Tag Archives: BaMaKeY TP-III

Field Reports, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, QRP Radios, Videos

Uncompromised Performance: Taking my new-to-me Ten-Tec Argonaut VI to the field!

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In late August 2024, I came across what I considered a great deal on a fantastic radio, which I’m excited to share with you in the following field report.

Please note that this POTA (Parks On The Air) activation took place on September 5, 2024 (almost exactly two months ago)—three weeks before Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina. This is one of a few field reports and activation videos I’ll be sharing that took place before Helene’s arrival.

I haven’t been back to the Vance State Historic Site since the storm, as it’s been closed. Located in the Reems Creek valley, the site likely experienced extensive flooding. I hope this park can recover and reopen soon.

I hope you enjoy this field report and activation video. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reliving it while preparing this for you.

Thank you!
Thomas (K4SWL)

Reunited with the Model 539

In late August, I was browsing the QTH.com classifieds when I spotted a radio I hadn’t seen for sale in some time: the Ten-Tec Argonaut VI QRP transceiver. This radio had been on my mental watchlist for years.

The seller was asking $440, which I considered a great deal for a radio that, to my knowledge, hasn’t been in production since Ten-Tec closed its Sevierville, TN factory in 2016.

This radio and I have some history together. I was one of the original volunteer Beta testers for the Argonaut VI and, in 2012, wrote a full review of the production model.

Ten-Tec offered me a chance to purchase my Beta unit (updated to full production specs) with a modest discount. But at the time, I simply couldn’t afford it; we’d just built our house, and I couldn’t justify the purchase, especially since I’d also reviewed and bought my Elecraft KX3 that same year.

I always planned to get an Argonaut VI eventually—better late than never, right?

As I mention in my activation video, I plan to make a “Getting to Know You” video for the Argonaut VI soon, so I won’t dive deep into why I love this radio here.

The takeaway? I feel the Argonaut VI has some of the best overall receiver performance of any radio I’ve used. It’s quirky and certainly not perfect, but its excellent receiver, filtering, audio, and QSK make it a benchmark QRP transceiver.

Getting Reacquainted

While the Argo VI was en route to my QTH, I wanted to refresh my memory on its operation.

Since it had been twelve years since I last used the Argonaut VI, I had to revisit my own review to remember some of its nuances!

When it arrived, I quickly put it on the air and operated it from my shack until I had a chance to take it to the field on Thursday, September 5, 2024.

Vance Historic Birthplace (US-6856)

As I always do with smaller POTA sites like Vance, I called ahead to make sure the picnic shelter wouldn’t be reserved at my arrival time. The park ranger replied, “It’s all yours, Thomas!”

The weather was nearly perfect that Thursday, with a hint of fall in the air.

En route to the site, I thought about my antenna options. Since the Argo VI doesn’t have a built-in ATU, I opted to use a resonant antenna for simplicity. In the end, I chose my Chelegance MC-750 vertical, which I set up next to the picnic shelter.

The MC-750 is a quarter-wave antenna, so I extended the telescoping whip for a match on the 20-meter band.

I don’t yet have a field kit specifically built around the Argonaut VI, so I simply brought along various accessories in my Husky weathertight storage box.

I set up the radio, tuned to 20 meters, checked my settings, and was ready to take the Argo VI on its first POTA activation!

Gear

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On The Air

I hopped on the air and, within eleven minutes, worked my first ten stations. Continue reading Uncompromised Performance: Taking my new-to-me Ten-Tec Argonaut VI to the field! →

Accessories, Field Reports, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, Videos

Morning on the Trail and On the Air: A Relaxing K2 QRP POTA Activation from the Campsite

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I woke up around 6:45 on Saturday, August 24, 2024. That’s late for me, but I tend to sleep well when camping and it must have helped that the previous evening POTA activation by the campfire was pure bliss.

There were some noises in the campground that woke me up during the night (probably other campers scaring off raccoons), but aside from that, I slept peacefully in my rooftop tent.

As I lay there Saturday morning, I couldn’t decide whether to make breakfast and hit the air for an early morning POTA activation, or to take a nice hike before everyone else in the campground woke up.

