Tag Archives: Icom IC-705

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, 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 →

News, Portable, QRP, QRP Radios, Surveys, Travel

Survey #3 Results: What QRP HF transceiver would you or do you choose for air travel?

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This past week, I posted the third of several surveys on QRPer.com, this time asking:

“What QRP HF transceiver would you or do you choose for air travel?”

I turned off the survey at 6:30 EDT today, with a total of 475 responses.

Survey Results

Here’s a pie chart showing the top 18 results in the survey. To see detail, you will need to click on the image below (or click this link) to enlarge it in a new window:

The top choice was the Elecraft KX2 which accounted for 22.9% of the votes.

It’s funny: I had assumed the Icom IC-705 might take first place in this survey. Then I realized that I own both the KX2 and IC-705 and, this summer, I chose the KX2 each time I traveled. Indeed, I can’t think of a time in recent memory that I didn’t take the KX2 with me during travels.

The reason I picked the KX2 each time is because it’s such a comprehensive HF radio with a superb built-in ATU and battery pack. There’s no field situation I can throw at it that it can’t handle. In fact, if a site doesn’t allow any antennas on the ground, I can even pair it with my AX1 or AX2 tabletop antennas.

I see why so many of you picked it as your first choice.

Your second choice was the Icom IC-705 which accounted for 14.3% of the votes.

The IC-705 has one very cool feature for travel: you can charge it with a common Micro USB charger!

No need to take a separate power supply, battery pack, or custom charger. Simply bring a Micro USB cable and plug it into the hotel USB charger, your phone’s charger, or even a Lithium power pack. If you’re happy with 5 watts of output power, you really need no other battery, power supply, or charger.

Of course, the IC-705 is compact, sports the entire HF band, VHF, and UHF and is multimode. It can also receive FM and AM broadcasts along with weather radio, and the AIR band.

You can even do D-Star natively and allow the GPS in the IC-705 to find the closest repeaters and load them to memory.

The IC-705 is a very savvy travel transceiver!

Your third choice was the Yaesu FT-817/818 which accounted for 9.9% of the votes.

At first, I was a little surprised the FT-817/818 would gather more votes than, say, the Elecraft KX3, but then again it’s actually a very compact radio. I remember when I used to travel Europe for a living, I would tuck my FT-817 into my carry-on and I hardly noticed it was there.

It also ships with a NiMH battery pack, and you can also buy a much longer-life and faster-charging Li-Ion pack.

The FT-817/818 is a rugged radio. You don’t have to worry about it being harmed in a pack and it lays pretty flat as well so it’s easy to protect and pad among your clothes.

The Elecraft KX3 took forth place with 8.6% of the votes.

The KX3 is one of the highest-performance field radios ever made and it is incredibly portable.

I added the Side KX panels to my KX3 many years ago. With those installed and using the Lexan cover, it’s a very rugged radio. Simply toss it on your flight bag and you’re good to go!

The KX3 is also a very efficient radio, so you could easily power it with, say, a $25 Talentcell USB battery pack–one that TSA wouldn’t blink at.

I’ve traveled pretty extensively with my KX3 so I see why it ranks so high on the list. Like its newer sibling, the KX2, it has an amazing internal ATU. You can also load the KX3 with AA cells for short on-the-air sessions or longer listening sessions.

Fifth on this list of travel radios is the Xiegu X6100 which accounted for 6.1% of the votes.

No doubt, what makes the X6100 so appealing is that, like the KX2, it’s a proper shack-in-a-box. Indeed, I would also add the X5105 to this same list.

The X6100 contains a high-capacity rechargeable internal battery pack and an excellent ATU. It’s an all-in-one radio solution that’s actually quite rugged and could easily handle the bumps and jolts of air travel.

Notable mention…

There was another winner in this survey. It wasn’t any one model, but rather a whole class of HF transceivers: super compact portable transceivers. If lumped together as a category, these would have placed in the top five.

I’m talking about radios like the: Mountain Topper series, QCX-Mini, QMX, QDX, SW-3B, (tr)uSDX, TR-25, TR-35, and similar. These radios are so incredibly tiny that they can be packed away in a very compact pouch.

Indeed, I have a complete dedicated POTA/SOTA station built around my Venus SW-3B (see photo above). It’s all contained in a small BROG headrest pouch that I could easily toss in a travel bag.

These pint-sized radios aren’t general coverage radios like the top 5 listed above, and many are CW-only. Still: if your goal is to hit the field a bit during your vacation, they’re incredibly effective.

This radio class also represents some of the most efficient and affordable transceivers on the market.

