FFFs during my summer holiday

During my summer holiday in France I was radio-active from various FFF locations - six in total. I usually visit four parks in two /P days out but conveniently this year both campsites we stayed on were inside nature reserves.

I have not made that many QSOs from the campsites as (1) it was by times too hot to do anything, (2) I was in a tent where my favorite mode phone gets annoying for the surrounding quickly and (3) my family expects me to socialise with them in stead of other hams.
We stayed a bit longer in the Dordogne region so I was on the air from that campsite a few times.

In total I logged 805 QSOs from 43 DXCC on 20 and 40 meter:

• FFF-0031 Park National La Brenne (campsite) - 85 QSO FT8/CW/SSB
• FFF-1167 Natura 2000 La Brenne - 144 QSO SSB
• FFF-0057 Vallee de l'Anglin - 126 QSO SSB
• FFF-2352 Basin de la Dordogne (campsite) - 194 QSO FT8/CW/SSB
• FFF-2568 Vallée de la Vézère - 121 QSO CW/SSB
• FFF-2570 Vallées des Beunes - 135 QSO CW/SSB

Eight OMs made it to all the locations: EA3EVL, EA7YT, OM1AX, ON4ON, PD7YY, S58AL, SP8LEP, YL2TQ.

DX was hard to find. Dov 4Z4DX made it a couple of times but from the other end only KD1CT made it across once and only barely so. I tried to get Chuck KO4SB in the log but there was no way - not even a CW whisper heard on both ends. Summer season in a solar minimum is not my favorite time as ham (as holiday maker though..). Luckily there was some sporadic E to create a bit of local fun with signals popping up and strong skips to specific areas.

Convenient picknick table in FFF-0057

In the shadow at a lake in FFF-1167 

Bit of walking required to get into the woods at FFF-2568

FFF-2570 was easy to activate once I found this parking area 

Chilling in France

May and June have been rather busy. Apart from the normal daily routines there was an expedition weekend to GJ with my team in May and a special castle event I organised for the whole of June. Both brought a lot of radio fun and of course a lot of organizing and administration (logs, awards, QSLs, PR).

For a few days now I have been chilling on a campsite in France. The first stop is in the center of France and as it turns out (I did not plan this) the camping is inside the frequently activated nature reserve NP La Brenne (FFF-0031). I have put up a wire for 20m and did some data and CW yesterday. Conditions were not good judging from the activity level on CW. There was more activity on FT8 but that mode cannot capture my attention for too long.

Tomorrow I will go out portable to activate two nature reserves in the vicinity that have seen little activity: Natura 2000 area of Brenne (FFF-1167) and Vallée de l'Anglin et affluents (FFF-0057).

This weekend we will be moving further south to the Dordogne for 2 more weeks of camping. I will again be inside a nature reserve (again a nice surprise) and this time it is a new one: Bassin de Dordogne (FFF-2352).

I expect I will go out /P from there at least once, depending on how the weather develops. The first days look like it will be above 40C. This means sitting very still in the shadow and / or laying in the swimming pool the whole day.

Portable in OZ and meeting the OZFF team

Usually I spend my summer holidays in the south of Europe. This year however we opted for a trip north to OZ for a stay of three weeks on two campites. 

So far - a couple of days on our first campsite - we have been blessed with Mediterranean weather and a view over the sea (Kattegat).

View over the Kattegat (IR photo)

As always I managed to squeeze some radio gear, wires and an antenna pole between all the camping stuff (amazing how many items it takes to transform a family of four into happy campers). 

I have decided not to set up my station on the camping itself for various reasons. For one I am not a fan of digital modes (and living in a tent, phone is not an option) and the OZ campsites are far more organised than I am used to with neatly arranged places so that it would be impossible to keep the station low profile, especially as there are no trees around - only hedges.

Instead I will go out portable for a good number of hours at least once from each campsite. I am aiming to activate two OZFF nature reserves each time - so at least four in total. One will be on the shore of a body of salt water. I am curious if that will help me get my signal out.

Discussing my ideas with the OZFF coordinator and longtime fellow WWFF-er Jakob OZ7AEI, it turned out his holiday plans meant we would be relatively close together on two occasions. So we aimed for a radio-active meet-up.

Getting more specific we have planned a joint operation on Sunday evening July 22 from OZFF-0098. It looks like another member of the OZFF team - Finn OZ3FI - will join as well.
I will start off activating a nearby nature reserve first (OZFF-0100) in the afternoon.

Looking forward to meeting these fellow WWFF enthusiasts and adding OZ to my activity list.

Looking forward to VEFF

In 1,5 weeks I will be travelling to VE for the first time. I will be visiting my brother in Toronto and then travel around Ontario for 2 weeks with my family.

Discussing the various VEFF locations Dave VA3RJ (VEFF coordinator) decided to update the Ontario reference list and he helped me find a large number of provincial parks along my route.

After contacting several agencies (border police, customs, airline) it seems I am OK with bringing my radio. I am not comfortable with taking LiPo batteries as I expect I will run into problems checking them in. So I will have to either buy a power source in VE or use the car (which means I can only operate from a park if I can get in by car).

Checking the propagation forecasts it will be challenge to work EU with only 100w and a wire antenna. I hope I will attract some (new?) NA chasers as well.

There are VEFF locations near all the stops I have planned. However, there is a lot more to do and see and my travelling companions will not be particularly enthusiastic if I am away all the time. So I will have to see when I have the opportunity to go /P. 

If I have internet access I will post my plans to Twitter and the WWFF facebook page.