Tag Archives: SOTA

SOTA expedition nr. 1 – OK/KR-008 and OK/KR-069

Today I successfully activated two hills in Orlické hory mountain range – OK/KR-008 Velká Deštná and OK/KR-069 Šerlich.

I went to the “expedition” together with my Dad (he, as always, was helping me carrying equipment and setting up my station) and my Mum (she joint us because trip to Velká Deštná is very nice and was taking care of us :-)) and last but not least our expedition mascot, Dandy:-)

Our Golden Retriever, Dandy

Our Golden Retriever, Dandy

At 12:00 CET we parked our car in a col/saddle between Šerlich and Malá Deštná hills and set out for a short trip to OK/KR-008 Velká Deštná, 1115 m ASL. We got there about 40 minutes later and started setting up the station. We erected cca. 7 meters high mast with vertical aerial for 145 MHz. My RIG was an old 5W FM hand-held CT-22 Midland powered by 12V/7Ah SLAB. At 12:55 everything was set up and I started calling CQ on 145.450 MHz.

Velká Deštná (1115 m ASL)

Velká Deštná (1115 m ASL)

The first station called me after about five minutes of CQing – it was Erwin OE5PEN/P from SOTA OE/OO-061 Pfannstein! His power was also just 5 Watts, distance between us 320 km… not bad QSO on 145 MHz FM! :-)

During next 20 minutes I managed to make three more QSOs, so the activation of Velká Deštná was successful and we started returning back to the saddle. But it still wasn’t the end of our expedition since we went to one more hill – OK/KR-069 Šerlich, 1027 m ASL.

Setting up a station was a little easier there, we used a triangulation shaft on the top to hold the mast – however, since the shaft was a little slanted, my aerial really wasn’t in ideal position. I’m even a little ashamed for the following photo:-) Making 4 necessary QSOs took me a little longer, but finally I succeeded.

Šerlich (1027 m ASL)

Šerlich (1027 m ASL)

Finally I’d like to thank a lot to all stations that called me – to OK1DVP, OK1UTX, OK2UMM/P, OK1VEL, OK1VRW, OK2JSX, OK1VOC and especially to OE5PEN/P for my first SOTA QSO and for my first Summit-to-Summit QSO.

Dandy, tired after the trip

Dandy, tired after the trip

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Welcome to my blog!

Hello and welcome to my blog!

I founded this blog to publish here reports from my SOTA expeditions.

I’ve been planning my 1st SOTA activation for tomorrow, I’d like to activate two hills in Orlické hory mountain range – OK/KR-008 Velká Deštná and OK/KR-069 Šerlich. However, my equipment is not too good – just 2m FM hand-held and vertical aerial – so I’m not sure if I manage to make 4 necessary QSOs.

So wish me luck and I hope to hear you on the band sometimes.

73! Ondra, OK1CLD

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