I am on holidays at the moment, which means I can stay up a little bit later when I choose to. And I did that over the weekend, working a few European SOTA activators on both the long path and the short path.
On Saturday evening (10th January 2015) I spoke with Pablo EA1QL, on 20m on the long path. Pablo was on the top of SOTA summit, Monxagre, EA1/ AT-204. Pablo was kind enough to send me an email with some photos from the activation (see below).
The Monxagre summit is 662 metres ASL and is worth 2 SOTA points. It is located in the Spain (North West) Association, and the Asturias Region.
Map courtesy of google maps.
Image courtesy of http://www.wikiloc.com/
Pablo was running a Kenwood TS-840, about 50 watts, and a home brew monoband Delta loop antenna. Pablo was powering the radio with a 12v 8 ah battery.
It was a challenge to get through to Pablo, as breaking through the European ‘wall’ of SOTA chasers was quite difficult. But once I did, Pablo and I were able to hear each other ver well. I know that Andrew VK1NAM has mentioned previously, the issue of many European SOTA activators not listening for further afield. I have felt the same frustration, but I have found that perserverance generally pays off. Not always though!
VK5PAS 