Project 2024: The Island of Pag is more than IOTA - Summary

May 18th - June 1st, 2024. The island of Pag is a great place to spend your holydays getting to know and try new things. It is the fifth largest island on the Croatian coast with a rich history and cultural heritage. We have really enjoyed everything, and we had a great time. I think two weeks is fine for a stay, but a week longer would have been better in my opinion. The island offers many opportunities for outdoor amateur radio activities and is a lot of fun. You can easily combine your XOTA activities and expeditions with exploring the island by bike, walking and hiking, canoeing, boating and swimming in the sea, sightseeing and spending great time with family and friends.   

Welcome to the island of Pag by a local reception committee. Hello?! QRZ? 😄

Unfortunately, I had to drop some activations due to very weak propagation conditions and radio blackouts, where some activations like WWFF and COTA (requiring 44 and 50 QSOs respectively) would have been a tough job, or even wouldn’t have been successful at all, especially with QRP. Under such conditions an activation in the GMA style (where a minimum of 4 QSOs is required) is a nice opportunity to collect your new XOTA references for the GMA triathlon and boost your score. However, you may not be completely satisfied with such an activation because you will be missing the majority of your known and loyal chasers, and you will not qualify these activations for the WWFF and COTA programs. A SOTA and/or GMA activation requiring only 4 QSOs to quality and get the points was an easy job, although I always tried to get more QSOs. Depending on the actual propagation conditions I had to be very flexible and decide spontaneously whether I wanted to risk an activation or whether I would rather spend time with family and friends. My wrong decision could have resulted in me being on the air for 5 hours just to collect 50 QSOs or less, as it was the case with the activation of 9AFF-0073. It was quite difficult to plan ahead, so when in doubt I decided to stay with family. All in all, I was quite satisfied with my 13 XOTA activations and 400 QRP QSOs made with 4W. Of course, I tried to activate GoGreen as often as possible. Let me start wrapping up with my main interests – SOTA and WWFF.    

SOTA. There are three easy-accessible one-pointers on the island: 9A/PH-052, Sveti Vid; 9A/PH-057, Veli Brig; 9A/PH-060, Panos. I activated them all. For SOTA point collectors, the island of Pag is not the best place, they go elsewhere. I got three uniques credited to my SOTA account, each worth one point. Not much, however, they all offer great views over the island and are worth a visit.  

WWFF. There are five valid WWFF references: 9AFF-0138, Zrce; 9AFF-0073, Kolanjsko blato; 9AFF-0023, Lun; 9AFF-0075, Rezervat Dubrava – Hanzina; 9AFF-0074, Veliko i Malo Blato. I was only able to successfully activate three of them (marked in bold), and by more than 50 QSOs. The activation of 9AFF-0073 was lengthy and tough due to an unexpected radio blackout. I planned a GoGreen activation of 9AFF-0075 a couple of times but ended up missing that activation even though it was relatively close to our QTH because the propagation conditions were very poor over the last days. 

GMA. I added and activated two new references 9A0/PH-001, Velo Tusto Celo and 9A0/PH-002, Vela Glavica. It was probably the first historical GMA activation in 9A ever. Both are striking mountains and worthwhile destinations (see my activation reports in May). The nice thing about the GMA program is that you can choose your favorite mountain on the island, add a new reference to the database yourself and activate it as often as you like. So I did it and chose the places I wanted to visit. The GMA expeditions were a nice addition to my cycling and hiking tours. Nothing more and nothing less. The island's mountains are low and, similar to SOTA, you don't get many points for. It’s about exploring the island and having some fun with your radio! 

COTA. There are two current references: 9A-0184, Ruin Fortica and 9A-0264, Knezev Dvor. There could be more, however, it looks like there is no official WCA/COTA Croatia group taking care about. Since I have become an opportunistic WCA/COTA participant, the very quick activation of Knezev Dvor took place in the GMA style during our visit to the town of Pag. I needed at least one more COTA activation for the GMA Triathlon Award 2024 in Gold and did not want to miss the chance 😉. 

IOTA & WLOTA. It’s a sweet combo. Each QSO out of a total of 400 made on the island counts not only for IOTA, EU-170, but also for WLOTA, LH-1796. Because WLOTA rule 2.1.1 states: “It is not necessary to be near the lighthouse but only in the same island as the lighthouse.” Well, whether this rule makes sense or not would be another debate. The demand for IOTA and WLOTA seemed to be rather low, especially compared to WWFF.

ARLHS. There are two references on the island - CRO-055, Zigljen and CRO-092, Mandre. I have never participated in ARLHS activities before. It's not my thing at all, but I activated them both. What? 😱 Yes, and do you want to know why? My youngest is fascinated by lighthouses and my oldest by FT-8 😂. Just simple like that plus poor propagation. The activations were short and purely technical in nature in the GMA style, as required for the GMA triathlon. Nothing more and nothing less. The criteria for selecting references in the ARLHS and WLOTA programs are not clear to me, there are many more interesting and attractive lighthouses on the island. And I have no idea how much demand there is for lighthouse references.

POTA. POTA is not there yet because there is no interest and no demand yet. But honestly, I am a very opportunistic POTA participant who is watching the future development of the program. And POTA is not eligible for GMA (yet?). 

BOTA. Although the island is one of those with the longest coastline and there are many beautiful hidden beaches, I had and have no interest. I only care whether it's about Beers On The Air 🍺😉😄.

My two favorite award programs – SOTA and WWFF – are the most popular outdoor amateur radio programs in 9A. The number of SOTA references is limited to three according to the summit definition per P150, whereas GMA is offering more options for mountain amateur radio enthusiasts. WWFF is a lot of fun, the local and international community is much bigger than in SOTA and GMA combined. And maybe there will be some new WWFF references on the island in the future.

National 9A SOTA and WWFF awards are a nice bonus and a good way to remember all the activities. Tnx to the 9A SOTA and 9AFF clubs and enthusiasts!

