Sunday, December 30, 2012

PAFF-031 by PA3FYG/p quickly QRT !!!

This afternoon I was activating PAFF-031 - Speulder- en Sprielderbos.



The weather looked good, about 6 degeees an dry.

Starting at  around 1200 UTC on 40 mtr with heavy QRM, abt. 46 QSOs. After that much better on 20 m.
Best DX N3 station. Worked about 70 stations.

When pile-up was gone about 1345 UTC , I had to break down my station fast, I was attacted by hailstones !!!
In notime the bottom was white. After 1/2 hour I reached the car again, and the sun was shinning again........


PAFF-031 - Speulder- en Sprielderbos by PA3FYG/p

I will activate PAFF-031 - Speulder- en Sprielderbos this afternoon Sunday Dec. 30, starting about 12.00UTC.

Starting nr. 7.144 MHz, 14.244 later. I try 21.244 MHz also but antenna not made for this freq.

Hope to hear you.

73 de Hans PA3FYG

Saturday, December 29, 2012

PAFF-031 - Speulder- en Sprielderbos by PA3FYG/p


If weather is not to bad I activate PAFF-031 - Speulder- en Sprielderbos on Sunday 30 dec.

More info later.

73 de Hans PA3FYG/P

Friday, December 28, 2012

PAFF-044 Arkerheem" by PA3FYG/P

PAFF-044 "Arkerheem" by PA3FYG/P




Steam Pumping Station  'Hertog Reijnout'



Inside this polder in the center of The Netherlands the feet were kept dry by this
Steam Pumping Station used from 1883 to 1983.

Engine driven with coal.

Can still be used in case of emergency when new electric pump is out of order, hi hi.

Some volunteers start it up now and then for general public.







To much rain --> My first activation in a car !!!








Today  December 28th I activated PAFF-044 "Arkerheem"  with is near my home-QTH.

There was a lot of rain so I did my first activation in a car, normally always walk a bit first.

 I Used my SOTA equipment as usual including power from LiPo.

Tested my new 9,70 m antenna pole, slided in only 67 cm long and  weight of 1,3 kg only.. I can tie this pole to my backpack, leaving my hands free. ( see pictures )

I was QRV for one hour on 20 m, later one hour on 40m. Also worked  a few on 15m, but antenna is not suitable or this band.

Best DX : PHoNO in PAFF-058 "Strabant", on 20 m, also heard him on 15 m and 40 m. Distance 90 km, so very hard on all bands, just audible. !!!! ( sri no 80 m antenna ). This is only my 2nd PAFF as chaser, I activated different 25 PAFF now !!.

Aso nice to work friend  Peter PJ4NX ( ex PA3CNCX ),  and W1, N1, K1, OD5,4Z, 9K2.


Arkerheem is very important for birds, it is a international wetland.
 
DX-wire pole
 
Only 67 cm/1,3 kg

Next week  I am in in DL activating some SOTA summits, some are in DLFF.


73 de Hans



PAFF-069 Ugchelen Hoenderloo by PA3FYG/p

I try to activate PAFF-069 Ugchelen Hoenderloo on 29,30 or 31 Dec or Jan 1.

Sorry this one not in this periode, to much rain for nice trip.
73 de Hans PA3FYG/P

PH0NO will activate PAFF-058

PH0NO will be active from nature park Strabrecht (PAFF-058) this afternoon (December 28) from approx. 14:00 local time (13 UTC) until 17:30 (16:30 UTC).

PAFF-058 has not been activated before.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

PAFF-056 by PA3FYG/P


Buursezand

Not much activity from PAFF-056 ( activated before by PH0NO )

During a familytrip on Saterday December 15th to Enschede in the far east of The Netherlands I activated PAFF-056  "Buurserzand & Haaksbergseveen" this afternoon.



QRV in front off traditional farm

Location
  
The rest of the family made a short walk, so I had only 40 minutes QRV time ( 13.15-13.55 UTC )
No contest, clear frequency, good location, anouncement before, but no pile-up this time.
I was calling a long time on  14.241 MHz, but only worked 13 stations.
I worked BA7MY and 7T50I after one call, so I do not understand the lack of qsos.

