Alpine trail running with QRP in October

In October I was lucky enough to enjoy a couple of nice mountain trail runs in lovely weather. The goal was to activate as many SOTA references as possible as quickly as possible, but with as many QSOs as possible 😃. The focus was on the summits that will no longer be valid for SOTA from January 1, 2025. The other references were a nice addition. Here is a brief evaluation and summary of these activations within a radio sporting aspect - how to keep a SOTA activation as short as necessary and log as many QSOs as possible.

Trail running together in the Ammergau Apls was fun. Grosse Klammspitz, DL/AM-112, 1924m. 

 

Boundary conditions: 

• Equipment used: USDX+ TRX with 4W output and 5m long GPA. 
• (Self)Spotting: SOTAwatch only.  
• Propagation conditions: fair and similar in all runs.

Trail Run #1. October 12th, 2024.  Three alpine peaks and altogether five XOTA references were activated by 135 QSOs. Call used DA20XOTA. Two SOTA references expire in 2025. This was an easy mountain run with relatively long operating times. The pile-up on DL/AM-008 on 20m lasted over 30 minutes! In average, 45 QSOs in 39 minutes [1.1 QSO/min] per SOTA summit. Propagation: K=4, SFI=214.

Band changes and afternoon time resulted in a lower run rate. 

E.g. only 5 QSOs were logged on 17m that day. 

Trail Run #2. October 16th, 2024. Four alpine peaks and altogether five XOTA references were activated by 123 QSOs. Call used DD1LD/P. Two SOTA references expire in 2025. This was a nice trail run with fair operating times on two bands. The GMA activation of the famous Brunnenkopf, DA/AM-004 was purely for fun and final relaxation. In average, 38 QSOs in 27 minutes [1.4 QSO/min] per SOTA summit (without DA/AM-004).  Propagation: K=3, SFI=174.

The best runs are usually before midday. I struggled to get a couple of chasers in FM.

Trail Run #3. October 20th, 2024. Five alpine peaks and altogether seven XOTA references were activated by 145 QSOs. Call used DA20XOTA. Four SOTA references expire in 2025. This was a fast trail run with operating times of about 30 minutes per summit. Unfortunately, the repair of my antenna on the Horn, DL/AL-181 took some time, and a short attempt on 10m from here yielded no QSOs.  In average, 31 QSOs in 29 minutes [1.1 QSO/min] per SOTA summit (without DL/AL-181). Propagation: K=2, SFI=163.

The best runs were before midday. High bands took time and were not as productive as 40/30/20m.

In the late afternoon, e.g. when activating AL-181, 40/30m bands were the best option.

Trail Run #4. October 25th, 2024. Three alpine peaks and altogether five XOTA references were activated by 99 QSOs. Call used DD1LD/P. Two SOTA references expire in 2025. This was my best solo SOTA tour 2024 in SOTA DL so far. In average, 33 QSOs in 21 minutes [1.6 QSO/min] per SOTA summit.  K=4, SFI=170.

This was a very long and tough trail run of about 12 hours in total. The first two peaks AL-003, Hochrappenkopf and AL-004, Rappenseekopf were easy to climb, the last one AL-005, Hochgundspitze was a bit tricky and required some high-speed free climbing (a couple of cruxes with difficulty level II). The total distance was 2x9km (bike) + 13km (hike) = 31km with ~2000m ascent.

 

Short runs on 20/40m delivered the best run rate.  After a very long climb I needed some more rest on DL/AL-003. Due to time constraints, I had to keep the activation short on AL-005, which resulted in the best run rate.

Operating spot on the Rappenseekopf, DL/AL-004,  2460m. Hochgundspitze, DL/AL-005 on the left, and Hohes Licht, OE/TI-160 on the right. I only met two other trail runners that day. 

Summary:

• Switching bands and modes takes time. For high-speed activations, single or two bands are sufficient. 20m/40m seems to be a sweet combo in terms of QSO rate and chaser satisfaction level. High bands offer more DX opportunities but are (much) less productive.  If you really want to get it quickly, use just single band and single mode and operate until the pile-up dries up. 
• The midday and late afternoon times are not as productive as the morning hours because there are fewer and fewer EU-chasers available. Therefore, the midday and late afternoon runs on each band should/will be shorter. Too early activation is not good either.
• The operating time of about 30 minutes (or less) per summit seems to me to be a good compromise in terms of QSO rate. It is also enough to give my body some rest and prepare it for the hike to the next summit.
• Shortwave CW is fun 👍. There is not much time for rag chewing, so I usually operate in a contest style at 30 wpm - CALL, RST and TU. 2m FM is mainly used as backup and for APRS beaconing. And, I just don't like local FM as much as CW and DX. 

Therefore for mountain trail runs in the Alps that aim for fast SOTA/GMA activations, a short 20m and/or 40m run for about 20-30 minutes per summit seems to be the optimal choice. Keep in mind that your body needs some rest, so you may want to operate (and have fun 😁) for longer than 20 minutes. The radio equipment should therefore be optimized accordingly, but that is another story. And what are your thoughts and experiences?

Activated summits with 98 alpine points during October trail runs in SOTA-DL.   

See you soon at the next alpine trail run!

73 de Dzianis, DD1LD