11th May 2023 was a day spent mostly driving with little walking. Traffic was fairly quiet with only one umleitung due to road works. So I had free time in the afternoon, allowing five summits to be activated when my itinerary said I would visit only four:
6. DM/SR-006 Trautzberg (QRV 0634z-0700z)
7. DM/SR-012 Schaumberg (QRV 0814z-0851z
8. DM/RP-171 Roster Kopf (QRV 0957z-1023z)
9. DM/RP-449 Teufelskopf (QRV 1128z-1148z)
10. DM/SR-075 Langensteinchen (QRV 1305z-1336z)
A breakfast bag got me away from Grafendhron at a early hour and I headed towards the state of Saarland - said to be the most religous region in Germany. I had stocked up on the necessary items needed at Lidl the previous afternoon to get me through several days activations - bottled water, fruit, pre-packed sandwiches and energy bars. It is amazing how long the Lidl vacuum packed sandwiches remain fresh, there must be something in the bread... The weather again wasn't so good so they would not bake too much in the car. I had enough for two days activations.
6. DM/SR-006 Trautzberg was a relatively small scale wind farm and a drive on summit with permitted access. I parked on a wide mouthed junction and walked 100m to a tie off point for my antenna. There was no noticable interference from the windmills on the 40m band:
7. DM/SR-012 Schaumberg was next - a "fully furnished" summit with cafe's, toilets, educational stuff for schoolchildren and other things. The summit is served by public transport. I parked a little way down the hill on a large free car park. After a short walk I found a large bench seat out of the way from people, where I could operate. The head gardener still found me and enquired what I was doing. There was no problem and he continued with his work.
Nick, G4OOE was again the first contact on 40m CW, followed by Tonnie PA9CW.
There was only one S2S contact amongst the 51 40m band contacts - with Fabio HB9/IK2LEY/P who was operating from HB/TI-158.
8. DM/RP-171 Roster Kopf
This was another woodland summit which provided me with a picnic table and bench after a short walk from the car park into the woods. I can't remember much more about the summit to be truthful... For a change I started on 30m and also added 20m and 40m. All contacts on this summit were in CW. Avoiding operation in SSB was deliberate - Rene DL/OT6V/P and Rudy DL/ON5VR/P had activated this summit earlier in the day on that mode.
Chasers calls were soon drying up though, so band hopping proved necessary - It's always worth a band change or two in such circumstances. I only made 25 contacts before going QRT after no further replies to my CQ calls.
9. DM/RP-449 Teufelskopf
There was an even more substantial bench and table on Teufelskopf along with an open fronted chapel in the middle of what was a large wood:
Again Rene and Rudy had been here using SSB earlier in the day so I concentrated on CW only using the 30m and 40m bands.
10. DM/SR-075 Langensteinchen
A 4 point summit in the woodland with a shelter and table - this was a good thing, as it had now started raining. I used SSB and CW on this final summit - and found my friends Rene and Rudy operating on 40m from DM/RP-158 Erbeskopf, where I was active from the previous day. I didn't take a photo on DM/SR-075, so I copied this photo from SOTLAS, acknowledging the owner, DL3NM:
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| Photo courtesy of DL3NM |
I can confirm that there were no restrictions to vehicles in reaching the junction where the shelter was located. This was also the same place as from where Luc ON7DQ operated, when he visited in 2018.
My evening destination was to the Seehotel near Losheim. An excellent place, to stay, serving good food and a splendid Weiss beer. This was a marked improvement to the Landhaus in Grafendrhon, where I had spent the previous two nights.
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