Revenge of the Whitefish
Last spring (2022–04–10) I was activating WWFF reference in a small municipality in Finland called Siikajoki. That day I only got 22 contacts which was not enough for getting the activation point. So I had to come back. And this is that story: The comeback. The Revenge. To make things Right and never come back.
You can read the history and description about this place from my last after action report “Sunday WWFF activation”. This time the temperature lingered in about the same level (+4°C), but there was so much less snow. And to challenge myself I didn’t change anything in my setup. Same radio, same antenna, same coax and exactly same antenna installation. But now the propagation was on my side and what an amazing ride it was!
After getting the station setup done I chose a free frequency on 20m band for starting with SSB and posted my spot online. A couple of CQ calls later I had a huge pile-up with European countries blasting over each other trying to get a contact with me. There were operators from Poland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Germany, Slovenia, etc. I made over dozen contacts in about quarter hour. And I got USA in my log (KD1CT), but I’ll wait for Logbook of the World QSL before celebrating.
That pileup produced 17 QSOs so I was still missing five. Time to go digital and fire up laptop with FT8. 17m band was working wonders. Italy, Germany, Czech, Denmark, Poland… And two DX contacts: New Caledonia (FK8HM) and Canada (VA3CQG). Both are already confirmed in the Logbook of the World! With FT8 I got 29 QSOs, so way past the requirement.
It was already getting dark and the last thing I want is to try take my setup down in a pitch black cold forest. But I had to try SSB one last time. I published a spot on 80m and quickly logged 13 QSOs to Finland which was great ending for this trip. In total I got 59 contacts (29 with FT8 and 30 with SSB).
Operation details
- Date: 2022–10–20
- Time on air: 12:00–14:45 UTC (local time 15:00–17:45, UTC+0300)
- Callsign on air: OH8HUB/P (op. Ossi)
- Maidenhead grid: KP24NM61LM
- WWFF area: OHFF-0354, “Ilvesmaan ja Leväkankaan luonnonsuojelualueet”
