DA20XOTA - 20 Jahre Outdoor-Funk in den Deutschen Alpen

The callsign DA20XOTA means Deutsche Alpen 20 (Jahre/Years) X-any On The Air and is related exclusively to outdoor portable amateur radio activities of all kinds in the German Alps from January 1st to December 31st, 2024. More details about you can find HERE. 

On January, the 2nd I brought DA20XOTA on the air and activated DLFF-0445 by 290 QSOs made in 3 hours of portable operation. On January, the 3rd I activated DLFF-0431 by 250 QSOs. So, 540 QSOs in two afternoons with 3x P2P was fun and a good start! 

It makes fun to operate under DA20XOTA. My activities so far:

AV region (1x ref)

• January, 2nd --- WWFF DLFF-0445 --- 290 QSOs

MF region (1x ref)

• January, 3rd --- WWFF DLFF-0431 --- 250 QSOs

CG region (2x ref)

• January, 7th --- WWFF DLFF-0315 & WCA/COTA DL-05244 --- 280 OSOs

 73 es 44 es 11 de Dzianis, DD1LD

GoGreen SOTA - Crossing the Benediktenwand

September the 2nd and 3rd, 2023. GoGreen SOTA - Crossing the Benediktenwand in two days.

I've always wanted to do this tour, crossing the Benediktenwand from Lenggries to Kochel. The opportunity didn't come until the beginning of September with the nice weather. I wasn't sure whether I should run a mountain marathon and activate all five SOTA mountains in one day, or whether I should turn it into a pleasure tour. Since it was supposed to be a GoGreen activity, I was slowly leaning towards a longer tour, where I would have enough time for radio. The plan would be to achieve at least 50 QSOs which are equivalent to one GoGreen Clover from each summit. If you are not familiar with GoGreen XOTA, please take a look HERE. And I had another goal in mind, I wanted to locate the ibex population around the Benediktenwand in order to admire these rare, majestic wild animals in person. So, as a precaution, I packed a few things for bivouac and set off on the tour early the next day.

The one and a half long drive to Lenggries was pretty boring. It was a Saturday and the train to Lenggries was full. I was happy to get a seat. It was a 2km walk from the train station to the Brauneckbahn. From there to the first summit, Latschenkopf, 1711m, DL/BE-013 it was an easy 5km long jump. At 9:45 a.m. I reached the first SOTA summit. I made myself comfortable a little away from the summit cross, where 10 other mountaineers were milling about, and curiously went into the air. Would I scrape together the 50 QSOs? Yes, it worked UFB, I made 53 QSO (with 4x s2s) in CW in an hour of operation time. A few visitors watched me over my shoulder as I operated in Morse. It was fun! 

Operating from the Latschenkopf, 1711m, DL/BE-013.

The second peak, Achselköpfe, 1710m, DL/BE-015 was only 1.5km away. It is a small, narrow, and lonely peak, to which a barely visible path leads. It is very rare for a tourist to get lost here. At 12:30 I had my L-antenna up. Here I enjoyed the peace, the all-round view and the radio. I logged 54 QSOs including 9x s2s and 5x SSB in five quarters of an hour. It was fun!

Operating from the Achselköpfe, 1710m, DL/BE-015.

The third summit, Benediktenwand, 1800m, DL/BE-016 was in sight, it was only 1.5km from here. When I arrived at the summit, I took a long break to satisfy my hunger and wait for the many noisy tourists to leave the summit. I logged the first QSO at 4:40 p.m. Well, it was quite late to expect many SOTA chasers. The propagation conditions were also not particularly favorable either. It was quite though. I only logged 16 CW QSOs in half an hour!? It was enough for a valid SOTA activation, but it didn't satisfy me. I grabbed the microphone, called CQ, searched for and collected all the /P stations participating in the SSB Field Day. Once again I called CQ SOTA, then again I worked in the SSB Field Day and distributed valuable points to the /P stations. It was a tedious task scrubbing all the QSOs in SSB! I scraped together 57 QSOs (~50/50 in CW/SSB) in 2.5 hours and called it a day. The main LiPo battery was going to die, only 2.5W came out of the FT-817. It was just no fun anymore!

Operating from the Benediktenwand, 1800m, DL/BE-016.

The sun set mercilessly. It was late and I was tired. The Tutzinger hut was full. For safety reasons, I decided to spend the night in the refuge. My slight hope of having the whole shelter to myself died when I arrived at the refuge. A couple with a dog has already settled down next to my sleeping mat. They were typical Instagram/YouTube bloggers who were just keen to record the sunset and sunrise with all kinds of cameras in order to get more and more Likes on social media. Hikes for Likes 👍? No, thanks! 👎 How about enjoying the sunset in peace, savoring this peace and letting your thoughts roam freely? Nothing like that. The woman babbled loudly and incessantly… Nevertheless, the sunset was stunningly beautiful!

The sunset on the Benediktenwand was stunningly beautiful!

The night in the shelter was restless. The bloggers woke me up several times. Loud and disrespectful! It was still dusk when I slipped out of my sleeping bag and went outside to watch the sunrise. Breathing in the fresh mountain air at sunrise is a unique feeling that will stay in your memory forever!

The view from and sunrise on the Benediktenwand was fantastic!

Pure adventure. Overnight stay in the refuge close to the Benediktenwand. 

I only had three liters of water for two days, just enough. 