I chose the latter option!

At 7:00 AM, I headed to the nearby trailhead for the Lake Shore trail. It was a very pleasant and quiet hike—roughly 5 miles in total.

Afterwards, I made some blueberry oatmeal and a cup of French-pressed coffee. It really hit the spot!

Next, I grabbed my Elecraft K2 and connected it to the MM0OPX 40M EFHW that I had set up the previous evening.

I realized it had been a while since I’d taken the K2 out into the field, which was why I packed it for this trip. I use the K2 quite often in the shack, but it needed some outdoor time. All radios (and their operators!) need outdoor therapy!

New Tufteln TP-III Protective Cover

My friend Joshua (N5FY) at Tufteln sent me this protective cover, at no cost to me, for the BamaKey TP-III.  Joshua has almost become a specialist in making bespoke protective covers for radios and accessories.

This cover is great. You insert four rare earth magnets (included) into four holes in the bottom of the cover. These work with the rare earth magnets on the TP-III to mag-lock the cover in place.

If you buy one of these for your TP-III, I would advice that you check the polarity of the magnets on the TP-III before inserting the magnets in the cover’s holes. I didn’t do this and found that I’d aligned a couple of the magnets in opposition, thus they repelled the magnets in the case. I had to dig the magnets out and reverse them–not a complicated procedure, but one I could have avoided had I simply thought about this in advance!

Anyway, I do like this cover! Thanks, Joshua!

Gear

Note: All Amazon, CW Morse, ABR, Chelegance, eBay, and Radioddity links are affiliate links that support QRPer.com at no cost to you.

On The Air

I hopped on the air and started calling CQ POTA on the 40-meter band. I figured that at this time of morning, 40 meters should be in decent shape.

I was right! Continue reading Morning on the Trail and On the Air: A Relaxing K2 QRP POTA Activation from the Campsite →

Accessories, Field Reports, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, Travel, Videos

POTA Activation at Strouds Run State Park: A Rainy Morning and Ham Radio Memories!

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On Tuesday morning, May 14, 2024, I hopped in my car and headed north to Athens, Ohio. It was in Athens, back in 1997, that my ham radio journey truly began, and where I met my friends Eric (WD8RIF) and Mike (K8RAT).

For over 14 years, Eric, his son Miles (KD8KNC), and I have made the annual pilgrimage to Hamvention and FDIM, with few interruptions. My routine is to drive to Athens, catch up with Eric and his wife, Vickie, stay overnight, and then head to Dayton the next day with Eric and Miles. I enjoy this because it breaks up my travels and usually allows for some POTA activating along the way.

This Wednesday morning, Eric had an appointment and a meeting, so our plan was to leave for Dayton around noon. This gave me the morning free to play radio!

Breakfast at Miller’s Chicken

I left the house around 8:00 AM with the goal of activating Strouds Run State Park, conveniently located near downtown Athens. But first, breakfast!

I try to avoid chain restaurants when traveling, preferring local spots. I was delighted to discover that Miller’s Chicken, an Athens institution, served breakfast. I had no idea!

Miller’s Chicken holds fond memories for me. When my wife was a graduate student at Ohio University, for a brief period of time, she lived within walking distance and we often ate there. She even acted in a student film shot at the restaurant!

Walking in, I realized it had been 23+ years since my last visit. I ordered a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit with coffee as a group of students left, leaving me with the place almost to myself.

POTA at Strouds Run State Park (US-1994)

I arrived at the park around 9:15 AM. It had been raining all morning, so I sought cover under a picnic Shelter.  Eric, a frequent activator of Strouds Run, had told me where to find all of Strouds’ shelters.

Check out Eric’s standing on the park’s POTA page:

You can also read all of Eric’s hundreds of field reports on his website.

I found an empty shelter by the lakeshore (no surprise given the weather). I brought several radios with me on the Dayton trip: my Elecraft KX2, KH1, Index Labs QRP Plus, Venus SW-3B (always in the car), and my Yaesu FT-818.

Propagation has been a hot mess lately. I figured 40 meters and 20 meters would be the best bands to try, and the EFHW is resonant on both, eliminating the need for an antenna tuner.