Landscape



 73 de Hans PA3FYG.



 

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Activating Maarsbergen castle and PAFF-018

More than 2 hours on three bands at PA-00110 and PAFF-018

With a gap in my schedule I was able to head over to Maarsbergen last Monday. The castle near that town is situated within the nature park Utrechtse Heuvelrug. This makes activating it even more interesting (combining PAFF and COTA-PA). PAFF-018 was already activated three times before (twice by me) but I thought the combination might make it worth contacting for enough hams "out there".

Kasteel Maarsbergen
The castle is privately owned and not open to the public. It was built in 1660 and is officially registered as monument.

I did not plan this activation so I was driving around the castle grounds to find a quiet place suitable for a portable ham. To my surprise I quickly found two usable spots and chose one just outside the castle grounds (in front of a stately gate). 

PH0NO/P in the snow
This day was the first day it snowed in the area. This makes for nice views but also freezing hands when you try to set up an inverted V. My phone told me there was activity on 15m so I decided to start there using my end fed set up vertically. However 15m turned out to be rather quiet. After 3 contacts I already changed the antenna to my 20m end fed. In the next 50 minutes I logged 58 contacts. Then when 20m started to slow down I went out into the snow to set up my 40m inverted V. The performance of this antenna still pleases me a great deal. It was busy but QRM was manageable. I stayed on 40m for more than an hour to log more than 120 contacts.

All in all I logged 185 contacts in just over 2 hours of radio time - which shows it was interesting enough indeed. DX was sparse due to poor conditions and came in from the W1/2 (MA, NY), 4X and R9. Graziano IW2NXI and Lada OK2PAY made the trip on two bands.

Thanks all for stopping by.

Cross posted on http://www.cotapa.org

Sunday, December 2, 2012

PH0NO at Enbertsdijksvenen (PAFF-047)

Three band busy activation of PAFF-047

Last Friday I was able to visit Enbertsdijksvenen in the north east of The Netherlands. On my way there it was very foggy. Luckily the roads aren't too busy on Friday so I had almost no delay on my route.

Last bit of the fog when I arrived at PAFF-047
Checking the conditions on my phone I saw that there was some traffic on 15m. I decided to start there using my vertical end fed. I found that the band was rather quiet. Working from 21.244 only Ukraine came through with decent signals. After 9 contacts I decided to go down to 20m, changing the vertical end fed for another one.

20m was a different story. Here conditions were reasonable to good with almost all stations between 57 and 59. I logged 88 stations in less than an hour. DX came by from PY, R9/R0 and 4X. When activity started to slow down I changed antennas yet again. This time I set up my inverted V that I used for the first time during the previous activity. I don't know how much the antenna helped and how much the propagations but signals were very loud (almost half of the reports I gave were 9+10 or more) even though the band was not overly crowded.

Inverted V for 40m at PAFF-047

The inverted V takes a bit more time to set up and take down (5 minute change from 15m to 20m and 15 minute change from 20m to 40m) but I am pleased with the results so far. I logged 83 contacts in 45 minutes.

Luciano I5FLN and Axel, DL1EBR made the trip on all three bands.




Friday, November 23, 2012

Reactivation of PAFF-067 by PH0NO

Three band activity with a busy 40m

With some time on my hands at the end of the day I went over to Planken Wambuis - PAFF-067 once again. This area had been activated twice before in the last month (by PA3FYG and myself) but I saw 10m was open, so enough opportunity for OMs outside EU to work this one.

Operating in the dark at PAFF-067
The first OM to pass by - PY2RAR - immediately set the max. QRB for this activity. He was followed by a number of US stations (east & south coast) and to my surprise by PJ4 and XE. I have not worked these DXCCs during PAFF activities before. 10m was not very busy and seemed to slowly close so after 45 minutes I decided to try 20m.

For WWFF activities 20m is normally the most crowded band. This time it was very different. I only worked 25 OMs. It never was busy - maybe because a lot of chasers already worked PAFF-067 before or maybe because conditions weren't too good. 

