Yaesu YF-122C CW filter / QRP CW contact with the Faroe Islands

Last edited: 20.05.2018

I'd been looking into buying a narrow CW filter for my Yaesu FT-817nd rig for some time, but the high price (about € 130) for both the YF-122C (500 Hz) and YF-122CN (300 Hz) had been holding me back. But this week I got the opportunity to buy a used YF-122C filter for less than half the price of a new one. I couldn't let this offer go.

My Yaesu FT-817nd last summer on the summit of Pilatus mountain in Switzerland

Today the filter was delivered by the mailman. I spent about half an hour on installing the filter, and after some initial tests I must say it's working great! Installation of one of the optional filters into the FT-817nd is easy; just take out some screws, remove the rig's top case, and push the filter board onto the designated pins on the main board of the transceiver!

The 500 Hz filter will definitely make CW QSOs with the FT-817 a lot easier, and I'm all ready to do some more SOTA activations with it coming summer.

Before installation. The filter goes onto the main board in the designated free space opposite of the tuning knob.

After installation

After installation of the filter I made a nice CW contact with the FT-817 with OY1CT on the Faroe Islands. The contact was made as PA7MDJ/QRP on 20m using just 5 Watts and my HyEndFed 10/20/30 wire antenna. You can listen to the contact below (sorry for the background noises, please don't pay attention to them, hi). This contact was made with the 500 Hz filter activated.




And while talking about the FT-817, one site I always like to return to for more information about this popular QRP and backpack rig is "The KA7OEI FT-817 pages". Another interesting site is "K6XX's FT-817 page". If you're a FT-817(nd) owner these sites might be of interest to you as well.

So many projects, so little time...

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So many projects, so little time... Most of you hams out there reading this probably know exactly what I mean. I currently have so many amateur radio related plans, ideas, and projects in mind, that I just don't know where to begin. Trying to give it all some structure, and to have an easy way to link to related webpages, I've made a list here of all the projects that are in the PA7MDJ "pipeline". I know myself, and probably not all projects will be finished or realized, but some of them definitely will! Suggestions, hints, and tips are very welcome of course. The information on this blog will be constantly edited, links and other information is continuously being added.

Launching a High Altitude Balloon with a HF WSPR tracker payload
This is my main project at the moment. I'm awaiting the special QRP Labs U3B balloon WSPR tracker to become available. QRP Labs currently still has the U3B in its test and development stage. At present the exact date of the U3B becoming available is unknown. Another blog post that I wrote earlier about the U3B, can be found here.
I've already acquired the needed 36" foil balloons (I'm planning on flying the lightweight payload on a single balloon), 0.1 and 0.2 mm enameled copper wire for the dipole antenna, and 52x19 mm and 39x19 mm solar cells, 100 of each. The solar cells are rated average 0.5 V / 300 mA / 160 mW and 0.5 V / 240 mA / 120 mW respectively. It will take about 6 cells to power the U3B.

Some things still to do: buy a bottle of helium, buy 0.8 mm enameled copper wire, buy a precision electronic weighing scale accurate to 0.01 gramms

An interesting forum with lots of info on WSPR balloons is http://radio-signals.com.

Powering up my U3S transmitter with solar cells
While awaiting the U3B, and since I got plenty of them, to get more experience and more knowledge of the little solar cells described above, I've taken up the plan to try powering up my U3S transmitter here down on earth using these same little solar cells. The U3S has to be powered with 5 V and draws about 110 mA at idle and 220 mA when transmitting, so it will require some more cells than the U3B. Soldering to the cells, I've been told, is not easy. I'm awaiting the arrival of a package with special tinned wire strip and a flux pen. Once arrived I can start soldering to the solar cells. The soldering experience I will gain during this project will be invaluable for the U3B balloon project.
I have several circuit designs in mind including the following components, either individually or a combination of them: 5.5 V 1 F supercapacitor, a 5 V LDO regulator, a DC-DC boost regulator, a 3.7 V 100 mAh LIPO battery.
I'm still learning about solar cell specific things like Isc,Voc, Imp, Vmp, and the solar cell I-V curve (see links below).