Setup was easy, with trees near the shelter providing ideal suspension points for the EFHW.

(Note about audio: As I prepared this activation video, I discovered that my wireless mic wasn’t connected, so you won’t hear me when I walk away from the camera. My apologies! There’s also more wind noise than usual. However, you’ll hear plenty of waterfowl and other birds enjoying the park.)

Jeweler’s Bench Block

Only a couple of days prior, I received a Jeweler’s Bench Block that I purchased on Amazon.com (affiliate link). Several friends had recommended I pick up one to pair with my lightweight, portable keys that have embedded rare-earth magnets.

The key I paired with it was my BamaKey TP-III. You’ll hear me rave about this combo in the activation video.

It weighs 13.7 ounces and has a silicon base: I found that with the TP-III (which has a light action), it was rock-solid on the picnic table.

I wish I would have purchased one of these ages ago!

Gear:

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On The Air

I started calling CQ and, fortunately, hunters started replying! Continue reading POTA Activation at Strouds Run State Park: A Rainy Morning and Ham Radio Memories! →

Field Reports, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, Skills, Videos

Keying In The Rain: One rather soggy but incredibly fun POTA activation!

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I’m lucky enough to live in a part of the world where–by and large–the weather is pretty darn nice.

In fact, I recently received a comment from a reader who jokingly said that I should work for the tourism board of western North Carolina because the weather always seems so pleasant in my POTA/SOTA videos.

It’s true: most of the time I hit the field to play radio, the weather is very pleasant.

That said, you see more of these “fair weather” activations because I tend not to make videos of ones in poor conditions mainly because I don’t like managing the camera in high winds, heavy rains, or even super cold conditions–especially when I want to get in and out of the field quickly. The camera tends slows everything down.

On Friday, December 1, 2023, though, I decided to do a park activation in the rain and make a video! Here’s my field report:

Pisgah National Forest (K-4510)

That Friday morning, I dropped my daughters off at classes, then made my way to the Mills River library to put the finishing touches on a field report and publish it. It was rainy and I wasn’t complaining; it had been a very dry fall in WNC up to that point.

After I published my field report and attempted to catch up on the email backlog a bit, I hopped in the car and headed to the Sycamore Flats picnic area in Pisgah National Forest (K-4510) and Pisgah Game Lands (K-6937).

That day, knowing it would be soggy, I packed my Discovery TX-500 which is pretty much rain-proof. By this, I mean that it’s designed to cope with rain, but it’s not designed to be completely submerged in water.

Truth be told, I had no intention of making an activation video. Once I arrived on site, though, I thought, “Why the heck not?” After all, other than being rainy and chilly, conditions were pretty pleasant. That and my OSMO action camera is completely waterproof.

I grabbed the camera and started filming the activation while closing up the car.

Setting Up

When playing POTA in the rain, I tend to select picnic tables or sites that are under the canopy of trees if at all possible. Trees not only provide antenna supports, but they also help divert a bit of the rain.

I found an ideal site under the canopy of a few hemlocks.

I deployed my PackTenna end-fed half-wave (EFHW) oriented (nearly) vertically and with the feed point close to the tree trunk so that it would be better protected from the rain. I wasn’t worried about the antenna getting wet, but I also didn’t want the toroid and windings to get completely soaked either. It’s never a bad idea to use what bit of natural protection the trees can offer.

As you can see in the photo above, I had my TX-500 completely exposed, but the battery, in-line fuse, and (to some extent) the speaker mic were all protected in the TX-500’s Telesin Case.

As always, I used my Rite In The Rain notepad which is a champ at handling wet conditions. Continue reading Keying In The Rain: One rather soggy but incredibly fun POTA activation! →

Field Reports, Guest Posts, Portable, POTA

Poland Adventures – Part II

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by Thomas (DM1TBE as SP/M0KEU/P)

After completing my first POTA Rove, it was time to look for other opportunities. The next day, we planned a trip close to the border between Poland and Germany. Due to the high density of POTA parks in Poland, it was not too hard to find a POTA park for me.