Full Results…

If you would like to see the actual number of votes for each of the 48 radios in this survey, click the link below to load the rest of the page:

  • Elecraft KX2: 109 votes
  • Icom IC-705: 69 votes
  • Yaesu FT-817 or FT-818: 47 votes
  • Elecraft KX3: 41 votes
  • Xiegu X6100: 29 votes
  • lab599 Discovery TX-500: 27 votes
  • Xiegu G90: 20 votes
  • (tr)uSDX: 15 votes
  • Elecraft K2: 11 votes
  • Penntek TR-35: 10 votes
  • FX-4C, FX-4CR or FX-4L: 9 votes
  • Venus SW-3B: 9 votes
  • Elecraft KX1: 8 votes
  • Mountain Topper MTR-3 series: 8 votes
  • QRP Labs QCX-Mini: 8 votes
  • The following received less than 7 votes
    • Icom IC-703
    • Mountain Topper MTR-4 series
    • Xiegu X5105
    • QRP Labs QCX
    • QRP Labs QDX
    • uBITX transceiver (any model)
    • Xiegu G106
    • Elecraft K1
    • Pentek TR-45L
    • Hendricks PFR 3 series
    • YouKits or Ten-Tec Branded 2-4 band CW QRP Transceiver
    • Flex Radio Flex 1500
    • M0NKA mcHF
    • Penntek TR-25
    • Xiegu G1M
    • Hamqrpkits EGV+
    • Expert Electronics SunSDR2 QRP
    • Hermes-Lite 2
    • DSW-20
    • QRP-Labs QMX

More QRP radio surveys on the way!

What did you think about these results? Was your choice in the top five? Feel free to comment!

Also, stay tuned as I have quite a few QRP radio survey questions in the works.

I’ve tagged all of these reviews so they’re easy to browse, just bookmark or note: QRP Radio Survey Series.

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

Getting To Know You Series: The Icom IC-705 – My thoughts, notes, and a POTA activation!

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I’m very fortunate in that over the past few years I’ve accumulated a number of QRP radios that I use in rotation when I do park and summit activations.

I’m often asked for advice on choosing radios, and as I’ve mentioned in the past, I feel like the decision is a very personal one–everything is based on an operator’s own particular preferences.

I’ve written formal reviews about most of the field radios in my collection over the years. In those reviews, I try to take a wide angle view of a radio–I try to see how it might appeal to a number of types of operators: field operators, DXers, summit activators, contesters, rag-chewers, casual operators, SWLs, travelers, outdoor adventurers, mobile operators, etc. I highlight the pros and cons, but I don’t focus on my own particular take because, again, my style of operating might not match that of readers. I try to present the full picture as clearly as I can and let the reader decide.

On that note, I thought it might be fun to take a radio out for a field activation and spend a bit of time explaining why I enjoy using that particular radio and why it’s a part of my permanent field radio collection. Instead of taking that wide-angle view of a radio like I do in magazine reviews, I share my own personal thoughts based on long-term experience.

Getting To Know You

Each new video in the Getting To Know You series will highlight one of the field radios from my field radio collection.  I’ll spend time in each video explaining what I personally appreciate about each radio, then we’ll do a park or summit activation with the radio.

I’ll release these every few weeks or so–when the notion strikes me.  They will not be on a regular schedule, but I hope to include each of my radios in this series over the the next year.

The Icom IC-705

The second radio in the Getting To Know You series is my Icom IC-705.

From the moment I first unboxed my Icom IC-705, I’ve been incredibly pleased with it. It’s a proper 21st century radio. Not only does it have a very wide frequency range, multimode operation, and an incredibly deep feature set, but it also sports proper wireless connectivity.

The IC-705 has become one of the most popular QRP rigs on the market despite it’s nearly $1,400 US price tag.

I originally purchased and reviewed the Icom IC-705 in 2020 (click here to read my review).

In the activation video (below) I’ll tell you about how I acquired my IC-705, why I think it’s so unique, and why I’ve no intention of ever selling it. Then, we’ll perform a POTA activation.

Keep in mind that my perspective will primarily focus on HF operating even though the IC-705 also sports multimode VHF and UHF.

South Mountains State Park (K-2753)

While driving back to the QTH on July 6, 2023, I stopped by the Clear Creek Access of South Mountains State Park–it was the perfect location to play radio on a hot and very humid day.

South Mountains’ only picnic table is located under the shade of a large oak tree. Continue reading Getting To Know You Series: The Icom IC-705 – My thoughts, notes, and a POTA activation! →

Accessories, CW, Field Reports, Hacks and Hints, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, Videos

Field Report: Testing the bhi Dual In-Line with the (tr)uSDX, making a big blunder, and P2P with Teri!

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On March 30, 2022, I took my factory-assembled (tr)uSDX transceiver on a POTA activation at South Mountains State Park.