Some things still to do: buy schottky diodes

http://forum.solar-electric.com/discussion/18083/voc-vmp-imp-isc-explained/
http://www.kg4cyx.net/solar-panel-specifications-explained/

Building a Pixie CW QRP transmitter and an electronic keyer based on Arduino
I already bought the Pixie kit back in the summer at HAM RADIO 2017 in Friedrichshafen. An earlier blog post I wrote about it can be found here. There you can also read about the Arduino based electronic keyer I want to build so that I can use the Pixie with a dual paddle.

I recently made a 40m CW contact with my SOTA friend Roger F5LKW on SOTA F/AM-680. During this SOTA activation Roger used a Pixie transmitter. The CW signal sounded very clear, and if I didn't know better, I would have thought it was coming from one of the more expensive rigs usually used on SOTA activations. This definitely sparked the urge for me to finally start assembling the Pixie kit.

PA7MDJ in the log of F5LKW/P SOTA F/AM-680.

Building a simple QRP magnetic loop antenna and participating in the QRSS beacon annual New Year's Eve Operation Celebration
I would like to build a big (5 to 6 m circumference) QRP magnetic loop antenna of RG213 coaxial cable to use with my QRP Labs U3S transmitter. I hope the mag loop will have enough efficiency to put out decent enough signals on 40m. I secretly hope it still has enough efficiency on 80m as well, and I will experiment on that band as well.

I will use a variable tuning capacitor taken from a never finished antenna tuner project that I bought from a fellow ham at the local club some time ago. The air gaps between the capacitor's vanes is probably big enough for the antenna to handle up to 5 - 10 Watts. So maybe beside using it with my U3S, I can also use it in the field with my FT-817.

If finished in time, I would like to try sending QRSS beacons with my U3S on 30 or 40m with it during the recently announced annual New Year's Eve Operation Celebration.

Some things still to do: buying two 2 metre long planks to build a cross support frame

http://www.g4ilo.com/wonder-loop.html
https://rsars.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/simple-rg213-hf-loop-30m-15m-g8ode-iss-1-31.pdf
https://sites.google.com/site/g7aqkhamradio/home/my-qrss-beacon
https://americanhoplite.wordpress.com/2016/07/01/my-experience-so-far-with-the-mfj-9232-loop-tuner/
https://www.nonstopsystems.com/radio/frank_radio_antenna_magloop-small.htm

Building a magnetometer
I've always wanted to build a magnetometer to experiment with taking my own measurements of the activity of the geomagnetic field at my own QTH.
You can build one easily with a jam jar and a light or laser pointed at a mirror on a suspended bar magnet, but I prefer another similar design by GJ4ICD which uses a Hall effect sensor instead of the mirror/light like presented at the UKSMG site here and linked to below. Unfortunately the Hall effect sensor 634SS2 is not available anymore, and I have no clue about what replacement part I can use.

DIY Magnetometer design by GJ4ICD (source)

http://www.uksmg.org/content/magnet.htm
http://www.britastro.org/aurora/jamjar.htm
http://blog.stevemarple.co.uk/search/label/Magnetometer
https://fear-of-lightning.wonderhowto.com/how-to/measure-geomagnetic-storms-with-diy-magnetometer-0132960/
http://www.eaas.co.uk/cms/index.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26view%3Darticle%26id%3D74:how-to-make-a-very-sensitive-jam-jar-magnetometer-by-robert-cobain%26catid%3D10:equipment-reviews%26Itemid%3D16
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/images/u33/Activity_7.pdf
http://gw7eri.com/homebrew/magnetometer/magtalk.pdf

Building an 80m loaded dipole
In my small garden I can only fit a wire antenna of about 10 to 12 metres in length max. A full size dipole for 80m will be about 40 m in length. With a loading coil in each element the length can be reduced. I'm not expecting much of a 12 metre long loaded 80m dipole, but I still want to see what it can do with my 200 mW U3S WSPR transmitter, and maybe even try to make my first ever 80m 2-way contact, in CW, SSB, or some digi mode. Again, I'm not expecting super DX from it though. If working ok, I'll also want to try making one for 160m. Making coils with the right inductance value is the challenge in this project. I don't have an LC meter. I've been looking at those cheap ones available at the various Chinese selling sites, but the reviews for these are varying from the device being inaccurate garbage to ok for the price.

