End-of-year portable trip to Fuglemyra

As the school year was nearing an end and we were planning the club’s “sommeravslutning”, we thought, why not do what has become one of our favorite activities recently, namely a portable trip!

The first Saturday in June, we all met up at the bright and early hour of noon to pack for the trip. We kept it simple, with the FT-891 radio, Heathkit tuner, and 15m vertical antenna for one shack. For the other shack, LB9WI wanted to try out her newly purchased Kenwood TS-50 and MFJ autotuner, so we brought that along with a 20m vertical antenna.

Another fun thing happened before we left. The club had gotten an email from Alexei / ER1BAT an hour before our planned departure, asking to come by and see our shack. We invited him along on the trip, not really expecting him to join on such short notice. But as it turns out, Alexei is quite the spontaneous guy, and at 12:15, he was standing outside the Student Society, ready to go.

The trip up to Fuglemyra is not very challenging. After a 20-minute bus ride and 15-minute walk, we arrived and immediately set up camp.

We divided into two groups and bet on who could be QRV the fastest. LA1Q, LB7JJ, and Oskar went for the shack with the usual suspects (FT-891, Heathkit tuner, etc.), and LB9WI and LB8LI took responsibility for the other shack. An issue arose when we realized we didn’t have a separate battery for the MFJ autotuner, meaning we couldn’t plug the vertical antenna directly into the tuner as planned. After thinking it over for a bit, LB0VG chimed in, saying he had a 17m dipole in his backpack. We wasted no time hanging it up and were finally QRV, just a tiny bit after the first group.

We chose the spot to set up mostly because there already was a campfire pan there, and while the two groups were setting up, the rest of the team lit a fire. We had hotdogs for lunch and s’mores for dessert, courtesy of LB7JJ.

QSO-wise, it was going pretty well. The 15m vertical got a lot of action, and most of the participants had a try. LA1Q even logged his QSO with CS7ATC on his brand-new QRZ-page.

The dipole didn’t have as much success, unfortunately, but LB9WI still managed to get a few QSO’s on her brand-new radio. After a while, we decided to try something new. LB0VG ran to his car to get a separate battery for the MFJ autotuner, which meant we could prop up a 20m vertical antenna and connect it directly to the tuner. This, unfortunately, did not result in any more contacts.

After a few hours of radio operation and hot dog eating, we were all stuffed, and our ears were buzzing, so we packed up and took the bus home. Thank you to LA1Q, LB1HH, LB3SG, LB4FI, LB7JJ, LB8LI, LB9WI, LB0VG, Hannah, Oskar and of course our surprise guest ER1BAT.