Quattro 2x2 Activation: 2x WWFF & 2x SOTA

Friday, June 12th, 2020.

The initial idea and motivation are summarized in the earlier post here. I was waiting for a suitable opportunity to undertake a quattro activation of 2x WWFF and 2x SOTA in the Karwendel Nature Park by a single expedition. And an opportunity arose on Friday. The weather forecast was just great. We invited our friends over for dinner tonight, so unfortunately, I had a limited amount of time for my activities.

The Karwendel Nature Park has been subject to a protection regulation since 1928 and is one of the oldest and most beautiful nature reserves in Europe. The largest part (around 80%) is in Tyrol/Austria, the smaller part is in Bavaria/Germany. The goal was to activate the Stierjoch, OE/TI-649 (1909m) in OEFF-0043 by 61 QSOs at least and Kotzen, DL/KW-043 (1766m) in DLFF-0173 by 44 QSOs at least to claim a successful quattro activation and three WWFF Activator Award points (I had 17 additional QSOs left from my last activation of OEFF-0043, so 17 + 61 = 88 QSOs or two points). I announced the Stierjoch, OE/TI-649 for 9:00 UTC and Kotzen, DL/KW-043 for 11:00 UTC by the WWFF Agenda and SOTAwatch.

The summits can be reached from the north by a hiking trail starting in the Fall village (773m) near the Sylvensteinsee. I started at the village a little late at 6:00 UTC. Already at this point the Fall village was overcrowded, the parking lots were fully occupied. To save time and avoid the crowd, I chosen a rarely hiked trail along a stream that flows into the Dürrach river. In retrospect, that was a good decision! The lonely path was fun and also beautiful. The trail is neither signposted nor marked and requires good orientation skills. If you get lost, just follow the stream until you cross another path. 

A beautiful terrace waterfall starting a stream. At the latest here you will need to turn right towards the saddle between the the Stierjoch and Kotzen. 

Exactly tree hours later I arrived at the Stierjoch, OE/TI-649 in OEFF-0043. A couple of hikers were enjoying a great view over the Karwendel Nature Park from the summit top. So I did for a while too...

View from the Stierjoch over OEFF-0043 towards the Delps lake.

The first QSO was logged at 9:20 UTC. I had a nice run on 20m and logged 21 QSO in ~10 minutes. I was at least an hour late, the propagation conditions on 40m/30m deteriorated, all the signals were weak. I logged 25 QSOs on 40m in 20 minutes, had a longer but not really productive run on 30m, and finally ended up on 40m. In 1 hour and 25 minutes I collected 65 QSOs (62 unique QSOs + 3 dupes) in CW and one S2S in 2m FM. I QRTed at 10:45 UTC. The mission was complete and I hurried to the next summit. I was an hour behind schedule...

 

My operating spot on the Stierjoch, OE/TI-649. View to the north. 

My next summit the Kotzen, DL/KW-043 is in the background.
 

Exactly one hour later, at 11:45 UTC I logged the first QSO on 40m from the Kotzen, DL/KW-043. The propagation conditions were poor. I gathered 45 OSOs in CW on 40m and 20m in ~45 minutes of operating/participation time and QRTed at 12:35 UTC.  This mission was complete and I had to hurry up.  Now I was 45 minutes behind schedule... Well, not so bad!

  

My operating spot on the Kotzen, DL/KW-043. 

Some hikers around the summit cross are in the background.
 

View from the Kotzen, DL/KW-043 towards the Sylvensteinsee.

I was back at the Fall village at 14:15 UTC (15 minutes behind schedule) but came home just in time because I lost some time in traffic. The quattro activation was successful despite poor propagation conditions. The number of QSOs was not exciting though. However, I had a really nice bike & hike tour and another nice day in the alps. The GPS route showed 26 km, which were covered for 111 QSOs, 14 SOTA points and 3 WWFF Activator Award points.

Mni tnx to all chasers fer QSO!

73 es 44 de Dzianis, DD1LD/P