As the exam period rages on, some are lucky enough to be done early. LB0CJ and LB3BK had laid a plan to go on a SOTA trip when their exams were done, and ascension day, the 29th of May, seemed like the perfect opportunity. This was posted in our slack, and Marianna joined as well.
The weather forecast had been somewhat shifty and put forth a possibility of rain, but the weather turned out great, with warm temperatures and a lot of sun.
When we had gotten up to the top, we first tried setting up the 10m vertical antenna in a wooded part of the summit, leaning the mast against a tree. This proved unsuccessful, as the antenna was very hard to tune there, and we didn’t receive any signals recognizable as amateur radio activity.
We then tried setting it up in the small wooden watchtower, pictured below. This worked somewhat better, the antenna was easy to tune, and we heard some FT8 signals, but there were no SSB signals to be heard.
Finally, we gave up on the 10m band and set up the 20m vertical in the side of the clearing, which finally got us on the air. CQs were called, and we were soon spotted, leading to many QSOs.
LB3BK had her first QSO using her own callsign, and on top of that it was a summit-to-summit QSO, which is really cool.
On the way down we tried a different path that would lead us by a place marked as a cafe on the map, but it was unfortunately closed that day.
While waiting for the bus to arrive at our stop, we found a sort of obstacle course in the forest, this was unexpected and very fun!
In the end, the trip was considered a huge success, and all three of us made it home safely.
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