Friedrichshafen via Luxembourg Days 1&2

It was January when Victor GI4ONL and I worked out that the best way to rendevous for a joint SOTA Tour taking in Ham Radio 2024 at Friedrichshafen would be to fly via Luxair to Luxembourg. Victor could fly from Dublin and I could fly from Manchester. We both had a few hours to pass before we met up and departed - for me at the start of the tour and for Victor at the end. Choosing the days when Dublin and Manchester flights coincided meant we would travel on the Wednesday before the show, 26th June, and fly back nine days later on July 5th. This meant that the bulk of the activating would take place after Friedrichshafen Ham Radio.   

  

Embarkation on the small Luxair Turboprop plane at Manchester Airport

I caught the train to Manchester Airport from York. It was an early train at 07:15am. Dave G3TQQ gave me a lift to get the train, which I was very grateful for. As I've grown old I've got wiser when it comes to lugging a 20 Kg suitcase and rucksack up stairs between railway station platforms and at airports. I now look for and use the lifts. For security reasons the new scanners are not currently in use at Manchester, so all the electronics and my two lithium batteries had to come out of the rucksack to be placed in trays. There were no questions asked. The flight was 90 minutes long and all passengers were offered a free sandwich and drink (soft, hot or alcohol) during the flight. This was a cut above Ryanair or EasyJet for sure. I arrived at Luxembourg and had a three hour wait until Victor's flight came in at 18:20. 

On this tour we activated 28 summits in 9 days, including two days spent at Ham Radio Friedrichshafen.  For the purposes of this blog I will split these summit reports into several sections. On each summit we operated on the 10m band. Between us we qualified for the 2024 10m Challenge on 21 out of the 28 summits we activated. 

When we picked up the hire car at Luxembourg Airport Victor Mitchell GI4ONL signed up for an Opel Mokka with his own personal number plate!

Day 1 and Day 2 (26/27 June 2024)

After leaving Luxembourg Airport at around 1700z we wanted to activate one summit before reaching our Gasthaus 100km from Luxembourg Airport at Saarbrucken. The only summit possible en-route was one that I activated in 2023, which was DM/SR-075 Langensteinchen, a drive on summit in woodland near the town of Weiten.  The information from my original activation there is here . It was quite late in the day as we only started operating at 18:20z, so we drew a blank on the 10m band and used the 20m, 30m and 40m as alternative bands. 

By the time we reached Saarbrucken at dusk we were hungry, but after hunting for somewhere to get a dinner, we gave up. Every restaurant was closed, so after a beer in our Gasthaus we retired for the night hungry, until breakfast....

On day 2 we had over 400km to drive to reach Tettnang, a town close to Friedrichshafen where we were staying on the Friday and Saturday for Ham Radio. By limiting activation times to around 30 minutes each we were able to activate three summits en-route to Tettnang. 

DM/BW-067 Brandenkopf

This is a drive-on summit in a massive forest that took some getting to from Zell am Harmersbach via tarmac roads. The restaurant below the summit tower remained closed in June 2024, although building work was taking place, so maybe it will open soon. 

If there is a bench or table on the summit we take our turns on who is able to use it. I operated just around the corner beyond the fine stone tower in the photo where there is a  picnic table and bench. Victor headed off into the woodland some distance away so we were both able to operate on 10 meters at the same time using different modes 400 kHz apart. DL/G4ONL/P was successful and worked DD2TC on 10m CW via ground wave. I drew a blank, so instead made 8 quick QSOs on 20m in 6 minutes before going QRT.  We now had an 85km drive to Wandbuhl as we headed in the direction of southern Germany. 

DM/BW-041 Wandbuhl

This is the parking place for Wandbuhl at 48.175N 8.804E. We ate our lunchtime sandwiches and fruit before walking the 1.5km up the hill. Victor went to the summit and I took a right turn down a track and found a clear area within the woodland to operate. 

I had a lot more luck on 10m this time and worked DJ5AV and HB9CGA. The rest of my contacts were on 20m. 

The clearing in the forest where I was able to make 10 QSOs in 17 minutes

Our 3rd and final summit was only 18 km away by road from DM/BW-041.

