Triple 1x2 Activation around Geigelstein: DLFF-0316 and DL/CG-001 & CG-005

A nice sport activity on a sunny Friday in the middle of April resulted in a triple activation  in the nature protection area Geigelstein, two SOTA summits and an unique DLFF were successfully checked in.

The parking spot of the Geigelstein valley station in Ettenhausen (650m) was closed so that it took some time to find another opportunity for parking. I started walking at 7:00 UTC. The route is pretty straight forward: Geigelsteinbahn / valley station - Wuhrsteinalm (1200m) - Wirtsalm - Geigelstein DL/CG-001 (1808m) - Saddle (1530m) - Breitenstein DL/CG-005 (1661m) - Wuhrsteinalm (1200m) through the south side - down to the valley (650m). There were some snow patches, especially around the Breitenstein, but easy to cross over. I was able to keep a nice pace to get some cardio in while still enjoying the sunny weather and the view over the picturesque region. My recorded track is available HERE. 

 

On the way to the Geigelstein, DL/CG-001. View to the Breitenstein, DL/CG-005.

The Kaisergebirge in the background and clear blue sky above.

I needed less than 2 hours to hike the Geigelstein summit and I logged into the summit book upon arrival, at 9:00 UTC in absolute loneliness. There were no walkers on the way up and down, however, just a couple of them were sitting around the summit cross later upon my descent.

  

 CQ WWFF and SOTA from the Geigelstein (1808m).

I found a nice place on the top and 20 minutes later I started CQing on 20m.  I qualified the Geigelstein, DL/CG-001 activation by my first run on 20m by 10 QSO within 10 minutes (only 4 QSO required to qualify a SOTA activation), however, I needed a large number of QSO for the WWFF Activator Points Award (minimum 44 QSO required to qualify a WWFF activation, and one point for each 44 QSO). The moderate propagation conditions and, therefore, poor signals on 20/30/40m determined a pretty low QSO rate.  I was able to gather (only) 80 QSO in slightly less than 2 hours of operating time, although I got spotted via RBN in both SOTAwatch and WWFFwatch. I had to struggle for every QSO that came into my log. After the QSO rate significantly dropped I decided to take a break and to move to the next summit after a very short run on 2m FM. 

 

Operating spot on the Geigelstein, DL/CG-001. 

A couple of hikers just arrived at the summit cross upon my QRT and descent.

I really enjoyed the walk along the crest towards the Breitenstein despite some snow still hanging around. One hour later I started CQing on 20m from the Breitenstein, DL/CG-005. The propagation was a bit better now, so 47 QSO were logged within one hour of operating time.  I spent a bit more time on 20m in the hope to get a couple of DX more, but only got one DX QSO with NA (NH, USA) and another one with Asiatic Russia (Novosibirsk area). SOTAwatch reliably picked up my CQing from RBN according to the SOTA Alert set, but WWFFwatch didn't, so that I lost valuable minutes to get self-spotting through LTE. On another hand it brought valuable WWFF chasers in my log.  

Operating spot on the Breitenstein DL/CG-005. 

The Geigelstein, DL/CG-001 in the background.

I needed to be at the parking spot latest at 15:00 UTC, so I had to make QRT after one hour of operating time and at 13:30 UTC latest, pack everything together and rush the downhill. I arrived at my car just in time! 

My plan was to activate two summits DL/CG-001 & DL/CG-005 and get at least 2x 44 QSO from DLFF-0316, i.e. 2 WWFF activator points and maybe, with some luck, even 3x 44 = 132 QSO. The DLFF-0316 was occasionally activated by some SOTA folks, but only one log with 17 QSO has been submitted to WWFF so far. At least, I hoped to attract a large community of WWFF chasers by a "new one" and, therefore, looked forward to enjoying a bigger and longer pile-up. However, this hope has not been fulfilled.

I made 127 QSO from both summits, in which 107 QSO are valid for WWFF (excluding dupes worked from the second summit). Although I missed only 25 QSO (=132-107) to get one more WWFF activator point, the mission was complete! I have no plans to be QRV around DLFF-0316 this year, since there is one SOTA reference left to me in this WWFF to be accounted for 2020. However, never say never again! 

Short summary and statistics for DD1LD/P:

• Date: April 17th, 2020
• Equipment: high alpine QRP + FM handheld
• Operating time: 3 hours
• DXCC worked: 28 
• Top countries worked: DL - 23 QSO, EA - 11 QSO, SP - 11 QSO
• Continents worked: 3
• DX: ~6300km (ODX1) and ~4800km (ODX2) on 20m in CW

• SOTA summits: 2x non-unique (activated by myself before in 2008)
• SOTA reference: DL/CG-001 and DL/CG-005
• SOTA-valid QSO: 127
• SOTA activator points: 14 (8+6) 
• S2S: 1

• WWFF areas: 1x unique (not activated by myself before)
• WWFF reference: DLFF-0316
• WWFF-valid QSO: 107
• Unique callsigns: 98
• WWFF activator points: 2
• P2P: 2

• Altitude difference made: >1300m  
• Walked distance: 14 km
• Overall activity length: 8 hours
• GPS-track record: available HERE

Mni tnx to all chasers fer QSO!

73 es 44 de Dzianis, DD1LD/P