https://www.nonstopsystems.com/radio/frank_radio_antenna_80m-dipole.htm

Schynige Platte

Last edited: 13.09.2017

View from Schynige Platte (photo by PA7MDJ)

This summer, I was up at the Schynige Platte in the Berner Oberland region of Switzerland. We took the mountain cog-railway up from Wilderswil to the nostalgic Schynige Platte alpine railway station at 1967 m a.s.l. The view from the Schynige Platte is breathtaking, with the famous majestic, 4 km high trio Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau towering in the distance. But especially to the SOTA chaser / activator there's also another attraction drawing the attention; the Gumihorn. With 2099 m a.s.l., the Gumihorn is the highest peak of the Schynige Platte. It's also SOTA summit HB/BE-134. But the peak is difficult to climb and is only for the experienced mountaineer. In the past there have been some SOTA activations, but most were invalid, as it turned out afterwards that the activators might have operated close to the actual SOTA activation zone (a maximum of 25 m vertical from the actual summit), but not from within, the zone being not so easy to reach without some serious belayed climbing.

The Schynige Platte railway station (photo by PA7MDJ)

Some SOTA activations are just more epic than others. And one of the more epic ones definitely was the activation of the Gumihorn HB/BE-134 on September 8th, 2017 by Manuel HB9DQM, Matt HB9FVF, and Clemens HB9EWO. Unfortunately I was at work and had to miss the activation, but still I really felt the urge to do this blog entry about it.

The Gumihorn SOTA HB/BE-134 (source)

The three OM took up the challenge to ascend the extremely steep southeastern grass slope, and to climb the last 25 metres of vertical rock face to get to the actual summit of the Gumihorn. And with succes; signing HB9SOTA, they did a valid activation from the summit, and despite bad HF propagation conditions made a total of 56 QSO's (including 11 on VHF).

Matt HB9FVF leading the way to the Gumihorn summit (source)

There's one other activation remaining in the SOTA database, dating back to 2010, done from the peak's southern grass flank, but height measurements taken by the September 8 SOTA climbing party show this may well have been a couple of metres short to be within the SOTA activation zone. It seems the only way to do a valid activation of the Gumihorn is to climb the vertical rock face to the top.

The SOTA climbing party at the summit found a cairn with a summit book from 1970. The book only has a few entries per year, and only one in 2016, and one in 2017, again showing that the Gumihorn is not an easy climb and is rarely visited.

The summit book (source)

Congratulations to HB9DQM, HB9FVF, and HB9EWO for the excellent achievement, both in SOTA and mountaineering!

Succesful activation from the summit by HB9SOTA on September 8th, 2017

The full activation report can be found here on the SOTA Reflector.

Addendum 13.09.2017
A nice slide show / video of the September 8 activation, can be found here on YouTube. 

The last remaining activation of the Gumihorn, the one of 2010, recently has also been withdrawn from the SOTA database by the activator, as the new height measurements have shown that it most probably was done from outside the SOTA activation zone.

SOTA HB/NW-011 Pilatus/Tomlishorn 2132m

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I've been playing with the Pinnacle Studio 20 video editing software this week, and for my first project I decided to make a video of my 40m CW activation on July 11, 2017 of SOTA HB/NW-011 in Switzerland. The result has been uploaded to YouTube and can be viewed below. For better quality watch the video on YouTube.com (just click on the YouTube logo after you've hit the play button)! The video is in HD, so make sure to set the settings to 1080p for best quality!

Thanks for watching! 73 for now de PA7MDJ!