It was time to leave and head to the fourth summit, Glasswand, 1496m, DL/BE-017. On the way down to the Glaswandscharte I suddenly saw them - the ibexes. Two bucks were observed grazing for quite a long time and even walked along for a while until they finally disappeared into the thick mountain pines. What a blessing to see these majestic wild animals in the wild and get so close to them! A little further down I met an older ibex who was watching me curiously from a rock wall. We looked at each other respectfully, greeted each other briefly in silence, and each of us went our own way, he going up and I going further down. It was a unique experience!

Mountain Goat DD1LD meets two real mountain ibexes. 

From the col to the Glaswand, 1496m, DL/BE-017 I traveled with light luggage. Around 9 a.m. I reached the small summit cross. It is a beautiful and lonely mountain that, according to the summit book, is very rarely visited. You find peace there. I made 31 CW QSOs in 45 minutes. To get the remaining 19 QSOs I would have needed at least half an hour more. I left it be and walked quickly and smoothly back to the col (to the Glaswandscharte). 

Operating from the Glaswand, 1496m, DL/BE-017.

From the Glaswandscharte to the fifth mountain Rabenkopf, 1555m, DL/BE-018 it was 5km through the Staffelalm, which is managed during the grazing season and is located on the south side of the Rabenkopf. The tiny top of the Rabenkopf was fully packed at lunchtime. I found a suitable spot on the steep northwest slope under the summit cross and went into the air at a quarter to one. In just over an hour 37 QSOs were logged including 4x s2s. The final SSB run on 20m got me 11 QSOs in 5 minutes, and then nothing else came in. I had neither the desire nor the time for search & pounce with QRP in the SSB Field Day. Actually I could, but the small backup battery was pretty dead. It was time to go home. I packed everything up while chatting with some interested parties about SOTA.

Operating from the Rabenkopf, 1555m, DL/BE-018.

It was a 10km long and quite boring walk to the train station in Kochel am See. It took me over 3 hours to get home from the train station by alternative transport... The only downer 👎.

It was a wonderful and unforgettable GoGreen ridge crossing. I activated five SOTA mountains (two ones were Uniques for me), collected 30 SOTA points, 234 GoGreen QSOs/Points, three GoGreen Clovers and made 184 GoGreen kilometers. And I was very lucky to be able to observe the ibexes up close. My long-awaited wish had come true!

Mni tnx es 73, 77 de Dzianis, DD1LD

GoGreen High Speed Climbing & Haming

Date: September 16th, 2023, GoGreen Triple Activation by 1x WWFF and 2x SOTA 

It was a fantastic solo day tour that lasted from 5am to 9pm in total. The plan was to run the Hindelanger via ferrata from Nebelhorn to Grosser Daumen and activate DL/AL-076 (W. Wengenkopf, 2235m) and AL-077 (Grosser Daumen, 2280m) which are in DLFF-0230 (Allgäuer Hochalpen). My goal was to succeed triple activation by achieving at least 100 GoGreen QSOs/points, 50 QSOs from each peak in a very limited time. 

I very enjoyed this ridge walking, it was high speed climbing & haming, just the way I like it. The start time of the run was 9:45am at Nebelhorn and the finish time was 4:00pm at Höfatsblick, with the amateur activities lasting approximately 1.5 hours. I estimate I lost about half an hour because some climbers were stuck in traffic at the few key points. Anyway, that was pretty sporty, wasn't it? 💪😉 In total I made 107 GoGreen CW QSOs in in just over an hour on 20m and 30m bands. The propagation was good enough. No operating on other bands due to the very limited time. I still have to calculate the GoGreen Miles. The total travel time by train, including some delays, was 7 hours 😒.  Too much, the Deutsche Bahn always has problems with punctuality and reliability!? 

Ridge walking (marked in red) is a sporting challenge and always good for my soul. 

More info about the Hindelanger via ferrata.  

The Hindelanger via ferrata is pretty easy (B/C level), but quite long. The number of climbers was okay for a sunny Saturday, so I quickly arrived at Wengenkopf, DL/AL-076.

Operating from Wengenkopf, DL/AL-076. 53 CW QSOs were gathered in 30min of operating time on 20/30m. DX was EA8. Nebelhorn (deleted SOTA) is in the background. The operating spot was pretty tight, I only had to use two radials.

"Make nature your shack". Operating from Grosser Daumen, DL/AL-077. 54 CW QSOs were gathered in 40min of operating time on 20/30m. DX was TF3.  Brilliant operating spot. I would have liked to stay longer and relax a bit, but I had to hurry... 

Running back to Höfatsblick. Hochvogel, DL/AL-030 (activated by me) is in the background. 

Great weather!  Fantastic day! Mission complete!  I simply love the Allgäuer Alps 💖.

Tnx all fer QSO es 73, 77 es 44 de Dzianis, DD1LD

IS0/DD1LD On The Air

Our family holidays in South Sardinia were just AWESOME! I had a great time with the family and our friends but also some time for ham radio. Almost 700 QSOs were logged in two weeks on the IS0 island, IOTA EU-024. The focus was on SOTA activities (and what else 😀), I have managed 30 SOTA points by 8x SOTA activations, 5x of them were the first ones (ATNO), some of them are really nice, quiet and picturesque summits. It was too hot for longer tours so the daily schedule looked like an early morning activation and spending the rest of the day at the beach. IS0 in the summertime is just about looking for wonderful and warm beaches rather than hiking and climbing mountains in the hot sun at 35°-40°C. And, unfortunately, It would have taken a long drive to reach the highest peak on the island - IS0/IS-001, Punta La Marmora, 1834m. So, I skipped it, maybe next time then 😉. Here is a brief summary of my SOTA activations:

From all of them activated I liked Monte Maria, IS-216 the most, where I had to free climb the very last piece to the "Steinmandl". It was a wonderfully sunny and slightly windy morning. I enjoyed the absolute solitude and idyllic view from the summit for a long while before I got on the air for a half an hour. The signals there are clear as the clear sky above your head. Operating from the top while the orange sun cheerfully rises over the blue sea, and together with my friend Spartacus who listened  attentively to the wind and soft clicks of the Morse key, such moments will remembered for a long time. IMHO, SOTA in IS0 is something for nature connoisseurs and lovers, but not for point collectors. Even an one-pointer (especially a pathless one) here might be difficult to reach, but you are usually rewarded with a great all-round view and solitude. Punta Eva, IS-195 is another nice hike where you will need to find your own way to the activation zone.

Spartacus and me had to start the hikes very early in the morning (~ 6 AM) to avoid the daily heat and get back in time for breakfast. Usually, this resulted in short runs of around 20 to 30 minutes on 20m and 30m. When I had a little more time, I diligently continued on other bands until there were no more takers. The 20m band was the best choice. A lot of QSB on 30m. No operation on 40m, sorry 😉. A total of 207 SOTA QSOs were logged.

I managed one WWFF activation, IFF-1685 by 70 QRP QSOs in CW, and only because this one was on a fairytale sandy beach close to our second QTH. I found a nice operating spot under the pine trees near the beach and alternated between running the radio and swimming in the crystal clear and warm water 👍😁. The first call logged was KD1CT with 599💪. I had to learn that the IFFA has its own requirements for a successful WWFF activation validation, and that a log submission to WWFF can be unnecessarily complicated 😠. Of course I should have read the national rules first. Thanks goodness, and good news for all chasers, my activation and log have been accepted by the IFFA team. I had also planned a combined SOTA+WWFF activation but had to cancel it for family reasons as it would have taken a full day. Many IS0 summits require technically easy but long hikes.

I ran for a couple of hours in the WAE CW contest (~200 QSOs) and then occasionally. Despite high QRM in a range of S5-S7 I was able to log some nice DX like HK4, ZM4, LT6, VK9, VK4, etc.

Some impressions are held on the following pictures.

There is a fire station on IS0/IS-264 which is on duty 24/7 those hot dry days.  

23km walk and 800m of altitude to gather six points on IS0/IS-085, huhhh, tnx!

Only QRO came in the log, all QRP got lost in QRM on IS0/IS-048, sri.

View from IS0/IS-048 in the late afternoon, ~ 1000m ASL.

Together with my faithful companion Spartacus at a very early activation of IS0/IS-137.

Sunrise over landscape. You have to start very early to escape the daily heat... 

The 40/30/20 EFHW among pine trees providing some shade while activating IFF-1685, 44!

My shack. Tnx all qso es 73 de IS0/DD1LD.

I've always attempted to do more ham radio activities here, but I had to be considerate of my family and our friends. All in all, a great time and lots of fun! I would come back here one day... for other /P activities. 

QRT de IS0/DD1LD ..

Tnx es 73 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

Recharge Day in Mangfall Alps, SOTA DL/MF-061 and MF-062

April 27th, 2021.

It was a long, relaxed and gorgeous SOTA tour in the Mangfall Mountains together with Andy, DL2DVE, which will be remembered for a long time.  Spontaneously the day before we decided to activate the two summits MF-061 and MF-062 on this sunny but cool day.  One of these beautiful mountains (or even both) will sooner or later fall victim to P150. So we wanted to take the chance to put our names on the "Activator Roll of Honour" 😀 for both summits before that happens.

We started from the Tunnelberg (Sudelfeldstraße) at around 7:00 UTC and arrived at the Riesenkopf, DL/MF-061, 1337m via the long nice north trail at 9:30 UTC. There were a few walkers up there. While Andy was enjoying himself with the public work to educate all the curious folks about SOTA and ham radio, I quickly installed my station on the edge and got on the air.

View of the Wendelstein, DL/MF-079 from my operating spot on the Riesenkopf, DL/MF-061. 

I quickly scoured 30m and 40m bands and was on 20m when Andy finally started tuning his TRX on 20m. Well, I had to move (that was the deal with Andy) and decided to explore the 17m band, where I even succeeded to gather 4 QSOs. As soon as Andy changed to 30m I had one last run on 20m and QRTed with 40 QSOs in my log. The propagation was OK, the 40m band was weak. I stowed my station in the backpack, signed into the summit book, and rushed to Andy, who was still working through the last chasers on the opposite side of the mountain. We both got over 60 CW QSOs on 40/30/20/17m in 40 minutes of operating time.  Not bad at all!

View to the north from the Riesenkopf, DL/MF-061 through Andy's multiband GPA.

Walkers slowly flooded the summit, it was right time to leave this one and approach the next one, Rehleitenkopf, DL/MF-062, 1338m through the Riesenkopfalm (1176m). When we reached the summit an hour later, the question arose whether we should have lunch or go on the air first. We opted for the second option. We started CQing around 12:15 UTC and a short CW party started over. The propagation conditions worsened compared to noon. So there was no DX. After 40 minutes of operation we starved to death and took a long lunch break.  I only had 27 QSOs on my log 😐 when I chose to QRT .  

My operating spot on the Rehleitenkopf, DL/MF-062 on this hazy late afternoon. 
A mandatory entry in the summit book was also a must.  

