Activating PAFF-032 Oostvaarderplassen

Nice conditions on higher band, terrible QRM on 40m

Today I was able to head over to the Oostvaardersplassen. This area was activated once before by Hans PA3FYG. He did not manage to reach any WFF hunters though (and only a handful of OMs) - a good reason to activate this area again.

I reached the area by 14:30 local time and had to leave it (according to the park regulations) by 17:00. The wind was quite strong. This limited the potential operating spots (one of which is ideally located on a high dike). I chose a low spot on the south side of the park. When I arrived there it turned out that this spot had recently been cleared of surrounding trees. For a change I had an unobstructed path in all directions.

Clear view to all directions from PAFF-032

I started on 15m. It was relatively calm with only a couple of European stations calling in. Moving onto 20m the pileup built up as usual. I worked over 100 OMs in one hour with a number of DX stations from Asiatic Russia and North America.

As 20m was quieting down I moved to 40m to find this band crowded all the way up till 7.200. Finding an operating frequency posed a challenge. Each time I found a good spot I was either greeted by QRM quite quickly (e.g. some DL stations with better TX than RX capabilities starting a local round) or noticed from the reactions of OMs calling in that QRM was high on their end. After 40 minutes of activation, changing frequency 5 times, I called it a day.

The temporary shack

I was a bit frustrated by the 40m experience but all in all it was a nice activation with sunny weather and good radio conditions. I made 141 contacts with OMs from 31 DXCCs in 2 hours radio time. Both Luciano I5FLN and Massimo IK1GPG found their way to PAFF-032 on all three bands.

Thanks all for calling in.
Lars, PH0NO/P 

Activating PAFF-030 Twickel

Single band activation (40m antenna ended up in the tree)

With some time on my hands I headed over to the last unactivated WFF area within one hour drive from where I live: Twickel. The nature reserve consists of various patches of land - mainly covered by trees.

I found an acceptable spot where I could set up the antenna free from tree branches.

Operating spot at Twickel

I started on 20m where activity levels were high - as were the signals. When I started it was still quite early in the afternoon, so I heard a lot more Asiatic Russia (9 in total) than in the last couple of activations.

After about two hours signals started to drop on 20m and I decided to install the 40m wire antenna. This meant extending the antenna pole and getting it up in between the trees again. This turned out to be too great a challenge. I somehow got the antenna wire stuck in between some tree branches. Trying to get the wire out it broke... so much for the 40m activity.

20m antenna just free from branches

All in all I was happy with the result though: 138 QSOs with OMs from 29 different DXCCs. The maximum distance was set by an OM from VE5. I got a lot of new callsigns in my log: 30% of all logged calls were new. This is much higher than in the last couple of activations - and I can't figure out why.

Thanks all for passing by.
Lars, PH0NO/P 

Activating PAFF-035 - Kootwijk

Weak conditions especially on the higher bands

On my way home I passed Kootwijk and decided to try an activation of the nature parc. I found a reasonable spot on the northern edge of the park in due course.

Setup at Kootwijk

When I started it was still light outside (16:00 local time) so I tried the higher bands first. 17m was rather quiet with 7 contacts in 15 minutes. 4 of those called in from outside EU (EC8, VE3 and K2, K7).

20m was more lively with 17 contacts in 15 minutes but signals were weakening quickly except for Spain and Portugal. One DX station called in from VE5.

40m provided the most activity this time. The reason for that must have been the early sunset (with Dec 23 being almost the shortest day here). Still, activity levels were not very high and signals not as strong as they can be on 40m - mostly around 57/58. 28 OMs called in on this band in just under half an hour.

In total I made 52 contacts with OMs from 22 different DXCCs. Maximum distance was 7800km into Washington state.


Tnx all for calling in.
Lars, PH0NO/P 

Activating PAFF-040 - Duinen Vogelenzang

 A very windy activation near the sea

Today I was near the sea shore, near a Dune nature reserve known as Vogelenzang (PAFF-040). This area has not been activated before. To me that constitutes a good reason to spend some time there on the radio - apart from the fact that it is a very beautiful area to be in.

The two main challenges today were so-so conditions and a very strong wind.

Challenging wind..

I started out on 10m hoping to catch some DX but that did not work at all. Some European stations tried to call in but conditions weren't good for Europe. On 15m there was more activity with good conditions into Spain and Portugal. VE1 was the DX station on this band.

On 20m condtions were okay for a while throughout Europe until QSB started kicking in. The maximum distance was set by an OM from VE5. Asiatic Russia was present this time with one station only.

I finished the activation on 40m but that was quite a challenge. I had to extend my antenna pole to cater for the longer wire which therefore took even more pounding from the strong wind. The angle under which the wire antenna was blown did not enhance the quality of the antenna (judging from the signals and the SWR). At one point the wire was blown off the pole altogether - leaving me wondering for a few seconds why all the signals went down to S1...

In the two hours of operating I made 133 contacts with OMs from 32 DXCC. A lot of familiar callsigns by now but also a number (34) of OMs I have not had the pleasure of meeting before. Luciano I5FLN was the only hunter who visited on all bands.

