Valjevske planine - day 2

Ozrim - YU/ZS-111 - 961 m 4 points  (WAS SM08 Ljubovija)
Ranjenica - YU/ZS-109 - 976 m 4 points (WAS SK02 Osecina)
Pajkovača - YU/ZS-102 - 1010 m 4 points (WAS SK01 Valjevo)

The plan for Saturday was to activate some lower summits, 4 pointers, on the southern and western outskirts of Valjevo mountains.

Approaching village Tornik and Ozrim YU/ZS-111 above the village

The first was Ozrim, YU/ZS-111, just at the western foot of Tornička Bobija YU/ZS-068. Ozrim is one of the small hills near village of Tornik, just above the starting point of Nature reserve Trešnjica river canyon YUFF-035. I parked 1 km outside of Tornik, at the foot of a gently sloping meadow.

The summit of Ozrim YU/ZS-111 in front of me ...

... and behind me, Tornička Bobija YU/ZS-068 activated a day before

I reached the summit hoping to find some refreshing shade. I did find the shade, but it did not help much, since a new hot and humid spring day was starting. I managed somehow to find a spot for me and my inverted V doublet in the dense vegetation. 10 MHz was the only band available  (I have a 7/10/14 MHz MTR V2 tribander) since WPX CW was in full swing on non WARC bands.

View South. I guess the summits on the left hand side of the horizon,
are summits in Mt. Tara National park (YU/ZS-032, YU/ZS-057...)

Operating camouflaged at Ozrim summit

I managed to work 26 qsos in hour and half of operation on the summit. The last qso was (the only) S2S with DL/HB9DPR/P on DM/BW-001.

Next goal was to reach Ranjenica YU/ZS-109. I had to drive West to reach one of the major roads, then go a bit North, and then again East on dirt roads along a ridge were the next SOTA summits are located. I took a wrong turn on the way, had my lunch and some rest, so I reached the dirt road to Ranjenica at 3 pm local time.

The the dirt road along the ridge is a part of a mountain biking route network. Except the bikers, only hunters visit Ranjenica summit - it seems to be uninteresting for regular hiking groups. A forestry road goes all the way close to the summit. Fortunately, there were no hunters to be seen. Although I could operate on a meadow in the activation zone, near the place where I parked, I decided to get to the very summit. It was not the brightest idea, since the summit was (again!) located in dense vegetation. Once I reached it, I managed to set up my inverted V doublet and hit the road on 10 MHz. Familiar chasers were there, and after a short half hour activation I had 26 contacts in the log.

A quick photo of the operating position before dismantling the antenna

View from East.
After activating and leaving Ranjenica YU/ZS-109, I had a chance to have a proper view of the ridge and the summit.

Last summit for the day, further along the ridge, was Pajkovača YU/ZS-102. Pajkovača is sometimes visited by hiking groups, because it has nice views to the western escarpment of nearby Medvednik YU/ZS-076.

It was getting late when I got near the summit of Pajkovača. Fortunately, the summit was just above the road, on a beautiful meadow, with short grass and willow trees. It was one of the nicest SOTA summits so far. It was almost 19.00 local time when I set the antenna. I made only 10 contacts in as many minutes, because I had to hurry and reach my camping site for the night before dark, if possible.

At the summit of Pajkovača YU/ZS-102.
Mt. Medvednik YU/ZS-067 is in the background.

A look to the East. Is there an unknown, higher summit some 500 m away?

Looking around and admiring the scenery, I spotted a noticeably higher summit just to the East. Is it a new SOTA summit... or a previously unnoticed higher summit? Unfortunately, when I got home and took a look of the maps, it turned out that the "new" summit is in fact the real summit of Pajkovača. It went unnoticed during the preparation of YU summit list. Since the new summit is outside of the current activation zone, in the next update of YU SOTA list, YU/ZS-102 will be deleted, and the new summit will replace it.

