SOTA Activation in Switzerland (HB/SG-049)
Joyce/K0JJW and I were planning a trip that included some time in Europe. It turned out that our airline route would connect through Zurich. Rather than spend a few hours in an airport, we decided to spend a day or two in Switzerland.
Somehow the discussion turned to Summits On The Air (SOTA) and whether we should do an activation in Switzerland. Slowly, a plan developed to do a “check the box” activation on a local summit near Zurich. As readers of this blog know, I’ve been exclusively using VHF/UHF for SOTA activations. We decided to pack really light so SOTA gear on this trip was extremely limited: 2m/70cm handhelds and vertical antennas. Sorry, no yagi.
SOTA Help
I came across this thread about the proper callsign prefix when operating under CEPT rules in Switzerland. The SOTA association is called HB but valid callsign prefixes are HB9 (full license) or HB3 (novice license). This sent me back to the CEPT rules to make sure I understood them correctly: Recommendation T/R 61-01 and ECC Recommendation (05) 06. The short story is that as an Amateur Extra licensee, I operate as HB9/K0NR. Joyce has a General Class license which corresponds to the “novice” category under CEPT, so she uses the callsign HB3/K0JJW. Apparently as an Extra, I had previously overlooked or forgotten some of the fine points of CEPT. Specifically, US Extras are given full privileges by CEPT but Generals can only operate in a subset of CEPT countries while Technicians get no privileges at all (yet another reason to upgrade your license).
I also put out a request for advice on the SOTA reflector:
Joyce/K0JJW and I have one day in Zurich later this month. Somehow the idea of squeezing in a SOTA activation while in Switzerland made it onto the itinerary.
This will be on 2m FM only with basic gear. The current plan is looking like a hike up Altberg (HB/ZH-015) but we are open to other ideas.
A number of people responded with helpful information. Soon I was contacted by Paul/HB9DST who suggested we do an activation together. Paul is an American living just outside of Zurich (his US callsign is AA1MI) and is very active in SOTA. We soon had our eyes on the Churfirsten SOTA summits which are southeast of Zurich (see Paul’s activation reports). Ultimately, we chose the summit of Selun (HB/SG-049).
Activating Selun (HB/SG-049)
Access to the trail was via several train rides and a bus ride, then a short walk to the Selun cable car. This cable car is quite unique in that it is a homebrew design (see the photo below). We piled into the cable car and rode it to where the real hike started.
On the Trail
The bottom station of the cable car is at ~3000 feet (900 m) and took us up the hill to ~5000 feet ( 1500 m), so it definitely sliced off some elevation gain. The summit of Selun is at 7234 feet (2205 m), which gave us a moderate but not crazy difficult hike. My GPS app recorded a distance of 1.7 miles and 1900 vertical feet (one way).
The weather was excellent for late October with blue skies above and some clouds laying in the valleys.
Paul is an HF/CW enthusiast so that made sharing the bands very easy. He strapped his fishing pole to the summit cross and strung out an end-fed wire for 40m, 30m and 20m, making a total of 40 QSOs. Joyce and I took turns on 145.550 MHz FM using our Yaesu FT-1DR handheld radios with vertical antennas.
I made 13 contacts on VHF, including three Summit-to-Summit (S2S) contacts. HB9PMF was close by on SG-017 (Hinterrugg) another summit in the Churfirsten. I also stayed on the summit while Joyce and Paul hiked down out of the activation zone and worked me for chaser points, giving me a total of 15 QSOs.
My log is shown below. All contacts were on 145.550 MHz. Note that the calling frequency in Switzerland (all of Europe?) is 145.500 MHz. Joyce worked a subset of these stations.
Operating notes
I have to admit that it was a challenge keeping everything straight while making QSOs. I had to add the HB9 prefix on the front of my US callsign and “portable” on the tail end (local practice for activator stations). That’s “HB9/K0NR/P” instead of just “K0NR”…there is a reason we prefer shorter callsigns. All that along with the usual signal report, name, SOTA designators, etc. Fortunately, everyone we worked had reasonable English skills. Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut. If I sounded a bit confused, I probably was and at 7200 feet I can’t blame the altitude.
It was definitely a thrill to work the S2S stations and two other countries (Germany and Austria) on VHF. (I have never done that on SOTA VHF from Colorado…I rarely work anyone outside of the state.)
After we hiked back down, Paul suggested that we had to stop in at the local farmhouse restaurant (Selun Ochsenhuette) for a drink. It was all part of the Swiss SOTA experience!