We prepared our meal quickly but with love, made ourselves comfortable on the sunny mountain top and enjoyed the delicious food, fresh-smelling coffee and the great view... And we were alone on the summit the whole time!  ✌ The summit was ours! After lunch, as a tribute to the SOTA community 😀, Andy had one final run on 40m to collect the last of the chasers. Altogether we logged around 55 QSOs in CW on 40/30/20/17m from DL/MF-062. 

Enjoy, relax and recharge...  

Finally, we packed up and descended to the parking spot at the Tunnelberg, past the Hirschnagel and Riesenkopf. We arrived at the parking lot at 16:00(+) UTC, completely mentally relaxed and deeply satisfied with the tour. We finished this SOTA expedition with a solid number of QSOs in CW, two unique activated summits, 8 SOTA activator points and a little over 1000 altitude meters for each of us. What a recharge day and a gorgeous tour!  

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

GoGreen (Re)Activation of DLFF-0706

The original plan was to activate something new and unique far from home. And the plan had to be changed the day before. Therefore, a long story short, the best choice under new circumstances was to reactivate the DLFF-0706 and GMA DA/AV-384.

I operated from the same spot as last year.  This time I threw the EFHW antenna over a tree branch instead of using a rod. It gave me a few feet more height compared to. I made myself comfortable in front of a great view of Lake Egglburg and looked forward to a nice pile-up.  My QRP signal went on the air on 20m at ~ 9:30 UTC.

GoGreen reactivation of DLFF-0706 and DA/AV-384.

I tell you it was a tough job! Bad propagation conditions in combination with deep QSB led to a QSO number just over 100 within 2 hours of the actual operating time.  The 20m band was fairy open, I got NA, Asian Russia and a nice run series to Scandinavia and Spain in the log. And that was it!  Running 30m was a tedious undertaking.  The 40m band was probably in its worst shape I can remember?!  So the job was to scrub all sorts of QSOs. The running rate was low and I had enough time to empty my coffee thermos between CQ calls. I was happy to have passed the 100 QSO mark to claim this QSO collecting action as a paramount GoGreen activation requiring a minimum of 100 QSOs. I succeeded, but I wasn't that happy 😬.  Well, a lot of new hunters / callsigns that I haven't worked yet from this nature reserve were a good accomplishment on 20m. 

My operating spot in front of a great view of Lake Egglburg.

(Un)fortunately I was expected somewhere else and had to QRT and leave at 12:30 PM UTC. The bike ride through the Ebersberg forest was awesome as always! In the late afternoon I enjoyed some other more joyful and relaxing outdoor activities 😈. There were many WWFF and COTA activations on this sunny Sunday.  I was wondering how they were doing?! Let's see their feedback... 

Short summary and statistics for DD1LD/P:

• Date: April 25th, 2021
• Equipment: QRP (5W) + EFHW
• Operating time: ~2 hours
• Participation time: ~3 hours
• QSOs: 104 in total with 20m – 51%, 30m – 19%, 40m – 30%
• DXCC worked: 29 
• Top countries worked: UR, OH and SP 
• Continents worked: 3
• DX: KD1, RA0
• GMA reference: DA/AV-384, Kirchberg
• GMA activator points: 5
• WWFF reference: DLFF-0706, Vogelfreistätte Egglburger See.
• WWFF-valid QSOs: 102 (w/o dupes)
• Unique callsigns: 90
• WWFF activator points: 2
• GoGreen: yes, paramount activation
• Cycled distance: ~40 km

Mni tnx all chasers and activators fer QSO!

73, 77 de Dzianis, DD1LD/P 

GoGreen (Re)Activation of DLFF-0755

Our 4 year old Kirian just got a brand new mountain bike and wanted to go for a long ride with his father. This was music in my ears 😎. The distance to the bird nature reserve DLFF-0755 from our QTH and back would be a little over 20km, so I thought this would be a nice ride for the boy (actually he made this distance last year). I recently invested in some new equipment and made some changes to the mobile radio station, so it would be a good opportunity to test the setup before the GoGreen season begins. My pervious GoGreen activations of the DLFF-0755 reserve can be found HERE. 

Late in the morning, we arrived at the DLFF-0755 at the Ismaning reservoir, a large artificial lake close to Ismaning used as a source of water supply. I carefully chosen a location near a farmers road so as not to disturb the bird breeding, since some species of birds were already engaged into. For the sake of the birds, I couldn't use large trees in the middle of the reserve to stretch the antenna as high as possible, and this time too I had to use a 10m long pole. 

Pheasant roosters like royal guards patrolled their area in front of us. 

My goal was to get 100 QSOs at least. The start was quite tough due to the very poor propagation conditions on 20 and 30m. So, I had to spend most of the time on 40m.  The logbook slowly filled with QSOs so that I had enough time to watch the wildlife around us - a couple of pheasant roosters like royal guards patrolled their area in front of us, a couple of roe deer watched us curiously from a safe distance. The running rate improved noticeably in the afternoon when new waves of chasers called in. As I just passed the 170 QSO mark, the first big drops of an unannounced rain shower pattered around 😡. We were not prepared for it and had no choice but to pack and head home. Around 70% of the QSOs were on 40m, the CW to SSB ratio was ~50/50. Well, I'll probably have to focus on high bands next time to reach new chasers. The log has been submitted to both WWFF and GoGreen XOTA programs. 