After the last activation, I descended to the foot of Mt. Medvednik and found the nearby mountain hut. I did not like the surroundings, so after few hours of wandering and getting lost I managed to find my way out and get to the mountain hut near Mt. Jablanik YU/ZS-067, not far from to the place where I spent the first night. I spent the night there in my tent, hoping to activate Mt. Jablanik in the morning.

On Sunday I woke with a headache and sore throat, without much energy for activating any summits. After finally packing the tent, I set off to explore the forest roads and look if there is a road connecting Mt. Jablanik and Mt. Medvednik. But all I managed to do is to get a flat tire in the middle of nowhere. I managed to replace the tire, but I took it as a sign that this power-activation (6 summits in 2 days!) should come to an end. So I headed home, arriving early and with enough time to recover for Monday.

Valjevske planine - day 1

Mali Povlen - YU/ZS-053 - 1347 m 6 points
Svilena stena - YU/ZS-078 - 1231 m 6 points
Tornička Bobija - YU/ZS-068 - 1272 m 6 points

Valjevske planine (Valjevo mountain range) is my closest mountain range, some 120 km from my home. I have SOTA summits closer than that, but they are mostly just hills, or isolated mountains. I planned to spend a long weekend there on May 22, but the weather forecast was bad - rain all the time. So I had to pospone my trip, and pay a visit a week later, during WPX CW contest. Not a good idea for a cw only qrp SOTA activation.

I arrived there late on the Thursday evening, and spent the night sleeping in my car in front of a mountain hut near Mali Povlen YU/ZS-053. As the majority of the remaining mountain huts in Serbia, the hut was closed, but camping near it is generally allowed (the hut opens only for prearranged hiking groups). Early on Friday morning I started my journey to Mali Povlen, 1347 m, the highest summit of Valjevo mountain range.

Approaching Mali Povlen YU/ZS-053

Mali Povlen is one of 3 Povlen peaks: Mali, Srednji and Veliki Povlen. "Mali" means "little" or "small", so one would asume that the other two ("Middle" and "Great") are higher. Au contraire - Mali Povlen is the highest of Povlen peaks, the other two only appear to be higher and more massive. Unfortunately, the lower Povlen peaks do not qualify for SOTA either, since the cols are to shallow.

Just below the summit of Mali Povlen YU/ZS-053

Surprised sheep grazing on the summit

View to the SOTA summits on the West

It was Friday morning and nobody on the summit except me and some grazing sheep. The summit is wide and almost flat, with a flagpole some hundred meters away from the highest point. I decided to move closer to the flagpole and use it as a support for one of my 2 x 10.5 m inverted V legs.

The flagpole used for antenna support.
The flag is missing, thorn by the wind.

My shack on Mali Povlen

I started operating at 10.40 local time. In 40 minutes I made 33 qsos, all on 10 MHz. The clouds dispersed in the meantime, and it was time to go on in order to activate some other 6 pointers in the area.

After getting back to the place where I left the car, and driving back to the main asphalt road, I headed south, to activate Svilena stena YU/ZS-078. Svilena stena is the highest summit of Mt. Gvozdac (strictly speaking, Mt. Gvozdac is not a part of Valjevo mountain range). The summit itself is the highest point on a East-West ridge overlooking Drina river below it, on the South.

Svilena stena YU/ZS-078 on the horizon.

The ridge (and the summit) is just above the meadow

The summit is almost there

The walk to the summit was mostly easy, through meadows, only the last part was a steep boulder slope in the woods. Once on the summit, I was rewarded with the view of magnificent green Drina river below me, and unknown summits on the horizon. There was not much place along the ridge, so I mounted the 14 MHz antenna (quarter wave vertical with 2 elevated radials) exactly on the edge.

View to the South from Svilena stena.
The magnificent Drina river is meandering down there.

14 MHz vertical at the edge of the cliff

My trusty MTR V2

 It was already 15.30 local time when I started operating. The previous summit was activated on 10 MHz, so I chose now 14 MHz, where I have the best performing antenna. During bit more than 60 minutes I made 36 qsos. It was hot, the insects were disturbing me all the time, and the problem with the keyer reappeared. Anyway, I was satisfied, one more summit was activated.