So after half an hour I set up my inverted V for 40m (my new /P antenna) to find a very busy 40m band. It was hard to find a quiet spot. Once I was spotted a substantial pile-up grew. Signals were strong with most EU stations at real 59 / 59+10. 

In total I logged 129 contacts from 31 DXCCs in 2 hours radio time. DX came in from PY, XE, PJ4, W1/4/8/9, R9 and 4X. About 33% were new callsigns to me. Max IK1GPG made the trip on all three bands.

See you on the next one.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Activation of PAFF-066 by PA3FYG/P


On Monday November 12 I made a trip to the “Leuvenemse bossen”.
The trees had nice autumn colours and temp about 6 degrees. I made a 6 km walk and was QRV from 11.50 to 14.00 UTC.  I made about 120 QSOs mainly on 14 MHz. Worked VE3 an W1. On 28 MHz were only weak signals, no contacts. At the end I tried 7 MHZ, but it was very hard to find a free spot, so I only made a few contacts. that I got very cold sitting on the ground, so QRT. In the forest I could not find a open spot, so my antenna was in the middle of the trees.


Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Activation of PAFF-051

Three band activation with a lot of activity on 20m

As planned I was able to head over to PAFF-051 to activate this new PAFF reference. I was in the park from 10:00 to 12:00 UTC and approximately 90 minutes on the air.



The weather was good, so there were quite a few visitors that were interested in the fishing rod I set up.  

20m was the most active band by far. I logged 138 calls in one hour. Normally 40m is well visited but not today - only 5 calls logged with rather mediocre signal levels. Might have been due to the time of day (noon) and the QRM level (S7 at my end).
I was also on 10m for a short while logging 10 calls but the band was only marginally open. 

In total I logged 153 contacts from 32 DXCCs. Maximum QRB was set by an OM from JL1 to 9200km.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Activation of PAFF-057 by PA3FYG/P


Nieuwkoopse Plassen

Activation of Nieuwkoopse Plassen PAFF-057.

Yesterday I made a trip to PAFF-057 ( NEW )  and had  a successful activation.

I found a more ore less dry spot, after a bit of walking and filling my shoes with water…

I had a lot of rain during the 75 min drive  trip to the spot, but was very lucky during the activation, even a bit of sun and 7 degrees.


I made 175 QSOS on 20m and 75 QSOS on 40m SSB in 125 minutes.

 As usual with  backpack, FT897D ( 50W ), 12m endfed vertical ( PA3EKE ) and Lipo 5000mAH.
One battery lasted 90 minutes pile up.

73 de Hans PA3FYG/P

  
With help of the forester

Enterance and my car.


Time to go QRT
Driving in rain


GPS route

QRV green arrow


PD7BZ and PH0NO active from PAFF-061

300 calls logged in two operations today

Quite coincidentally both PD7BZ and myself were active today from the new PAFF-061:
Boswachterij Sleenerzand. So plenty of opportunities for you as a chaser to add this reference to your list.

I started at around 10am local time. I found a very nice spot with a marvellous view. As the sun was out I decided to operate outside using the batteries I always carry. I worked on 17m and 20m until rain came in.



Entrance of Sleenerzand PH0NO/P in the sun PH0NO/P in in the rain
Then I went into the car and worked 40m and 20m again. In total I was on the air for 2,5 hours logging 209 calls from 32 DXCCs. Maximum QRB was set by a PY1 OM to 9500km.


PD7BZ weather-proof set-up
About half an hour after I left Bernard PD7BZ started his operation in another part of the park. Bernard used both his FT-817 and his FT-857 to log another 95 stations from 27 DXCCs on 20m. He used his FD3 Windom up about 3 meters.


PD7BZ's Windom at 3 meter high

Monday, November 5, 2012

Second activation of PAFF-067 by PH0NO

Revisiting Planken Wambuis

Today on my way home I was able to activate Planken Wambuis PAFF-067. It was already activated two weeks ago by Hans PA3FYG but activity level was not very high at the time.

