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Hello and welcome! I'm Dzianis, a licensed radio ham holding the callsign DD1LD. I love to take this hobby with me wherever I may roam. The blog "QTC de DD1LD" means "Messages From Me" and reflects my ham radio activities and projects. I barely have time to write everything down, so I blog occasionally, and mainly, for myself. You can subscribe to the blog below to receive updates when new posts are available. 73 and enjoy reading!

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Friday, April 10, 2020

1x1 Activation: Gurnwandkopf, DL/CG-055 and DLFF-0208

The six-pointer Gurnwandkopf (1691m), DL/CG-055 remained not activated by me for a long time due to a long drive from my home. It's a prominent summit close to the Dreiseengebiet (three lakes area) without other SOTA references in the proximity that makes this six-pointer a bit less attractive for SOTA activator points collectors. A quick check revealed that the Gurnwandkopf lies in the pretty large protected area Östliche Chiemgauer Alpen (Eastern Chiemgau Alps), DLFF-0208. I already activated a couple of high SOTA peaks in this protected area without paying any attention to that fact.  Why not to activate a SOTA unique and gather a couple of WWFF activator points by a single radio expedition? No sooner said than done!

I parked on the empty Weitsee parking spot (770m).  I needed about 1.5 hours to hike the Gurnwandkopf (1691m) incl. some time loss due to some snow in between the Gurnwandkopf and Hörndlwand (1684m). The snow as well as unsignposted trails over the steep forested southern flank from the Weitsee requires some sense of orientation. The chosen path was not marked at all, however, fair easy to find and follow. As usual I signed in the summit book upon arival, at 9:00 UTC, made myself comfortable in my "natural shack" and started calling CQ on 20m at 9:15 UTC. Both SOTAwatch and WWFFwatch spotted me in a couple of minutes and worked reliable through band changes.


Arrived at the Gurnwandkopf, DL/CG-055. The summit is rarely visited.

My plan was pretty simple - to get as much QSO as possible for the WWFF Activator Points Award. I didn't have a certain number in my mind since I was going to hike some other summits located within DLFF-0208 this year anyway. Within  ~2.5 hours of operating time I made 116 QSO, all Europe. The propagation conditions were just OK. That was not bad for a Friday.  I made QRT before 12:00 UTC and enjoyed the beautiful view around for a moment while packing my stuff and having a short run on 2m FM to collect some local callsigns in the log.

 
I was alone on the Gurnwandkopf, DL/CG-055 for a long while. 
A couple of local hikers arrived at the top upon QRT.

It was time to leave - a couple of loud hikers just arrived at the top finally destroying my solitude and I promised my kids to be home early enough. Exactly one hour later I was in my car driving home. Optimized track is available HERE.

Short summary and statistics for DD1LD/P:
  • Date: April 10th, 2020 
  • Equipment: high alpine QRP + FM handheld
  • Operating time: ~2.5 hours
  • DXCC worked: 26 
  • Top countries worked: DL - 29 QSO, EA - 16 QSO, G - 8
  • Continents worked: 1
  • DX: none
  • SOTA summits: 1x unique (not activated by myself before)
  • SOTA reference: DL/CG-055
  • SOTA-valid QSO: 116
  • SOTA activator points: 6
  • S2S: 0
  • WWFF areas: 1x non-unique (activated by myself before)
  • WWFF reference: DLFF-0208
  • WWFF-valid QSO: 116
  • Unique callsigns: 107
  • WWFF activator points: 2
  • P2P: 2
  • Altitude difference made: >900m  
  • Walked distance: 9 km
  • Overall activity length: ~6 hours
  • GPS track: available HERE (t.b.d.)
The Gurnwandkopf, DL/CG-055 as my natural and quiet shack.

Mni tnx to all chasers fer QSO!
73 es 44 de Dzianis, DD1LD/P

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