On May 1st, we took a break from exam studying to celebrate International Workers’ Day with a SOTA trip to LA/ST-012 Solemsvåttan. The trip started at Studentersamfundet, where we packed our bags before we took the bus to Reppe to start our hike. The bus took about 45 minutes, and after about an hour of hiking we reached the top. Emil, LB6GH and LB1HH arrived later, biking to Reppe instead of taking the bus.
From left: LB3BK, LB4KK, LB2CK, DB4STI, LB5GJ, LB9JJ, LB6FK. Photo: LB4NK.
LB0CJ, LB3BK and Marianna activated this summit in May of last year, and they pointed out that all the trees on the summit had been cut down since their last visit. This resulted in less shade and fewer trees to support our vertical antenna, but a nice view.
From left: LB3BK, LB0DJ, DB4STI, LB4NK, LB4KK, LB9JJ, Marianna. Photo: LB0CJ.
We started setting up the antennas, and accidentally both the vertical antenna and DB4STIs inverted V was set to 20m. We heard a good amount of activity on the 20m band from the vertical antenna, even without tuning. However, we decided to switch it because it was easier than switching the inverted V. We first tried 10m, but QRN made it unusable, with no activity heard in Norway. Then we tried 15m and tuned it to an SWR of about 1.2, but after calling CQ for a while without any replies, we turned to the inverted V on 20m. It had a very good SWR 1:1:1. With the FT-981 and elevated elements, there was a good amount of activity on the 20m band, and we were not the only ones with the idea of a SOTA trip, as we got lots of Summit to Summit QSOs. For example, LB4KK got 8 QSOs, 4 of them being Summit to Summit. LB0DJ even got some QSOs with someone running COTA, Castles on the Air! It was apparently in light of the German Castles day 2026.
Right: LB6FK activating her first ever SOTA summit. Photo: LB4NK.
Between tinkering with antennas and sending, we made a fire, ate hot dogs and marshmallows (mostly separately except for Emil), soaked in the sun, and of course enjoyed the mandatory curious looks from the many other hikers. It was such a nice day, Emil even decided to sleep outside in his tent for the night.
In total we were 14 who joined the trip, a big group and a fantastic way to spend May 1st! Great weather, great company and great contacts. Thank you to everyone who joined, DB4STI, LB9JJ and LB3BK for planning and to everyone we made contact with on the air!