DM/BW-228 Hummelsberg

The road to the summit was being re-surfaced so it was closed to airfield traffic, but fortunately for us the road workers had created a diversionary route on a driveable loose surface track that took us close to the official car park at 48.112N 8.760E:

Victor walked up from there to the highest point and I walked up the grass track on the edge of the airfield permitted limit and set my station up there, around 500m north east of the car park. The activation zone area here is enormous. There was a convenient line of posts for tying my 6m pole against.  Here is the place I chose - just within the permitted access limit:

It was very nice lying down in the grass to operate. On 10m SSB this time I worked Philiip ZS6FY followed by Herbert DL/OE9HRV/P who was activating DL/AL-144.  With a thunderstorm threatening I packed up and got back to the car just in time before a heavy downpour.  From there we drove to the Gasthaus we stayed at in Tettnang, which was a further 125km. Victor stayed there in 2023 which was useful as we drove straight up to the car park right outside the place. In the evening we had arranged to meet up with SOTA MT Member Andy MM0FMF and Paul M0SNA/W6PNG. We had a great evening talking all things SOTA over our meal and drinks in the China Sloss Restaurant. We had a really good day all told, 450 km driven, three summits activated, good company, a great chinese meal and three beers each....

 

Left to right: Andy MM0FMF, Victor GI4ONL, Phil G4OBK, Paul M0SNA/W6PNG

Friedrichshafen via Luxembourg Days 3-5

 Day 3 Friday 28th June 2024

Today was Ham Radio Show day one. I used my time chatting to friends and guests from behind the CDXC and SOTA booths and around the show. Victor had driven us to the parking area and towards the end of the afternoon we left to activate DM/BW-348 Gehrenberg before we went to the SOTA dinner nearby at Gasthoif Adler in Obteuringen. 

SOTA Booth at the show - Victor in blue shirt - one of the helpers 

As I'd activated Gehrenberg a couple of times previously this was just a points gathering exercise, so I didn't take any photos. I did work (the recently married) Luc DL/ON7DQ who was in his hotel room... Luc told me he poked a whip antenna for 10 metres out of the window and we made an SSB QSO! The other chaser worked on 10m was the prolific Pablo EA3EVL. The other 9 QSOs were gathered on 40m. As I was packing up my station Roman DL3TU arrived. We had a nice chat and I later found Roman had also qualified the summit by working an amateur in a tent on a campsite somewhere down by the Bodensee - good job done! 

The venue for the SOTA dinner was excellent.  There was a good choice of food on the menu and excellent service by the staff who were catering for such a large party.  We made some new friends - many were hams who we had QSOs with but had never met and who we missed seeing during the day at the show, and we renewed acquantancies with some SOTA folk that we had met before. 

Day 4 Saturday 29th June 2024

The plan today was to attend the show and leave by mid-afternoon which would allow us time for two activations and enable us to reach our Gasthaus in Mulheim an der Donau 100km from Friedrichshafen. 

Everyone who has use of a vehicle and goes to Ham Radio invariably activates DM/854 Hochsten.  SOTAists are falling over one another to activate this one during the long weekend! Over the four day period from Thursday 27th until Sunday 30th June the summit was activated 28 times! Hochsten beat Gehrenberg by two as DM/BW-348 was activated 26 times over the four days.

When we arrived on Hochsten Pierre DL/F5MOG/P was QRV. We split up and I operated by the roadside near the radio mast. Victor went as far as he could down the track opposite beyond where Pierre was sitting.

I bungied my 6m pole to the road sign. For this tour instead of a link dipole for 20/30/40m that I usually carry, I had an OCFD inverted vee dipole with 4:1 balun cut for 40m/20m/10m, which was ideal. It meant that no ATU was needed when changing bands.  The aerial could be used on 30m via the ATU, but I never needed to use that band on this trip. 10m conditions on Hochsten were superb - 19 QSOs completed on 10m in less than half an hour, all over Europe and PY1KJA was also worked. We packed up and headed off in the direction on DM/BW-853. Luc ON7DQ was visiting Hochsten later in the day, so we would be looking out for him on 10m when we got there...