The modified set-up with FT-857 and light ZS6BKW dipole worked perfectly, however, I see some room for improvement. I might need to consider some alternative options, especially for the aerial.  The homemade dipole works fine but still needs an antenna tuner to cover all of the bands.

Kirian was still full of energy when we returned. It's probably time for his first 30 km bike ride to the next XOTA. Let’s see...

Short summary and statistics for DD1LD/P:

• Date: April 11th, 2021 
• GoGreen distance: 20 km by bike
• Equipment: 50W + homemade ZS6BKW
• Participation time: 3.5 hours
• Operation time: 2.5 hours
• DXCC worked: 31
• Top countries worked:  DL, SP, I, OH
• Continents worked: 3 (EU, NA, AS)
• DX: NA
• WWFF areas: 1x reactivated
• WWFF reference: DLFF-0755
• WWFF-valid QSOs: 171
• Unique callsigns: 160
• WWFF activator points: 3 (+)
• P2P: some 
• Notes: 70% of QSOs on 40m, CW/SSB ~ 50/50. 

Mni tnx all chasers and activators fer QSO!

73, 77 de Dzianis, DD1LD/P

Collecting SOTA Winter Bonus in Chiemgau Alps

Plagued by the longing for the Alps and the mountain idyll, I wanted to use some of the remaining vacation days for outdoor amateur radio activities in the local Alps. I was lucky enough to have two days of good weather to collect the winter bonus during SOTA activities. Winter always comes a little earlier in the Chiemgau Alps than in the rest of the foothills, and there were enough small, cozy mountains that I haven't activated yet.  I associate the Chiemgau Alps with leisurely, relaxed and relatively easy mountain tours where you can take your time for. And I needed some time to sort my thoughts out.

2021-03-30. Großstaffen, 1283m, DL/CG-027. 

I started from the Adersberg to train my legs a little and to do as much altitude as possible, and followed the mountain forest adventure trail (Bergwalderlebnisweg Staffen).  After an unspectacular difference in altitude of 700 meters, I reached the mountain top with a small summit cross around noon. As always, I logged into the summit book, briefly enjoyed the beautiful view of the Chiemsee, set up the station in peace and quiet, and threw a cozy CQ SOTA on the air. 

View of the Chiemsee on the way to Großstaffen, DL/CG-027.

The short half hour activity resulted in 28 QSOs on 20/30/40m with 2 summit-to-summit QSOs and 7 SOTA points. The highlight was a QSO with TA2. Usually there aren't that many chasers at this time, around 1 PM local time. I still had an hour for lunch. I found a sunny spot on the southern slope and made myself a delicious soup with noodles and beef sausage. I tell you, nowhere does the food taste as good as in the mountains! 

 Enjoying a great view, hearty food, sunny weather and fresh air.

2021-03-31. Zinnkopf, 1227m, DL/CG-065 and Zeller Berg, 1065m, DL/CG-106.

Since I was busy doing other things in the morning, I had to go on this tour quite late. I parked in Ruhpolding in Speck and targeted the Zinnkopf, DL/CG-065 first. It was an easy hike with some large and deep snow fields at the top. Arrived at 1 PM, I made myself comfortable on a wooden bench for half an hour activation, which brought me 30 QSOs with 4 summit-to-summit QSOs and 7 SOTA points. 

My operating spot on the Zinnkopf, DL/CG-065, 1227m. Chiemsee in the background. 

After a quick lunch I continued my expedition to the Zeller Berg, DL/CG-106. This small summit offers a wonderful view of Ruhpolding. Neither time nor operating point were optimal, but I easily managed to collect 24 QSOs including 2 QSOs from summit to summit within 40 minutes of operating time. 

My operating spot on the Zeller Berg, DL/CG-106, 1065m. Ruhpolding view.

The activation earned me 5 SOTA points. The most beautiful part of the hike was the ridge walk from the south summit to the north summit.  Both have small summit crosses with summit books that I have routinely logged into. 

Short Summary. 

Two beautiful half days in the Chiemgau mountains led to 3 unique QRP activations through 82 CW QSOs and 10 (summit points) + 9 (winter bonus points) = 19 alpine SOTA points. SOTA activations went as usual. The propagation was OK but not enough for DX. Very few hikers were on the way. The weather was great for two days.  

73 de Dzianis, DD1LD

Activities during COVID lockdown 2020/21

Long time, no news? OK, short update. 

Unfortunately, I had to reduce my outdoor ham radio activities during the second COVID-19 lockdown at the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021. All this around the COVOD-19 pandemic affects our daily life and business, and I've been busy doing things that I would never have done without it... There was not much free time for amateur radio activities both outdoors and indoors.  Well, I still was able to do some SOTA tours in the German alps while trying to escape crowded summits. And of course, taking many walks with my family through fields and forests around my hometown brightened our life in lockdown. There is a short summary. 

Date	Summit	Points	QSOs
2021-02-20	Schwarzenkopf 1464m 2 DL/MF-111	4+3	16
2020-12-29	Grueneck 1395m 3 DL/MF-106	4+3	47
2020-11-27	Leonhardstein 1452m 12 DL/MF-105	4	24
2020-11-27	Filzenkogel 1444m 3 DL/MF-104	4	17
2020-11-22	Reitstein 1518m 5 DL/MF-003	6	52
2020-11-15	Schafreiter 2101m 14 DL/KW-035	8	32
2020-09-20	Schoenberg 1620m 13 DL/MF-018	6	38
2020-09-12	Platteneck 1617m 5 DL/MF-016	6	28

2020-09-12. Platteneck, DL/MF-106. Family and social activity to the Königsalm, 1115m. Lonely pathless walk to the Platteneck from there for a quick SOTA activation. All hikers gathered like ants on the Schildenstein (deleted SOTA reference) while I enjoyed my solitude on the Platteneck. 