The park Łęgi koło Słubic Nature Reserve (SP-1908) is a floodplain for the Oder River, the border river between Poland and Germany. As described in my previous post, the border was shifted from further east to the Oder river as part of the territorial changes at the end of World War II. Later, Poland was the only country, along with Czechoslovakia, where people from East Germany, i.e., the Soviet-controlled part of Germany, could travel to without permission. This arrangement came to an end in 1980 with the rise of the Solidarność (Solidarity) movement in Poland, a social movement against the pro-Soviet government, and the subsequent declaration of martial law.

J. Żołnierkiewicz, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

After the reunification of Germany in 1990, the border became a kind of ‘wealth border’ between Eastern and Western Europe, giving rise to various issues such as crime and immigration. Following Poland’s accession to the European Union in 2004 and its entry into the Schengen Area in 2007, which involved the removal of all border controls, the situation improved. Now the only thing indicating a border ahead is the black-red-yellow post.

The current rapid pace of development in Poland does not make it impossible to overtake Germany in the foreseeable future.

Back to the activation. I took the following equipment with me:

When going (as in walking) to an unknown park without knowing the circumstances, I like to have the option to choose between an antenna with a small and a large footprint. So far, I have just made a handful of car-based activations. But I increasingly like it as it opens another world with big antennas and bigger rigs. We recently made a test activation with an Icom IC-7300 and a 6-band Cobweb antenna from AWK, by chance also from Poland.

But that’s another story.

Not sure if I have mentioned it: My BaMaKey had a technical issue and I had to send it back to the manufacturer. The repair took just a couple of days and the communication was very smooth and convenient. I was happy to have my favourite key back in time before my vacation.

So after I dropped my family to do their business, I went on and looked around for a nice place. Of course, I had to see the actual border.

Left Poland, right Germany. In the background is Frankfurt (Oder), not to be confused with the more well-known Frankfurt am Main.

The weather looked a bit difficult, but it remained dry.

Eventually, I found a place in a meadow with more than enough space for the SOTABeams linked dipole so I could leave the JPC-12, the ground mounted vertical, in the backpack. In the meanwhile, I am used to the SOTABeams antenna. I can build it alone in less than 5 minutes and – as it is hard to beat a dipole – have a very good antenna for operating QRP.

The activation was difficult. It was a holiday season, a morning during a weekday, and the conditions were tough. After 30 minutes, I had just 4 QSOs. So I asked in the chat groups of my local ham radio club and a German POTA group for help. After 1.5 hours, I ended the activation with 15 QSOs, of which 5 were from the alerted groups. At least the place was nice, and the weather was not as hot as in the days before.

Log Analyzer by DL4MFM / Google Maps

The next day, I wanted to spend some time with my 7-year-old son, and I was looking for an opportunity to combine it with a quick activation. I remembered the bunkers and museums of the Ostwall (East Wall), technically Festungsfront Oder-Warthe-Bogen (Fortified Front Oder-Warthe-Bogen). The structure, spanning 120 km / 75 miles in total, was constructed between 1934 and 1944. It stood as the most technologically advanced fortification system during the era of Nazi Germany, and continues to be one of the largest systems of its kind in the world today. Continue reading Poland Adventures – Part II →

Field Reports, Guest Posts, News, Portable, QRP, SOTA

KM4CFT: A Relaxing Labor Day SOTA Activation

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Many thanks to Jonathan (KM4CFT) who shares the following guest field report:

A Relaxing Labor Day SOTA Activation

by Jonathan Kayne (KM4CFT)

September 4, 2023

Days off from work can be a really great thing. And for someone who spends most of his time indoors at a computer, I try to find plenty of excuses to go outside and get some fresh air. Labor Day is one of those days I get off from work, so I decided I would do a SOTA activation, but I wasn’t entirely sure where.

Luckily, there are plenty of tools out there to help with planning a SOTA activation, namely sotl.as, which shows all the summits on a map along with additional information about the summit.

I wasn’t entirely sure which one to pick, so I just searched around and came across Evergreen Mountain, which has the reference designator W0C/FR-076. Doing some research showed that it was about a 2-3 mile hike to the summit from the parking lot, which was perfect. The air around Denver, CO can be somewhat thin and these hikes can be strenuous if you aren’t used to it. I have been living in the Denver area for 2 years and I still am not used to it!