My first SOTA and CW activation

Last edited: 12.05.2017

One of my favourite aspects of ham radio is Summits on the Air (SOTA). With this blog entry I will not go into explaining as to what exactly SOTA is, as most of my readers already know or otherwise will be able to find more information on the official SOTA web page or on this Wikipedia page. Beside that I will also do a special "sticky" blog page about SOTA in general another time soon.
So this blog entry is not about SOTA in general, but rather about my CW activation of SOTA summit PA/PA-004 Torenberg in specific.

I've been a SOTA chaser for some time now, mainly using CW. As a chaser I can do the basic "rubber stamp" CW QSOs, i.e. copy the activator's call, send my call, copy my call, copy the signal report, send a signal report, send 73 and TU. I can also easily copy and send some basic abbreviations like GM, GA, GE, UR RST, BK, GL, FB, etc. Basically this is all one needs to make SOTA QSOs as a chaser, or to make QSOs with DXpeditions or DX stations for that matter. In less than two years, with probably 99% of the SOTA Qs in CW, I earned my SOTA chaser Shack Sloth award and the HB9SOTA Edelweiss award. Using only SSB this might have taken ages. But I wanted more, just basic CW skills is not enough, as I was also aspiring SOTA CW activations.

The radio shack out in nature. SOTA PA/PA-004.

Equipment used on PA/PA-004 includes a Yaesu FT-817ND running 5 Watts into a portable lightweight version of the HyEndFed 10/20/40 wire antenna, a 10 metre telescopic lightweight fiberglass pole, a gel cel 7 Ah battery, and a Palm Pico paddle. There are two things I learned today: I need a narrow CW filter for the FT-817, and I need to save for that portable, self-supporting HF-P1 antenna I've been looking at for some time now; fixating a 10 m telescopic pole out in nature can be quite a hassle.

So meanwhile I kept practicing my CW skills using the Koch method at 25 WPM. The Koch method for me has been the ideal way to learn Morse code. A Koch app on my smartphone lets me practice whenever and wherever I want. I tried and still try to do at least 15 to 20 minutes of practicing each day. Over time I also managed to add some variations to the rubber stamp QSOs. For instance, in the QSOs with them, I also started sending the personal name of the regular SOTA activators I'd made acquaintance with. "Dry practicing" I also built confidence in sending random callsigns, words, letters, and numbers. For SOTA CW activations I knew, at least sending wasn't going to be a problem.

One of the motivators to keep up the essential self discipline to practice CW every day has been the aspiration to do SOTA activations. The lightweight QRP equipment you take on a summit activation is so much more effective in CW than it is in SSB. Doing a CW activation however is a totally different ball game compared to chasing!  Not only you'll have to leave the comfort of your shack and ascend the summit and set up your portable station there of course, but also you'd have to be able to quickly copy the different callsigns and messages coming at you in fast pace from random SOTA chasers. As a CW chaser before making the QSO you have the advantage of having the time to listen for the activator's callsign, just one callsign, and if you don't copy it completely the first time, you'll listen for it a second or even third time. When activating it's a complete different situation.

For today I'd planned an activation of the Dutch SOTA summit PA/PA-004 Torenberg. It would be my first SOTA activation. The Netherlands is not a mountainous country, but there are some hills in the eastern and southern part of the Netherlands, and under the special SOTA P100 rule, five of them qualify as SOTA summits, were included in the SOTA programme, and were given a SOTA reference number. However, after a careful check of the P100 rule, it was decided to retire two of them as of 31 July, 2017, including PA/PA-004.
My initial plan was to do the activation in SSB only. But I remembered my last QRP SSB WWFF activation in which I needed many hours to eventually make just 16 Qs. A SOTA activation in CW would be so much more effective, and not in the last place so much COOLER!. For an activation though, at higher speeds I'm still not confident enough about my CW skills.
But then I realized, for my first CW activation I just could go QRS! At 12 to 16 WPM I'm much more comfortable and confident. Chasers that want to work me will adapt to my speed. When a callsign is not copied completely the first time, I can always do a "..--.."
Then coincidentally, some days ago Polish ham SQ6GIT on the SOTA Reflector started the thread "SOTA CW for beginners".  SQ6GIT is planning a SOTA activation in Ukraine and wants to do it in CW, but he has the same doubts about his CW skills that I have about mine, and asked the SOTA community for their opinion on doing a CW activation with limited CW skills. The SOTA people all reacted the same: Take the plunge! Just do it! Just go slowly, go QRS! One SOTA activator reacted "The best training method when aspiring towards CW SOTA activations is: CW SOTA activations! And it's true, taking the plunge and jumping into the big ocean often is the best teacher!