GoGreen XOTA. The island of Pag is a perfect place for cyclists and hikers of all ages and skill levels and therefore for GoGreen activities. This is where GoGreen XOTA is fun, especially when the propagation conditions are right, since every QSO counts. Each time you activate GoGreen your GoGreen points will be multiplied by at least a factor of three due to the EU-170 and LH-1796 cross references. 

You should try GoGreen by bike when you visit this island! It's really fun! 

Click on the logo to read more about GoGreen XOTA.

My personal highlights 👍 were: 

• GoGreen expeditions to 9A/PH-060, Panos and 9A0/PH-002, Vela Glavica. I was rewarded with great views, lonely moon-like landscapes and solitude. It is probably the most beautiful corner on the island.
• GoGreen activation of 9A0/PH-001, Velo Tusto Celo. I will always remember a mini pile-up at sunset close to the Pag Triangle, where in Croatia you can, with a bit of luck, observe UFOs 🌌😉.  I wasn't so lucky to encounter UFOs or aliens, but, given the weak propagation, I was lucky enough to enjoy each of the 70 QRP QSOs in CW in absolute solitude just before dinner.
• Exploring wonderful and weird moon-like landscapes, and discovering nice hidden beaches.
• Enjoying the food & wine and having a great time with family and friends!

And lowlights 👎 were:

• Radio blackouts and poor propagation conditions under which QRP is no longer fun.  A small team from the Croatian 9AFF club organized a WWFF expedition to the island of Pag from May 11th to 15th, just a few days before our arrival. The team had to contend with severe blackouts in radio waves propagation, and for this reason, some activations were cancelled and postponed. Their brief report is available HERE on the 9AFF site.   
• Missed [GoGreen] activations of 9AFF-0075, Rezervat Dubrava – Hanzina and 9AFF-0074, Veliko i Malo Blato. For me it would have been two new ones. 9AFF-0075 in particular would have been a nice GoGreen ride along the coast.
• There are a few more interesting and potential GMA spots that I wanted to go to but gave up due to lack of time.
• Long travel times and stress, road constructions and traffic jams, road and tunnel tolls 😠. 

I finally earned the GMA Triathlon Award in Gold in May 2024 👍💪

Do you want to try it too ? 😉🍀

All in all, a great time for the whole family and lots of fun with the outdoor radio! It never gets boring there, on the island of Pag! 

Tnx all es 73, 44, 11, 77 de Dzianis, DD1LD

X-5: 9A/PH-057, Veli Brig & X-6: 9A-0264, Knežev Dvor

Samstag, 25.05.2024

Heute standen keine großen Funkaktivitäten, sonst ein Familienausflug auf dem Plan. Wir wollten uns die Stadt Pag anschauen. In der Nähe der Stadt befinden sich zwei Referenzen:

• SOTA: 9A/PH-057, Veli Brig
• WCA/COTA:  9A-0264, Knežev Dvor

Die Stadt Pag. In der Mitte der Stadt - 9A-0264, Knežev Dvor. Im Hintergrund (auf der anderen Seite) - 9A/PH-057, Veli Brig.

Da es um einen Familienausflug handelte, versuchte ich die Funkaktivitäten so kurz wie möglich zu halten. Ich aktivierte Veli Brig auf 3 Bändern mit jeweils 4 QSOs. Ein kurzer Run auf 10m brachte leider keinen Erfolg. Weder die Ausbreitungsbedingungen noch die Zeit (15:00-16:00) waren günstig, um viele SOTA-Jäger loggen zu dürfen. Na gut, kein großes Ding - ein One-Pointer wurde mit 12 QSOs eingecheckt 😊. 

Auf dem Veli Brig, 9A/PH-057.

Da ich ein opportunistischer WCA/COTA Teilnehmer (geworden) bin, gestaltete sich die Aktivierung von Knežev Dvor in dem GMA-Still (mindestens 4 QSOs). Ich bräuchte noch mindestens eine COTA Aktivierung für das GMA-Triathlon Diplom 2024 in Gold und wollte mir die Chance nicht entgehen lassen 😉. Ich baute die Station in der Aktivierungszone schnell auf und widmete mich dem S&P-Betriebsmodus auf 20m. 50 QSOs wären heute schwer möglich, und für den GMA-Triathlon auch nicht notwendig. Nach dem QSO #7 mit CN3A machte ich QRT und rannte zurück in die Stadt. Ich wurde erwartet. 

Kurze Aktivierung von 9A-0264, Knežev Dvor im GMA-Still, wobei nur 4 QSO für eine gültige Aktivierung für den GMA Triathlon erforderlich sind. Knežev Dvor im Hintergrund.

Ein Rundgang durch die Altstadt von Pag und ein Besuch beim Fürstenpalast - 9A-0264, Knežev Dvor waren kurz aber gemütlich. 

Das Funken wurde heute auf das Minimum reduziert. Das Highlight des Tages war der Besuch der Käserei Sirana Grigora in Kolan, wo wir den berühmten Pager Käse / Paški Sir sowie viele andere Käsesorten probieren durften. Sehr empfehlenswert! 

Das Highlight des Tages und eine Freude fürs Gaumen 👍.

73 de Dzianis, 9A/DD1LD

SOTA DL/AL-167 & COTA DL-02496 on the Falkenstein

February 10th, 2024. For my DA20XOTA award I still had to activate the Allgäu region. It's a long drive from my QTH so the plan was to maximize the yield and fun factor. I'll probably never be a big friend of COTA. There are so many little things that make it hard to like the program. But when it comes to double activation, especially in combination with SOTA, I'm on board in a heartbeat. The Falkenstein castle and mountain offered an ideal place for a winter weekend activity with DA20XOTA. 

The ruins of the hilltop castle, DL-02496 are located on the Falkenstein, DL/AL-167 (1268m) in the Falkenstein ridge near Pfronten in the Allgäu. This place is very popular and often visited. The hike is easy and not worth mentioning. To avoid the crowds of tourists, I set up my tiny radio station in the immediate vicinity of the castle around 10 a.m. With the Chinese USDX-SDR I made just over 100 QSOs in just two hours of operation. A quick 10m run resulted in two QSOs with UA. The 30m band was the winner. At midday the observation deck was filling up with curious visitors, it was the right time to go. The WX was good enough to continue with the planned tour. 