After a small amount of planning, I pack my radio and antenna into a bag along with the usual hiking gear and drive to the base of the mountain. There were a lot of cars already parked there, so I had to park on the side of the road. It seems other people had the same idea that I did!

The trail to the summit of Evergreen mountain was comparatively easy due to the trail being designed for mountain biking. Mountains in Colorado tend to be incredibly steep, which can make them quite the workout, even if the hike is short. This trail consisted of plenty of switchbacks, which made the hike incredibly easy, trading steepness for distance. This was a massive bonus from my perspective!

As you might have guessed, Evergreen Mountain (and the town) get their name from the impressive number of evergreen trees in the area. As you drive towards the town, it almost becomes exclusively pine trees everywhere!

As I walked, I couldn’t help but notice all the fallen pine trees, which concerned me, but I quickly came across a sign explaining the reason.

I really got to enjoy walking through these trees, and listening to the wind howl through the mountains. It also had the benefit of keeping me nice and cool in the reasonable 83° temperature outside.

The trees also blocked the views of the mountains to some extent, but my research showed me that we get plenty of gorgeous views closer to the summit!

Right before the summit loop, I was rewarded with a small glimpse of the views that were to come!

I made it to the summit loop trail, and advanced to the last little bit before the summit. Right before the true summit there is a tenth-mile little trail that leads to a scenic overlook. I, of course, had to go and take a look.

I went back and made it to the summit. The top of the mountain was pretty flat so I just went to what I thought was the summit and set up my station there. Searching around showed that I was well within the activation zone. The area had some nice rocks to sit on as well as trees for me to lash my crappie pole to with para-cord.

I unpacked my gear and started to set up. The gear I brought was as follows:

With SOTA, I have the opportunity to use my VHF/UHF equipment to make some QSOs. I find it quite rare for me to do simplex communication on VHF or UHF these days as I almost exclusively operate on HF. Also, I like to try to operate in the parts of the bands with the lowest license requirement so that the less experienced hams have an opportunity to work me. With this, I can give our technicians a chance to chase SOTA! Continue reading KM4CFT: A Relaxing Labor Day SOTA Activation →

Field Reports, Guest Posts, Portable, POTA, SOTA

Unveiling Poland: POTA, SOTA, and a Glimpse into History – Part 1: The Rover Award

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by Thomas (DM1TBE as SP/M0KEU/P)

Just like last year, my family and I combined a visit to my parents near Berlin, Germany in the summer with some extra days in the region. As in last year, we went to Łagów (German: Lagow) in Poland.  The reasons we chose Łagów again, was a lovely holiday house, directly on a beautiful lake with a beach – all not too far away from Germany – and the good memories we had from our previous stay.

There is also a SOTA summit, which was only activated once in the 5 years when we visited the area last year. As I started with POTA this year and there are also a couple of POTA spots around, I thought it would be worth another visit.

The area around Łagów has been populated since the Bronze Age, i.e. >1000 BC. In 1251, the area came under German rule and the first mention of the town was in 1299. In the 14th century, the Knights Hospitaller built a castle that exists to this date. For the year 1367, it is documented that the convent of Lagow consisted of seven knights and one priest of the order.

At the foot of the fortress, a settlement for craftsmen and servants emerged, secured by defensive walls and two gates.

Gate in the middle

It is obvious that the builders of the gates did not have modern cars in mind when planing the size of the gates.

During the Thirty Years’ War, one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, Lagow was captured and destroyed by the Swedes in 1640. The hand drawn map below from 1662 already shows Lagow.

During the fighting at the end of World War II in the spring of 1945, the castle and the village did not suffer mayor damages. After the war’s end in 1945, Lagow was placed under Polish administration, and Polish migrants settled in the area. The local Polish authorities expelled the native German residents who had not fled. The spelling of the town’s name was changed to Łagów.

Germany lost large parts of its territory as a consequence of the wars it has started after both major wars of the last century. Lagow was part of the lost territory depicted in the green area below.