PAFF-067 Planken Wambuis

The forest was brilliant with the autumn coloured leaves all over place. It was rather wet and muddy (antenna pole and wires need a good rinse). The weather was good.
 
On the radio it was not too busy due to weak conditions. I worked on 15m, 20m and 40m. 15m was already closing by the time I started. I could just copy a K0 from Kansas who set the maximum QRB for this activity to 7350km.

All in all I logged 107 calls from 25 DXCCs in 2 hours time (effective radio time about 90 minutes). A couple of OMs made it on two bands, only Luciano I5FLN came by on all three bands.


Sunday, November 4, 2012

PAFF-057 “Nieuwkoopse Plassen” Nov. 5 by PA3FYG

On Monday November the 5th I will try to activate  PAFF-057 “Nieuwkoopse Plassen”. ( New One ).

All is depending on the weather, there is a lot of rain expected.

Extra handicap is that this reference is nearly all water and the banking of the roads are not valid. So if there is not dry spot, I have to rent a boat or wait until it is frozen…….

As usual  I try to use +/-7.144 KHz and !4.244 KHZ ssb.

I expect to be QRV after 1300 UTC, and I have to go QRT before 15.30 UTC. Temperature, wind and rain can shorten my activity.

I always activate PAFF by foot, and in this case I have to do this also, it looks like there is no road or parking inside the reference.

73 de Hans PA3FYG/P

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

PAFF-056 on October 31 by PH0NO

With a morning available for radio-activity I went over to the still not activated PAFF-056 - Buurserzand & Haaksbergseveen. A nice quiet area close to the German border. More precisely a combination of two adjoining nature parks.


It took me more time to get there than I anticipated so I did not have a lot of time to be on the air. I chose to work 20m and 40m only. Both bands were not very stable (strong QSB) and 40m brought S7 QRM but I logged 99 calls from 20 DXCCs anyway. The maximum QRB was only 3600km into UA9.

A couple of OMs came by on both bands.

73,
Lars / PH0NO

Friday, October 26, 2012

PAFF-070 - Vecht en Beneden Regge by PA3FYG

PAFF-070 - Vecht en Beneden Regge

I want to activate this one today.

It will be around 10.00-11.00 UTC.

Starting +/- 7144 KHz, later +/- 14244 KHz.

73 de Hans PA3FYG/P

Thursday, October 25, 2012

PAFF-054 - Vuursche - by PA3FYG

Activated also Dutch Castle PA-00100 - Drakensteyn ,Owned by the Dutch Queen Beatrix


I want to activate "Vuursche" PAFF-054 today.

Including one ore two Castles for COTA-PA.

It will be around noon ( 10.00 UTC )

Starting +/- 7144 KHz, later +/- 14244 KHz.

73 de Hans PA3FYG/P

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Another new one by DL1EKO & DD3JA

Toni DL1EKO and his XYL Jola DD3JA plan to activate PAFF-048 - Ooypolder en Millingerwaard - on Sunday October 28. They will be on 40m, 30m and 20m using CW and SSB.


Wednesday 24 Okt - PAFF-052 by PA3FYG/P

On Wednesday 24 Okt I will to try activate PAFF-052 "Naardermeer".

This is not easy, >99% is water.

When I find a spot it will be around noon.

Starting +/- 7144 KHz, later +/- 14244 KHz.

73 de Hans PA3FYG

Monday, October 22, 2012

Tuesday 23 Oct. - PAFF-067 - Planken Wambuis

I decided to have a walk with my xyl in "Planken Wambuis" PAFF-067.

Time of activation depending on local conditions, around 10.00 UTC?

Starting  40m, later 20m and other bands.

73 de Hans PA3FYG

Activation of new references by PA3FYG

In the rest of this week  ( 23-29 oct.) I will try to activate one ore more new PAFF references.

Starting tommorow Tuesday 23th.

I will mainly work on 40m +/- 7144KHz and 14244KHz. I will start arround 1000 UTC depending on distance and traffic.

I test the a 12m long HYendvertical from PA3EKE (10/20/40m ) and compare with my 10m vert with 5 mtr symetrical feeder and tuner ( + 3 radials ).

