Didn’t really intend to do an activation this morning. Last night’s “Mallorcan suckling pig” dinner (i.e. roast pork) came with some lovely wine and, well, we had a bit of a lie-in this morning. No other plans though, so MA-040 was duly selected for a morning spot of hangover SOTA.
Ascent
Dead easy this one – just drive to the car park next to Ermita de la Victòria and follow the wide gravel track for 2 km. It gets a bit vague near the end thanks to some goat tracks and there’s a lovely zig-zag up a wall, but overall this one isn’t much more than T1 all the way.
Summit
There’s the usual trig point here which serves as support for a pole, and my 40m EFHW came to rest underneath a convenient tree when used in sloper configuration. Predictably this easy summit came with a steady stream of hikers so it was nice to be able to keep the antenna above everybody’s heads thanks to the aforementioned tree.
Contacts
Our late start robbed us of DX but that was made up for medium skip on 20 and 40m, and 9 or 10 contacts were logged including 7 S2S just by looking out for spots on the app and scanning through the bands. An unexpected highlight was KD1CT on East Coast US and RK6FO in the Caucasus Mountains. When the spots dried up I put out one of my own and that took the total number of QSOs up to 29.
| Time | Callsign | Band | Mode |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:11 | II9IAPE | 14MHz | SSB |
| 09:20 | SQ9OKG/P | 14MHz | SSB |
| 09:21 | F/G4OSF/P | 14MHz | SSB |
| 09:25 | II8IHBC | 14MHz | SSB |
| 09:37 | CT2GSN/P | 14MHz | SSB |
| 09:46 | ON/M0WML/P | 14MHz | SSB |
| 09:49 | OE/HB9DIZ/P | 14MHz | SSB |
| 09:53 | M0CQL | 18MHz | SSB |
| 10:03 | YU/S55VN/P | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:15 | KD1CT | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:17 | ON7ZM | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:17 | SQ9JYK | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:19 | HB9CYV | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:20 | EA6KB | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:20 | EA1DHB | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:21 | SQ9CWO | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:22 | G4FKA | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:23 | IZ6ITZ | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:24 | IU8VAS | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:24 | DA2PK | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:25 | DM4EK | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:27 | DJ2MX | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:29 | EA1LQ | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:30 | DL8DXL | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:31 | DL3JPN | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:32 | OE6STD | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:32 | S57ILF | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:36 | HB9CYX/P | 14MHz | SSB |
| 10:41 | RK6FO | 28MHz | SSB |
Descent
The way down was pretty much the same as the way up, with the exception of some better tracks near the summit, which we didn’t manage to find on our ascent.
Summary
Very easy grab & go activation with great amenities near the summit and plenty of parking.