Month: September 2017

Activating dans le Midi

Posted on by Stephen

Recently, well a couple of weeks ago now, we went on Holiday to a place called “Six-Four-Les-Plages” on the coast in the South of France. To my delite there was a SOTA summit there F/AM-836 the Fort de Six-Fours which is still in use. There was also close by another site called the “Gros Cerveau” or big brain F/AM-677. There were quite a few in the area but I only had time for two, on Holiday with my wife the priority is not the radio.

This was also our first time down to this part of France and we were very impressed with the warm weather, plus we went out of season so it was a little less crowded. We had 25/27 °C every day and ate out at the port in Sanary most of the time, plus we took a boat trip from Cassis which was very enjoyable. We drove the route des crêtes from Cassis on our way back to where we were staying and were stunned by the magnificent views. The was also an old chapel near the house, parts of which date from the 6th and 8th century. It was restored by a monk from Maredsous in the 50s. Maredsous is a Belgian monastery just a short distance from us and where our son goes to school so it was a complete surprise. He is also buried next to the  chapel he restored. We decided to go AirBnB on this trip and it was a real experaince but great fun.

Access to many of the SOTA summits there was restricted because of the risk of fire, so you do need to find out if the site is open. For instance, cars were not allowed aong the road to the Gros Cerveau where there are the ruins of another fort but we had access on foot. This means that we had to walk some 6.5km to the summit, a very pleasent walk with magnificent views but we did have to walk back. Access to the top of AM-836 was possible by car as there is a parking on top to admire the view. However, the fort is occupied and there is a restriction on movement and photos. The actual summit is inside the fort and you don’t have access but you can get within the 25m summit limit. I had to set up next to a barbed wire fence with signs saying keep out, military. To be quite honest I fully expected to be asked what I was doing and to go away but nobody came out.

I made 7 contacts on the Gros Cerveau and only four on the Fort de Six-Fours. The conditions did not seem so favorable though Idid wonder  what different stations I would here while I was there but alas I was a bit disapointed as it seemed much the same as back in Belgium. I had hoped for one or two exotic calls HAHA!

So, thanks go to : OK1AU, OK2PDT, F6EWB, DL2HWI, EA2DT, OK1DVM and OE8SPW on F/AM-677. I found a very nice place to set up and easy to opperate from. There is even cover if it rains up there, some tunnels but beware of the mountain goat, he does not take kindly to visiters “HI” and you should see the size of him!

On F/AM-836 my chasers were : EA8DT, OE7PHI, EA3KU and LY2BNL. It was very slow to activate, I just didn’t seem to be getting out or hearing anybody.

On the way back we decided to sttop off and visit the Pont du Gard before tackling the 1000km trip up to Belgium. It was quite sad really because the weather had been so good, warm and dry but Belgium was cold and wet..

CHOTA activation

Posted on by Stephen

Yesterday was CHOTA day and you might well be asking what that is? Well, it’s like SOTA (Summits on the Air) but it’s Churches and Chapels on the Air. This is a day run by WACRAL (World Association of Radio Amateurs and listeners) and yesterday there were some 33 Churches registered, mostly in Britain but one in New York and one of course in Belgium.  We arrived at the church in Farciennes (Eglise Reformée de Farciennes) about 09:00 local time to set up. The building is quite large with an large flat above. The flat where normally the pastor would live is in need of quite a lot of renovation and is at the moment empty so we were able to get right up to the top and attach one end of a G5RV through a window in the roof. The other end attached to a tree at the back of the church. We then set up downstairs in the church hall, an ideal situation, we could not have asked for more with even a kitchen. Jacques brought along his ICOM 9xxx, I forget which model, and we set up. However once we turned on, we discovered all we could hear was noise around the S8-S9 level. We heard from time to time the odd station on but they seamed to just fade in and then fade back out into the noise. I also set up a vertical antenna on the lawn just out side but I also had S9+ noise on my radio. The conditions were just not good, was it a natural or a made made noise? To be honest, we just don’t know.

On Friday, the day before, here in Belgium we had a complete radio blackout after the solar storm the night before. I switched on in the morning to maybe have a contact in Morse like I often do when I take a break from working in my office at home and there was just S4-S5 of quite background noise. Not one station on 40m and the CW section of the band is normally very active. Nothing on 20m either, just dead. I did check the antenna thinking there was something wrong but no, everything was in order.

Well, back on Saturday morning in Farciennes we figured that this was the reason for the high level of noise on the band but to be quite honest it could also be the location, it’s really difficult to tell. We waited to see if things changed in the afternoon but sadly no, not one single contact was made. However, a station in Sussex, England did indicate that he could hear us via the Facebook group but there was no way we could hear him. When later Jacques got back in he found it was much the same at his house but later the noise just calmed down, how very strange! Today things are back to normal here for me, S4 of background noise and loads of stations calling. However, I will at some point go back to the church with my portable SOTA station to see if there is a high noise level in this particular location. To be honest, we didn’t check before the CHOTA day but there was really no reason for things to be so bad not one contact was made.

Well, though we made no contacts at all, we had a very enjoyable day. Setting up, drinking coffee, chatting and lunch together. There is a really great ambiance in our radio club, everybody was happy to get together for the day. We closed up shop about 3:30pm local time and the others left, leaving me there as I was on the list to conduct the service which is always at 5 on a Saturday in this church, that went well ! Today, Sunday, we organised a breakfast morning before the service in Ransart and yes I was leading in Ransart too. I had invited some of the members of the club to the British Breakfast morning, so Jacques and Eric came. The time together just continued eating bacon, eggs, black pudding, sausage, tomatoes, beans etc…