2020-09-20. Schoenberg, DL/MF-018. Joint tour together with Andy, DL2DVE. Nice weather and nice view from the top. The summit top is in a bad condition because of the cattle, can be pretty crowded. 

2020-11-15. Schafreiter, DL/KW-035.  Hiked 6km and 1200m of altitude in 1 and 3/4 hours. As always, the summit was pretty crowded. Every mountaineer in Munich believes that he has to climb this summit at least once. Magnificent view of the Karwendel from above. 

Operating spot on DL/KW-035 just below the summit cross.

View of the Karwendel from Schafreiter, DL/KW-035.
So many summits to activate and so little time! 

2020-11-22. Reitstein, DL/MF-003. Beautiful relaxing SOTA and bushcraft tour together with Andy, DL2DVE with plenty of time for CQing and experimenting. The summit is not visited that often. It was one of those tours that will be remembered for a long time 👍. 

Andy, DL2DVE/P CQing on the Reitstein, DL/MF-003.

2020-11-27. Leonhardstein, DL/MF-105 and Filzenkogel, DL/MF-104.  Quick tour in the late afternoon to avoid the crowd of hikers on the Leonhardstein. Spontaneously on the way back I decided to activate the wild Filzenkogel. I came back to the car on a wintry and frosty sunset with a double activation in my log.  

Late afternoon activation of the Leonhardstein, DL/MF-105.
Summit book.

2020-12-29. Grüneck, DL/MF-106. Nice lonely walk in deep snow. I didn't meet any hikers all day.  There is almost no view from above. By the way, recorded tracks are available on request for both MF-104 and MF-106, I just don't want to publish them on the internet to give the wildlife some rest.  

2021-02-20. Schwarzenkopf, DL/MF-111. Pretty hard tour in deep snow together with Andy, DL2DVE and Kirian. This is one of those mountains that you only want (and need) to climb once. Tough radio operation with a lot of CQing and a pretty low number of chasers involved?! That was the last summit around the Spitzingsee that I didn't activate. Now it's done. So, I'm glad not to go there for a while to avoid hordes of cars with day trippers from Munich. I'm looking forward to enjoying my GoGreen activities.  

Hope to meet you on the air soon! 73 de Dzianis, DD1LD. 

Our Summer Holidays 2020 in Bavaria

How it all started.

The summer holidays came along with perplexity.  The original plan was to repeat our 2018 camping tour to Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. It was great fun and I hope at some point I will have a little more time to summarize this great tour on my blog.

The critical COVID-19 situation, the changing weather and the endless traffic jams at the national borders ultimatealy demotivated us for this long tour with two small children this year. Where should we go?

Let’s stay and camp home, I suggested. Bavaria is a beautiful state with many exciting places and beautiful nature. We have large lakes, wild rivers, fairytale forests, rolling hills, and high alpine mountains and lakes as clear as sparkling crystals. Everybody agreed. 😃

We spent the first part of our camping holidays in the Isarhorn nature camping park which is located on the Isar river at the foot of the Karwendel mountain range and 3 km from Mittenwald. Due to heavy rain showers and scattered thunderstorms we had to interrupt our camping trip and return home for a few nights. Then we spent the second part of our camping holidays in the Fall village close to the Sylvenstein lake in Karwendel.  Of course, some amateur radio activities took place whenever possible.

Wednesday, August 19th, 2020. SOTA Activation.

Operating spot on the Gerstenrieder Kopf, DL/MF-103.

After rainy, cold days the weather finally got better. Kirian and I activated the Gerstenrieder Kopf (Hochalm), 1421m, DL/MF-103 with 25 QSOs in CW in 30 minutes of operating time. It was a nice workout for Kirian with an altitude of ~500 meters and a total distance of ~10 km.  It’s a very beautiful and adventurous trail through the forest. Our boy made it easy but got quite tired when we got back to the car.

The SOTA activation was business as usual. Not many chasers around 10:00 UTC. Nice view from the top. Some curious walkers and cows around. An easy and relaxed tour.

Thursday, August 20th, 2020. Arrival at the Isarhorn Nature Camping Park.

Arrival at the Isarhorn Nature Camping Park at 11:00 UTC. Building everything up. Walking around. Chatting with other campers. Jumping into the cold river. Enjoying the outdoors. Relaxing in the sun. Beer & Grill in the evening with Andy, DL2DVE and his family.

Actually, I don't really like campsites, I love wild camping, but this one is really nice and not that crowded. Thumbs up! 👍

Yesterday Andy, DL2DVE activated the W. Karwendelspitze, DL/KW-008 in 2m FM, while Kirian and I activated the Gerstenrieder head DL/MF-103 in CW. So today was a relaxing day for us.

Friday, August 21th, 2020. GoGreen SOTA and WWFF Activation.

It was a hard GoGreen activation of the Arnspitze, 2196m, DL/WS-036 in the Arnspitze nature reserve, DLFF-0760 on a very hot day. The bike ride from the campsite to the parking lot Ried took about 30 minutes, the hike to the Arnspitze from the parking lot took about 2 hours. The valley wind in the morning was unusually warm, which indicated a hot day.