It was a “test flight” of sorts since I’d only had the (tr)uSDX for a few days and had not taken it to the field.

I wrote up an assessment from that initial POTA activation mainly to give other potential (tr)uSDX owners an idea of how well one of these super-affordable radios might perform.

Difficult to critique

It’s difficult to critique a 5 band HF radio that you can purchase as a kit for less than $100 and fully-assembled and tested for less than $150…shipped!

On the one hand, I think it’s one of the most amazing portable HF radio innovations of the past decade. It simply blows my mind that the developers (DL2MAN and PE1NNZ) could make this modest radio hardware do so very much. It’s truly a triumph of engineering and a fun little radio.

On the other hand, this isn’t a high-end radio, so we can’t expect performance like we’d see in an Elecraft, Icom, or Yaesu field radio, for example. I never expected this, in fact, but was very curious if the performance would be “good enough” for POTA or SOTA.  So many had asked me about buying a (tr)uSDX as their dedicated POTA radio.

I found using the (tr)uSDX for POTA was actually quite fun, and I certainly achieved my goal of activating a POTA park with it.

So yes, it’s good enough!

That said, I haven’t reached for the (tr)uSDX to do POTA or SOTA since last March because I prefer the performance characteristics of my other radios.

My biggest complaint, frankly, is that the audio fidelity is pretty poor. The noise floor of the (tr)uSDX is higher than most HF radios and audio amplification is very basic. I notice a lot of electronic noises (pulsing, etc.) in my unit. I find it a bit fatiguing to listen to for long sessions with my headphones. The internal speaker isn’t really a viable speaker for doing an activation–it’s more akin to an emergency speaker, if anything.

When plugged into an external amplified speaker, the audio is much improved. The pops and internal noises are still there, but it has better overall fidelity and the volume can be raised enough to hear weak signals (this can’t be easily done via the internal speaker).

It struck me that a DSP device might clean up the (tr)uSDX’s audio and noise floor a bit.

Enter the bhi Dual In-Line DSP filter

Sometime during the beginning of the pandemic, I reached out to bhi Noise Cancelling Products and asked if I could test one of their DSP units as a loaner. I’ve always felt that bhi manufactured the best DSP products in the amateur radio market.

At the time, I wanted one of my friends and contributors on the SWLing Post blog to test the bhi unit and see if it might help out a QRM situation that popped up at his QTH. I thought it would make for a great evaluation since I have little to no QRM at my home.

Graham, at bhi, kindly sent me a unit–the Dual In-Line Noise Eliminating Module–and as I prepared to forward it to my friend, his noise was no longer an issue. I can’t remember the details now, but there was no need to send it to him.

I notified Graham that I would like to test it myself, but that my plate was so full it would take time. What ended up happening, though, was I completely forgot about it due to a busy family life at the time.

I re-discovered the unit this year and spoke (apologized) to Graham at the 2023 Hamvention. Of course, he had no issue at all and was very forgiving. He’s a great fellow.

I thought pairing this bhi DSP unit to the (tr)uSDX would be a great way to, perhaps, cut down on the listening fatigue.

Fort Dobbs State Historic Site (K-6839)

On Wednesday, July 5, 2023, I had an opportunity to test the (tr)uSDX/bhi pairing at Fort Dobbs State Park. Continue reading Field Report: Testing the bhi Dual In-Line with the (tr)uSDX, making a big blunder, and P2P with Teri! →

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

Nail-Biter of a Quickie POTA Activation on the Blue Ridge Parkway!

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Monday, July 3, 2023, was a day absolutely chock-full of running around town. I had projects that morning to take care of, a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon, and I needed to chauffeur my daughters to/from a meet-up with friends.

I didn’t even have time to properly debate if I could squeeze in an activation. Before I left home, I simply grabbed a radio backpack and put it in the car just in case. If a window of time opened, I’d be at the ready, but there was no real way to predict in advance.

Even though I always have a radio at the ready in the car, I don’t carry all of the things necessary to film activation videos. That’s where my POTA pack comes in.

Since Hamvention, I’ve been using my GoRuck GR1 as a POTA backpack. It easily holds my radio and camera gear.

During the early afternoon, I could see a very short window of POTA opportunity opening: about 30 minutes (start to finish…or set up to take-down) to complete an activation.

Blue Ridge Parkway (K-3378)

Since time was so limited, I also chose to hit the closest predictable site: The Blue Ridge Parkway Folk Art Center. I could have easily set up at a slightly closer spot on the parkway, but if I wanted to include an activation video it would have taken longer to set up the chair, tripod, etc. Those minor details would eat up valuable on-the-air time, especially since I knew in advance that propagation was once again in the dumps (our local star has been in quite an activate state of flaring and spewing CMEs!).