I will work SOTA style, all equipment in bagpack, using FT897D, vertical and 5000mAH LiPo.

I will announce details later.

73 de Hans PA3FYG/P

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Award search engine

EnzoLog support added to our PAFF award program

With the new PAFF award program we were looking for an easy way to check requests and make individual PAFF scores available to chasers. 

Using the mail archive of Hans PA3FYG and the help of a number of activators we were able to build up a database containing about 95% of all PAFF logs.

With this local database we can check all award requests but it is still not easy for a chaser to check his own PAFF status. This is where Enzo came to the rescue. With his web log service he now supports the PAFF award program. If you go to this page you can enter your callsign and find out how many (and which) PAFFs you worked.



As a side note: with the local database we can also find out all sorts of trivia on the PAFF activities. Check out the stats page that shows some of this data.


 

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Another new one activated (PAFF-069)

PH0NO activated Ugchelen Hoenderloo

Yesterday PH0NO was over at PAFF-069 to activate this nature park for the first time. He was active on four bands (10,15,20 and 40m) and logged 173 calls in about 2 hours radio-activity.
Windy conditions at PAFF-069
The weather conditions were not brilliant. The picture above shows the End Fed wire almost being blown off the fibreglass pole.

More details on this activation can be found on PH0NO's blog.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

DL1EKO and DD3JA activate PAFF-063

Toni DL1EKO and Jola DD3JA actived the new PAFF-063 (Rijk van Nijmegen) on Wednesday last week.

Jola was the first to operate so she takes the credits for the first activation of this PAFF reference.


Jola worked 47 stations in 20 minutes on 40m CW. Taking over Toni worked 128 stations in the next 75 minutes on 20m and 40m SSB and 20m and 30m CW.
 


Fourth new one in first week by PC5Z

PC5Z activated PAFF-068 - Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe

Harm PC5Z added another new one to the list in the first week after publication of the new PAFFs. Sunday he went over to his nearest PAFF location for an activity of 3,5 hours. Harm used 20m and 40m and was busy all the time working about 350 OMs. Amongst them quite some DX from the east (UA9, JA, HK and VR2).


Dipole of PC5Z @ PAFF-068


Harm used a dipole on 20m and an end fed wire on 40m with his Yaesu FT-847 at 100 Watt output..

That is new PAFF reference number 4... 21 to go!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Activity on the new PAFF locations

Three different activities on three new PAFF references by PG7V and PH0NO

With the new reference list there are 25 parks that still need to be activated. Enough motivation to go out and check out the new parks - illustrated by three activations in two days:


PH0NO @ PAFF-055
Thursday Lars PH0NO went out to activate Deelerwoud, PAFF-055. It was a short visit with 88 contacts in 90 minutes (about 1 hour effective radio time) on two bands (15 and 20m). More info on this activity here: http://www.ph0no.net/2012/10/activating-new-one-paff-055.html


PG7V @ PAFF-066
Friday JanJaap PG7V went out to activate Leuvenumse Bos, PAFF-066. He went by bicycle and took his FT-817nd. JanJaap managed to work 110 stations in over 2 hours with this QRP set-up on 40, 30, 20 and 17m CW and SSB. You can find more information about his activity here: http://www.pg7v.com/activation-of-new-one-paff-066


PH0NO @ PAFF-060
On the same day Lars PH0NO was active again. This time from Bergherbos, PAFF-060. Using 10, 15, 20 and 40m, Lars managed to log 154 calls in about 2 hours radio time. More info about this activity can be found here: http://www.ph0no.net/2012/10/second-new-one-paff-060.html

First Silver PAFF award issued

The first silver PAFF chaser award has been claimed by SP9BGL with 29 references worked up till now.

Congrats Krysztof!


Activation of PAFF-007 by DL2XL

As planned Karl DL2XL went over to De Meinweg (PAFF-007) for his second activation of the park. 

Karl was in the park for about 3 hours and worked 50 stations on 20m and 40m CW.