Operating spot on the Falkenstein.  The WX was fine with some wind gusts.

The next jump was to the Salober, DL/AL-287, where I spent some more time CQing on 10m, and as a result, a mix of 15 QSOs with UA, UR and DX from NA was logged. The 10m band wasn't efficient in terms of QSO rate, but it was fun to work NA in the late afternoon with 4W and a piece of wire. A total of 65 QSOs were logged on the Salober. I could definitely spend more time playing with the radio there, but I wanted to enjoy the alpine beauty and atmosphere for a while.

On the Salober, DL/AL-287, 1288m. A very nice walk along the Falkenstein ridge 💕.

The Chinese made USDX-SDR is still in its infancy, dealing with pileups and crowded bands is possible, but not easy. The intermodulation performance appears to be poor, I had some issues with distorted SSB reception, particularly on the crowded 40m band. The AGC is too slow, the signs on 10m popped up slowly like ghosts from nowhere. The rig certainly has some teething problems, and you need some experience to deal with them. However, it's a small all-mode adventure radio that's good enough for a SOTA activation, even in SSB mode.  Let's see if I have time to write an extended review a little later. 

On the way home I quickly checked in at the Eisenberg, DL/AL-171 with 18 CW QSOs on 30/40m. Unfortunately I didn't have much time for a longer run. It's a beautiful place, I'll definitely come here again. 

Short stop for a quarter of an hour at the Eisenberg, DL/AL-171. A lovely place 💗!  

What was the spoils of the day? 

• 187 QSOs, 17 QSOs on 10m, DX was NA on 10/20m in CW
• 3x SOTA uniques, 19 SOTA points
• 1x COTA with DA20XOTA

Tnx es 73, 11 de Dzianis, DD1LD

The 12th World Castles Weekend: GoGreen Activation of the Ismaning Palace

It has been busy times... There was just not much time for ham radio.

On the coming Sunday, June 20th, was the last chance to contribute to the 12th World Castles Weekend. The weather was nice for a family bike tour. The plan was to ride to the Ismaning Palace, where I could do a short activation while the rest of the family could relax in the park. The Ismaning Palace, WCA DL-05238, COTA OBB-104 was not activated yet, so that I was looking forward to having a nice pile-up and I was hoping to gather at least 100 GoGreen points. 

Everything just gets slower with children. We started and arrived later than I wanted. Our 4 ½ year old Kirian made the 16 km long route very easy and without any complaints. It must have been a lot of fun for him. Our 2 year old Norwin enjoyed half of the ride from the bike rack and slept the other half. He was the lucky one 😁. 

I easily found a nice operating spot in the shade close to the Ismaning Palace Pavilion.  I didn't want to set up a pole in the middle of the park and threw the antenna over a 12 meter high tree branch. I ​made myself comfortable under the tree in front of the Ismaning Palace Pavilion. Everything worked quickly and without any problems, so that 10 minutes later I was already on the air, at 12:30 PM, whereas the family was looking for a delicious meal for lunch. 

My operating spot in front of the Ismaning Palace Pavilion.

The first 20m run was short and pretty sobering.  After only 11 QSOs, I had to switch to 30m, and then to 40m.  I only logged 28 QSOs as the family came back with an Italian pizza and French fries. Some feedback in the chat at TNXQSO.com indicated bad propagation conditions with strong QSB, QRN and QRM. OK, the propagation was poor, however where were all the COTA takers 😕?  Frequent spotting didn't help much either. 

"Okay, take a break, take a deep breath, enjoy lunch in the fresh air! And then? Scrub all QSOs on all bands and in all operating modes just to gather the 50 QSOs you need", I corrected my initial plan (of 100 GoGreen points) while I was finishing the last slice of the delicious Italian pizza. So I did. The fries and sweets were eaten, the family's patience was becoming increasingly strained. With a lot of effort and an one hour more I managed to log the 52nd QSO.  "QRZ? Any more?". Since only the silence came back, I QRTed with mixed feelings.  On the one hand I managed to activate a new one, on the other hand I was not pleased with such a small number of COTA chasers in my log. I'll admit that I was glad it was over. What an arduous undertaking?!

We quickly packed everything together, paid a short visit to the Pavilion and relaxed cycling home. The real hero of the day was our Kirian. That day he covered 32 km with his little children's bike and even ran a race with a bigger boy who happened to be heading in the same direction. The ambition seized him so that we got home 20 minutes earlier than planned. I was wondering where did he get all this energy from? Bravo! 

Overall, it was a very nice family activity 👍! The radio operation was just OK😒under poor propagation conditions 👎. Well, the weather was too good, and the time wasn't ideal to expect high numbers of COTA chasers. The log has been submitted for WCA and GoGreen Awards.  

Short summary and statistics for DD1LD/P:

• Date: June 20th, 2021
• Equipment: QRP (5W) + EFHW
• Operating time: ~2 hours
• Participation time: < 3 hours
• Valid QSOs: 52
• Unique callsigns: 45
• DXCC worked: 19
• WCA reference: DL-05238
• COTA reference: OBB-104
• GoGreen: yes
• Cycled distance: ~32 km

Mni tnx all chasers and activators fer QSO!

73, 77 de Dzianis, DD1LD/P

GoGreen Cross Activation of the Falkenberg Castle, WCA DL-05243 and 2x GMA

Friday, July 24th, 2020. Preparation.

It was one of the activations when some things just go wrong… Below is the story.
 

This Friday was a pretty busy day and I came home very late.  On Saturday I had to be in Egmating at 11:00 UTC. The weather forecast was nice, and I decided to cycle about 25 km there. I was thinking about a possible GoGreen XOTA activation on Saturday morning. The choice fell on the Falkenberg Castle, which has just been given a fresh WCA reference number, DL-05243. I decided to operate from the forested Höchenberg (607m), DA/AV-217, which is in the activation zone of the castle. Both WCA DL-05243 and GMA DA/AV-217 have not yet been activated. The detour for activation would have added 10 km more, so the total distance would be approximately 60 km. Okay for me! 