I arrived at the top of the Arnspitze at 8:00 UTC. The view from the top was fantastic! I was alone for a (short) while.  What will my next route be here? I guess I know but 😶

 View from the Arnspitze towards the top of Germany, Zugspitze, DL/WS-001 (right upper corner).

The sun above my head blazed mercilessly down with all the intensity of a burning glass. After 110 QSOs in 1.5 hours of uptime and roasting in the blazing sun, I decided to QRT.  The propagation conditions were fair to good.

My operating spot on the Arnspitze, DL/WS-036 in DLFF-0760.

Although I initially toyed with the idea of activating one or the other SOTA reference that day, I said goodbye to this thought. It got too hot for me, the rather high temperature did not provide sufficient cooling for the body, and I ran out of drinking water.  I could have activated the Riedboden nature reserve DLFF-0761 on the way back, but wanted to spend as much time as possible with the family in the afternoon.

The first thing I did when I got back to the campsite was jump into the cold river. The outside temperature was close to 33°C, any kind of cooling was welcome. We spent the rest of the day relaxed at the campsite.

Short summary and statistics for DD1LD/P:

• Date: August 21th, 2020
• Equipment: high alpine QRP (5W)
• Operating time: ~ 1 and 1/2 hours
• QSOs: 110 in total, 20m – 22 QSOs, 30m – 31 QSOs, 40m – 57 QSOs
• DXCC worked: 24 
• Top countries worked: DL (27x), ON (11x), I (10x)
• Continents worked: 1
• DX: EA, SV
  

• SOTA summits: 1x unique
• SOTA reference: DL/WS-036, Arnspitze, 2196m.
• SOTA-valid QSOs: 110
• SOTA activator points: 8
• GMA activator points: 21
• S2S: 1 
  

• WWFF areas: 1x unique and NEW
• WWFF reference: DLFF-0760, Arnspitze
• WWFF-valid QSOs: 110 (w/o dupes)
• Unique callsigns: 104
• WWFF activator points: 2
• P2P: 3 
  

• Altitude difference made: > 1300m 
• Cycled distance: 20 km
• Walked distance: ~8 km
• GoGreen: yes
• GPS-track record: available on request 

Saturday, August 22nd, 2020. Quick WWFF Activation.

The Riedboden nature reserve DLFF-0761 was only 10 km away by bike. Yesterday I cycled there, the cycle path leads through a very beautiful landscape along the Isar river. Just sit on the gravel and listen to the rush of the water - a little break on the banks of the Isar is worthwhile in any aspect! However, today I decided against GoGreen in favor of family activities, but also partly because of the bad weather forecast.

Breakfast, packing, checking out in the morning. We all (Andy, DL2DVE, me and our families) arrived at the Riedboden at 10:30 UTC. I found a nice operating spot right on the Isar river and set up my tiny QRP station right on the gravel bank within 5 minutes. I was just hoping to get at least 50 QSOs before the rain shower.

Quick activation of DLFF-0761 at the Isar river. Cloudy sky with dark clouds before the thunderstorm.

I logged 60 QSOs in CW on 40m in 40 minutes of operating time, just before the first raindrops fell. What a nice short pile-up!  As soon as we left the Mittenwald municipality it rained heavily and the temperature dropped from 25 °C to 15 °C. It was absolutely the right decision to leave the campsite today and spend the next few days at home! The next three days were rainy, cold and gray…

Short summary and statistics for DD1LD/P:

• Date: August 22th, 2020
• Equipment: high alpine QRP (5W)
• Operating time: ~ 40 minutes
• QSOs: 60 in CW on 40m, 1 on 2m FM.
• DXCC worked: 17 
• Top countries worked: DL (22x)
• Continents worked: EU 
  

• WWFF areas: 1x unique and NEW
• WWFF reference: DLFF-0761, Riedboden
• WWFF-valid QSOs: 61 (w/o dupes)
• Unique callsigns: 61
• WWFF activator points: 1
• P2P: 0
• GoGreen: no

 

Tuesday, August 25th, 2020. Arrival at the Sylvenstein Lake.

It was a lazy day. Sort of wild camping. Building everything up. Swimming. SUP riding. Cooking. Relaxing. I rode the SUP from the Faller-Klamm-Brücke to the east to the Walchen river, it was about 10 km there and back.  What a gorgeous tour! 

 Our camping setup for three nights at the Fall village.

The Sylvenstein lake. The Lerchkogel, DL/KW-037 in the background (in the middle).

Wednesday, August 26th, 2020. GoGreen SOTA and WWFF Activation.

It was a lonely bike & hike GoGreen tour to the Lerchkogel, DL/KW-037, 1688m in the Karwendel nature park DLFF-073.  The Lerchkogel is technically easy to hike but requires a long distance to be covered. I cycled directly to the Lerchkogel-Hochleger, ~1550m, and then hiked the remaining height difference of 150m. 

Although the propagation conditions were poor and I had to deal with weak signal reports on all bands, I managed to log 69 QSOs on 20/30/40m in ~1 hour.  

My operating spot at the Lerchkogel, DL/KW-037.

I spent about 1.5 hours in absolute solitude on the mountain top. Just me and the mountains around, just the way I like it. The view was particularly beautiful because of the clear air. 

View from the Lerchkogel, DL/KW-037 in the morning.

The ascent took two hours and the descent only 40 minutes. The bike ride was fun, especially downhill biking was the adrenaline rush on two wheels! In a curve it almost knocked me over! Huhhh!

Short stop to enjoy the gorgeous view and to cool down the brake discs.