DM/BW-853 Blankenhalde

The parking place (48.0423N 8.996E) was just off the road and inside the activation zone for this summit. Victor set up on some steps below a small underground reservoir. I walked into the field beyond and guyed my mast. It was 14:45z when we started and 10m was still open. Stations as widely apart as GI (Northern Ireland) and UR5 (Ukraine) were worked on the 10m band. 

After twenty minutes activity on the 10m band I packed up. Luc DL/ON7DQ/P made it into my log via ground wave for a welcome S2S. We made our way to to the Gasthof Hirsch in Mulheim an der Donau for a one night stay. 

Day 5 Sunday 30th June 2024

Today we were heading for a three night stay in Bobingen, 200km away. The town is in the northern part of the DM/BW area and within reach of the DM/BM area whihc is ripe with unique summits for both of us.  We planned to activate four summits on the way, but as it happened we had some free time so we activated five, a mix of 6,8 and 10 pointers.  After an hours drive from Mulheim we reached DM/BW-852 Herranwald. A short walk on a forestry track took us to the highest point of this wooded summit. There was nothing worth photographing. Just two chasers were worked on the 10m SSB band, Pablo EA3EVL and Dave EA6/M0DLL/M who lives on Menorca. 

DM/BW-089 Farrenberg

This summit was a unique for me, which Victor had activated in 2023. The plateau is another flat top glider airfield and we operated on the edge of the permitted area. I walked beyond where Victor stopped by around 400m, so we were both able to operate alternately on the 10m band using SSB and CW.

Storm showers were threatening but they kept off. DM/BW-854 Hochsten was again on the air. I worked Juerg DL/HB9BIN/P who was there on 10m on both modes. Sporadic e was plentiful today, and I worked Nick G4OOE and Pete M0HOQ who live near me in Yorkshire.  

DM/BW-099 Achalm

This is a busy summit that stands proud over the surrounding countryside. Being Sunday the carpark was just about full when we arrived. We had been warned about not using the hotel car park by Markus HB9DIZ and I used his GPX track to access the summit from the public car park area at 48.495N 9.233E. 

Victor DL/G4ONL/P making his way towards Achalm DM/BW-099

When we reached the top Victor went left and I went right. I found a good bungee post on the edge of the area summit beyond the tower. Most of the visitors left me alone until towards the end of the activation when a couple of ladies asked what I was doing. The usual explanation was given...

Post to bungee to on the edge of the steep hill

The OCFD was tied off above head height on the ivy on the stone ruin

Once again 10m was in fine condition. This would prove to be the best day for sporadic e of the whole trip. After this day we would scratching for the odd contact on ten over the next four days. 

DM/BW-078 Romerstein

Once again we followed a SOTAMAP Markus HB9DIZ track from the car park. When we reached the summit a group of locals had driven up there with their barbecue gear and smoke and the smell of cooking was in the air... Victor set himself down on a bench and table and I walked on. It is very common to see shooting boxes in German woodland and today was my chance to operate from one. The sky was threatening rain and I thought if I got inside the shooting box I could keep my equipment dry when the rain came, which it did. As I was around 5m above ground I did not need my fishing pole to raise my aerial, I just fastened the centre insulator to the roof of the box and ran out the wires. The summit is on a plateau 874m ASL. 

Shooting box for DL/G4OBK/P

My station on Romerstein DM/BW-078. The Yaesu FT-4X handie is for keeping in touch with Victor who was around 500m away from me on the summit. 

The 28m high lookout tower on Romerstein built 1912
10 minutes on 10m brought in seven QSOs: 

DM/BW-855 Michelsberg

A storm was threatening as we parked the car. The summit was less than 1 km walk. I stopped short in the AZ and set up and Victor continued to the highest point. Once again we used the GPX track provided by Markus HB9DIZ which started from a car park by some buildings:

It was now 1345z and the 10m band was closed. Despite working DL3TU on ground wave on the previous summit Roman was not around or he was out of range. I grabbed 7 quick QSOs on 20m and packed up as the storm arrived. Victor was still working stations when the storm came. We both got a good soaking before heading to our hotel in Bobbingen an der Rems for the next three nights. 