The plan was to get QRV at 7:00 UTC, collect 100+ QSOs, QRT at about 10:00 UTC and continue to Egmating, and the plan only worked partially. Late at night I announced my activity through the WCA Group's reflector, set up the environment for this activity at www.tnxqso.com and went to bed.

Saturday, July 25th, 2020. Activation.

I was just too tired to get up in time…  I still felt tired and enjoyed a large coffee while packing everything on my bike. The fresh air and cool temperature below 20°C quickly got me going. I arrived at the Höchenberg at 7:20 UTC.  Actually, the right option in the deep forest would have been to throw my wire antenna over a tall tree. However, I was too late, the forest was quite damp after yesterday's rain and full of annoying mosquitos. So, I opted for a more convenient option, a pole instead.  I found a suitable operating location directly on the forester's path.
 

 

My operating spot on the Höchenberg, GMA DA/AV-217  

in the activation zone of the Falkenberg Castle, WCA DL-05243.
GPS coordinates: 48°2'28"N 11°53'59"E.

The first QSO was logged on 20m at 7:45 UTC and ¾ hour behind the schedule. I knew that the operating QRP in the deep forest could be a challenge, but I just love challenges. The radio operation was tough, the log was slowly filling up despite frequent DX-cluster spotting. The aggressive mosquitoes stung mercilessly. There was a lot of QSB on 20m. So, I spent almost all the time on 40m. The received RST reports indicated the weakness of my signals.  The propagation on 40m improved somewhat around 10:00 UTC, but I had to go with 93 QSOs in my log.  I painfully missed some familiar COTA and GMA chasers, and I just missed the 100 QSOs threshold by 7 QSOs 😞.

On the way to Egmating I made a stop to take a mandatory picture of the activated castle. The Wittelsbach family had a castle built in Falkenberg at the beginning of the 12th century, the ruins of which later became the Falkenberg castle. In the 436 years of its existence, the castle was sold a total of 18 times, 12 times in the past 200 years alone, and it was only inherited 8 times.  The rich history of the castle is well summarized HERE.

 

  
The Falkenberg Castle,WCA DL-05243. 
The castle has been privately owned again since 2000 and is closed to the public.

The route to Egmating was hilly and mostly led through meadows and forests. I made it just in time… Beautiful!

After today's activation in the morning, I didn't really feel happy.  A short and harmless rain greeted me twice at noon, then the sun came out and greeted me too... 😁 So, on the way home I spontaneously decided to activate the Stürzerberg, 557m, DA/AV-199 close to Purfing and only 7 km from my QTH.  Incidentally, I had to learn that the heath on the western slope of the Stürzerberg is a natural monument, a natural landscape that is under nature protection.

A pure GMA activation is always a tedious task because there are not so many takers compared to WWFF, COTA and other programs.  You should have enough time and patience for a pure GMA activation if you want to achieve more than 4 mandatory QSOs. It's just a different kind of challenge for an activator.

I still had some time. The weather was just nice. I set up my QRP station directly on the hill and started CQing in a cozy and rural atmosphere. 15:00 UTC. I called CQ, chased some WWFF areas, called CQ again and enjoyed the great view from the hill.  In the end I was able to log 28 QSOs in about 1 hour of relaxed operation, 3 of them were with WWFF.  A slim result, but better than nothing, sorry, better than 4 mandatory QSOs anyway.
 

 

My operating spot on the Stürzerberg, GMA DA/AV-199.

GPS coordinates: 48°7'45"N 11°49'45"E. 

When I got home, the GPS tracker showed a little over 60 km. Although the number of QSOs was not impressive, three XOTA objects were successfully activated. I ended this beautiful day with a nice dinner with well-deserved cool beer... and 121 QSOs in total, 4x Castle-to-Castle and 5x WWFF.

Sunday, July 26th, 2020. Post processing. 

I stared at the monitor in horror and didn't want to believe my eyes. What on earth was going on here? Ten QSOs were missing from my yesterday’s activation log of the Stürzerberg, DA/AV-199. I used the FLE SW for logging and for some reason, I don't understand, I was missing 10 QSOs 😡. I was pretty sure I clicked the save button a couple of times before closing the logging GUI. All attempts to restore the log electronically have failed. After an hour, I was able to restore 6 QSOs based on my human memory, as well as on database and DX-cluster cross-checks. At the end, I was able to submit an activation log with 24 QSOs versus the original 28 QSOs. Lesson learned - backup, backup, backup. Even a few simple measures like taking a picture from the screen would have been extremely helpful in such a case. I have to think about it!
 

Mni tnx all chasers and activators fer QSO!
73 es 11 de Dzianis, DD1LD/P

GoGreen XOTA

GoGreen XOTA? What on earth does it mean?

There are thousands of ham radio operating awards available, some of them offer a great way to take ham radio outdoors. You can hike a high alpine mountain or a local hill, go to a green park or to a sunny beach, visit a lonely island or your favorite castle and "activate" them to enjoy outdoor ham radio activities and apply for a corresponding activator award.    

I had the idea for GoGreen ham radio activities in my head for a very long time. The basic concept is pretty simple:

• Activations should be done without using personal cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc. (any vehicles with combustion engines, hybrid and electro vehicles), but on foot, by bicycle, e-bike or/and by public transport (bus and train). A GoGreen activation starts and ends at your QTH or at alternative QTH.
• QRP is preferred, however, Low Power (100W) should be fine, too.
• Solar and battery powered operations are welcome. Combustion engine generators should not be utilized.
• Ideally, GoGreen activities should be incentivized by appropriate programs e.g. SOTA, GMA, WWFF, COTA, BOTA, etc. and, moreover, incorporated into associated award schemes.

The motivation behind the GoGreen idea would be to foster:

• outdoor and /P ham radio activities in the fresh air,
• homebrewing and experimenting, 
• personal health and fitness,
• flora and fauna conservation (less emissions, noise, damage, etc.), 
• "green" thinking (less congestion and traffic jams, better life quality, etc.),
• personal achievements and joint family activities

The COVID-19 restrictions in Bavaria in March 2020 brought some urgency to get the idea on the way and try it out, as the exit restrictions in Bavaria still allowed sports and exercise in the fresh air. So, outdoor ham radio activities around the corner were allowed as long as social distancing was maintained. I was looking for what I can do... together with my family.