Paul was a magnificent host for our short stay in Switzerland. We stayed two nights at his place and he guided us on a fantastic SOTA activation. Without his help, we would have probably activated a small summit near Zurich and would have been in the low clouds all day. We would have left the city thinking “I bet this is a beautiful place when the sun is shining.” Instead, we had an excellent day hiking the Swiss mountains and playing ham radio. Thanks, Paul!
Joyce did find one small way to repay Paul’s kindness. Being an skilled seamstress, she sewed Paul’s prized SOTA Mountain Goat patch onto his pack. Nice job, Joyce!
73 Bob K0NR
The post SOTA Activation in Switzerland (HB/SG-049) appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.
Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].
Here Comes The ’29 QSO Party!
courtesy: Lou, VE3AWA |
This Saturday night as well as the next will be the annual Bruce Kelley 1929 QSO Party, otherwise known as the '1929 BK'.
Only transmitters that are 'era-appropriate' are allowed to be used. More specifically, transmitters must employ tubes that were available in 1929 or earlier, and transmitters must be self-excited. No crystals allowed! Crystals were new and largely unaffordable for most hams back in the depression days.
The year of 1929 marked a real turning point in amateur radio as governments finally cracked-down on things such as frequency stability, out of band operations and re-alignment of call districts. In short, hams were henceforth required to behave themselves and to clean up their signals and methods of operation.
courtesy: http://www.arrl.org/ |
If you tune across the CW bands during the next two Saturday nights, you will have the rare opportunity to hear exactly what the bands must have sounded like back in the early '30s'.
For the most part you will hear single-tube Hartley, Colpitts or TNT oscillators along with a few two-tube MOPAs thrown in. Many of them will suffer the same problems encountered by the boys of '29 ... chirp, drift, buzzy notes and frequency instability from antennas swaying in the wind.
Again this year, signals should be a little louder as well, since the previous long-time power limitation of 10W input has been increased to 25W.
The MOPAs will sound much better but some surprisingly nice-sounding signals can be heard coming from properly tuned and optimised single-tube oscillators. I recall being blown away by the lovely sounding signal I heard from such a rig when first tuning into the BK activity several years ago, only to learn that it was a self-excited Hartley using 1/4" copper tubing for the oscillator tank circuit!
The '29 watering-hole on 80m will be around 3550-3580 kilocycles (be careful not to confuse this with kilohertz!) while the early afternoon to post-sunset 40m activity will be found from 7100-7125 kc. There may even be a few on the very low end of 160m. Although many of these transmitter styles were used on 20m and higher, BK rule-makers have wisely decided not to inflict these sounds on the present populace as it would likely keep the 'Official Observers' busy for several days writing pink-slips.
This year I will leave the MOPA on the shelf and set up my Hull Hartley as I haven't used it since building the MOPA a few years ago. If it's very windy (almost assured), the Hartley will really sound like 1929!
My own Hull Hartley |
You can learn more about amateur radio happenings leading up to and following the 1929 crackdown in my earlier series of 'Why '29' blogs here:
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Those wishing to put something together for next year's event can find everything needed here:
Building '29-Style - Part 1
Building '29-Style - Part 2
Let's hope for good conditions for this event as the last few years have been adversely affected by geomagnetic storming. Poor propagation or not, I guarantee there will be plenty of '29ers busy calling 'CQ AWA' on the low bands.
Complete BK details are available here.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].
LHS Episode #256: Live Q&A
Welcome to Episode 256 of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, we take a slight departure from our normal topics and episode style to try out the features of our Discord server. We invited listeners to log in and participate in the program, bring up topics of discussion and ask questions of the hosts and other guests. We feel this experiment went rather well, generated a lot of good information, and was entertaining to boot. That said, we hope to try more of these in the future. Thank you to everyone who participated and many thanks to everyone who listens.
73 de The LHS Crew
Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].
LHS Episode #256: Live Q&A
Welcome to Episode 256 of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, we take a slight departure from our normal topics and episode style to try out the features of our Discord server. We invited listeners to log in and participate in the program, bring up topics of discussion and ask questions of the hosts and other guests. We feel this experiment went rather well, generated a lot of good information, and was entertaining to boot. That said, we hope to try more of these in the future. Thank you to everyone who participated and many thanks to everyone who listens.
73 de The LHS Crew
Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].
CLE237 Results
All told, 118 NDBs in 41 different grid fields were logged. Of these 118 stations, 12 were 'new catches'. After DXing NDBs since 1985, new catches are getting harder and harder to find but last week's great conditions were the best heard here in several years.
Today's quiet Sun! |
With a very quiet Sun for a couple of weeks now, these great MF conditions are what many have been waiting for since the last solar low many years ago ... propagation below the broadcast band can be truly remarkable when these quiet conditions continue for many weeks at a time.