So that I wouldn’t have to do an introduction once I arrived on-site, I started the activation video in the car as I was driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway. In the video, you’ll see the full set-up, activation, and pack-up. Continue reading Nail-Biter of a Quickie POTA Activation on the Blue Ridge Parkway! →

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 →

Antennas, Field Reports, Guest Posts, Portable, POTA, QRP

Exploring History and POTA: My Second SOTAbeams Bandhopper III Adventure

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by Thomas (DM1TBE)

As I mentioned in my recent activation report, I was very impressed with the SOTAbeams Bandhopper III antenna and was eager to test it again. While browsing through the maps of WWFF, SOTA, and POTA, I stumbled upon a new, unactivated POTA park that was not too far from my location – the Bucher Stausee Recreation Site (DA-0414). In the immediate vicinity of the new park, there are several archaeological sites containing the ruins of approximately 2000-year-old Roman buildings.

If you are not interested in the history part, just skip to the Activation section.

The world in Europe was relatively straightforward after 0 AD. From a political, military, and economic standpoint, there was the Roman Empire and then there was everything else.

The following map illustrates the Roman Empire at its greatest extent and the location of the Roman province of Raetia, which encompasses present-day southern Germany and parts of Switzerland and Austria—the very region where I live and where the park is located. This region shared borders with the former territories of Germanic tribes.

UNDP, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

To the northeast, a wall called the “Limes” was constructed to separate from the unconquered territory of Germanic tribes. The Limes was a fortified border system of the Roman Empire, primarily constructed during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. It served as a defensive line, marking the outer boundary of the Roman territories.

Interestingly, the Limes passed nearly through the POTA activation zone, adding a historical significance to the area.

One, maybe the main reason why the Roman Empire ceased further conquests in Germania and constructed defensive positions was the Battle of Teutoburg Forest.

The Battle of Teutoburg Forest, occurring in 9 AD, was a significant event in the Roman history. It resulted in a major defeat for the Roman Empire against an alliance of Germanic tribes led by Arminius. The battle led to the loss of three Roman legions, which constituted approximately an eighth of the entire Roman army. This defeat served as a turning point, prompting the Romans to recognize the challenges of conquering Germanic territories and shifting their strategy towards defense by constructing fortifications like the Limes.

Therefore, my journey began by visiting the ruins of a Castra, a Roman fort. The fort housed an infantry unit with a cavalry attachment, consisting of around 500 soldiers. The fort and neighboring civilian structures were eventually abandoned around 260 AD with the withdrawal of the Romans from this region.

The fort had a size of 140 m x 150 m / 460 ft x 490 ft. On an information panel, a reconstruction is displayed.

I walked around the perimeter and thought about the histories that this place could be telling me. Then I proceeded to visit the civilian structures. Continue reading Exploring History and POTA: My Second SOTAbeams Bandhopper III Adventure →

Antennas, Field Reports, Guest Posts, Portable, POTA, QRP, SOTA

Quick test of my new SOTAbeams Band Hopper III antenna at a POTA/SOTA location

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by Thomas (DM1TBE)

Since I have seen the Band Hopper III antenna at the website of SOTAbeams, I have been thinking about it. Most of the time I have used end-fed half-wave (EFHW) antennas when operating portable – vertical attached to a fiberglass mast or in a sloper configuration with a tree.  Those EFHW antennas seemed to cause way less troubles than a dipole with its centerpiece and coax at the thin end of the fiberglass mast.  However, there was this “other” dipole from SOTAbeams. So I thought I could give it a try and ordered it.

Two days later -including customs procedure- the antenna arrived. The antenna is a linked dipole for the 20-, 30- and 40-meter band and weights less than 500 g / 18 oz. That includes the coax and guying material. I already had the Tactical Mini ultra, a 6 m / 19.6 ft fiberglass mast that is a perfect fit for the Band Hopper antenna.

The weather was fine, my manager at work was on vacation, so there was no reason for not leaving the home office early and go for a quick activation. I went to the SOTA location for Kaltes Feld (DM/BW-659), which is also POTA (DA-0410). I have been there a couple of times this year, but offering chaser points for both programs promised more QSOs, especially when conditions are difficult. The other advantage of this place is that you can drink cold beer if the antenna fails to work. 😉

You may, or more likely may not, remember this image from an activation report in March this year.

The place looks much more inviting now with kids playing, people enjoying barbecue and a cold beer, and operating a radio is much more pleasant.

Although I have been here a couple of times, I have never visited the ruins of Castle Granegg, just a mile away. While the SOTA activation zone is surrounded by trees, the walk to the castle satisfies with a nice viewpoint on the way. Continue reading Quick test of my new SOTAbeams Band Hopper III antenna at a POTA/SOTA location →