niedziela, 9 sierpnia 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!!



niedziela, 14 czerwca 2026

poniedziałek, 27 kwietnia 2026

Bicycle radio shack test

​Every Monday at 20:45, we have a scheduled contact with our colleagues from the club HB9LU. Since we also had a bike trip planned for today with my wife, I decided to take my antenna and radio with me and try to connect with them from a portable station.

​The antenna turned out to be very quick and easy to set up. I was a bit worried whether the 3 watts available from the QMX would be enough to make the contact, but it turned out to be possible.  The reports were not particularly good but 3w and 5 meters high antenna on 80m is not a "dream station".


poniedziałek, 9 lutego 2026

My first POTA activation

​Together with Mateusz, HB9HCZ, we activated a park for the POTA program (CH-0107). This type of activation seems much easier than SOTA, as all the gear can be brought by car instead of being carried on your back. Furthermore, the availability of larger power sources, such as a generator or high-capacity batteries, allows for using significantly higher power.