Sunday, May 22nd ARK went to Kristiansten Fortress park to participate in the SSA Portable contest.
The SSA Portable contest takes place on the 40m and 80m band and operators in JW, JX, LA, OH, OHØ, OJØ, OX, OY, OZ, SM and TF are invited to participate. We participated in the Multi Operator – SSB class, with transmit power of 100 W.
You can read more about the contest rules here:
https://contestspalten.ssa.se/rules-ssa-portabeltest/
![](https://www.la1k.no/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_8973-1024x768.jpeg)
Photo: LB5PI
The event started early at 0700 in the morning, with some people meeting directly at the park and others transporting the remaining equipment.
We brought our trusty Red Cross and SpiderBeam masts and dipoles for 40m and 80m that we set up as inverted-V antennas in the park.
![](https://www.la1k.no/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_9005-861x1024.jpeg)
Photo: LB5PI
In the shack we had band-pass filters, FT-891 with our new LDG Z-11 Pro II ATU on 40m and FT-450D on 80m. Logging was done on paper.
To power the stations, we brought a good load of batteries. The 40m and 80m shacks were powered by two, large 190 Ah lead-acid batteries, one for each radio. At the 20m shack for POTA activation we supplied our two 24 Ah LiFePO4 batteries which were significantly easier to carry.
![](https://www.la1k.no/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/DSC08134-1024x683.jpg)
Photo: LB6GH
During the contest we learned that it could be frustrating for some of the QRP stations that received us well while transmitting with high power, when they were struggling to be heard by us while using low power.
![](https://www.la1k.no/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_9003-1024x768.jpeg)
Photo: LB5PI
You can have a closer look at our QTH here.
![](https://www.la1k.no/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/DSC08124-1024x683.jpg)
Photo: LB6GH
LB5SH Stian from the LA2T group managed to get Kristian Fortress park in Trondheim into the POTA-program with ID LA-2523 in advance of our event. He also brought an extra shack for POTA-activation of the park.
You can read more about the POTA-program here:
https://parksontheair.com/
![](https://www.la1k.no/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/20220522_092449-1024x768.jpg)
Photo: LA2QUA
LB0VG Kristoffer brought his grill and provided enough food to keep everyone happy and well fed during the event. The course consisted of burgers, hot dogs and pork chops, plenty enough for everyone.
![](https://www.la1k.no/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/DSC08116-1024x683.jpg)
Photo: LB6GH
After the dust had settled, we ended up with a total number of 27 QSOs. 16 of these were made with operators in the 03 and 04 category, which means we were still able to hear a good number of the QRP-stations in the contest. 15 of the QSOs were from Sweden, with another 8 coming from Norwegian operators.
It seemed like everyone had a great time at the Kristiansten Fortress park this Sunday – a lot of nice and excited people were stopping by to have a chat and ask about what we were doing, which was great!
Thanks to everyone that was helping out and participated at this great event!
Special thanks to:
LA1UW Bjørn from LA2T for visiting us in the park.
LA2QUA Per-Øyvind for arranging the event.
LB1DJ Simon for being responsible for the dipole antennas.
LB5DH Henrik for coordinating the SpiderBeam mast and coaxial cables.
LB5SH Stian from LA2T for joining us in the contest and for bringing a 20m shack for the POTA-activation.
LB5PI Sondre for coordinating the Red Cross mast and QTH arrangement.
LB9WI Heidi for being responsible for the radio shacks.
LB0VG Kristoffer for being responsible for food and grilling.
LB8LI Yngve and Randi for helping the others with transportation of equipment.
![](https://www.la1k.no/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/DSC08136-1024x683.jpg)
Photo: LB6GH
You can check out LA2T’s own post about the event here:
https://www.la2t.no/ssa-med-la1k/
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