Last weekend, I have tried my first Flora & Fauna activation. Not exactly I was hoping for. 

I learned a few things for the next activation. But let me tell you how the weekend went and what problems there were

DLFF-0108 Naturpark Schönbuch

My XYL got a falconry weekend from me for her birthday. That took place in Weil am Schönbuch. It was ideal that the Schönbuch nature park was right next door.

So, I planned my first activation there. 

I made an announcement on the wwff.co site for Sunday. On Saturday, I wanted to explore the area and do a test setup with radio operation.

So far, so good. 

My time window was very limited. Approximately 2.5 hours. That's why I wanted a place near the hiking car park.

After 1.5 km, I arrived at a beautiful place with a sequoia tree that offered shade and a small meadow. 

I had the DX Wire mini 10 m with me as a mast. In the middle of the meadow it was set up with paracord and a 3D-printed mast holder.

The mosquitoes and ants weren't exactly helpful.

After about 15 minutes of calling CQ, no one answered. The idea was then to spot myself in the DX cluster. But I didn't reckon with "Neuland". Of course, I ended up in one of the extremely rare (ironically) cell phone dead spots in Germany.

So, I was only able to make two QSOs in the time available.

A cyclist passing by said to her partner: Look, someone is fishing. After that, I packed up.

Next try Flora & Fauna Activation

Next day, same time slot, different location. 

My activation was announced for this day on wwff.co. 

The first problem arose when setting up the mast. It was almost impossible to get the tent pegs into the ground to attach the pole.

There were also plenty of mosquitoes around, and sporadically, I also had to remove ticks that were walking around on my pants.

After two QSOs for Flora & Fauna and another half hour of calling CQ, I simply switched to normal radio operation. From Activation to Hunting. 

Unfortunately, the time passed too quickly, and I was only able to achieve 2 QSOs for Flora & Fauna and 9 more.

With 5 watt QRP I'm quite happy with it. 

The place to sit was not comfortable and the portable shack still has room for improvement.

Equipment used

For the portable activation, I used my IC-705 with Mat 705 tuner. The transmission power was 5 watts.

The antenna for the first day was a homemade Rybakov antenna with 1:4 UnUn and 7.6 m length. This was mounted vertically on the mast. In my garden, I have already achieved good connections with it.

On day two, I used my endfed at just over 20 m and a 1:49 UnUn. It was attached to the mast as an inverted V.

Optimization for next activation

The most important thing is probably a mosquito repellent. Then I want to announce activation in multiple channels.

A seat in the form of a small chair is certainly an advantage. Alternatively, I can of course, also use existing benches. This is always better than setting the table for ticks.

Paper logs are great. You can also take great notes. With the log program Hamrs, which I used at the same time, I later had problems importing to QRZ.com. So, I had to go the detour via Cloudlog.

But the most important thing of all, even if it didn't work as expected: It was still a lot of fun.

What was your experience with your first activation?