Activation of PAFF-0079 Broekvelden, Vettenbroek and Polder Stein

From my home town I boarded a direct train to Gouda Goverwelle, taking my folding bike with me. From there it's a 10 minute ride to PAFF-0079, another area with large pastures and plenty of lakes. Right in the middle of the park there is a parking spot 2 pick-nick tables, a great spot for a QRP operation.

I arrived at 11 o'clock local time, already late for 80 and 60 meters. Not a single RBN spot on those bands. 40 meters was a lot better. Propagation not great, all contacts were short distance, but plenty of hunters. 30 meters also went fine, in the meantime I had my log filled with 30 QSO's. I could complete the 44 after moving to 20 meters.

 Two P2P contacts with LZ2AF on 20 and DD1LD/p on 40 meters. Nice to work Enno CT7BTL from Portugal on 20 and Frank PA7F on 40 meters. Both with loud signals.

Activation of PAFF-0109 Oostelijke Vechtplassen

 Another sunny day with temperatures reaching 10 degrees! I took the train to the suburbs of Utrecht. From there it is a long walk amongst high rise buildings until I finally reached the countryside. The landscape North of Utrecht consists of forest patches, lakes created by turf diggers and large pastures. I set up my station on one of these pastures.

 Total operating time was 75 minutes with 47 QSO's. I had to switch between 40, 30 and 20 meters several times to keep stations from coming in. A nice DX QSO on 20m with KG8P and 2 park to park QSO's with OH8NW/p on 20 and F6EOC on 40 meters. This was another QRP operation with about 5 Watts output.

Activation of PAFF-0048, Ooypolder en Millingerwaard

 We were expecting a some nice weather this week with temperatures up to 10 degrees, so time to dust off my backpack and do a short WWFF activation. At 10:30 on the morning I took the train to the city of Nijmegen. From the train station it's a short walk to the river Waal and the activation zone, PAFF-0048. I found a nice spot close to the water with views to the bridge and the city in the distance. 

I had a good start on 40 meters with more than 20 contacts in the log in a short time. Then on to 30 and 20 meters. Propagation on 20 seemed very good, QSO's with 4Z4DX, AE1T en WK2S with only 5 Watts output. 48 QSO's in the log after one hour! My antenna was 14 meters of wire attached to a 7 meter Spiderbeam pole with 2 ground radials of 5 meter long.

 

Evening activation of Everdingerwaard PAFF-0261

Purpose of this activation was to test a loaded 40 meter vertical of 7 meters long with 2 radials on a 10 meter Spiderbeam pole. I also brought a 5-band trusdx transceiver, being curious how it would behave on a band with strong signals.

PAFF-0261 at the river Lek

I was QRV around 18 UTC for 45 minutes and called CQ all of the time with about 5 Watts output. The results: 23 contacts with OM1AX being the best DX at 1050 km. One 2-way QRP QSO with HB9DAX and a park2park QSO with SP2BMX. Experiment successful!

 

Second SOTA activation by bicycle, 2 summits!

 From my home town it's a long way to ON/ON-28, Terril Waterschei (199 m). I stayed overnight in Lommel with friends and arrived 11 in the morning the next day close to the summit at the Genk soccer stadium, where I parked my bicycle. From there it is about a one hour hike to the summit, the last bit very steep...

It's quite a challenge putting up an antenna here. There's not much room and being very windy I did not want to extend the mast to it's full length. Also, no way to attach the radials...

Great views from up here! I could make 20 QSO's in about 30 minutes. Great to work K4DY, he gave me a 529 report.

After staying overnight in Genk, I arrived at D'n Observant (170 m) around 11 the next morning. This is a very touristy spot, lot's of hikers, bikers and runners. I could ride my bicycle all the way up to the top.

27 QSO's in the log after one hour, all from the east for some reason. Maybe because I set up my vertical at the eastern side of the summit?

From here it's only a 30 minute ride to the train station of Maastricht, where I took the train home. It's been a great 3 days, biking and hiking brings something special doing SOTA!

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

First activation this year: PAFF-0018, Utrechtse Heuvelrug

Temperatures were a bit higher than usual for a couple of days, so this Sunday I jumped on the bike to activate PAFF-0018 close to Amerongen castle, which also counts for PA-00081 in the COTA-PA program. I set up my station in a field about 500 meters from the castle.

Just after 10 in the morning the activation was started and 90 minutes later I had 60 QSO's in the log. Very nice propagation on both 20 and 30 meters, best DX being UA9CEJ in Sverdlovsk.

Equipment: QCX mini with a small amp under the chair, paper logging and a palm mini paddle. 10 meter mast with a 2-band vertical. There is a short video available at spectra.video.

Succesful activation of Tichelgaten PAFF-0246

 Tichelgaten has been activated only once, so this one has been on my bucket list for a while. It's only a 10 km bicycle trip from my home QTH. A nice area with small lakes, trees and meadows with flowers and insects buzzing...

 Shortly after I started making contacts a ranger came to visit me and asked me to leave. He found my setup quite disturbing in what he called "a vulnerable piece of nature". Only 12 QSO's. So I returned the next morning and found a more suitable area near the road at the entrance of the park.

 

 

Propagation was quite good, 45 contacts in around one hour. Great to work KD1CT on 30 meters! Sorry for the boring pics, next time I will add a nice selfie...

2 activations from PAFF-0091

 It's just a short bicyle ride to the Diefdijk, part of PAFF-0091. I went to a small lake called "Wiel van Bassa" which has a tiny beach and a shady area with a bench under some apple trees.

22 QSO's during the first activation on august 6 and 28 QSO's on august 13. During the second activation my dog and wife joined me for a swim. Temperatures were almost 30 degrees C that day.

I took my trusty QCX mini on both occasions with a 35 Watt power amp. All battery operated. The antenna is a 2-band vertical on a spiderbeam pole.

Success at Rijntakken PA-0108!

 

This time I picked a spot close to the river and also brought another antenna. It's a 2-band vertical for 20 and 30 meters. Propagation was pretty good, maybe because I was much earlier than last time.

 

 

I brought a small amp which outputs 30-40 Watts, left on the picture. On the right is a 16 Volt battery pack. QSO map in the next picture.

A try at PAFF-0140 Zoommeer

 

Most of PAFF-0140 (a lake and river with some wetlands) is not accessible unless you have permission, but you can set up your station at the edge of the area. I wasn't very lucky: had to camp behind a dike under a 40m high windmill. Here's a screenshot from Google maps.

 

 

Propagation was lousy and 20 meters crowded with a contest going on. The windmill created a lot of noise on the radio. I made 8 QSO's in one hour and gave up in the end... Need to pick a better spot next time I am here!

Activation of PAFF-0108 Rijntakken

This is my first WWFF activation. It's a 12 km bicycle ride to the ferry between Rijswijk and Wijk bij Duurstede, close to PAFF-0108. I set up my station in a field on a small dike close to the river Lek.

I brought a 10 meter spiderbeam pole with an endfed antenna for 20 and 30 meters. The rig is a QCX mini with about 4 Watts output. Propagation was fairly good, got an RBN spot from WZ7I on 20 meters, but activity was low. I worked more stations on 30 meters. 

 

 

Only 14 QSO's  in the log after 90 minutes. One P2P QSO with Wilfried, DL7UWR/P from DLFF-0029, Schorfheide-Chorin. I will try to use my WWFF activations for the GoGreen XOTA program. QSO map of this activation here.