When I reached the car, it was almost 17.30 local time. My plan was to reach the camping site on Tornička Bobija YU/ZS-068, spend the night there, and visit the summit in the morning. I already visited this summit a year ago. There is a road all the way to the summit, but it was gated at the camping site, 5 km from the summit itself. Driving there, it occurred to me that I still have some hours of daylight left, and if the gate is open I might reach the summit just in time for a quick activation.

The camping site at Tornička Bobija is not a classical camping site - there is a forester's house with several picnic sites around it, a spring, and a small church. There is also a flat area where one can camp with the permission of the foresters. When I reached the forester's house the gate was open but there was nobody there. I left a paper with a note for the forester and headed to the summit. I reached the summit at 20.00 local time, just as the sun was setting down. I grabbed my backpack and headed to find an operating spot.

On the summit, there are some mobile network antennas, and also a VHF/UHF contesting shack of YU1BBA radio club along with the tower and the antennas. There was nobody on the summit. I decided to use the foundations of a old antenna tower (probably destroyed in the 1999 bombing) to fix my vertical antenna, and to try to operate on 14 MHz. WPX CW was going to start in 5 hours and the bands were probably already crowded with contesters warming up their stations.

Radio club Bobija YU1BAA contest location and their 

VHF antennas at Tornička Bobija YU/ZS-068

Activating YU/ZS-068 after sunset

The sun was setting as I was unpacking my gear and preparing the antenna. In a matter of minutes it was almost dark. The temperature suddenly dropped significantly, and there was a lot of condensation everywhere. When I turned on my MTR V2, it sounded very strange, like connected to a dying battery, with the cw power-on notification being keyed slower and slower until it froze. Something was very wrong. I thought that the power supply connector or the 12V SLA battery itself are affected by the moisture. I opened the rig case - inside all seemed dry and OK. But the problem persisted when I connected a spare 9V battery. A pair off-on cycles later, the rig suddenly came to life. I put the 12V battery back - and the rig was still OK. I do not know what happened. Anyway, it was almost dark, and I was not happy with the idea of disassembling the antenna and packing in complete darkness later. 14 MHz was full of QRM and QRN but I managed to make 13 contacts in 15 minutes. I am not happy at all with such short activation with just a couple of contacts. After the activation I packed the gear, nothing was missing, and headed down back to the camping area.

YU/CS-041 Jelenac

Jelenac - YU/CS-041 - 620 m 1 point

After activating Ramaćki visovi YU/CS-029, there was still time to run to acivate Jelenac YU/CS-041 just 3 km away. Jelenac is one of those unconspicuous little hills and summits. With the help of Google Earth I planned my route on local dirt roads to approach the summit as close as possible. When I got there, it  turned out that good dirt roads (good = without mud and rocks) are all over the hill.

Near the summit of Jelenac YU/CS-041

I parked some 200 meters from the exact summit location, and once on the summit, found myself a quiet and secluded location on a unused side road.

First I assembled the 14 MHz vertical antenna, and made 15 qsos in 15 minutes, much better than on YU/CS-029 couple of hours earlier. It was 15.30 local time, and since I was not in hurry, decided to change antennas, put the 2 x 10 m doublet and try on 10 MHz and 7 MHz. I made 18 contacts on 10 MHz, and only 6 on 7 MHz, but among those on 7 MHz were three more S2S contacts, with OM4WY/P, OK2BDF/P and  OK/DJ5AA/P.  I already had a qso with OK/DJ5AA/P few hours before from YU/CS-029; but like me he also moved to another hill and this time was working from OK/US-045.

 At 16.40 local time was the last qso and time to pack and head home. In total 39 qsos were made from Jelenac. While YU/CS-029 was somehow disappointing with just a few contacts on a hot summit ocupied by insects, YU/CS-041 saved the day.