So I did. Today I activated PA/PA-004 in CW, only CW, no SSB at all! I made 8 contacts on 40m including one "Summit 2 Summit" with HB9AGO/P in Switzerland! The transceiver's keyer was set to 12 WPM. Some "E E E" were needed a couple of times, but for a first time, and despite being very nervous, overall I think I did well! I must say SQ6GIT's post on the SOTA Reflector came just in time and gave me the push I needed. The chasers all were very cooperative and patient and adapted their speed to mine. And guess who's one of the chasers I made a QSO with! It was SQ6GIT, adding another special touch to this story! My initial fear is gone, and I hope to be able to do some more CW activations soon!

PA/PA-004 Torenberg is located in a forested area called De Veluwe near the town of Apeldoorn. Its summit is 107 metres a.s.l. It's quite an odd summit and it can't be reached legally as it's located on land owned by the Dutch Royal Family and is in a no-access wildlife area with many wild boar and deer. So to keep it legal I decided to activate from the forest at the Aardhuis on the Aardmansberg at 102 metres a.s.l. The Aardhuis is the former hunting lodge of King William III and was built in 1861. It's now a visitors centre and museum. Some of the rooms remain furnished as in historical times when it was still a hunting lodge. The Aardhuis is a couple of hundred metres away from the the real Torenberg summit, but it's within the closed 90 metres elevation contour line around it (and with 102 metres elevation not in a dip) and therefore complies to SOTA rules and the SOTA definition of the activation zone (max 25 m vertical distance from the summit). It feels a little ackward to do a SOTA activation at such a big distance from the actual summit, but I guess that's what you get in the "Dutch Mountains". The Aardhuis is also on the same land owned by the Dutch Royal Family, but for a small fee you're allowed to freely wander around on the forested land around the lodge. The fee also includes a visit to the museum and the Aardhuis wildlife park.

The Aardhuis at 102 m elevation

Inside the Aardhuis. At the right, King William III's original guns.

Wooden "Aardman". This Aardman has been guarding the lodge since 1861!

Topographic map of the area as provided by PA3Q with the 90 m contour line in red. The Torenberg and the Aardhuis are also indicated. As can be seen, the Aardhuis lies within the 90 m contour line around the PA/PA-004 summit. (source)

Addendum 12.05.2017
Those aspiring SOTA CW activations and looking for some practice might find the CW practice audio files on the site of ON6ZQ to be very useful, I did and still do. On this particular page you will find links to CW audio files as well as other CW practice tools. There's also a CW audio file with real SOTA chaser callsigns which can be played at various speeds. Check it out!

For those wondering what Koch trainer I'm using, it's IZ2UUF Morse Koch CW for Android. It's a great app, and I can really recommend it. More information can be found here.


See also:

http://www.aardhuis.nl/
http://www.sota.org.uk/Summit/PA/PA-004

Various QSL cards

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Here's the QSL card received recently for my contact with the F8UFT expedition to the Mont Blanc! It's one of my most prized QSL cards! Many thanks to Gérald F6HBI. For more information on the expedition, also see my blog entries of December 11th and November 12th.

This is the most recent batch of bureau cards for PD7MDJ / PA7MDJ. Picked up at the local VERON club station on 16.12.2016. Lots of cards received via Global QSL this time, including quite a few for my SOTA contacts with HB9CBR/P.

Mont Blanc SOTA F/AB-001 - Part 2

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In addition to my blog entry of November 12th, Mont Blanc SOTA F/AB-001, here's some more information from Gérald F6HBI. The photos below are taken with his kind permission from Gérald's Flickr pages. More photos can be found on the Flickr pages listed at the end of this blog entry.