Friedrichshafen via Luxembourg Days 6-7

 Day 6 Monday 1st July 2024

Our three night hotel was very good, the Greek restaurant next door not so. The food choice was very limited, so we only used it one night.  After drying out all our gear from the soaking we got the previous afternoon, on Monday we drove into the DM/BM area where the three six point summits within range were easier to reach on foot than some of the DM/BW area summits nearer to us.

After lunch on our way back to Bobingen, we were able to activate one summit in the DM/BW area before the weather turned against us towards the end of the afternoon. As we were driving we stocked up on supplies at one of the discount supermarkets where we buy sandwiches, fruit, bottled water and Haribo Super Rado sweets - these are a mixture of gums and Haribo's version of the licorice allsort. I haven't seen them on sale on the UK and I like them very much... 

DM/BM-226 Durrenberg

After parking at the start of an overgrown access road leading to the wooded summit we realised this area and the summit itself had been an army camp at one time. We reached the edge of the woodland in 15 minutes, Victor went left and I went right.  There was only one 10m QSO with my CW signals reaching Damien M0BKV in Cornwall. My other contacts were on 40m CW. 

DM/BW-374 Wulzberg

We hadn't planned to visit this summit until I noticed on my mapping software (Locus Gold) that the summit was easy to access, so we diverted and went there. There is a large moated castle on the summit right by the car park. The castle is open to tourists and there is plenty of space in the grounds before the moat to set up a station. 

Mario DJ2MX was worked on 10m ground wave and I also logged Rumen LZ2AF/2 before moving to the 20m band. I was well to the right of the front entrance down a banking with the 6m pole fastened against a tree, well out of the way of any inquizative onlookers. 

DM/BM-135 Hesselberg

I drew a blank on 10m on this summit, CW and SSB was tried, Mario DJ2MX near Munich must have been out of range or out of the shack, so I went on to 20m and made plenty of contacts there instead, with Tom and Tabea operating with their HB9 calls providing welcome S2S QSOs...

Writing this blog five weeks after the activations I cannot remember much about this summit as I did not take a photo, so to remind myself of what was there, I looked at the blogs of Luc ON7DQ and Ed DD5LP. Yes, there was a large cross on the summit and a massive red and white comms mast.  I cannot even recall if it was me or Victor who got the picnic table....

DM/BW-131 Ipf

Now this summit I did remember, not just from my photos either. The top was covered in wild flowers. The six point hill is prominent and overlooks the town of Bopfingen. Our brief incursion into the DM/BM area was now finished as we re-entered the DM/BW here. The car park is adjacent to a recreated medieval village below the hill. The walk up to the summit took us around 20 minutes.

This time 10m was more obliging and three widely spread contacts were made with ZS6FY, CT1HMN and SM5LNE with nothing else worked geographically in between. 6m is known as the magic band, 10m is the strange band methinks.... I went onto 40m CW to qualify the summit. Walking down from Ipf we admired the view:

It was early enough to visit another summit so we headed back towards  our hotel to activate Grunenberg DM/BW-653 on the way, but when we got to the parking place the heavens had just opened, so we called it a day with four activations in the bag and headed to a McDonalds in Aalen for some fast food. 

Day 7 Tuesday 2nd July 2024

Tuesday was to be a DM/BW affair with less driving to reach the summits. There was one six point and three eight point activations planned and none were "drive ons". The last summit proved eventful for Victor, who had to suddenly QRT before a crazed tractor driver cutting grass almost took him and his antenna out on the summit of Bernhardus DM/BW-848! 

After a good breakfast, a 30 minute drive from Bobingen took us to this parking place for DM/BW-102 Hohenstaufen:

A short but very steep tarmac road took us on to a path to the summit. it wound its way through woodland with 138m ascent in a 750m distance. This was a walk of 22 minutes until I set myself down on a seat by a topograph on the western edge of the escarpment. Victor went left at the top and operated from the eastern side, once again the distance between us allowing simultaneous operation on the 10m band using alternate modes. There had been a Castle on the summit at one time. I read that it had been set on fire by peasants in 1525 and taken down. 

I was within ground wave reach of a couple of well known German Chasers - Mike DJ5AV and Frid DL1FU who were the only stations to grace my log on the 10m band. 40m at around 0730-0745z was pretty good to finish off my log. 

