Castle number three: Heemstede II

Acceptable conditions on 17m and 20m on a nice location

Last week I had the opportunity to visit another castle before heading home. This time it was a castle just south of Utrecht. It is know as "Heemstede II" with the WCA and COTA-NL reference PA-00742. It was built in 1645 to replace a medieval castle in its vicinity (Heemstede), that has since disappeared. This is what the castle looks like today:

Heemstede II - PA-00742

And this is what it looked like in 1698:

Heemstede II in 1698

I found an operating spot next to the canal that runs from the river Rhine up to Amsterdam and passes the castle. I was hoping that little bit of water would help my antenna (even if the effect is only psychological). The view was very pleasant anyways and the weather was good with sun and moderate temperatures (22C).

PH0NO/P

Radio conditions weren't too good. The higher bands were quiet so I started on 17m. I worked 18 stations in about 45 minutes. It was never busy but the contacts included most of the DX of this afternoon with W2, W4, RV9 and JL1.

I changed down to 20m and worked another 55 OMs in one and a half hours. Again not very busy but that leaves time to have some longer QSO's. The DX on this band consisted of KA2, VE4 and RV9. 

In total I logged 73 calls from 25 DXCCs. The maximum QRB of this activity was set by a JL1 station to 9300 km. Roberto IK1DFH, Mario IW1QEA and Alexander RV9UCN came by on both bands.

About two thirds of the callsigns logged were new to me. This shows me that the chasers of the WCA award only partily overlap with the chasers of flora and fauna references (where usually only one third of the callsigns are new).

Thanks all for giving me a call.

73,

Lars / PH0NO/P

Another day, another castle: Rosendael

Lousy conditions on second castle activation

With the nice experience yesterday and some time at the end of the day today I went over to the castle that is closest to where I live: kasteel Roosendael (PA-01487). A castle that still exists today.

This is a picture of the castle I took last fall:

Kasteel Roosendael aka PA-01487

The castle is surrounded by lots of trees, so finding an operating spot was not easy. I found one where I could just push the mast in between the branches of various trees, about 500m from the castle.

Operating position in between the trees

The conditions did not look very promising judging from the various propagation sources and the DX cluster. 17m seemed to have some openings to the east, so I tried this band first. The results were quite different from yesterday: I got only one reply from an Italian OM who was barely readable.

I changed to 20m to find that this band was suffering from strong QSB. It was never busy but I did meet quite a few new OMs and a couple of old friends. After less than an hour I decided to give 40m a try. The band was rather quiet and just like yesterday I got no answer at all. I now start to suspect the antenna - I will check it before the next activation.

I went back to 20m for another 20 minutes before breaking up and heading home.

In 90 minutes radio time I worked 63 stations from 22 DXCCs. Only four DX stations came by from UA9, VO1 and CN8. RV9UCN set the maximum QRB to 5100km.

73,

Lars / PH0NO

My first castle activation: Wageningen

Nice first experience with WCA/COTA-NL

With all sorts of ineffective discussions going on in the WFF program I decided to try something else today: activation of a castle. I know from Hans PA3FYG that castle activation from the Netherlands is rare (Hans activated Twickel this year and found out it was the first PA castle activation). I guess that would make this activity the second ever castle activation in PA land.

A lot of castles lie in crowded areas where /P activity is not feasible or are only accessible by foot / bicycle (and I did not bring my batteries). Looking at the map I compiled so far (check out my Google Maps file - still under construction) I guessed that Wageningen Castle would be suitable for a /P activity from my car.  The castle itself has disappeared, but it looked like this:

Wageningen Castle - PA-01793

Nowadays a museum "Casteelse Poort" is on the site of the old ruins.

Museum Casteelse Poort, on the site of PA-01793

I found a good operating spot just south of the castle ruins (within 1km distance) and decided to give 17m a chance first (higher bands seemed rather quiet on the cluster). I had no idea what to expect regarding the activity level. Would it be comparable to Flora and Fauna activations?

The first one to respond was the familiar voice of Luciano, I5FLN. After him followed another 19 OMs in about 25 minutes with a KB1 station from Maine and Alexander RV9UCN - who I met about 10 times before during Flora and Fauna activities - as the two DX stations on this band. The KB1 OM set the maximum QRB for this activity to 5100km.

Operating spot near PA-01793

I then changed the antenna to operate on the 20m band. There I met 53 OMs in about one hour. Activity level was just a bit lower than on a Flora and Fauna activation. Four DX stations came by on this band (UA9 and UN). Amongst them RV9UCN for the second time.

As activity slowed down I then changed to 40m - as I am used to when activating Flora and Fauna locations. The strange thing was that I got absolutely NO reply on this band. It might have been due to the high QRM level at the location (S7), but I did not copy a single soul replying my calls. Listening around I did hear a few stations - none of them with very strong signals though.

After trying some time I was ready to pack up when I saw there was some activity on 6m. I changed the antenna for the last time and tried 6m. There I worked another 7 stations (6 new grids for me).