 

Afternoon Kirian and I rode the SUP from the Faller-Klamm bridge south to the mouth of the Dürrach river. The water level was pretty low, so we had to leave our SUP on the muddy bank and walk to the gravel bank. For Kirian it was a journey of discovery.

In the late evening (at 18:00 UTC) I was briefly at the lake again and had a short run to collect some late chasers. I could have saved myself this action because the yield was quite low, only 9 unique QSQs in 20 minutes of operating time. Well, neither the operation spot nor the time were optimal.
 

Short summary and statistics for DD1LD/P:

• Date: August 26th, 2020
• Equipment: high alpine QRP (5W)
• Operating time: ~ 1 hour
• QSOs: 69 in total, 20m – 12 QSOs, 30m – 19 QSOs, 40m – 47 QSOs
• DXCC worked: 24 
• Top countries worked: DL (10x)
• Continents worked: 2
• DX: NA
  

• SOTA summits: 1x unique
• SOTA reference: DL/KW-037, Lerchkogel, 1688m.
• SOTA-valid QSOs: 69
• SOTA activator points: 6
• GMA activator points: 16
• S2S: 2 
  

• WWFF areas: 1x non-unique (activated by myself before)
• WWFF reference: DLFF-0173, Karwendel
• WWFF-valid QSOs: 78 (w/o dupes)
• Unique callsigns: 72
• WWFF activator points: 1
• P2P: 3 
  

• Altitude difference made: > 900m 
• Walked &amp; Cycled distance: 26 km
• GoGreen: yes
• GPS-track record: available on request

Thursday, August 27th, 2020. GoGreen SOTA and WWFF Activation.

Initially I wanted to activate the eight pointer Schafreiter, DL/KW-035, 2101m from the Fall village.  However, the much lower one pointer Jägerbergl, DL/KW-046, 988m seemed to be a better choice for today’s GoGreen activities, since the height of the mountain doesn't matter for GoGreen awards and the Jägerbergl was less than 30 minutes away by bike. I just found that the GoGreen rewards program can make activating low mountains even more attractive compared to high mountains because the hiking effort is easily manageable, and you are more into radio than mountain climbing. I'm not sure if I would have even considered activating the one pointer Jägerbergl if it hadn't been GoGreen XOTA activation, where the number of QSOs mainly plays a role. By the way, that’s probably why the Jägerbergl was only activated twice compared to the Schafreiter with 13 activations. The GoGreen XOTA creates a different perspective for SOTA activations. So, the Jägerbergl became for GoGreen XOTA more attractive than for SOTA.

Anyway, I've decided to keep activating the Schafreiter DL/KW-035 for the next time as this would have taken a long time. I also wanted to spend the afternoon at the lake with my family and our friends who wanted to join us. After a rich breakfast together, I cycled to the Jägerbergl. I only stopped at a very nice waterfall to enjoy the great view for a while. 

A waterfall with pools on the way to the Jägerbergl.

The flat mountain top is quite densely forested. Today’s plan was to collect at least 100 GoGreen QSOs. I set up my portable station and went on the air at 8:30 UTC. The propagation conditions were fair. I had some troubles with my tiny TRX again, especially on 40m (!?). However, I managed to gather 101 QSOs or GoGreen points in an hour and a half of operation, but I have to overhaul my TRX on arrival at home, I thought. BTW, the TRX is now dead.😭

My operating spot at the Jägerbergl, DL/KW-046.

We spent the rest of the day on the beach and ended the day with a long and late dinner with our friends.

Short summary and statistics for DD1LD/P:

• Date: August 27th, 2020
• Equipment: high alpine QRP (5W)
• Operating time: ~ 1 and 1/2 hours
• QSOs: 101 in total, 20m – 35 QSOs, 30m – 24 QSOs, 40m – 42 QSOs
• DXCC worked: 21 
• Top countries worked: DL (20x), I (13x), ON (11x)
• Continents worked: 2
• DX: NA
  

• SOTA summits: 1x unique
• SOTA reference: DL/KW-046, Jägerbergl, 988m.
• SOTA-valid QSOs: 101
• SOTA activator points: 1
• GMA activator points: 9
• S2S: 2 
  

• WWFF areas: 1x non-unique (activated by myself before)
• WWFF reference: DLFF-0173, Karwendel
• WWFF-valid QSOs: 101 (w/o dupes)
• Unique callsigns: 90
• WWFF activator points: 2
• P2P: 3
• Altitude difference made: < 200m 
• Walked &amp; Cycled distance: 12 km
• GoGreen: yes
• GPS-track record: available on request

Friday, August 28th, 2020. Relax and pack.

On the agenda were breakfast, swimming, SUP riding, packing, driving home. I rode the SUP from the Faller-Klamm bridge to the mouth of the Isar river to explore opportunities for bushcrafting on an island. It was a beautiful morning with clear sky, bright sun and weak fresh wind accompanying me. It was a lot of fun to maneuver between small islands with the SUP.  I discovered a couple of interesting places for bushcrafting next time. The SUP ride was ~7 km.

We left the Fall village in the late afternoon when the first raindrops fell from the gray sky and arrived home in the early evening in a heavy rain shower and a temperature around 15°C. Almost perfect timing!

According to the weather forecast for the next few days, rain and cold were announced… Autumn is knocking on the door. 

Short Summary.

Although we would have wished for fewer rainy days, we all had a great time! My amateur radio activities resulted in 375 QRP QSOs in CW, four activated SOTA and three activated WWFF references.

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