Bailadora (EA1/CR-038)

This is a video of the activation of Bailadora (SOTA ref. EA1/CR-038). I made several contacts in VHF (EA1AQ, EA1DFP and EA1BTO) and HF.

It was foggy so you could not see the great view. I will definate be back with better conditions for you to have an opportunity to see the great view from up there.

Fontardión (EA1/CR-005)

This is a video of the SOTA activation of Fontardion (EA1/CR-005) together with EA1AQ and Adi, who also helped with the camera.

I think I chose the wrong frequency this time (15m). I only managed to make 2 local QSOs before it started raining, but it was a good experience anyway.

2m FM from Monte do Oural (EA1/CR-018)

This is a video of a QSO with EA1UP (Julio) from Monte do Oural (Irixoa) on 2m FM.

Then I also made a QSO with EA1AQ/M.

I was using my FT-857D with a quarter-wave mobile whip.

A Cotela do Faro (EA1/LU-003)

Last Saturday I went with Robi to do some SOTA activations near Pedrafita do Cebreiro. One of them was A Cotela do Faro (1615m), SOTA reference EA1/LU-003. This is the video of the final ascent.

As you can see, the weather was very good, so we left our jackets in the car.
During the ascent, I made a repeater contact with my father, EA1AQ, who was 200km away, in A Coruña.

EA1AQ/M: Cova da Serpe (Snake's Cave)

This is a video of my first QSO from Cova da Serpe (EA1/LU-046), with EA1AQ/M on 2m FM.

I was using 20W with a quarter-wave on my FT-857D.

Pico Ribón (EA1/LU-028): Part I

This is the video of the approach to Pico Ribon (SOTA ref. EA1/LU-028) that I went to activate with EA1AQ on Christmas day.

The car left us very close to the summit, but the last 300m were very hard, because of the snow and the weight of the backpack radio (some 9kg overall). As you can see from the elevation profile, the final ascent had slopes of up to 40%. This also made it virtually impossible to stop for a rest until the summit was reached.
While on the way I was in contact by radio with EA1AQ, who stayed in the car. Although it was not necessary, we used the R5 repeater frequency because it also gave us the opportunity to keep in contact with other hams in the region.
To be continued...

Pendella (EA1/CR-002)

Yesterday EA1AQ (Juan) was activating the summit of Pendella (SOTA ref. EA1/CR-002) and we made a QSO with him on 2m FM.

The recording was made with Anca's photo camera, and she also made the QSO herself.

I was testing my new backpack project based on a Yaesu FT-857D.

Breamo (EA1/CR-035)

The other day I went to Breamo (SOTA reference EA1/CR-035) to test the Yaesu manpack radio. Breamo is near my summer QTH so it was a quick trip that did not require much preparation.
On the first picture I was using the radio on VHF, and I made QSOs with Ernesto (EA1LQ) and Julio (EA1UP). I also tried the radio pedestrian mobile around the Breamo monastery.
As you can see, my second operator was preparing the HF whip antenna, a 2.4m whip of the Clansman series.
Later I also tried a 4m whip to see if I could get better results with Ernersto, but the truth is that things did not improve much. This summit is not very high, and there are lots of trees all around.

Monte de Oural: EA1/CR-018

Yesterday I went to activate Monte de Oural (SOTA reference EA1/CR-018) with José Luis EA1HNP, and this is the video of the first QSO from up there:

It was a 2m FM QSO with Ernesto (EA1LQ), who is always there to help with the activations. We had already contacted him on our way to the summit, so he was standing by on our usual 2m frequency.

More SOTA contacts in 2m FM

In this video you can see our second QSO from Pendella, on 2m FM, with EA1TF (Juan).

Ernesto (EA1LQ) was joking about the fact that his summit (Cova da Serpe, EA1/LU-046) was worth 4 points, double as ours, because it was above 800m of height (ours was little over 730).
On this other video I make contact with José Luis (EA1HNP), who was activating Breamo (EA1/CR-035).

He asked us about where we would have lunch and how long we would stay...

My first SOTA activation (Pendella)

This is a video of my first Summits On The Air activetion, from the summit of Pendella (EA1/CR-002).

On the video you can also see EA1AQ. We both made QSOs with Ernesto (EA1LQ) who was activating SOTA reference EA1/LU-046.