The territorial gain probably wasn’t something Poland was very happy about, as the Soviet Union annexed a significant portion of Eastern Poland at the same time and incorporated the previously Polish soil mainly into the Soviet Union republics of Ukraine and Belarus. Consequently, the country experienced an effective westward shift.

Red: Pre-war Poland, Pink: Post-war Poland

Over a long time, expelled Germans were very vocal about claims to return the area to Germany and yet rather quiet about their share in the terrible events that unfolded between 1933 and 1945. Therefore, Germany’s eastern border was not recognized until 1990 by the German government. However, the issues resolved over the time and today, 33 years after the official acceptance of the border, no one I know even thinks about this as an issue any more. Additionally, the Polish side appears to be more relaxed about this topic. I have seen a lot of bilingual information panels and some memorials for former German inhabitants. Nice to see the wounds heal.

The Activations

The holiday house was within the borders of a POTA park. Having a 7-year-old “early bird” son, helped my to wake up early enough to get my 100 contacts for the POTA Early Shift Activator Award.  I walked to the edge of the facility and raised my SOTABEAMS Band Hopper III linked dipole for the 20-, 30- and 40 meter bands as soon as my son woken me up and ended my activity around 9:00 local time nearly every day.

Although I had a bunch of other antennas with me, I made all activations during my journey with this antenna and an Icom IC-705.

POTA Rover Warthog Award

The density of POTA-parks is way higher in Poland than in my home region in Southern Germany.  With the help and tips from Damian (SP9LEE) I drafted a plan to activate 5 parks on a single day. Continue reading Unveiling Poland: POTA, SOTA, and a Glimpse into History – Part 1: The Rover Award →

Articles, Guest Posts, Portable, POTA

New POTA Location: From Proposal to Activation at Lightspeed

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by Thomas (DM1TBE)

If you followed my activation reports, you may (or may not) remember that I have just started pursuing POTA this year with the program gaining popularity in Europe and hence resulting in sufficient chasers for activations. However, the number of parks is not that high in Germany when compared to other countries. So the local POTA admins asked to submit proposals to fill the gaps across Germany.

Last Friday, I was browsing through the area I live in and thought about areas that would suit POTA. I stumbled upon Spielburg. The upper part of the SOTA summit Hohenstaufen, which I have visited and written a report about earlier this year, was once higher, but about two million years ago, slid down and formed the present-day Spielburg.

Not much of it remains today, as it was used as a quarry until the 1950s. Today it is a protected nature area of 31 ha / 77 acres consisting of a unique biotope with distinctive white Jura limestone cliffs. Although not large, it is popular among the locals for hiking, as a viewing point, and – as I have spotted during my visit – a place for romantic picnics.

So I suggested the area to the local POTA admins on a Friday afternoon. The following day, late in the evening, I received an email from local POTA admin Heinrich, DO1HFS, telling me that my proposal has been accepted as DA-0514. What a great response time – Vielen Dank, Heinrich.

I have been there a couple of times without a radio but with family and kids, but I did not pay attention to possible locations for an activation. I checked some online maps and imagery, but it did not help me much further. So I took the SOTAbeams Band Hopper III and the vertical JPC-12 with me to be prepared for larger and smaller possibilities. I also want to have at least 36 QSOs after 7pm local time to complete my POTA Late Shift Activator award. Therefore, I thought using FT8, which I have never used before during an activation, would make it easier to achieve such a number.

So the following Sunday, I started the activation. This one and all my previous activations were “backpack” activations, i.e., all my equipment fitted into a backpack, and I walked at least the last meters, usually over a mile, carrying all the stuff. In this case, my place for the activation was just 1 km / 0.6 mi away from parking, but I walked through the whole area to find the best place. Eventually, I found a wooden bench with a nice view and a meadow behind, where there was sufficient space for the SOTAbeams Bandhopper linked dipole for the 20, 30, and 40-meter bands.