Thanks all for calling in.
Lars, PH0NO/P

Activating PAFF-031 - Speulder- en Sprielderbos

With two hours of spare time near PAFF-031 I decided to try and find an operating spot. PAFF-031 is very challenging for a radio station as it is a dense forrest. From the picture you can see that I found a little bit of space in between the trees.

Operating in between the trees

Conditions weren't really impressive. The fact that the antenna was in between the trees will not have contributed. I was active on 15m, 20m and 40m. Most activity was on 20m this time.

In two hours I have made 121 contacts with OMs of 29 DXCCs. For some reason there were no stations from Asiatic Russia - normally a number of OM's call in. One real DX came by in the shape of VE5, making for 6700km of maximum distance - and a new Canadian state for me.

Thanks all for stopping by.
Lars, PH0NO/P

A busy activation of PAFF-044 (Arkemheen)

DX on 15m, regular traffic on 20m and crazy pileups on 40m

With some unexpected free time on my hands I headed over to PAFF-044 (Arkemheen) on November 18. Arkemheen was one of the few unactivated WFF areas in PA-land left and the last one relatively close to my QTH.

After studying the map I found a nice operating spot near a water pumping station. I was hoping to set up my antenna directly on the water's edge. Theory and my experience tells me that this helps getting ur signal across the globe (I noticed this for example in June when I activated PAFF-014). However the water I was hoping to use was hidden behind a dike that was only accessible by bicycle. So I set up my station directly behind the dike. I had beautiful views from my operating position that got even more special when the sun set and fog came in.

Setup at Arkemheen

I started out at 15:00 local time - a good time for the higher bands. I decided to start on 15m hoping on some DX passing by. Of course I was greeted first by Luciano I5FLN. In the following hour I worked 80 stations including DX from North America (up to Arizona) and Puerto Rico - max QRB 8800km.

After an hour I decided to go down to 20m - usually the busiest place for WFF. There was quite some activity, so no time to get bored. I worked 79 stations in one hour. Luciano was again the first OM to pass by. Conditions were okay - good enough for strong signals from stations throughout Europe. Apart from a booming visit by W1YY/7 (Washington state, 7800km) and only 2 stations from Assiatic Russia there was no DX to be found.

Sunset and fog at Arkemheen (PH0NO/P on the right)

It was just past 17:00 local time and it was getting darker - so, time to move lower once again. I went to 40m to find out conditions were very good on this band. Starting at 17:20 I worked almost 100 stations in one hour. After a couple of minutes the traffic was so crazy that I had to call by numbers - a new experience. Apart from a couple of OMs that don't grasp the concept of numbers or simply don't listen this worked very well. When I had to close down my station to head home, there were still stations calling. Crazy. Really.
And Luciano? Of course he came by on 40m as well. Other duties kept him from being the first one this time though.

The stats for this activation: 242 stations (254 contacts) from 38 DXCC entities in 3 hours of activity with a maximum distance of 8700 km into Arizona.

Thanks everyone for calling in!
Lars, PH0NO/P

A long activation of Nunspeet - PAFF-033

Using three different bands for short and long distance QSOs

Wednesday October 26 I had planned an activation of PAFF-033. The difference with other activations up till now was that I had quite a bit of time on my hands and that I knew a few days ahead that I would use this time for an activation.

Using Google Maps I had already checked out the area for a good operating spot. I had found a few spots and it turned out that the first one I went for was good enough. The area is mainly covered by a dense forest, which is not the best condition for a radio operation. I found a bit of space, just enough to keep the antenna free from the trees on the northern part of the park.

I was visited twice by park attendants. This surprised me somewhat as the park is not a high profile park at all. The first one did not understand what I was doing but decided it would not be harmful for the park. The second one turned out to be an inactive HAM.. small world.

Station set-up @ PAFF-033

Conditions

The previous days I had had a lot of fun on 10 meters (my favourite band) so I decided to start there and see how many hunters would be present there. As I hoped, there were a number of DX stations calling in (US, Canada, Brazil and I stumbled upon PJ5) - 10m is great for DX. PY1SX set the maximum QRB for the day (9600km).

For Europe the conditions on 10m weren't that great so after one and a half hours (and only 33 contacts) I went down to 20m. This is a very busy place for WFF. I worked 192 stations in just over 2 hours. As always most of the OM's were from Russia (EU and Asiatic), Italy and Ukraine. A few DX stations came by as well - JH8, UA0, UA9, VE6, UN9 and 4Z. 

Quite a few of the WFF hunters have become familiar callsigns, some are in my log for all my 6 activations.

When 20m started to get slow, around 18:30 local time, I decided to give 40m a try. It was a challenge to find a quiet spot but when I did I worked 69 stations in one hour. 40m nicely closes the skip gap 20m and 10m leave behind (between 250 - 700km).

At 20:00 I closed down the station and headed back home. By that time I had greeted 288 OMs (some came by on more than one band - some even on all three - hi Luciano :) from 43 different DXCC entities.

Thanks all for stopping by and calling in. See you at the next activation.
Lars, PH0NO/P