sunny day at the river Lek in PAFF-0194

Another sunny week and today I took my chances to activate another park. A bike ride of 25 km through the countryside with a nice ride along the river going     back. At the entrance of the park there is a road which leads to the river with an open gate at the end where I set up my station close to the water.

Excellent weather but conditions not great, had to call CQ for long periods of time. After 90 minutes 51 QSO's in the log with 4 park-to-park contacts. Made a nice QSO with Saku OH2NOS/p who was in a new park and was having big pile-ups. Still, managed to get him in the log!

 

73 and 44 de Jo PG4I