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.