DM/BW-661 Staufen

Our activation of Staufen was a little awkward. No photos were taken as locating the stations apart on the path on the ridge of the wooded summit itself proved quite awkward.  There was nowhere clear enough off the narrow path to erect antennas so Victor stayed on the western side of the summit and I walked on some distance and took the eastern side. The walk from the parking area took me 35 minutes over a distance of 1.6 km with 182m of ascent:

No contacts were possible on 10 meters so a session on 40m CW was again necessary. S2S QSOs were made with Kurt HB9AFI/P (HB/BE-012) and Chris DL1CR/P and Uwe DK8OA/P who were together on DM/NS-122.  It was getting towards lunchtime as we travelled to the next summit and we happened across a bakery cafe in a village and were able enjoyed a lovely lunch as an alternative to our supermarket sandwiches which would keep for another day:

DM/BW-659 Kaltes Feld

A popular summit with 69 activations recorded here so far (Aug 2024). The distinctive name was familiar to me as I had chased it 19 times. The large summit plateau was above the Hornberg glider aerodrome and there was a track all the way to the top (Thanks Markus HB9DIZ - GPX track in SOTA Mapping). I left the 2km long track to seperate our stations and did not reach the Franz Keller Haus on the summit where there are tables and chairs. Instead I found a large clearing with BBQ facilities and a closed house at 48.7352N 9.8510E. A perfect spot for setting up:

Phillip ZS6FY was my only 10m contact, which was enough to give me the Challenge mulitplier. I caught Victor up on the track going down and when we reached to airfield area he was able to climb aboard and pilot this metal glider. Our final summit of the day, DM/BW-848 Bernardus was only 2km away, the flank of which can be seen in the top right hand corner of the photo:

DM/BW-848 Bernardus

Within 10 minutes from the parking for Kaltes Feld we were parked up at the col just off the L1160 and walking up the road towards the forest. It took us 25 minutes to reach the chapel on DM/BW-848 where Victor set up. At this time the forest was silent and devoid of any activity. I walked on to reach the track around 300m beyond the chapel where I set up, to enable both of us simultaneous operation on the same band:

Here is Victor, operating my station, almost sat on an ants nest that appeared from nowhere, which I failed to notice when I was sat there. So why was Victor operating my station? Well just as he set up his station in the grass near the chapel a forester in a powerful tractor arrived and started to cut the grass. The forester continued his work getting closer and closer and before Victor had made a single QSO he was forced to pack up the station smartly and move on! By the time he got to me I was finishing off my activation so he simply took my seat and made a number of contacts with my antenna and his KX2 and key to qualify the summit.  PY1KJA and DJ5AV were worked on 10m CW from here. 

As we did not like the menu in the Greek restaurant near to our hotel in Bobingen we looked around the area for somewhere else to get our dinner and came across an Italian restaurant in nearby Mogglingen before heading back to the hotel to enter our logs into the SOTA database and get an early night. The next day we would be headng back towards Luxembourg - a 200km drive to Schriesheim, with three DM/BW activations en-route. 

Friedrichshafen via Luxembourg Days 8&9

Our final two days activation plan involved us driving from Bobingen back to Luxembourg via eight activations, with a one night stopover in Schriesheim at the Hotel Ludwigstal. Like all the other hotels used on this tour this hotel was booked well in advance via the booking.com website. In some cases we pay in advance, in others we "pay at the property".  Over the last 10 years we have found that booking.com provides a good choice of accommodation which fits around the routes we choose each day. We would prefer to stay in one place rather than move on every night, but this isn't always possible if the summits are spread about as they so often are.  When they are clustered together it's possible to stay in one place for three or four nights and cover all surrounding summits that can be accessed on foot from the car parking place in less than one hour. This is why we stayed in Bobingen for three nights - there were plenty of summits within range for three days of activity. 

Wednesday 3rd July 2024

DM/BW-111 Hohe Brach 

An hour after leaving Bobingen we were parked up near to DM/BW-111. A 10 minute walk with minimal ascent took us into the activation zone. I didn't taken any photos and now some weeks later writing this I cannot remember any detail about the summit... My log says I was QRV at 0736z-0751z. 10m was tried and I failed, so all QSOs were on 40m CW and 20m SSB.  

