2023-10-26: IS0/IS-303 Punta Berritta - Summits on the Air (Sardinia). Last summit of the expedition, and a proper drive-up this time. Drove to within a few meters of the activation zone and walked the last few meters. 29 in the log in 18 minutes running 20W from the FX-4CR into the 10m tall vertical LC-matched to 20m. First activation with this little radio, and I was most impressed...
2023-10-25: IS0/IS-011 Monte Pipinari - Summits on the Air (Sardinia). Elevation 1398m. Another easy summit as long as you don't mind walking among grazing livestock. 45 minutes up and about the same back down. This was one of the few summits on Sardinia I didn't find a fence post to attach the antenna to, so had to get creative! Fantastic 360° view from the summit. 34 in the log in about 20 minutes with the FT891 into the 10m tall vertical...
2023-10-25: IS0/IS-009 Monte Armario - Summits on the Air (Sardinia). Elevation 1433m. Nice short walk from Arcu Correboi. About 40 minutes up and no more then 25 back down. But quite a bit of livestock grazing! The summits was difficult to reach, so I settled for operating from within the activation zone. Windy and rain approaching, so I settled for 7 in the log in 3 minutes before heading on to the next summit. A nice summit on a warm day...
2023-10-24: Summits on the Air - IS0/IS-014 Punta Soleadduci (Sardinia). Elevation 1358m. Second summit of the day. This is also a potential drive-up, but there was a closed gate at about 1100m, so I left the car there. A little more then an hour waling up and a little less coming back down. Conditions on the summit were... interesting... With wind speeds above 20m/s sustained, I actually had to hold the phone with both hands when taking pictures!
2023-10-24: IS0/IS-012 Bruncu Olinie (Sardinia). Elevation 1370m. Easy drive-up. There's a gate some 100m below the summit. It wasn't locked, but it was closed, so I decided not to push my luck and walked the rest of the way up. Much livestock in the road on the way up and down, so you'd better not be in a hurry or afraid of cows, goats and sheep. Sunny and perfect temperature for a hike, and very nice view from the summit. Logged 62 contacts...
@F4JJD It's a 10m tall vertical with 3 * 2.5m radials on the ground. It's matched by L-match (basically an LC-filter) which is in the little gray box you see on the bottom right of the picture. So the antenna is for 20m only, but has an SWR below about 1.5 across the whole 20m band. It has a radiation pattern pretty close to a traditional ground plane mounted ¼λ above ground.
2023-10-23: IS0/IS-003 Monte Arbu (Sardinia). Elevation 1567m. Very nice walk and spectacular view. Spent about 1 hour 40 minutes walking up, but did not choose the best of tracks. If you go there from Arcu Correboi, choose either the track going over Monte Moddu e Littipori or the one closest to it. Taking that route down took only 50 minutes. 76 in the log in about 45 minutes including 2 summit-to-summits running 100W from the FT891...
2023-10-22: Summits on the Air - IS0/IS-302 Bruncu Spina. Elevation 1829m. This is the second tallest point on Sardinia and conveniently just a small de-tour on the way back from Punta La Màrmora. The walk was about one and a half hours with a stunning 360° view. But the walk back down from the summit to the car park was only about 20 minutes. 23 in the log, including two summit to summit, in about 20 minutes. Running 100W from the FT891...
2023-10-21: Summits on the Air - IS0/IS-001 Punta La Màrmora (Sardinia). Tallest point on Sardinia with en elevation of 1834m. I was saving this one for a day with nice weather which was an excellent idea. Fantastic scenery all the way up. The walk from the the car park at Bruncu Spina was about 1 hour 40 minutes. 38 contact in a little over 20 minutes on the FT891 at 100W into the 10m tall vertical LC-matched to 20m.
2023-10-21: Summits on the Air - IS0/IS-006 Conca Giuanni Fais (Sardinia). Elevation 1499m. First ever activation of this summit. Nice ascent on forest roads; 50 minutes up, and 30 minutes down. 36 in the log in about 20 minutes running 100W from the FT891 into the 10m tall vertical LC-matched for 20m. Easy summit!
2023-10-20: Summits on the Air - IS0/IS-004 Punta 'e s'Abile. Elevation 1554m. Second summit of the day, and a great deal more effort. I parked the car and about 1500, elevation, and the summit is at 1554m, so it sounded easy enough. Only problem was the 200m counter ascent from where I parked the car. And the 250 meters back up the other side was rather steep. If I was to do it again, I'd walk up via IS0/IS-003 Monte Arbu from the other side...
2023-10-20: Summits on the Air - IS0/IS-002 Monte Spada (Sardinia). Elevation 1595m. First summit of my Sardinia expedition, and a quick walk. 30 minutes on the way up and 20 on the way back down. 56 in the log in about 35 minutes with the FT891 and the 10m tall vertical LC-matched to 20m. Easy summit with a nice path all the way to the summit.
2023-10-10: Parks on the Air - K-2059 Gantry Plaza State Park. Took my son to New York for a week, and had to shoehorn in at least one activation. We walked from Times Square down to the East 34th Street terminal and took the 8 minute ride across to Hunters Point on Long Island. From there, Gantry Plaza State Park is just a few minutes walk. Nice park, with a great view of the United Nations across the East River. 9.6m "random wire" antenna.
2023-11-24: Summits on the Air - LA/OF-002 Tremannsrøset. Elevation 182m, crisp Norwegian autumn day. Extremely easy summit, especially before snowfall. You can drive to within 500m of the summit by taking the logging road from Kolstad. 30 in the log in 20 minutes with 20W from the FX-4CR and the 10m tall LC-matched vertical on 20m.
2023-12-14: Summits on the Air - LA/OL-047 Venehaugane. Elevation 692m, temperature - 15°C. Easy summit, a clear drive-up in summer and even in winter if the road's been cleared and you have 4 wheel drive. I don't, so I didn't. Nice walk, but sadly all fogged in, so not much in the way of a view! 21 contacts in 13 minutes with the FT-891 and 10m tall LC-matched vertical on 20m.
2023-12-14: Summits on the Air - LA/OL-043 Buhammaren. Elevation 549m, temperature -12°C. Easy summit, even for winter activation. 1.5km from the car part to the summit and only about 125m of elevation. 17 contacts in about 10 minutes with the FT-891 and 10m tall LC-matched vertical on 20m. If you take the track approaching from the east there's a nice picnic table just inside the activation zone.
2023-12-25 Parks on the Air - LA-1567 Presterødkilen Nature Reserve. Temperature -10°C, 12 in the log with the IC-705 running at 5W into the 10m tall vertical LC-matched for 20m. Also tested out the AH-705 tuner, but suspect I had some issues with RF finding its way back into the radio. Have added ferrites!
@alper That's the only short bit of BNC to BNC coax I own. No other reason then that 🙂
2023-12-26: Summits on the Air - LA/OL-044 Brandbukampen. Elevation 522m, temperature -12°C. About 60 minutes walking up on snow shoes, and about 30 minutes coming back down in boots. Magnificent view from the look-out point about ⅔ of the way up. 23 in the log in 12 minutes on 20m SSB with the IC-705 and the 10m tall LC-matches vertical. Nice trip, even in winter; recommended!