WWFF Ninja Activation in Hiastinlahti

Ninja Activation: Go to site, seen by nobody, have QSOs. Then leave no trace and vanish. Nobody knew about your activation before logs hit the servers. 😎

Today I drove about 30km north to a Natura 2000 nature protection area. The purpose was to scout the area for possible future activations and to test my new backpack. Of course I had radio and laptop with me to have some QSOs with FT8.

Just outside the nature park was map and arrows pointing to the start of the path.

From the car parking there was a bit less than a kilometer long snowy path leading to a laavu (a free-standing lean-to) with mostly easy hike, but some places had over knee deep snow where advancing was more difficult.

Snowy path inside nature protection area next to a small river.

Small fire going and station running FT8 inside laavu.

I arrived to the laavu and set up my station. 80m EFHW antenna was extended towards north because that direction was easily accessible. Having FT8 running I started a small fire to boil water for hot chocolate. Temperature was around +3°C so warm drink should help keep me warm. The evening was beautiful with sun almost shining behind clouds and winds were calm.

Panoramic view towards sunset.

The contacts were mostly to Europe as expected: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania. But single DX QSO to USA: KR0P.

My portable gear except antenna.

The trip was a success: My new backpack is great and the place is awesome. And I got 17 contacts with FT8.

Operation details

• Date: 2022–04–13
• Time on air: 14:45–17:00 UTC (local time 17:45–20:00, UTC+0300)
• Callsign on air: OH8HUB/P (op. Ossi)
• Maidenhead grid: KP25PI95
• WWFF area: OHFF-0640, “Hiastinlahti”

Proof of activation.