Gérald wrote to me that indeed the F8UFT team for August 16th had planned to climb and activate Mont Blanc du Tacul SOTA F/AB-003 and Aguille du Midi F/AB-015 on returning, but the glacier of Mont Blanc du Tacul had dropped down and in its disastrous path killed three people, which made the F8UFT team decide it was better to cancel the climb and do a training session somewhere else.
For the SOTA chaser following the expedition from his "arm chair" and the comfort of his home, with the scenic picture postcards of the area in mind, it's easy to forget how hostile and dangerous the mountains can be. In the time the F8UFT team was there, in the area no less than 10 people have lost their lives in the mountains. Another OM that also wanted to climb and activate the Mont Blanc got stuck in a cable car at 3640 metres height and had to spend the night in there. The ordeal of OM F5OUX even got coverage on the TV news.

The breathtaking video of the F8UFT team descending the Aguille du Midi can now be found here, and definitely is a MUST-WATCH:

An expedition video and QSL cards are still in the making. I'll keep you posted.

Articles on the F8UFT Mont Blanc expedition also appeared in La Pioche (the news bulletin of the UFT - Union Française des Télégraphistes) issue nr. 121 4/2016, and Radio-REF (the news bulletin of the REF - Réseau des Émetteurs Français) issue nr. 903 November 2016.

Many thanks to Gérald, F6HBI for the information. Merci beaucoup, Gérald!

André, F6IGY with his VHF looking at the Mont Blanc summit.

The UFT flag and the two CW stations on the summit of the Mont Blanc. Frédéric, F8DQY on 40m in the back. Gérald,  F6HBI on 30m in the front.

Gérald, F6HBI at the key at 4,810 m height on the summit of the Mont Blanc.

The F8UFT team arriving on the summit of Mont Buet. The Mont Blanc can be seen in the background at the right.

Cover of Radio-REF issue nr. 903

See also:
 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/geof6hbi/sets/72157674423614415 (activation Mont Buet F/AB-126)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/geof6hbi/sets/72157669975353914 (activation Le Brévent F/AB-258)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/geof6hbi/sets/72157673087919816 (activation Mont Blanc F/AB-001)

Mont Blanc SOTA F/AB-001

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19.11.2016 - Added various information and links to F6HBI's Flickr pages with spectacular photos of the expedition.
11.12.2016 - See also my blog entry of December 11th with additional information from F6HBI.

Somewhere in the autumn of 2015, announcements started to appear that a group of French hams of the Union Française des Télégraphistes (UFT) were planning a combined ham radio / mountaineering expedition to the top of the Mont Blanc. Located in the Alps on the border of eastern France and Italy, and rising to a height of almost 4,810 meters a.s.l., the Mont Blanc is Western Europe's highest mountain (in Europe only topped in height by a couple of mountains in the Caucasus). It's ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence. The Summits on the Air (SOTA) reference for the Mont Blanc is F/AB-001.

I had just started actively chasing SOTA activators in CW, and I was really excited about the news. The expedition would take place in August of 2016. I would have almost a whole year to look forward to it and to get myself ready to put this special activation in the log.

By the summer of 2016 more information followed. The expedition team of 8 members had been assembled and consisted of Christian F8GHE, Gérald F6HBI, Frédéric F8DQY, André F6IGY, Mathieu F4EZO, Jean-Guy, Serge, and Théo. Another team member is mentioned, Jean F5BQT, and I believe he was the expedition's base camp VHF radioman down in the valley. Team member Gérald F6HBI is a well known and very active CW SOTA activator, and I had worked him many times before on various mountains throughout southeastern France. The team would use the call F8UFT, the callsign of the Union Française des Télégraphistes.

The F8UFT team would stay in the Chamonix-Mont-Blanc area for about a month, and as part of their training, preparation, and acclimatization for the climb of the Mont Blanc, several other mountains in the area would be ascended and activated on the ham bands.

The first contact I made with the team was on August 1st, 2016 on 30m CW. The operator was Gérald F6HBI, located on the summit of Le Brévent (SOTA F/AB-258) at 2525m height. The callsign used was F8UFT/P. On all the activations that followed later in August, the /P was omitted. The 30m signal was good and solid, and I had no problems making the contact.

