CW on Petru Paler

Mata Nacional do Vimeiro

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

First outing with the QMX — tough conditions under tree canopy.

First time using the QMX. Was planning to try FT8 first but couldn’t get a stable connection to the phone. Sat at the picnic area with the wife and kids. Antenna was completely obscured by the tree canopy and probably way too close to tree trunks. Was difficult to get a signal out even after switching to CW. Only managed one contact.

Praia do Pico da Mota

Fri, 08 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Beach activation with CW-only due to mic issues.

Beautiful ocean view and waves. Handheld mic issue — weak audio signal and kept switching between internal and external mic inputs. Ended up making only CW contacts.

Serra de Alvaiázere

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

SOTA with a nice view and drive up.

Nice view and drive up.

Senhora do Socorro

Sat, 04 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

SOTA transatlantic S2S event in a storm.

SOTA transatlantic S2S event, hence the already-activated summit. Very windy (storm) and cold — gave up after 4 contacts. Began to rain just as I finished packing.

Serra de Sicó

Wed, 25 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Cold and windy triple activation.

Cold and windy — should have brought some layers.

Senhora do Socorro

Sat, 14 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Three-way activation: SOTA, POTA, and WWFF.

Mata Nacional das Mestras

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

POTA activation with a park-to-park first contact.

First contact was park-to-park with CT2IFE activating Mata Nacional do Vimeiro very close by.

Serra da Melriça

Mon, 25 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

SOTA activation by car.

Monte do Alqueidão

Sat, 09 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

SOTA activation with an improvised random wire.

Improvised antenna: random wire made from AX1 counterpoise wires, supported on a DX Wire 6m fiberglass mast.

Serra da Boa Viagem

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

SOTA activation from a geodesic marker.

Paúl de Tornada

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Cargo bike activation with the kids.

Serra de Montejunto

Fri, 25 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

SOTA, POTA, and WWFF on a road bike climb.

Paúl de Tornada

Sat, 12 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

First portable activation — road bike to a nature reserve.

Retractable earphones are compact but the cable is too short to comfortably hold the radio.

Bachtel

Sat, 21 Oct 2017 22:22:44 +0200

High volume activation.

We had visitors over the weekend. One of them had brought his mountain bike along and wanted to sample the Swiss trails. Wanting to help out, I figured this is also a good occasion to activate a summit. Bachtel seemed like a good candidate, since I knew from a previous attempt that it’s possible to drive all the way up and there’s also a MTB trail starting there. We loaded his bike and my radio gear into the car and off we went. While talking on the way I didn’t realize that I was going too fast, so I got a 250 CHF ticket for going 65km/h in a 50km/h zone. Oops, and lesson learned.

Once on the summit, my friend set up his bike and took off. There’s a tall metal tower accessible to the public, so I went to the top observation deck planning to operate from there. I had brought a Chameleon vertical antenna, thinking I would clamp it to the tower and use its metal structure as a counterpoise. The view from the top was great, but it was also windy and cold. It would have been too uncomfortable to stay there, so I went back down.

I set up the operating post on top of a small mound next to the tower, which also had a metal railing that I jaw mounted the antenna to. The KX2’s internal ATU quickly tuned it up on the 30m band. I found a free frequency, spotted myself on SOTAwatch, and called CQ. A bunch of people responded, and they kept on coming. This was my second ever CW activation and my Morse still has a lot of room for improvement, but the chasers were patient and the short, formulaic QSOs helped. Before I knew it there were 17 contacts in the log.

Once things quieted down on 30m I switched to 20m and worked a few chasers there. It got quiet again, so I looked at SOTAwatch and saw that N1EU was activating W2/GC-010 on 17m. The odds of being able to work him were very low, but I tuned up and gave it a try anyway. The signal was barely copiable but it was there, so I called and we had a S2S QSO. Given that 17m conditions were good I picked a free spot there and called CQ, which resulted in another 2 QSOs one of which was also in the USA.