The most of SOTA (Summits On The Air) and WWFF (WorldWide Flora and Fauna) activities require driving decent or long distances by car, at least for me. 

I have been participating in the SOTA program since 2007. I was there from the start, so to speak. The SOTA program has not evolved over the last decade. OK, new associations and new folks joined the program, and that's it in general. In a nutshell, the main limitations are:

• The scoring system is neither competitive nor reflecting an actual effort associated with an activation. The rigid scoring scheme doesn't offer any additional incentive to activators who climb high and challenging peaks or do GoGreen activations. 
• There is no incentive to activate the same summit (around the corner) multiple times a year unless you are looking for a summit-to-summit (S2S) award. An activator is thus constantly forced to activate a unique one in order to collect points for Activator Awards.
• The references are given by SOTA Management Team to a summit with the highest prominence according to the P150 rule. The highest prominence and P150 rule don't always reflect a degree of difficulty and effort associated with an activation, and what is more important to me, the attractiveness of a mountain.  A lot of really beautiful mountains and hills have been removed from the list or not added to the list for this reason.

There have been a lot of discussions in the SOTA-reflector, but nothing has changed since then, and probably will not be changed under the current SOTA Management Team.

 
From this point of view, the GMA (Global Mountain Activity) program offers much more flexibility and indeed encourages green thinking. It is also much more family friendly as you can always do a quick activity with all of your family members and/or pets. And this is exactly what is important to me - spending more time with the family and enjoying activities together.
 

 

GoGreen activation of the Turmhügel hill, DA/AV-200 
together with my family on Sunday, June 28th , 2020.

Easy 15km by bike, 30 CW QSOs made by QRP in 35 minutes of uptime.  
My QRP station fits in the bike side pocket.

The GMA website has been created and maintained by Mario, DL4MFM. The program has evolved well over the past decade. You can submit or add a reference for a mountain or hill around the corner and activate it everyday by bike or by walk with your kids while still collecting some award points. The hill or mountain should have a name and height that appear on an official map. The prominence doesn't matter, but frankly, do you really need a P150-rule and a long drive to have fun? Well, you should have enough time and patience for a pure GMA activation if you want to achieve more than 4 mandatory QSOs because there are not that many takers compared to WWFF, SOTA and other programs, however, the number of GMA enthusiasts is constantly growing. The GMA enables GoGreen activities, however, doesn't explicitly incentivizes them. This means that no additional points will be earned through any GoGreen activities. 

One of my after-work GoGreen activations of my favorite local hill, GMA DA/AV-198. 
A few QSOs in a few minutes are always possible.
Together with my son Kirian on June 3rd, 2020. 
 

The WWFF program has been designed around the IOTA (Islands On The Air) award scheme, all this was about activating and collecting references. Once activated or chased, there is no urgent incentive to do this more than once or twice. It requires a lot of traveling by car to get a New One. End of 2019 the WWFF Committee announced the upcoming launch of a new pilot award scheme for activators - the WWFF Activator Points Award starting in 2020. The new annual award scheme pursued two objectives - to encourage:

•     longer activations (beyond the default 44 QSOs),
•     return activations (more than once).

Points are awarded annually, as follows:

•     For achieving the 44 QSO quorum at each reference,
•     For achieving additional QSO quotas (multiples of 44) at each reference.

Additional points will be awarded for each DX entity (five points) that an activator activates from.

This means that you can activate your favorite WWFF park around the corner as many times as you like and collect up to 10 activator award points per year. In my opinion, this is a great idea, the only one variable missing in the equation is a similar award scheme for chasers. Similar to GMA, the WWFF program enables GoGreen activities, however, doesn't explicitly incentivizes them, since is doesn't make any difference if you operate from car or come by bike. Actually, the "Make Nature Your Shack" slogan implies green thinking, and the WWFF program and Committee should support GoGreen expeditions rather than entertain /M activations.

 

 "Make Nature Your Shack". Operating from DLFF-0642 on July 9th, 2020.

After-work GoGreen Activation. Live log and info at www.tnxqso.com

45km by bike, 180 QSOs made with QRP in ~3.5 hours of participation time.

I also had a look at the COTA/WCA program which is also very similar to the IOTA award scheme. You can activate some castles and fortresses around the corner, and there are many, so you're sure to find one near your QTH. So, you could easily Go Green if you like. The COTA/WCA program enables GoGreen activities, however, does not create a direct incentive as it is not based on points, and there are no award points to collect. Well, the world castles day and the world castles weekend might give an incentive to activate the same object twice over time or even several times, and earn a nice award and a participation certificate from the COTA/WCA group. 

I tried them all - SOTA, GMA, WWFF and COTA, and it is fun!  As soon as GoGreen activations are considered, the GMA and WWFF programs are my favorites, since they are sustainable and have a chance to embrace green thinking, create appropriate incentives and design GoGreen award schemes for activators like me. They are not there yet, but very close to. The number of GoGreen activators is still small but emerging, e.g. DF3MC, ON4VT, ON5SWA, PA9CW, RN3ANT, Z35M, etc. Certainly the integration of the GoGreen option into the appropriate award schemes will create more work for the program owners and award managers, but there is nothing that cannot be managed.
 
The GMA Triathlon award scheme brought me to think about XOTA that means X-any On The Air, and, especially, about the GoGreen XOTA. You can activate whatever you want - mountains, hills, nature reserves, castles, light towers, islands, beaches etc. as long as you Go Green and have fun! Does it sound easy enough for you? Just try it! You also can undertake X-activations or cross activities by a single expedition, e.g. operating from a GMA/SOTA mountain which is located in a WWFF area. Or you can go out for a GMA activation of your local hill and, in parallel, chase some other SOTA/GMA or WWFF or COTA activators.

