Radiocar 2026 - new interior

I'm planning a major overhaul of my radiocar. I'll have hot water directly from the tap, a sink, and a completely new electrical system. 

Electrical System

I'm going to remove the safety transformer, as it seems unnecessary and prevents the RCDs (Residual Current Devices or GFCI) from working properly. And weights a few additional kilograms!

Here is the first version of the diagram.

12v in progress..

Interior

So far only some concepts.

11.10.2026

12.10.2026 

I cannot really decide what I want...

The concept changes every day ...several times. 

Current status.

before

unfortunately this beautiful switching board needs to leave ...

safety (separation) trafo leaves the wehicle

now 9.10.2026

Quick SOTA HB/AG-004 Heitersberg

If we assume that good weather means 30 degrees or more, full sun, and zero rain, then today we had beautiful weather. Overall, I wouldn't mind, but this so-called "beautiful weather" has been persisting for five weeks in a row now. We are truly longing for rain and wearing sweaters again. But getting back to the point, taking advantage of the "fine weather", I decided to head out for a quick mountain activation in the SOTA program. 

Admittedly, the peak that happened to be along my route had already been activated by me a week ago, but nobody said you can't activate a mountain every single day. So, equipped with a radio, an antenna, and a sufficient amount of drinking water, I rode my bike up the Heitersberg. To be honest, it was 70% the bike doing the climbing, at least according to the stats on its display. I have to admit that the e-bike motor is probably one of the best inventions right after the dishwasher and the washing machine.

At the summit, I quickly deployed the antenna, tuned it by adjusting its length, and started calling on 14 MHz. 

I managed to complete six contacts with Bulgaria, Finland, the Netherlands, and two stations from Switzerland, including my radio club buddy Bruno, HB9CDH. 

On the way back, I stopped by a nearby campsite to see if there was space and whether I could eventually park my "radio mobile" there for a few days. It's located right by the Reuss River, where I spent a really enjoyable couple of minutes. All in all, I covered about 50 km—theoretically in extreme heat, but on a bike, you don't really feel it.

And after returning home, I received a really lovely email from a Dutch SWL Ruud (Ruud's page) with an audio recording of my SOTA activity. This is this audio file combined with one of my picts (my audio is in the background):

Ruud, many thanks for the audio file!!

IARU HF World Championship 2026

 

SOTA with Bartek SP2Z

This summer, we were visited by Bartek (SP2Z), who was staying in Zurich while attending some  student competition. Although he was there serving as a judge, he still found the time to join us for a mountain hike. We headed up Niderbawer Chulm. We packed a transceiver and antennas, and Bartek completed his very first SOTA activation. The trail was quite demanding — it’s a steep climb — but once at the summit, we pitched the antenna, hooked up the radio, and successfully logged several CW contacts.

SOTA HB/ZH-012 on bicycle