First-Time SOTA Activation of LA/NT-241 Skordalsvola

With students leaving for summer holiday around the beginning of June in Trondheim, the bustling in our club usually winds down a bit. For those still left in the city however, many opportunities for radio activities do remain! One of the first ideas that would come to anyone’s mind is probably a SOTA-trip. Or at least that was the idea of LB5DH and LB3BK, and so they decided to go an a trip to Skordalsvola on 5th of June, and do a first-time SOTA-activation there. This summit was a recent addition and had only been put on the SOTA-map about a month ago, making it a tempting destination.

The plan was to drive by car to a parking lot that was near the mountain, making the hike to the summit a little less tedious. Once we arrived, we packed our equipment and hiking gear from the trunk of the car and set off to reach the top of Skordalsvola.

The ground was still a bit muddy and springy from the rain the days prior. Nonetheless, the hike was a lot of fun, with clear paths to follow and nice weather lifting our spirits.

As we reached the top, we took a moment to appreciate the view. We could see rainclouds pouring down on Trondheim in the distance. Maybe they were coming for us next? Unbothered by this, we set up our fishing pole 20m vertical antenna and strapped it to the cairn, marking the top of the summit. Tuning of the antenna went smoothly, and so we sat down a few meters away from the top where we would be sheltered from the wind.

We browsed through the 20m band and searched for a free frequency to use for CQing. LB5DH started the activation by spotting himself on our chosen frequency. The conditions were relatively good, with high interest from chasers. Within a minute, a horde of SOTA-chasers were queueing up to get QSOs with us, and the first-time activation of Skordalsvola was secured! After a short while, the situation calmed down a bit, and LB3BK took over as operator. She got a few more QSOs and activated the summit a second time.

By now, more and more rainclouds were coming our way, and it was getting colder too. LB5DH got to reel a few more QSOs in, and then we took down the antenna as quickly as we set it up.

Just before heading down the mountain, LB3BK had a strong urge to write down our callsigns in the summit book, and placed it back in the wooden box. With winds getting stronger and the skies turning darker now, we headed back down. Miraculously, we both made it back to the car completely dry! What a nice end to a pretty successful trip.