DL2XL @ PAFF-007 with his bicycle

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Planned activation of PAFF-007 by DL2XL

DL2XL will be active today from PAFF-007 De Meinweg

Time: ca. 10:00 UTC

Freq: 7024kHz cw later 14024kHz cw
Rig: STS-4 QRP 4 Watt
Antenna: 40m Dipol, 20m GP

Happy chasing!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

New PAFF references online


25 new PAFF areas to activate and chase

Today the new PAFF references are published for activation. We have new references running from PAFF-047 up to PAFF-071. 

The references are published on this page and of course in our Google Maps file of The Netherlands

Happy activating and happy chasing!

Sunday, September 23, 2012

First PAFF awards issued

Effective start of award program

Just one day after launching the PAFF award program on various fora we have sent out the first chaser and the first activator awards. Uwe DL2ND received bronze chaser award number 1 for working 10 PAFF references and not surprisingly Hans PA3FYG received the first PA-Active activator award for activating more than 10 (17) different PAFF references.
Congrats!

Friday, September 21, 2012

PG7V was active at PAFF-017 and more

Reports from JanJaap @ PAFF-017 and PAFF-033 

In the first weekend of this month JanJaap PG7V was active from Schiermonnikoog - PAFF-017 and IOTA EU-038. Blessed with good weather he worked CW and SSB on 20, 30 and 40m.


PG7V @ PAFF-017
Schiermonnikoog does not allow visitors to take their car on the island so you will see PG7V with his bike on his blog: http://www.pg7v.com/category/paff

On his blog he also describes his activities at PAFF-033 and PAFF-012 earlier this year.


Thursday, September 20, 2012

Expansion of the PAFF references

25 new nature parks selected

As all the nature parks in The Netherlands have been activated at least once there is room for expansion of the program. With the help of a number of PAFF enthusiasts we have selected 25 new parks to add to the existing list.

Good news today is that the WFF committee accepted the additions and will publish the new references by the end of this month.

The following nature parks will be added to the program:
  • Bergherbos
  • Boschplaat, Terschelling
  • Boswachterij Dorst
  • Boswachterij Sleenerzand
  • Buurserzand & Haaksbergseveen
  • De Vuursche
  • Deelerwoud
  • Duinen bij Bergen
  • Engbertsdijksvenen
  • Kampina
  • Leuvenumse bossen
  • Loenermark
  • Mortelen
  • Naardermeer
  • Nieuwkoopse Plassen
  • Ooypolder En Millingerwaard
  • Planken Wambuis
  • Rijk van Nijmegen
  • Schoorlse Duinen
  • Strabrecht
  • Ugchelen Hoenderloo
  • Vecht en Beneden Regge
  • Verdronken Land Van Saeftinge
  • Vlieland
  • Zuidlaardermeergebied
The reference and location information will be updated on this website as soon as the new directory is published by the WFF.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Activation of PAFF-014 by OZ7AEI

Several days at Lauwersmeer

Jakob OZ7AEI was over at Lauwersmeer enjoying a week of holiday there in July.

Some of the local inhabitants of PAFF-014
In this week Jakob was on the air four times on 40m and 80m. You can see his setup with two sloping dipoles below. In total Jacob logged 210 calls. 

PA/OZ7AEI/P with two dipoles

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Activation of PAFF-042 by PA3Q

SOTA and PAFF in one go

Wil - PA3Q - activated Terletse Heide (PAFF-042) on August 18. The area is used as an airfield for glider planes. The highest point is just over 100m ASL - which is incredibly high for Dutch standards... this top has in fact a SOTA reference (PA-005).

Wil has put together a nice little video about the activity. Check out this YouTube link.

Video by PA3Q

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

PAFF activities

If you are planning a PAFF activity let us know and we will post the info here. We also welcome (links to) reports of PAFF activities.

Reports of past activities:

Status of the PAFF program

We are launching a new website to promote flora and fauna ham radio activities in PA-land. At the moment Hans is working on an extension of the list of nature parks. As soon as we have finalised this list we will launch our award program for activators and chasers.

...watch this space...

Saturday, July 28, 2012