Here are a few interesting CLE catches as recorded on the Perseus SDR.
NDBs QY (Sydney, Nova Scotia), YBB (Pelly Bay, Nunavut)and 3Z (Russell, Manitoba) all sharing 263kHz within a few Hz of each other.
My full CLE237 log is shown below. As usual, a Perseus SDR and an 'inverted-L' (resonated to 300kHz) was used for the activity.
AH
28 13:30 403 TUT Pago Pago, SMA
AL
28 13:30 400 MDY Midway, MDW
AO
27 12:30 283 DUT Dutch Harbor, ALS
27 12:30 341 ELF Cold Bay, ALS
27 12:30 385 EHM Cape Newenham, ALS
27 12:30 390 HBT Borland, ALS
AP
27 06:00 263 OAY Norton Bay, ALS
27 13:30 275 CZF Cape Romanzof, ALS
27 13:00 325 BVK Buckland, ALS
27 13:30 347 TNC Tin City, ALS
27 13:00 356 HHM Kotzebue, ALS
BG
27 13:30 352 RG Rarotonga, CKS
BK
27 13:30 332 POA Pahoa, HWA
BL
27 14:00 353 LLD Lanai, HWA
BO
27 12:00 277 ACE Kachemak, ALS
27 12:00 355 AUB King Salmon, ALS
27 12:00 394 RWO Kodiak, ALS
27 12:00 411 ILI Iliamna, ALS
27 12:00 429 BTS Dillingham, ALS
BP
27 12:00 212 CGL Juneau, ALS
27 13:00 257 CUN Fairbanks, ALS
27 12:00 346 OLT Soldotna, ALS
27 12:30 347 DJN Delta Junction, ALS
27 12:00 350 VTR McGrath, ALS
BQ
27 13:00 376 PVQ Deadhorse, ALS
CN
27 06:00 378 AP Mayne Island, BC, CAN (MY NEAREST)
27 12:00 266 SLE Salem, OR, USA
27 07:00 356 PND Portland, OR, USA
27 06:00 356 MEF Medford, OR, USA
27 06:00 404 MOG Montegue, CA, USA
CM
27 07:00 203 TCY Tracy, CA, USA
29 04:00 385 MR Pacific Grove, CA, USA
CO
27 12:00 266 ICK Annette Island, ALS
27 12:00 414 IME Sitka, ALS
27 12:00 529 SQM Sumner Strait, ALS
CP
27 13:30 222 WY Wrigley, NT, CAN
27 08:00 380 YUB Tuktoyaktuk, NT, CAN
27 12:00 392 ZFN Tulita, NT, CAN
CQ
29 06:00 321 YSY Sachs Harbour, NT, CAN
DM
27 08:30 242 EL El Paso, TX, USA
27 10:00 278 CEP Ruidoso, NM, USA
27 13:00 341 OIN Oberlin, KS, USA
DN
27 09:00 233 BR Brandon, MB, CAN
27 09:00 275 HIN Chadron, NE, USA
27 09:00 383 CNP Chappell, NE, USA
27 09:00 400 FN Fort Collins, CO, USA
27 09:00 414 GRN Gordon, NE, USA
DP
27 08:00 207 PY Fort Chipewyan, AB, CAN
27 08:00 212 BY Beechy, SK, CAN
27 08:00 219 ZRS Regina, SK, CAN
27 08:00 221 QU Grande Prairie, AB, CAN
27 08:00 230 VG Vermilion, AB, CAN
DQ
27 08:30 361 HI Holman, NT, CAN
EL
27 06:00 260 MTH Marathon, FL, USA
27 10:00 269 AR New Iberia, LA, USA
27 10:00 329 HMA Hondo, TX, USA
27 06:00 332 FIS Key West, FL, USA
27 07:00 332 IC Wichita, KS, USA
27 07:00 335 BV Batesville, AR, USA
27 07:00 338 UMP Indianapolis, IN, USA
27 07:00 349 GW Greenwood, MS, USA
EN
27 12:00 257 JYR York, NE, USA
27 06:00 329 PMV Plattsmouth, NE, USA
27 06:00 360 SW Warroad, MN, USA
27 08:00 368 VIQ Neillsville, WI, USA
27 09:00 368 PNM Princeton, MN, USA
EO
27 07:00 212 YGX Gillam, MB, CAN
27 08:00 216 YFA Fort Albany, ON, CAN
27 08:00 218 RL Red Lake, ON, CAN
27 08:00 224 MO Moosonee, ON, CAN
27 08:00 258 ZSJ Sandy Lake, ON, CAN
EP
27 06:00 224 BK Baker Lake, NU, CAN
27 09:00 241 YGT Igloolik, NU, CAN
27 08:00 263 YBB Kugaaruk, NU, CAN
27 10:00 329 YEK Arviat, NU, CAN
27 10:00 335 YUT Repulse Bay, NU, CAN
EQ
27 04:00 365 YGZ Grise Fiord, NU, CAN
FI
27 05:00 365 PAL Palma, EQA
FK
28 05:00 369 ZDX Saint Johns, ATG
27 06:00 391 DDP Vega Baja, PTR
27 05:00 415 CBC Cayman Brac, CYM
FM
29 05:00 198 DIW Dixon, NC, USA
FN
27 08:00 289 YLQ La Tuque, QC, CAN
27 05:00 407 ZHU Montreal, QC, CAN
27 07:00 516 YWA Petawawa, ON, CAN
FO
27 10:00 208 YSK Sanikiluaq, NU, CAN
27 18:37 323 KR Schefferville, QC, CAN
27 10:00 351 YKQ Waskaganish, QC, CAN
27 10:00 390 VP Kuujjuaq, QC, CAN
27 08:00 396 YPH Inukjuak, QC, CAN
