International SOTA Weekend

The upcoming weekend is the International SOTA Weekend and I plan an overnight activation of the summit Vestre Hoppefjell from Saturday afternoon. I will bring a sleeping bag and camp at the summit.

If you want to work me you could listen for me at the frequencies listed below or look for my spots at sotawatch.

21.285MHz
14.285MHz
7.125MHz
5.928.5MHz
3.660MHz

Weekend trip with portable operatons in the snow

Yesterday Aage LA1ENA and I returned from a weekend trip to the Sveinsbu cabin and the nearby summit Sveinsbuvarden. It took us nearly two hours by skis to reach the summit. We erected two HF antennas, a 88ft doublet and a wire vertical, and tried to make it comfortable in the snow while calling CQ SOTA. I worked 12 stations on 40m, 20m, 80m and 60m SSB and Aage worked about 20 on 40m and 30m CW.

Although it was windy and a few degrees bellow zero it was raining! The rain froze instantly on our clothing and all of our gear. At the end my hands were to numb to operate the cellphone so I couldn't selfspot my last QSYs on sotawatch. We had planned a long activation but after a while we were freezing so we decided to head for the cabin.

When we arrived the cabin it was -8°C inside. We lighted the oven and a lot of candles and after some hours it was almost too hot inside! We erected a temporary random wire antenna outside the cabin but the result was rather poor. Best DX from the cabin was 5B4AIF on 40m SSB worked with 5w.

On our way back to the parking place Sunday we stopped at the summit and did some calls on 2m. I worked LA5OGA on 145.550MHz before we headed home.

Portable operations this weekend

This weekend Aage LA1ENA and I will visit one of the cabins owned by the Norwegian Trekking Association. The trip to the cabin will probably take us 1 - 1.5 hours by skis. We plan to activate the nearby SOTA summit on both Saturday and Sunday and will also try to be QRV from the cabin Saturday night.

Aage normally starts on 7.032MHz cw and I will probably try the following frequencies: 7.118MHz ssb, 5.398.5MHz ssb, 3.660MHz ssb, 14.285MHz ssb and 145.550MHz fm

We will announce our activities on sotawatch

Photo by DNT

QSL from South Korea!

In October I was operating portable from a local hill called Holtankollen (SOTA ref. LA/TM-049) and worked 16 stations on 20m and 40m. All of them with my trusty FT-817ND at 5w and a 88ft doublet 5m above the ground and SSB. When typing my log into Logger32 back home I found that I had worked HL4RBR from South Korea! I didn't notice during the mini pileup, I guess I mixed the HL suffix with the HG suffix of Hungary. And he was answering my CQ!

I sent him my QSL card by mail the very same day and today HL4RBRs QSL card dropped down in my letterbox, confirming the QSO! Thanks Yoon!

Norwegian QRP net on 60m

The last two days I have checked in to the Norwegian QRP net on 60m at 11:00 utc. The net is controlled by Per-Olav LB1AF and the purpose of the net is to learn more about propagation on 5MHz.

Today I checked in as LA1TPA/P from Holtankollen, a local summit with SOTA reference LA/TM-049. I used my Yaesu FT-817ND, a 88ft doublet, the Elecraft T1 ATU and a switchable 4:1/1:1 balun from Elecraft.

QRG: 5.335 - 5.340 MHz

My first 5MHz activation

The Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority announced the new Regulations for Radio Amateurs Friday. The new regulations gave us access to 60m, 4m, and extensions on 12m and 40m.

Today I decided to try out 60m from a local summit in the Summits On The Air (SOTA) program. I worked 9 stations in G, GW and GM with my Yaesu FT-817ND, Elecraft T1 ATU and an inverted V style 88ft doublet.

NRAU Activity Contest (NAC) on 50MHz

Tonight I worked my first 50MHz contest ever. In fact I haven't worked much 50MHz at all so this was a new experience to me. I worked 2 LAs, 3 SMs and 2 OZs from 7 different grid squares.

LA4LN informed me that I was giving out wrong locator. I was giving JO49ug but the correct grid should be JO49uf. I don't know if this will disqualify me or what. I have written the contest manager to ask him before I send my log.

I used my FT-817ND at 5w SSB and a 88 feet doublet antenna.

Thanks to Aage LA1ENA for the spot on the DX Cluster!

IOTA Contest

During the RSGB IOTA contest this weekend I worked some stations from a SOTA summit on Hinnøya, EU-033. The propagation was not very good and I soon decided to abandon the contest and work some regular sota chasers instead.

More about the trip on my SOTA blog:
http://la1tpa.blogspot.com/2009/07/latr-016-storhornet.html

Islands On The Air Contest 2009

I plan to do some casual operating in the IOTA Contest from EU-033 this weekend. As usual I will work QRP and this time also portable from a SOTA summit.

Contest rules: http://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2009/riota.shtml

June 17 - International QRP Day

I'm planning a SOTA activation on June 17, the International QRP Day. As some of you might know I always operate at QRP levels on my SOTA activations. To celebrate the International QRP Day I hope for a lot of 2-way QRP QSOs on this activation.

I normally start calling cq on 7.125MHz before QSYing to 14.285MHz.

I'm a G-QRP and QRP-ARCI member and a 2-way QRP QSO will count towards the Worked G-QRP club and Worked All ARCI awards.

Nordic Portable Contest - results

The results from the Nordic Portable Contest May 17th 2009 are ready:

http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/res/r09smpv.htm

LA1KHA/P got the 4th place in Single Operator - Mixed (Winner in Norway). La1TPA/P was number 18 in Single Operator - SSB (Winner in Norway). We were the only two Norwegian stations in the contest...

The contest is hosted by the Swedish Radio organisation Sveriges Sändareamatörer, SSA

10m contacts

Today I made 7 10m QSOs during my activation of SOTA LA/TM-018 Hørsfjell. The equipment I used was a Yaesu FT-817ND at 5 watts, Elecraft T1 ATU and a 20m Extended Double Zepp antenna (2*13,4m) inverted V style supported by a 6m telescopic pole. I also did some listening on 12m but could not hear any other stations.

DXCCs: OM, DL, HB9, S5, 9A, YU

Nordic Portable Contest

May 17th is the Norwegian Constitution Day (hence the flag...) but I managed to work a few stations in the Nordic Portable Contest. LA1KHA/P was also QRV and I hope he was able to work a lot more stations than I did.


This contest favours QRP stations by giving a multiplier based on output power:

• Mult. 01: More than 64 W
• Mult. 02: 16 - 64 W
• Mult. 03: 4 - 16 W
• Mult. 04: 1 - 4 W
• Mult. 05: Less than 1 W

I experienced a lot of QSB and lost a lot of QSOs due to this. I'm hoping for better conditions in August in the autumn part of the contest!


http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/smp.htm

SSA Portable Contest

I normally work the Nordic Portable Contest hosted by SSA but this year it's on May 17th, the Norwegian Constitution Day. This is a big event in Norway so I will not attend the contest. To bad as I really enjoy this contest. I'll try to join the autumn part in August.