Essential info for activatorsTarget summit: 6 pointer YO/EC-360 "Bursunarul" - http://www.sota.org.uk/Summit/YO/EC-360 Our Route: We've left the car in the parking lot of Valeni Stinisoara's church (at the main road), the walked to the Suha Mare creek, crossed it and started the climb. The forest road is closed by a barrier, so there's no point in crossing the stream and risk to get stuck there. The mountain has some peculiar forest roads (the main one at the bottom of the valley and five more) that go parallel to one another on the contour line. We've picked the top most one and followed it for a while, but it's kind of sunny, so we switched to the darker ridge line after a while. Despite the short 3 kilometer climb, it's quite a steep and demanding 6 pointer, especially on hot days. GPS Track: http://www.wandermap.net/en/route/3522419-bursunarul-sota-yoec-360-gps/ (download the track by clicking on "Export GPS data"). GSM coverage: So and so. Summit conditions: Wooded (mostly broadleaved). Other info: Didn't see any bear droppings, marks or ... bears. Locals said there weren't too many in the area. Anyway, I bet there are bears everywhere in these mountains so be on the safe side and always make noise and carry a bear-spray with you. Activity reportWe only decided to go in the morning. The day was hot unlike any other so far. At the start of the trail there is a small river which we initially thought we'd have to cross on foot, through the water. We parked the car and returned to find an improvised foot bridge. Woohoo! The climb was steeper and a lot longer than the maps conveyed. The heat didn't help either. It took us about 2 hours to get on the top. The woods are nice, though, with rocks scattered around the ridge and a trail that reminded us of medieval movies. One side of the ridge, though, the eastern face, is almost vertical and the fall is probably around 30 meters in places. It's nothing to worry about, since the other side is safe to walk on, but the foliage, trees and plants mask the danger of the eastern chasm. The summit is completely forested and thus in shade. There are big rocks on which one can set up the radio equipment nicely. We've used a bigger rock as a table and a smaller one, next to it, as a bench. This was probably the comfiest spot since our activation on Bîtca (YO/EC-476). Propagation was poor, sadly, and we walked away with only a handful of QSOs. We made plenty of contacts with the people on our local group in 145, 433, 18 and 14 MHz. Some were at home, some on their own SOTA expeditions (Toaca). We packed up early (it was actually cold on the summit) and descended on the same route as we climbed. Halfway down, the heat wave engulfed us once again.
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Essential info for activatorsTarget summit: 6 pointer YO/EC-331 "Spinarea lunga" - http://www.sota.org.uk/Summit/YO/EC-331 Our Route: At the top of the road from Poiana to Risnov there's a little parking space and a meadow where we've left our car and started climbing on foot. We started on a trail that goes right and into the woods , parallel to the road. When we reached the ridge (extending to our left) we took it and climbed on it all the way to the top. It's an easy summit, but the surface is quite rocky and there are a lot of slippery sticks on the floor. GPS Track: www.wandermap.net/en/route/3521265-spinarea-lunga-yoec-331-gps/ (download the track by clicking on "Export GPS data"). GSM coverage: Fair. Summit conditions: Wooded (broadleaved). Other info: Bears are living in the area. Always make noise and carry a bear spray. Activity reportDespite bad weather forecasts, there was no rain and the temperature didn't drop below a comfortable 15 degrees C. Right at the beginning of the trail we found bear droppings (the area is heavily populated by bears) and we continued cautiously, making constant noise. The wood is made up of broad-leaved trees, even though the top is at an altitude of just over 1000 meters. The soil is a peculiar mix of dirt, rocks and fallen branches and it's not the comfiest to walk on. A slip is waiting to happen and the irregular surface is pretty nasty to fall on. Once on top, there's room to set up between the rocks and dead tree branches. We've activated for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Started in 145MHz, then switched to 18 and 14MHz. While in 18MHz the propagation was OK, the 20m band was pretty bad, with a lot of QSB and poor signal strength all around. Essential info for activatorsTarget summit: 6 pointer YO/EC-030 "La toante" - www.sota.org.uk/Summit/YO/EC-030 Our Route: From Ciumîrna we found a forest road that we followed for about half a kilometer before entering the forest (through a creek), and then climbing on a shoulder until we reached the top. Medium steep, extra muddy conditions, overall not too bad. GPS Track: www.wandermap.net/en/route/3518009-la-toante-sota-yoec-030-ver2/ (download the track by clicking on "Export GPS data"). GSM coverage: Fair. Summit conditions: Mostly open, with some trees scattered around. Some wooden fence serves as a good support for the antenna. Activity reportIn this trip we were accompanied by our friend Cosmin, who turned out to be a pretty good "stoker" and cook. We've left Suceava at around 10:30 local and reached the top a little past 13:30 local, later than initially planned. It was muddy and wet, but not raining. The other summit teams from our group - YO8SDF & YO8SSH from YO/EC-380 and YO8SST, YO8SFF & YO8AZQ from YO/EC-585 - were already up and running. We made contacts with our local group in 433.500 MHz and 145.500 MHz, then switched to 14 MHz. Andrei managed one QSO in 18 MHz with the 14 MHz antenna. The propagation was pretty OK, a lot better compared to our few past activations. The weather was pretty good, after all, not too hot and not too cold, even if a bit cloudy. Cosmin built the fire and cooked the food he brought (me and my brother forgot to take any food). At some point we were joined by a homing pigeon. It flew about for a short while and then decided to land near us, on a fence. It stood there for some 10 minutes, preening and resting, until Andrei tried to approach it. When he got too close, the pigeon set off on its journey, who knows where? It had two rings, a green one on its left leg and a yellow one on its right leg. I watched it fly with my binoculars for quite a while until the dot vanished somewhere far. I wonder where was it from and where is it now... Thanks to all who chased us and 73! |
AuthorHi, we're a team of hams from Romania. We're into SOTA and other activities. Thanks for stopping by! Archives
August 2022
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