DM/BW-107 Katzenbuckel

Now this summit must have been more interesting as I took a couple of photos. We parked near the lake after turning right at a closed down hotel called Villa Katzenbuckel. It took me 13 minutes to reach the highest point on the 6 point summit. The blue line is the 800m long walking route:

Victor and I split up on the ascent but when I reached the top we were within shouting distance - just about far enough apart to both operate on 10m on different modes at the same time.  At 10:25z when I made my last QSO - the sky had ionised itself enough to give me a 10m multiplier with a single QSO on SSB with Sergio, CT1HMN. All the other contacts were on 40m CW. There was a large tall monument on the highest point surrounded by trees. 

I operated about 75m away from this monument. Returning to the car we had our lunch before driving to our third and final summit of the day. 

DM/BW-114 Konigstuhl

I have to hang my head in shame as I do not know what goes on at this touristy place above Heidelberg. There were masses of free car parks and signage everywhere. Victor went off into the woods near the car park, away from any buildings and people and I went towards some gates and a terraced area with a seat near a catering outlet. It had been raining heavily and the sky was still threatening more. 

There are no photographs. 28 minutes operation brought me just 12 contacts, which included four on 10m with ZS6FY. DH1KJ, LZ3QE and II7WWA (Special call). It started to rain heavily and I swiftly packed up. The rainstorm continued strongly as made our way to what was to be our 4th activation of the day, into the Hesse region to visit DM/HE-047, which would have only meant a 700m walk from the car park each way.  With the rain streaming down the hilly roads en-route we decided to abandon the drive there and turned round to head back to our final German hotel in Schreisheim. 

Thursday 4th July 2024 (last day)

DM/RP-482 Rahnels

After missing out activating in the DM/HE area due to the stormy weather the day before, our final day took us through the Rheinland Phalz and Saarland regions before finishing off with our final Luxembourg summit of LX/LX-005. We would activate five summits, of which two were uniques for me. 

DM/RP-482 was a unique and shall we say, one of the more adventurous summits to reach, as information on access seemed quite difficult to find, or so I thought... For some reason I did not look at the SMP/SOTLAS websites where there was a track lodged by DJ2TG, but I found the route he had taken by trial and error on the way down!

We drove on a long and winding single track road through the forest from the town of Kallstadt and found room to park the Opel Mokka on the grass verge at 49.469N 8.086E. The walk up to reach the track was a little overgrown with brambles, but was OK. I later realised that there was a GPX track depicting what is the best and shortest route to the open area on the summit - lodged on the SMP/SOTAMaps website by DJ2TG. I came back down that way, but walked this circuit using the road on the way up: 

The 10m multiplier was secured by working Phillip ZS6FY, despite the early hour. The QSO was logged at 07:42z. After another 10 minutes on 40m CW the rain started, so I packed up and made my way back down on what I later found to be the DJ2TG route, which was a very nice unspoilt path through the woods. 

DM/RP-432 Potzberg

Our plan was to activate DM/RP-463 Grosser Hausberg next, but this was not to be. An unavoidable umleitung stopped us - and no diversion was possible. The road from the village of Bann was being resurfaced and the roadmen waved us to go back. We therefore went on to Potzberg which was another wooded drive on summit.  There was a tall brick tower and a bench and table on the summit. There were no 10m contacts to be had just after 10z, so 40m CW was used again to qualify the summit. 

After Potzberg we headed back ttowards Luxembourg to activate three summits I visited in 2023: DM/SR-006, DM/RP-171 and LX/LX-005. I won't report in detail on these three "drive on" summits as I have written them up previously. 

We were booked in at a hotel near the airport for the last night. Before we went there we put the car though a car wash. I rose at 4am the next morning to hear the UK election results on BBC World. As my flight back to Manchester was an early one I had bid my farewell to Victor GI4ONL the previous night after our dinner. The taxi collected me at 5am and I was back in Manchester by 8.30am.  

We each activated 28 summits giving us 194 points in 8 days.