FP
27 09:00 277 YLC Kimmirut, NU, CAN
27 10:00 338 YPX Puvirnituq, QC, CAN
28 10:00 358 YKG Kangiqsujuaq, QC, CAN
FQ
29 07:00 256 YCY Clyde River, NU, CAN
GN
27 10:00 263 QY Sydney, NS, CAN
27 08:00 280 QX Gander, NL, CAN
27 08:00 350 DF Deer Lake, NL, CAN
GO
28 08:00 220 BX Lourdes de Blanc, QC, CAN
28 08:30 281 CA Cartwright, NL, CAN
28 10:00 396 JC Rigolet, NL, CAN
GQ
28 06:00 399 UP Upernavik, GRL
QJ
27 12:00 366 PNI Pohnpei Island, FSM
QL
27 13:00 343 ML Minami Tori Shima, MTS
27 12:00 360 OX Iwo Jima, VOI
QO
28 13:30 437 OG Okha, RSE
RG
27 12:30 260 NF Norfolk Island, NFK
RJ
27 12:00 316 MAJ Majuro Atoll, MHL
27 12:00 393 UKS Kosrae, FSM
As always, complete CLE results (worldwide) can be viewed in detail here.
All-in-all, an exhausting but delightful weekend of listening and great propagation ... so many signals to hear ... welcome to solar-low!
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].
Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 223
FT8 – Tipping Point for Ham Radio?
What will kill amateur radio is if we we cease to innovate, become old and grumpy, and no longer bring new blood into the hobby.
K5SDR
JS8Call QSO Party
Whether you like a quick exchange or a long rag-chew, this event is for you.
JS8Call
Ham fined $25,000 for operating unlicensed FM station
Following up on February 2015 complaints regarding pirate radio operations in Paterson, FCC agents spotted a signal on 90.9 MHz that “appeared to be an unauthorized radio station.”
ARRL
Pass Recorder
Pass Recorder will sit in the background waiting for a satellite pass to be above 0 degrees and record the audio to a wav file. (Windows Only)
2M0QSL
Build a 433MHz radio chat device
Add a cheap 433MHz radio to your Raspberry Pi to send wireless messages without WiFi and operate remote-control main sockets.
The MagPi
Early Amateur Radio In The Canadian Arctic
In the 1930s people working in Canada’s Arctic often brought their amateur radio skills and equipment north with them so that they could relieve the isolation by contacting other radio operators around the world.
VE7SAR
New amateur satellite forum aims to help newcomers
This is a forum where everyone can report on experiences and knowledge from operating satellites and thereby help other newly interested radio amateurs to become active and a member of our satellite community.
AMSAT UK
History of white LEDs
Infrared, red, and even green LEDs were “easy,” but blue LEDs require a much larger bandgap, and therefore required more exotic materials.
Hack A Day
Video
ISS SSTV Passes Oct 28, 2018
Here are many International Space Station Slow Scan TV photos that I captured on October 28 & 29.
K7AGE
Review of Geochron 4K World Clock
For 50 years, Geochron made a classic, mechanical clock showing the time across the world as well as areas of light and dark. Well, they’ve now gone electronic with the new Geochron 4K.
David Casler
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Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.
LHS Episode #255: The Weekender XVIII
This is Episode 255 of Linux in the Ham Shack. It's our 18th edition of The Weekender. In this episode, we talk about upcoming amateur radio contests, special event stations, Open Source conferences, new and interesting Linux distributions, liquor, food, movies, music and more. Thank you for listening and hope you have a great couple of weeks.
73 de The LHS Crew
Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].