The GMA provides a great platform to track your XOTA activities and progress. It offers many tools to plan your ham radio mini expedition or anylize your logs. Martin, DF3MC summarized a great overview of the GMA platform.  All of this is more about your personal goals than the competition. For example, my personal goal for 2020 is to

• earn the Gold Medal in the GMA Triathlon 2020,
• collect 44 WWFF Activator Award Points (part of DD1LD's Personal 44 Challenge), 
• earn the WCA Award "11 (Two towers)" in Gold,
• activate 44 different SOTA/GMA references (part of DD1LD's Personal 44 Challenge), 
• stay happy and healthy,  

while maximizing the number of my GoGreen activations and joint family activities.  And this will be my Personal DD1LD's GoGreen XOTA Challenge 2020.
 

 

 My GoGreen Activation of DLFF-0706 and GMA DA/AV-384 on May 24th, 2020.

40km by bike, 107 QSOs made with QRP in 2 hours. 
 

Well, why not to introduce a Green Medal in the GMA Triathlon or to award additional five WWFF activator points for a GoGreen activity? I know, the idea of GoGreen activations is revolutionary for any of those programs mentioned above, and will probably never be included in any of these award schemes... But who cares and who knows? The only thing that finally matters is outdoor ham radio experience, fun and personal health!
 

73, 44, 11 de Dzianis, DD1LD

GoGreen Activation of the Schwaben Castle, DL-05240 on the Wiegenberg, DA/AV-209

Sunday, June 21st, 2020. Short activation report.

I took a look at the weather forecast, the weather on the weekend would have been unstable close to the Apls, but still good for a bike ride around the corner. Sunday was the last day of the 11th World Castles Weekend (WCW-2020), I didn't want to miss it. I just got a new reference DL-05240 for the Schwaben Castle in Markt Schwaben from Manfred, DF6EX and it would be "my duty" to activate this reference.  I decided to operate from the Wiegenberg, DA/AV-209, which is just located in the activation zone of the castle. It's 14 km there and back by bike, so it would be a good bike round for Kirian. I have announced my schedule through the reflector of the WCA Group.

The WCA Group has published an announcement on its website. Thank you very much!

Kirian was too tired on Sunday morning...  So I was on the air an hour late. I started on 20m at 9:00 UTC and got a few QSOs in CW, then nothing came back, even though the copied signs were loud!? I decided to try SSB. The propagation conditions were good, I collected 55 SSB QSOs in less than one hour. After a short and low yield CW run I switched to 40m and had a similar situation - I got more QSOs in SSB than in CW, i.e. 33 QSOs vs. 19 QSOs.  As far as I remember, this is the first activation where I have made more contacts in SSB than in CW, thanks to good propagation and good location as well.

Operating spot on the Wiegenberg/Wittach, DA/AV-209.

GPS coordinates are 48°10'58.3"N 11°51'51.1"E.

Andy, DL2DVE and my friend Anton paid a visit to us. Andy brought some snacks for lunch (tnx Andy) and invited us for coffee and ice cream in the afternoon. We spend about three hours on the hill. Due to rain and other curious visitors, I had to interrupt my activation several times, which led to an actual uptime of around two hours. I QRTed at 12:00 UTC and we made our way to Andy, where we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying coffee and ice cream, talking about outdoor ham radio activities and making future plans, etc. The Sunday's activity resulted in 116 QSOs on 20m/40m made with QRP. 

 

DD1LD/P in action on the Wiegenberg, DA/AV-209 

while activating the Schwaben Castle, DL-05240.

The requirements for the Activator Award "11 (Two Towers)" in gold have so far been met. I needed a few more QSOs to apply for the Chaser Award. In the late evening I logged RA1L/M CQing from the Kronshtadt Fortress and Fort Menshikov on 40m and should therefore also qualify for the Chaser Award in gold.

The logs have been submitted. And again, the WCW-2020 was fun!

Short summary and statistics for DD1LD/P:

• Date: June 21th, 2020
• Equipment: QRP + EFHW
• Operating time: ~ 2 hours
• QSOs in total: 116 (w/o dupes) 
• Unique calls: 105
• CW QSO: 28
• SSB QSO: 88
• 40m QSO: 64
• 20m QSO: 52
• DXCC worked: 26
• DX: North Amerika
• WCA/COTA objects: 1x NEW ONE
• WCA/COTA reference: WCA DL-05240 (Schloß Schwaben)
• WCA/COTA-valid QSO: 116
• GMA: 1x unique
• GMA reference: DA/AV-209 (Wiegenberg)
• GMA points: 5 

Mni tnx all chasers es activators fer QSO!

73 es 11 de Dzianis, DD1LD/P  

Double Activation: WWFF Zellbachtal & COTA Hechenberg Castle

Saturday, June 13th, 2020. Short activation report.

Saturday, June 13th, was forecast as a hot day with temperatures up to 32°C. We wanted to escape the coming afternoon heat. After a long breakfast Kirian and me spontaneously decided to undertake a double activation of the Zellbachtal, DLFF-0448 and the Hechenberg Castle, COTA-DL OBB-086, WCA DL-04982. I just had to find a good place with lots of shade, and quickly found a suitable one in the forest of the Zellbachtal nature reserve.

Our GPS location during double activation on June 13th, 2020.  

The red curve marks the 1km COTA activation zone. 

GPS coordinates are 47°49'52" N and 11°32'47" O.

Our quiet operating spot during double activation on June 13th, 2020. 

Kirian watched some cartoons while I was operating.

The goal was pretty easy to collect as many WWFF activator award points as possible. I started CQing at ~11:00 UTC, and made 180 QSOs on 20/30 and 40m in less than three hours of operating time. The propagation conditions were fair to good. Approximately 2/3 of the QSOs were on 40m. It was fun again! 

We made a short stop in Hechenberg to take a few pictures for documentation. The Hechenberg Castle was built in 1594. Near the Hechenberg Castle there is the Hechenberg Tower Hill, a former water castle of the tower hill or mota type.  The tower hill castle, which was probably founded by the Lords of Hechenberg in the 11th or 12th century, was surrounded by a moat five to seven meters wide.

 The Hechenberg Castle,  COTA-DL OBB-086, WCA DL-04982.

