Due to the fact that I had to extend my stay in Germany and the Easter weekend I decided to activate two summits in Rhineland-Palatinate. A nice and very scenic “Bundesland” province. Lots of castles, wine yards, forests and ancient history from the the Stoneage, Romans and medieval knights until today.
Blaettersberg DM/RP-312 was the first summit in the morning. The trailhead starts right in the wine yards just outside the village of Weyher.
Blaettersberg trailhead right in the wine yards
Blaettersberg hike
The hike is steep extremely steep and leads from the village to a forest inn (which was closed – too bad), a para glider start ramp to the summit which surprises the hiker with an old tower right on the top.
Trail marker
“Schweizerhaus” forest inn
Unfortunately the forest inn along the trail is closed and some locals told us that it is unlikely to open soon, they cannot find volunteers to run it for the hiking club during the summer and spring. Too bad a beer would have been a good idea on the way down.
Old quarry with some inscriptions dating back to 1872
Trail marker to the summit
Old tower (Ludwigsturm) right on the summit
Operating from the summit
Antenna setup
View from the tower
The activation was kind of difficult, antenna problems and interference with other SOTA activations left only the 20m band to operate. It was a “Spanish” activation all chasers with one exception were from Spain or mobile in Spain – one contact was to the UK. A sunny but cool morning with nice QSOs to sunny Spain.
I closed down early, climbed the tower and hiked back to the parking lot moving on to Treutelsberg.
Treutelsberg hike
Arriving at the trailhead to Treutelsberg DM/RP-319 (which has a summit tower too, called Martinsturm) I first had lunch at the old castle and fortress called “Burg Landeck” here are more castles and fortresses than inhabitants.
Burg Landeck – great restaurant inside and a nice lunch
Trail to the summit
Trail marker
Old village from the trail
Summit tower (Martinsturm)
Summit marker from 1839
Tower from the summit marker
Operating site
Castle in view right from the operating site
More castles
View from the tower
Geocache site on the way back (well another old ruin of a castle)
The Treutelsberg activation I would call the “castle activation” you virtually walk through the Middle Ages and history. Both summits are absolutely great hikes and the operating was a lot of fun.
Thanks to all the chasers for the QSOs !
| Time | Call | Band | Mode | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:50z | EB2JU | 14MHz | SSB | 14.285 MHz |
| 09:55z | EA2LU | 14MHz | SSB | 14.288 MHz |
| 09:56z | EA2DT | 14MHz | SSB | |
| 09:57z | G0RQL | 14MHz | SSB | |
| 09:58z | EALMI | 14MHz | SSB | |
| 10:04z | EA/DL2MHW | 14MHz | SSB | 14.270 MHz mobile from the higway near Almeria, Spain |
| Time | Call | Band | Mode | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14:04z | ON6ZQ | 7MHz | SSB | 7.118 MHz |
| 14:06z | OE6KAE | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 14:07z | DF5WA | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 14:08z | HB9MKV | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 14:08z | HB9CEX | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 14:08z | OM1AX | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 14:08z | DK8PX | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 14:08z | DL1NKS | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 14:09z | IN3NJB | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 14:10z | OK1KT | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 14:11z | DL2DXA | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 14:12z | OK1SDE | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 14:12z | SP9AMH | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 14:13z | PA0WLB | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 14:15z | F8FEO | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 14:17z | DL3SBA | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 14:18z | DL5PV | 7MHz | SSB | |
| 14:34z | F4FWO | 14MHz | SSB | 14.275 MHz |
| 14:35z | EA2DT | 14MHz | SSB | |
| 14:36z | EB2CZF | 14MHz | SSB | |
| 14:37z | EB2JU | 14MHz | SSB | |
| 14:40z | OH9XX | 14MHz | SSB | |
| 14:41z | EA2DZX | 14MHz | SSB | |
| 14:52z | SV2MAP | 24MHz | SSB | 24.965 MHz |
See you on the next summit
73, WN6E
Wave Traveler 