The equipment I used consisted of

plus some other utilities such as a Surface Laptop for WSJT-X, the PAC-12 vertical antenna, which I have not used, pen & paper… Continue reading New POTA Location: From Proposal to Activation at Lightspeed →

Field Reports, Guest Posts, Portable, SOTA

The Beauty and the Boring: Two SOTA Summits in Southern Germany

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Kreuzschnabel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
by Thomas (DM1TBE)

As you probably know, SOTA, unlike POTA, provides little to no motivation to activate a place more than once during a calendar year. However, I still activate nearby summits multiple times because I enjoy the location and the activity, even though the activations, or better the points are greyed out.

Therefore, as the calendar year progresses, the travel time to reach a SOTA mountain keeps increasing. When the travel time exceeds one hour one-way, I typically try to schedule two activations on the same day. This is what I did last weekend.

SUMMIT IPF

My first summit was called Ipf (DM/BW-131). The Ipf is a treeless free standing mountain with an elevation of 668 metres / 2,192 ft. At its peak, there is a prehistoric hill fort.

Reconstruction by Geak, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The flattened top of about 180 m / 590 ft shows evidence of settlement and fortification spanning almost a thousand years from 1200 BC – 300 BC. During its existence, the “princely seat” served as an important regional center of power and aristocratic residence with trade connections to Greece and Italy.

The oval summit plateau was once surrounded by a perimeter wall, which supported a wooden-reinforced wall about 5 m / 16ft wide. There is an information center at the foot of the mountain, where a part of the wall has been reconstructed.

On the flat eastern side, there is an additional intermediate wall trench that extends about 150 m / 490 ft from the main wall. Approximately 60 m / 197 ft to the east, a third fortified line features a wooden-reinforced stone wall. Below the summit plateau by 50-60 m / 164-197 ft, a fourth wall surrounds the south, east, and north sides, shielded by steep slopes on the west. This wall, along with a trench, extends northward to the mountain’s base, safeguarding three preserved well shafts. The ancient castle entrance led from the southeast to the elevated plateau. The old path remains the easiest route, providing scenic views of the trench system. Continue reading The Beauty and the Boring: Two SOTA Summits in Southern Germany →

Field Reports, Guest Posts, Portable, SOTA

On Top of Germany: Activating the Highest Mountain with my KX3 and the PAC-12

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by Thomas (DM1TBE)

During the past couple of months, I stumbled upon two or three documentaries about the mountain Zugspitze and the surrounding area. One day I thought, what it is that is preventing me from activating the Zugspitze (DL/WS-001) for the SOTA-program? The answer was rather short: a 3-hour drive. So, I waited for a good opportunity and accepted the challenge on a sunny and warm Saturday in June.

The Zugspitze, with an elevation of 2,962 m / 9,718 ft, is the highest peak in Germany and I think it is fair to say that it is also one of Europe’s highest mountains. Located in the Bavarian Alps near the German-Austrian border, the Zugspitze offers breathtaking panoramic views of the surrounding mountain ranges and picturesque landscapes. It is a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts, attracting hikers, climbers, skiers, and snowboarders throughout the year. The Zugspitze is accessible via cogwheel train, cable car, and hiking trails. At the platforms on the summit, visitors can enjoy a range of facilities, including observation platforms, restaurants, a simple accommodation option, which specifically caters to hikers, and the international border between Austria and Germany across the platforms.

The lake in front of the mountain is called Eibsee. With its crystal-clear, but ice-cold waters, the lake is a popular destination for swimming, boating, and other water activities during the summer months.

Surrounded by majestic mountains and dense forests, like in a fairy tale, the Eibsee offers a picturesque and tranquil setting.

I started early in the morning on a nice Saturday. I must admit that a 3-hour drive for a SOTA summit might sound a bit extreme, but this is a special mountain for me, I have never been even close to such a high altitude – except in a plane. If you have ever been in the Alps, you probably remember the typical residential buildings that you see all around.

I arrived late in the morning at a parking place that is next to the cable car station.

Before going to the summit, I wanted to walk around the lake Eibsee. The hike around the lake is 7 km / 4.4 mi but took it longer than expected. The tour provides numerous opportunities to make incredible pictures.

Although I am a photographic noob and make pictures with the camera default settings, I quite like the results – all picture of this blog post are taken by me. Continue reading On Top of Germany: Activating the Highest Mountain with my KX3 and the PAC-12 →