 

The St. Valentin Church in Hechenberg. The castle is behind the church.

 

Short summary and statistics for DD1LD/P:

• Date: June 13th, 2020
• Equipment: Low power (100W) + dipole
• Operating/Participation time: ~2:45 hours
• Valid QSO: 180 (w/o dupes)
  
• Unique callsigns: 164
• CW QSO: 106
• SSB QSO: 74
• 40m: 112 QSOs, 20m: 66 QSOs, 30m: 2 QSOs
• DXCC worked: 31
• Top countries worked: DL, I, SP, ON
• Continents worked: 2
• DX: North Amerika

• WWFF areas: 1x unique (not activated by me before)
• WWFF reference: DLFF-0448
• WWFF activator points: 4 (x 44 QSO)
• P2P: 3

• WCA/COTA areas: 1x unique (not activated by me before)
• WCA/COTA reference: COTA-DL OBB-086, WCA DL-04982

Mni tnx all chasers es activators fer QSO!

73 es 44 es 11 de Dzianis, DD1LD/P

Starting into the World Castles Weekend 2020

A long weekend just started on Thursday, June 11th. The weather forecast, and especially, in the morning was not stable enough for alpine SOTA activities, so I thought about WWFF again. I still needed some more COTA activations for the GMA triathlon. At the same time, Manfred, DF6EX just mentioned the 11th World Castles Weekend (WCW-2020) taking place from the 11th to the 21st of June 2020, and motivated me to take part. I only had a few hours for my activities on Thursday and did not want to go far from home. The COTA map suggested two castles near my home (app. 25 min by car) that were not yet activated.  The Moosen Castle, COTA-DL OBB-019, WCA DL-03853 and Armstorf Castle, COTA-DL OBB-014, WCA DL-03848 lie on the different sides of the highway A94 and have overlapping activation zones. The weather forecast was rainy in the morning, but the rain should stop after 8:00 UTC. So, I announced my activity for Thursday at 8:00 UTC through the WCA reflector on late Wednesday evening, hoping that I would still address many chasers on time. I also wanted to set a goal for this activity, which was a successful double activation by 50-100 QSOs in two hours of uptime. My expectations were decent, however, the plan went better than expected!

 

The overlap between two activation zones is less than 100m.

I sneaked out of the house in the rainy and gloomy morning while the kids were still sleeping. I planned a little more time to find a suitable operating spot. Finally I parked my car in the activation zone behind a hunting cabin and decided to leave my station in the trunk because of the rain. It turned out that it was the right decision, the rain got stronger. The location had a certain elevation and was pretty good for RF.

 

 My GPS location during double activation on June 11th, 2020. 

My pants and shoes were soaked by wet grass during the antenna installation, and it was still raining. Yesterday I tweaked my antenna a bit and was curious about its performance. So, nothing else than going on the air! I went on the air on schedule at 8:00 UTC. I started on 40m and gathered 60 QSOs in 45 minutes. Because of the changing rain and, thus, the changing SWR, the ATU constantly tried to tune the antenna to the lowest possible SWR. It was pretty annoying and disrupted the operational flow a little. Finally, I had to set a higher auto-tuning threshold to make everything work smoothly. A run in SSB resulted in 70 QSOs in 30 minutes of operating time. Then the rate on 20m and 40m went down to app. 1 QSO/min. I gathered over 220 QSOs in tree hours of uptime. That was fun! I had an hour left, I collected 40 more QSOs, took a couple of pictures, packed everything together and made my way home with 260 QSOs in my log. Of course, a public holiday in Europe (Corpus Christi) helped me get a pretty nice number of QSOs and chasers. The overall result was motivating to undertake more COTA activations. I needed at least one more for the Award "11 (Two Towers)" issued by the World Castles Activity Group (WCAG), and a couple more ones for the GMA triathlon as well.  I felt like I could get even more QSOs, but it was the best time to go. The weather got a lot better and warmer, and I wanted to spend the rest of the holyday outside with my family and our friends.  

My operating spot. As forecasted, the weather got a lot better on departure. 

The hunting cabin in the background was a good orientation point.

On the way home I made two short stops at the castles to document my successful activation.

 

The Armstorf Castle, COTA-DL OBB-014, WCA DL-03848.

The Moosen Castle, COTA-DL OBB-019, WCA DL-03853.

Short summary and statistics for DD1LD/P:

• Date: June 11th, 2020
• Equipment: Low power (100W) + dipole
• Operating/Participation time: ~ 3.5 hours
• QSOs in total: 253 (w/o dupes)
• CW QSO: 124
• SSB QSO: 129
• 40m QSO: 197
• 20m QSO: 56
• DXCC worked: 34
• DX: North Amerika
• WCA/COTA objects: 2x uniques and NEW ONEs
• WCA/COTA reference: WCA DL-03848 / OBB-014 + DL-03853 / OBB-019
• WCA/COTA-valid QSO: 253 (w/o dupes) 

Mni tnx all chasers es activators fer QSO!

73 es 11 de Dzianis, DD1LD/P  

GreenParty 2020

Friday, June 5th, 2020. Preparation.

It was a rainy week, and we needed some rain with all this dry weather. I was thinking of combining WWFF and SOTA activities as part of GreenParty 2020, however, the weather forecast was not promising for high-alpine expeditions, so I rejected this idea.  And what now? Should I go for a pure WWFF activation? I remembered that I wanted to participate in the GMA Triathlon this year, I still needed some activations of castles, islands and lighthouses to score points for an award.  We have some "problems" in Bavaria with islands/IOTA and lighthouses/LOTA, but no issues with castles/COTA. The ultimate goal was to find an area

• where the weather forecast would have enabled me to operate without rain for a couple of hours;
• with a rarely or not activated WWFF reference;
• with a rarely or not activated WCA/COTA reference.