View from Jelenac YU/CS-041 to NW:
left: Bukulja YU/CS-038, 20 km away
right: Venčac YU/CS-039, 15 km away

S2S:

OM4WY/P OM/ZA-073

OK2BDF/P OK/KR-031

OK/DJ5AA/P OK/US-045

YU/CS-029 Ramaćki visovi

Ramaćki visovi - YU/CS-029 - 813 m 2 points

After activating Mt. Rudnik summits YU/CS-016 and YU/CS-023 the previous week, I decided to activate two more summits on the eastern slopes of Mt. Rudnik: Ramaćki visovi YU/CS-029 and Jelenac YU/CS-041. Early on Saturday morning I took the already familiar route, but this time turning after Topola towards Stragari and furder to Ramaća village.

Ramaćki visovi, YU/CS-029 (on the right),
as seen from slopes of Jelenac YU/CS-041

Ramaćki visovi are hills frequently visited by hiking groups.
The path to the summit starts just after entering the village of Ramaća

Beginning of the path

The sign says there is 1 hour walk to the top. The paths starts as a normal village road, but soon enters into dense shrub vegetation, over rock and stones. This is the kind of hike I do not like on a hot day, especially if one carries a (collapsed) fishing rod on the backpack. Along the path, all the way from the village to the top, there is a low lying improvised powerline for the commercial repeater and antennas on the top. So if you lose the path, just follow the powerline. Only near the summit the path leaves the shrub and goes over bare rocks.

Nice thin layered rocks along the path.

A very small viper hiding in front of me

Finally on the summit

The summit itself is unremarkable - there is no view and it is spoiled by the commercial antenna and small concrete building. Behind it, I found a shady spot to set up my antenna, on now overgrown road probably last used some time ago to build the commercial antenna tower.

I erected the 2 x 10 m doublet and started on 40 meters. Managed to work s2s with YO/HA8LLH on YO/WC-189. After two more stations there were no more takers on 40, so I moved to 30 meters. Another s2s with OK/DJ5AA/P on OK/US-043, ten more regular chasers, and that was all after 50 minutes operating on unpleasantly warm weather among all kind of insects. Only 14 qsos, but I could not stay much longer, in order to descend on time and get to my next SOTA summit Jelenac YU/CS-041.

Shadow operation near the summit

S2S:

YO/HA8LLH YO/WC-189 
OK/DJ5AA/P OK/US-043

YU/CS-016 Veliki Šturac

Veliki Šturac - YU/CS-016 - 1132 m 6 points

Veliki Šturac (also known as Cvijićev vrh) is the summit of Mt. Rudnik, in Šumadija region of Serbia. The summit got it's second name after Jovan Cvijić, a famous Serbian geographer and karstologist.

After activating Vis YU/CS-023, I drove back to village Rudnik at the foot of Mt. Rudnik. An unpaved road starts there leading all the way to the summit of Mt. Rudnik, which is covered with large communication and broadcasting towers.

YU/CS-016 seen from Srednji Šturac, a slightly lower side summit of Mt Rudnik.
My operating position was in the woods left from the towers.

The summit itself is relatively flat and not occupied completely by commercial antennas (yet!) so it was possible to find a secluded operating spot in the woods at the edge of the operation zone, 150 NW from the towers. There was not much time to loose, since when I arrived at the summit it was already late afternoon, and the skies were turning cloudy. It was getting cold so I had to put on all the warm clothes I carried in my backpack. I learned my lesson on the previous summit, so this time the 14 MHz vertical was set up much faster. In 20 minutes or more I worked 25 chasers on 20 meters, still with intermittent problems with the jack of my keyer.

My open air shack, with commercial towers in the background

When I made a break to swap the antenna for a doublet, I realized that behind me there is a field of wild garlic (Allium Ursinum). I was hoping to find and pick up some fresh wild garlic leaves in these mountains, to prepare some pesto, since it was late spring and the plants at lower altitudes have all started flowering, too old for picking. So for a moment ham radio was put aside and I spent some time picking a big bunch of fresh leaves to carry home (no need to say that the car smelled of garlic after that).