My next contact was on August 6th. I worked operator Gérald F6HBI on 30m CW and operator Frédéric F8DQY on 40m CW on the summit of Mont Buet (F/AB-126) at 3096m height.

The activation date of the Mont Blanc was set to August 21, and while this date was getting closer and closer, in the meantime on August 12th I managed to work the team again on 40m CW (operator Frédéric F8DQY), this time on Le Prarion (SOTA F/AB-362) at 1969m height.

Expedition leader André F6IGY at the key on the summit of Mont Buet 06.08.2016 (source)

Frédéric F8DQY at the key at Mer de Glace 04.08.2016 (source)

On SOTAwatch, for August 16th also the activation of Mont Blanc du Tacul F/AB-003 (4248m) and Aguille du Midi F/AB-015 (3842m) was announced, but as far as I know these activations didn't take place. I don't know the reason for this, but maybe weather conditions or difficult, unsafe, or unsuitable operating conditions at the summit made the team decide not to spend time on any ham activities there.

The team did go up the Aguille du Midi, as the men could be seen in a spectacular YouTube video posted by Gérald F6HBI going down the knife-edge ridge of the Aguille du Midi Arête. Unfortunately, Gérald for reasons unknown recently removed the video from YouTube.

I was now really looking forward to the activation of the "Big One" on August 21st. The easy contacts with the team during their earlier activations had made me believe working them on the Mont Blanc was going to be a piece of cake. This however turned out to be far from the truth.

Mont Blanc F/AB-001 (source)

The plans of the F8UFT team were to start climbing for the top of the Mont Blanc in the early morning of August 21st from the Tête Rousse Hut at 3167m height. Excellent, I thought, August 21st being on a Sunday.

Then the news was brought out on SOTA Reflector that the team had changed their plans and would climb the Mont Blanc on August 24th. This date would allow them to sleep in the Goûter Hut at 3815m height, closer to the top of the Mont Blanc, allowing them to reach the top in less time and increasing the chance of succes. They would start climbing in darkness at 03:00 hours in the morning and expected to reach the top at 09:30-10:00 hours local time. This new date also meant that I had to take a day off from work. Much to my dismay the company didn't give permission, but luckily it turned out I had the late shift that day, and I would be able to spend time in the radio shack until about 3 in the afternoon!

Refuge du Goûter mountain hut (source)

So on the morning of August 24th I was awake early and was all set for working the Mont Blanc (SOTA F/AB-001). I kept an eye on the SOTAwatch cluster and followed Gérald F6HBI on APRS.fi. I was also switching between the announced frequencies of 7.013 and 10.122 MHz monitoring for a CQ from the F8UFT team. Frédéric F8DQY would be active on 40m CW, Gérald F6HBI on 30m CW, while Mathieu F4EZO would wait for the CW sessions of Frédéric to end and then start a 40m SSB session.

At one point I noticed Gérald's APRS beacon was at the top of the Mont Blanc, and soon also the first F8UFT spot appeared for 10.122 MHz. I quickly tuned in to the frequency, only to find out that Gérald's signal was extremely weak and not workable. Just my luck! Then a spot appeared for Frédéric on 7.013. When I tuned in, a sigh of relief; the signal of F8UFT was relatively strong! But the pile-up was huge, and I knew the time of the F8UFT team up on the summit would be short. Low temperatures and high winds were reported making the conditions for the team quite difficult.