To top it all off, as I was getting ready to call it a day, I noticed on SOTAwatch that KB9ILT was activating W4V/BR-006 on 15m. Emboldened by what seemed to be really good propagation, I tuned up and called him. It worked, sort of: I think he copied my report and summit reference well, but I could barely hear him (RST 229 with a lot of QSB) and I’m still not sure if I copied his report correctly.

It was getting cold and my friend was almost done riding so I stopped and packed things up. As I was leaving, I turned around to check that I hadn’t forgotten anything. I had that slightly uneasy feeling that comes when the subconscious is trying to get your attention towards something but nope: nothing left behind laying in the grass, everything was in the backpack. I went to pick up my friend, who was grinning ear to ear after having enjoyed himself on the trail, and drove home. Later on, as I was copying the logs from paper into Log4OM, I realized that I left the antenna jaw mount clamped to the metal railing. Oops.

Lessons learned:

being able to quickly hop across bands is very nice
large metal objects can serve as effective vertical antenna counterpoises
Morse is a lot of fun (not news, but this activation confirmed it)
always pay attention to speed limits (this time it was thankfully just a fine)
trust your gut, it seems to have a good handle of what you’re forgetting

Gros Crêt

Sun, 08 Oct 2017 21:37:39 +0200

First Morse activation!

I’ve been fascinated by Morse code for a long time and remember playing with my dad’s straight key that he had from his brief stint in the army signal corps. I first learned the code as a teenager to pass the Romanian amateur radio exam. It took two attempts but I eventually managed, then promptly proceeded to forget it all – mostly due to never using it, but also due to what was likely learning it the wrong way and at too slow of a speed.

I started studying it again last year, using the very nice lcwo.net. The Koch method, Farnsworth timing, and daily practice had me knowing the alphabet within a couple months. My first CW QSO happened in April 2017, with the very nice and patient ON4IM. More followed until mid-June, though most of them were contest-style rubberstamp exchanges that didn’t improve my copy skills much. Not much other CW practice to speak of for the rest of the summer…

Last weekend, thanks to HB9DDO, I got to visit the HB9CA contest station. It was very nice, and I got to make a CQ QSO with HB9EXR helping (I handled the paddles and he did the copying :-). This whet my Morse appetite again, so I restarted practicing daily on the commute to work. I’m using Koch Morse Trainer Pro (no longer listed on Google Play) in QSO replay or top 100/1000 words mode, starting at 15 WPM with normal (not Farnsworth) timing in order to get used to what things feel like during a regular QSO. By the time the weekend came I was up to 20 WPM with 90+% accuracy on copying words (less so for QSO text) and feeling confident, so yesterday I got on the air and had a few QSOs. Since that went reasonably well, I figured I’d try to do the next SOTA activation in CW.

Said activation came quicker than I thought: today! The weather was overcast and cold but we took our chances, packed the family in the car, and drove to canton Neuchâtel. The summit is easy to reach, although one can’t drive as close to it as Google Maps would have you believe. Once there, I set up the station on a bench, spotted myself (asking for QRS due to it being my first CW activation) – and called CQ SOTA on 20m.

The chasers quickly materialized and were kind enough to take it slow. One of them was AC1Z for an unexpected transatlantic contact. After 5 QSOs nobody else was calling and we were getting cold, so we packed up (quicker with the wife’s help) and headed back to the car.

I’m surprised at how well this went: I was less nervous than I had assumed I would be, the exchanges were quick and to the point (callsigns, signal reports, gl es 73) – simple enough that I only had to write down the important bits. Activating with CW somehow feels better and more fun), and I’m hoping to do most of them like this from now on. With more practice, I also look forward to being able to have longer conversations in Morse without having to write things down.

Lessons learned:

no need to wait for perfection before practice; jumping into this was a fun experience
pay attention to the temperature in the weather forecast
CW is more sensitive to the operating position got lucky this time with a bench being available. Consider bringing along a foldable stool for other locations.
the paddle was not properly mounted to the radio and kept sliding around. Check for proper mounting and bring a small multitool along for field adjustments.