When the harvest was over, I jumped to 10 MHz and managed to work some 11 chasers more. In the meantime the clouds went away and it was bright again. I was eager to stay more on the top, but the sun was setting and I had to pack before dark. 36 qsos in total in less than an hour of operating time - not too bad - without S2S this time. This summit turned out better than expected - most hikers labeled it in their reports as uninteresting, packed with antenna towers, without scenic views. To me it was fine, I found a quiet place to operate, with soft ground for anchoring, without insect or human interference.

YU/CS-023 Vis

Vis - YU/CS-023 - 920 m 4 points

The place where I live, Belgrade, at 100 m asl, is far away from the mountains. There is a couple of SOTA summits around, but there are almost no real mountains within 100 km driving distance.

The closest mountain higher than 1000 m is Mt. Rudnik, 100 km south. Rudnik dominates this part of Central Serbia (Šumadija region) The highest peak is Veliki Šturac, YU/CS-016, 1132 m, my closest 6 pointer by far. My aim was to start activating SOTA peaks in Mt. Rudnik area.

Approaching Mt. Rudnik

Early in the morning of Saturday May 3. I took off to Mt. Rudnik. The first summit to activate was a 4 pointerVis YU/CS-023, 920 m, just south from YU/CS-016. This summit is very inconspicuous, not visited by local mountaineering and hiking groups.

I drove to village Majdan, and from there some 7 km more on dirt roads. At 9:45 in the morning I left my car near the col between YU/CS-016 and YU/CS-023, at 720 m, and went by foot uphill, following a former logging path. 30 minutes later I was at the top. 

Vis YU/CS-023 seen from the col

Old logging path

Young trees near the summit.
Thin trees and rock heaps indicate that this flat area is an abandoned cultivated land

At the summit.
Only at the summit I realized that there is an old abandoned road (or path) going all the way to the summit.

Things slowed down then, since setting the was not easy at all. I attached one end of my 2 x 10 m doublet to a tree limb, but anchoring all alone the supporting 8 m fishing rod vertical was very difficult. The thin wire kept getting tangled, the fishing rod falling, all in the edge of a stinging nettle field. Finally, after more than an hour, the antenna was finally operational. 

The antenna is finally operational

First qsos were on 40 meters - S2S with HA4FY/P on HA/KM-021, and 4 more qsos with OE, HA, S5, OM. Nobody answered my calls after that - it seems that low doublet is not efficient on 40 m. I moved to 10 MHz and thing started going there. I logged 20 chasers in the next 20 minutes, and when there were no more callers, I moved to 14 MHz. It was a bit difficult to tune the antenna, and after that it was difficult to find chasers. Only 9 more qsos were made during 30 minutes. I started to develop problem with my keyer, in random moments it was becoming stuck for a couple of seconds keying only dashes or dots. I suspected that the problem is a short in the 3.5 mm jack, but there was no visible short after disassembling the jack.  At the end, I inadvertently started cq-ing on 14.062, convinced that the frequency is clear, but it turned out that somebody else was there already. In the first moment I believed HB9DAX and G4SSH were coming back to my call, and it took me some time to realize that they are answering somebody else's cq. Sorry!

I had to descend back to my car to run to the next summit planned for the day. Only when all was packed I realized that in all the hurry I forgot to take any photo of my operating position.

A couple of hours later, I had a proper view of YU/CS-023,
from Srednji Šturac, one of the side summits of Veliki Šturac YU/CS-016.

Equipment:

• MTR V2 Rig (powered by 12 V slab giving almost 5 Watts)
• 2 x 10.5 m inv. V doublet antenna fed with 10 m long 300 ohm twin lead,
• ZM4 clone tuner
• 8 m long fishing rod supporting the antenna center

S2S:

HA4FY/P HA/KM-021