APRS.fi screenshot from my smartphone

I started keying my callsign with my Kent twin paddle, hoping to break through the pile-up madness on 7.013. I was lucky and around 08:30 UTC I heard my call coming back, but due to QRM only partially: "...7MDJ 5NN 5NN K". I waited and again my call was coming back with a 599 report. I sent "R R GM UR 55N 55N 73 GL TU" which was answered with "73 TU dit dit". I still wasn't sure though if my callsign was copied correctly. Did I hear a dot missing in the P, and several dots in the 7? Was it QSB, or am I in the log as GA7MDJ or some other variant even worse?
I should have sent my call one more time, and then should have waited for another callsign readback. But I got nervous, was afraid of loosing the contact, and I felt the pressure of the limited time available to the team. Still I wonder, how could I have let this happen? Normally I stick until I'm absolutely sure my callsign is copied correctly. I wanted to try again, to make sure I was in the log correctly, but soon Frédéric went QRT, and the signals of the SSB session that followed were way below noise level. I've been looking forward to this moment for almost a year, now did I blow my chance to work the Mont Blanc? I felt miserable.

I'm quite strict when it comes to having my callsign correctly in the log of the station worked. If it's not in there correctly or if it's in there only partially, to me the QSO is not a valid one. So, anxiously I awaited the log of F8UFT to be uploaded to the SOTA log database. It lasted about a week, and it almost drove me mad, but finally it was there and I could check and see if my callsign was in there correctly. On 40m only 16 CW QSO's had been made, and LO AND BEHOLD, there it was, my callsign, CORRECT AND COMPLETE!

I'm the type of radio amateur that always places importance on following the rules and the proper procedure for a valid QSO. This certainly was not a QSO by the book, and it deserves no beauty prizes, but it'll have to do. It's a small miracle that out of just 16 stations worked one of them was me!

F8UFT log for F/AB-001 in the SOTA database

Later Gérald reported that on the summit winds were really strong with windchill temperatures going down to about 35º Celcius below zero. The CW keying with thick gloves on was really difficult, Gérald said. André later writes on the UFT website that the winds at the summit were blowing at 40kph! These harsh weather conditions and wearing thick gloves also was what Frédéric had to struggle with while trying to send my call correctly, and in these conditions it's not strange that some dots might have gone missing (during the other contacts I also noticed some missing dots). Also the equipment might have acted up in the extreme cold. In the end, it does add charm to the contact, made under harsh conditions at almost 5 kilometres height! I'm trying to imagine handling a small Palm paddle keyer with thick mountaineering gloves on, trying to send CW correctly while the freezing wind blows around your ears, the noise of it drowning out your own CW sidetone! I even mess up with big paddles and without any gloves on in the comfort of my warm shack, hi.

This might be the highest mountain ever activated on the ham bands, the F8UFT team only spent about 50 minutes total on the air from there, and I'm in the log! If it was up to me, and if such a thing would exist, this expedition would win the prize for Best Ham Radio Event of the Year 2016! To the whole F8UFT team I would like to say: thank you and congratulations on the outstanding achievement, both in ham radio and mountaineering!

The equipment used on this expedition are two Yaesu FT-817's with inverted V and ATAS 100 antennas.

If I'm not mistaken, there was a dedicated cameraman on the expedition, and hopefully a video documentary will be available on DVD some day soon. I haven't seen any announcements of this though. According to expedition leader André on the UFT website, a special QSL card will be available and will be send to the stations worked. When received, I'll post it on my blog.

The F8UFT team on Glacier des Bossons 13.08.2016. From left to right: Christian F8GHE, Gérald F6HBI, Frédéric F8DQY, Jean-Guy, Serge, Théo, Mathieu F4EZO, F6IGY André (source)

SOTA activation history of F/AB-001

All contacts also confirmed in LotW

More photos of the expedition can be found on the Flickr pages and the last three web pages listed below.


See also:

http://www.uft.net
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Blanc
https://www.flickr.com/photos/geof6hbi/albums/72157674423614415  (activation of Mont Buet F/AB-126)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/geof6hbi/albums/72157669975353914 (activation Le Brévent F/AB-258)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/geof6hbi/albums/72157673087919816 (activation Mont Blanc F/AB-001) 

http://reflector.sota.org.uk/t/uft-mont-blanc-2016/11958
http://reflector.sota.org.uk/t/mont-blanc-2016/13735

http://www.uft.net/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=688&mnuid=173&tconfig=0
http://www.lereveilnormand.fr/2016/10/21/mont-blanc-des-ornais-sur-le-toit-de-l-europe/