In 90 minutes I worked 80 stations from 25 DXCCs. Igor RW3XW and Alexander RV9UCN came by on two bands.

My first castle activation was a nice experience. There were some familiar calls - OMs that also hunt for Flora and Fauna references - and quite a few new ones (more than 50% new callsigns). I will definitely activate other castles in the future.

73,

Lars / PH0NO

FFF-081 Causses du Quercy (2)

Pleasant basic activity mainly on 20m

As planned I went out to a desolate hill, accessible by mountainbike, I found a week earlier in the nature park Causses du Quercy for the first activation on this park. The top of the hill is rather flat with good views to all directions - a perfect place for a /P operation. The only downside to the lack of higher trees was the direct sunlight. I picked this afternoon as they predicted some clouds and relative low temperatures (25 Celcius).

Transport vehicle

I took my mountainbike, loaded all the parts of the (extended) Spiderbeam mast on it with all the other items in a sturdy backpack. Try to imagine how to bike when you have 4 pieces of >1m fiberglass tube with you...

I set up my station quite quickly (too quick as it turned out later) with a 15m half wave end fed wire. As predicted (refer to my previous post) conditions on this band were horrible. After a few minutes of calling I worked only one station in HA with a 51 signal.

F/PH0NO/P setting up the station

I dismantled the antenna and set up the 20m end fed. The band was in a bad shape with very deep QSB (someone would call with S9 and within 30sec would go down to S1) but there were so many stations calling that I was busy for the next 2 hours - thanks to the cluster posts, they always bring a new boost to the amount of hunters.

During these 2 hours my antenna fell down three times. I had not set it up sturdy enough and with a gust of wind the antenna would be out of balance.

After the third time I redid the guy wires and did not have any trouble for the rest of the activity.

When 20m quieted down I extended my Spiderbeam mast to cater for the 40m end fed wire. 40m was not as busy as it usually is with only 17 contacts. 

In total I logged 187 contacts from 32 DXCCs. Only six of those were outside of EU (indication of the propagations). Maximum QRB was set to 4800km by a station from HZ (to my surprise). Lucian I5FLN, Massimo IK1GPG, Graziano IW2NXI and Narciso IZ1JMN came by on two bands. One third of the contacts were new to me.

Temperatures were bearable and the view was very good - this combined with a lot of stations calling - both familiar callsigns and new ones - made this a very pleasant activity.

Merci to all that called in!

73/44,

Lars, F/PH0NO/P

FFF-081 Causses du Quercy

This afternoon (around 16-18h CET) I will be active from Causses du Quercy, a large nature park in the south of France (departement Lot, 46).

Propagation predictions are very poor, I just hope it won't be as bad as it looks..

Radio-active from France

Temporary shack @ department Lot (46)

Just like last year I have decided to take my radio stuff with me on holiday. Provided I take on all family duties (i.e. no 24/7 operation) the Station Manager (aka Internal Affairs) has OK-ed this.

I am never sure how people will react to a radio station on their camp site so I keep a low profile. The shack is in or around the tent (using a laptop and digital modes) and the antenna is behind it - just look at the zoomed in pictures behind the tent: my tried and trusted half wave end fed is up in the trees again.
 

Innocent camping set-up

There is something in that tree there...?

... oh no, it's the HyEndFed end fed wire

Using fishing line I can take down the antenna and change the wire to move to a different band.

Already worked a number of EU stations and several DX stations (JA, CX, CE, PT) on 10m and 20m on PSK.

In about a weeks time I will go over to a nearby nature park that is on the WFF list and has not been activated before: Causses de Quercy (FFF-081). Still have to find a nice low profile spot as I am not sure I have the necessary permit papers with me.

If you see anything like F/PH0NO/P on your waterfall - give me a shout.

73, Lars - F/PH0NO/P

Short activation of De Biesbosch (PAFF-002)

Reasonable conditions on two bands

With an unexpected gap in my schedule I headed over to PAFF-002 (De Biesbosch), as it is one of the most wanted PAFF areas. It is a very beautiful park with lots of water situated in a densely populated area (near to Rotterdam).

On my way into the park I found out there was a lot of restructuring going on. This also affected the main road I had chosen. Losing a lot of time finding an operating spot I had about one hour left for the activation.

Operating spot @ PAFF-002

I decided to focus on two bands: 17m and 20m. The higher bands were too quiet, so 17m seemed like the best band with DX potential and 20m is the most lively band for WFF.

This meant giving up on 40m and possibly disappointing a couple of nearby stations (notably DL and ON) - sorry!

On 17m I was greeted by 40 OMs. DX came in from the east (JA, R0/9 and UN). Signals were okay but not too strong - mostly around 57. On 20m an early VE3 came by as well as more than 50 EU OMs.

All in all I worked 95 stations from 26 DXCCs in about one hour of radio time with the max QRB set to 8700km by a JA OM.

Gerard F1BLL, Luciano I5FLN, Lada OK2PAY and Oleg UX1IM came by on both bands.

Thanks all for calling in.
Lars, PH0NO/P