I studied maps and weather forecasts for hours, and, finally, found a sweet spot. There is an overlap between the Mündung der Tiroler Achen, DLFF-0219 and the Winkl Castle, DL-04472, OBB-082. The DLFF-0219 was activated a couple of times by ~300 QSO in total, and the DL-04472 was not activated yet. It made me hope for a nice pile-up! The weather forecast for the Chiemsee lake area was promising inbetween 8:00 UTC and 12:00 UTC, and looked a lot better than in my hometown.  I announced my expedition for 8:00 UTC via the WWFF Agenda and WCA Group Reflector just a few hours before departure.
 

 

The operating spot was chosen in the overlap between the DLFF and WCA/COTA activation zones.
 

Then I had to study the GreenParty rules.  Initially I wanted to operate in CW and SSB, but I also found out that the category Mixed includes digital modes, in which I was not interested at all. So, I decided to go for CW only, and this was not the best option nether for me nor for all other chasers who can't do CW, since I spent almost all of my operating time collecting every CW QSO to maximize my score within a certain amount of time.  My goal was to collect 3 WWFF activator points at least, or, put differently, 3x 44 QSO = 132 QSO in CW.  I had a couple of hours for operating, since I needed to be at home at 13:00 UTC.

Saturday, June 6th, 2020. Activation. 

I was going to place my station on a meadow in the overlap area between the WWFF and COTA activation zones (marked by red). The plan did not work, the meadow was already occupied, the cattle were grazing in the meadow. I had to move back and closer to the Rothgraben (to the right of the marked spot) and set-up my station just within the WWFF border. 

 

The border or the DLFF-0219 runs along the Rothgraben. The red circle marks the anticipated operating location. The actual operating spot was chosen near the Rothgraben to the right of the marked location. 

 

The operating spot was the lowest point in the area close to the ditch and was surrounded by trees and an earth wall (on the right to the north) and, therefore, not ideal for RF but this was the only way to fully comply with WWFF and WCA/COTA rules. 

GreenParty 2020. My operating spot close to the ditch (Rothgraben). 
View to the south. Chiemgau Alps in the background.

I started at ~8:30 UTC on 20m and made 27 QSO in half an hour. Then I switched to 40m and got a huge but short pile-up I really enjoyed! It was a very chaotic pile-up but I was able to handle this kind of chaos. The pile-up resulted in 50 QSO in ~35 minutes.  The pile-up died away quickly, and I was collecting the rest QSOs on 20m and 40m at a moderate rate until the rate dropped significantly. I had short runs at 80m and 15m without a single QSO made. Then I was constantly switching between 20m and 40m and collecting every QSO I could get. The overall result was not really exciting, I made 137 CW QSO on two bands in 3.5 hours of operating time.  More than half of QSO were done in the first hour, and 90 QSO were done in the first two hours. Well, the propagation was poor, the location was not ideal, and I decided to omit SSB, and I still have to work on optimizing my antenna, and, and, and. At the very end I had a very short run at 30m and got 2 additional QSOs in the log. Unfortunately, I had no time for SSB and had to leave with 139 CW QSO including 10 P2P QSO in my log.
 

 

My portable station in a trolley that I had to move for 1km. I left my car in the Winkl parking lot. 
The Kampenwand (1668m), DL/CG-046 in the background. The rain was coming.  

 

The current rules of the GreenParty come very close to a contest-like operation. I found the number exchange pretty annoying. I had to send F0219 to every chaser. Many chasers were not interested in it, and did not want to have it, and did not even know what it meant. It also disrupted the usual QSO flow, so many chasers replied to me as soon as they received 5NN, even though I was still sending F0219. Also, sending F0219 to everyone was not "green" (not environmentally friendly) at all, just a waste of battery energy. I decided not to ask and push for any numbers, and if a chaser did not give me a number by default, I logged 000. This made the operating flow more fluid. Some chasers gave me a number at the beginning and no longer later. An exchange with other /P was mandatory and fairly straightforward.
 

I relied heavily on RBN and chasers' spots. At home I found out that some activators spotted themselves via the WWFF watch/cluster saying GreenParty. The rules state "self-spotting is not allowed". I am not sure if they even recognized this before submitting their logs, or they will not submit their logs for ranking at all.  Let's see.
 

This was my first time attending this event. The overall idea is really good and the event was fun. However, the whole thing is not yet mature and has more potential to become more successful and widely accepted. I guess if GreenParty organizers design the rules around the usual WWFF operating flow, they will get much more acceptance from WWFF activators and chasers to participate and, especially, to submit a log. Anyway, I shared my constructive feedback with the organizers. Let's see.
 

The nicest part was a pile-up on 40m, I already forgot when I had such a pile-up. Well, I can imagine doing a few other rural COTA activations.

And, of course, I took a picture of the Winkl Castle, before I hit the road home. The castle burned down in 1994 and was only renovated a few years ago, and equipped with nine living apartments. Architecturally, the building is more like a manor house than a castle. An eventful and rich history of the Winkl Castle has been demonstrated since the 15th century. Unfortunately, not much information is available on the web.
 

The renovated Winkl Castle, WCA DL-04472, COTA OBB-082. 
 

As soon as I entered the highway it started to rain. Good timing! I arrived home just in time.

 
Short summary and statistics for DD1LD/P:

• Date: June 6th, 2020
• Equipment: Low Power (~60W)
• Operating/Participation time: ~3.5 hours
• DXCC worked: 29
• Top countries worked: DL, I, SP, ON
• Continents worked: 2
• DX: North Amerika

• WWFF areas: 1x unique (not activated by me before)
• WWFF reference: DLFF-0219
• WWFF-valid QSO: 139 (144 - 5 dupes), all CW
• Unique callsigns: 129
• WWFF activator points: ~3
• P2P: 10

• WCA/COTA areas: 1x unique and NEW ONE
• WCA/COTA reference: DL-04472, OBB-082
• WCA/COTA-valid QSO: 139 (144 - 5 dupes), all CW
• Unique callsigns: 129

Mni tnx all chasers es activators fer QSO!

73 es 44 es 11 de Dzianis, DD1LD/P

Thursday, June 25th, 2020. Conclusion. 

The GreenParty 2020 results were announced today. I'm happy with my achievement! I guess we have to adjust the GreenParty rules for next year...

 

DD1LD/p - First Place in Low Power, All Bands, CW, 6 hours of operating time.

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