Scandinavian XOTA Tour 2025

August 23rd, 2025. 

I strained to catch the Morse signals in my headphones, trying to decode the call signs of the correspondents reaching out to me at the very edge of the transceiver’s noise. But the wind—rising with sudden fury—smothered every sound, leaving no chance at success. Only half an hour earlier I’d sat on the summit in just a T-shirt. Now I was forced to layer on every scrap of clothing I carried. The harsh northern gusts grew ever stronger, cutting straight through me.

I managed to snatch a couple more callsigns before the pileup dissolved into silence. Out of courtesy I called a few minutes longer, but no reply came. Enough. With this wind today no SSB. The antenna bent under the onslaught yet held its ground with stubborn resilience. I powered down the transceiver and let my eyes wander over the distant fells. Beautiful. The morning sun scattered its rays across grey-black stones cloaked in sparse, vivid moss, and across countless shimmering lakes and streams of crystal water. I could never tire of these views. 

Beautiful. Perhaps that is why the fells pull me back again and again. Perhaps. Or maybe it is simply the chance to be alone with nature, far from civilization, far from anyone at all. Perhaps. Or maybe it is nothing more than the rarity of these journeys that makes them so dear. Perhaps.

I realized I was stalling, unwilling to break the spell—wanting only to linger in the silence, to drink a little longer from the solitude and the raw, untamed wildness around me. The dog had curled into a warm ball at my feet, trembling now and then as the cold wind brushed his fur.

“All right. Time to move, my friend!” The next summit beckoned, relentless in its pull. “An hour, maybe an hour and a half if we cut straight across. The key is finding the right way in—and the way out. Come on, let’s go.” The dog listened as though he grasped it all, his joy shining through as he began to move.

At that moment, I did not yet know that the day would turn out to be long, nor that this was only the first of three summits I would conquer and activate. It became one of the best and longest day hikes I’ve had in Norway. I spent the entire day — an unforgettable day— in the fells, and it did me a world of good... 

Below you will find only a brief summary of my XOTA activities.

SOTA 

The gods were merciful, blessing us with beautiful weather. I seized every opportunity to activate SOTA, savoring each and every activation. Almost every outing was unique in its own way—whether it meant fighting my way through a swamp or scouting for a suitable path up rugged terrain. All first activations were done solo. On a few occasions, my family joined me, making those SOTA activities even more special. 

The family activation of Faurlinuten, LA/RL-157, turned out to be a long and demanding hike, especially for the children. In the end, only half of the family managed to reach the summit. The activation itself had to be done quickly — 12 QSOs in CW within just 14 minutes on 20m. On the descent, we reunited with the rest of the family, picking them up along the way.

Altogether:

• 14x uniques: 13x LA (in three regions) + 1x OZ, 
• 8x ATNO/first activations, 
• 2x GoGreen,
• 517 QSOs with QRP, 
• 41 SOTA points.

HAMing from the Snønuten, LA/RL-004, 1606m — the majestic peak towering over Setesdal Vesthei–Ryfylkeheiane and the Ryfylke landscape. In this region, it is the fifth-highest mountain. It was a challenging one-day solo hike in beautiful weather.

POTA

Unfortunately, there were no LAFF references close to our alternative QTHs, but there were plenty of POTA references. Basically, the POTA activations were a nice side effect of SOTA or other family activities. So, POTA just for fun!

A quick  POTA activation of NO-2251 was done after our family hike on the Lårdalstigen.

Altogether:

• 7x activations,
• 6x uniques,
• 312 QSOs.

WWFF

As part of various family activities, some quick WWFF activations were possible in OZ. The agreement with the family was that I would be allowed to operate for about an hour each time. And that worked out well! A nice contribution to my WWFF Marathon 2025 run (read HERE).

A quick activation of the Aalborg Bay, OZFF-0252 resulted in 90 QSOs with some DX logged in 1 hour of operating time on 20/15m. A very nice operating spot right on the beach! 

Altogether 3x WWFF uniques + 1x IOTA (EU-171 JYLLAND North Group) and 215 QSOs: 

• 25-Aug-25 — OZFF-0157 — 65 QSOs,
• 25-Aug-25 — OZFF-0252 — 90 QSOs,
• 26-Aug-25 — OZFF-0062 — 60 QSOs.

SUMMARY

A total of 24x XOTA references with 1,044 CW/SSB QSOs—and especially eight SOTA first activations—made this season in LA quite impressive. The weather was unusually warm and beautiful with very few rainy days, so I was able to do many SOTA activities. Definitely more XOTA than last year (see HERE). Propagation conditions were sometimes changeable, but overall fair enough. As always, I enjoyed SOTA in Norway the most and had the greatest fun and experience in the fells. This is where the shortcomings of the SOTA scoring system become apparent and the SOTA points are therefore meaningless to me 😉.

We had a great time and a lot of fun! We all love 💗 Norway and will certainly come back—nothing more needs to be said! 

Snønuten, LA/RL-004. The endless beauty and rugged solitude of the Norwegian fjells will stay with me forever.  I could never grow tired of those views!

Tnx agn QSOs es

73 de Dzianis, LA/DD1LD es OZ/DD1LD