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".

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.