DO9PSE — Field Station on DO9PSE – Ham Radio

How to Lose a Paddle at 818 Metres

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A field report from DM/RP-115 — a wet rucksack, a rock that looked friendly, and a long lesson in carabiner discipline.

SOTA @ DM/RP-115 Hunsrückhöhenweg

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Rain, then sun, then conversations across half a continent on twenty metres. Best DX was a W4 through a hole in the cloud.

QRP and the Patient Listener

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Five watts is enough. The trick is not the power — it’s the person at the other end.

POTA @ DA-0088 Laacher See

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A volcanic caldera lake. End-fed wire slung into a young birch. Good afternoon, good coffee, good propagation.

SOTA @ DM/RP-078 Hohe Acht

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The highest peak of the Eifel. Windy enough to steal a logbook page, cold enough that the coffee turned slushy.

COTA @ DE-00042 Burg Eltz

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A medieval castle perched above a forest stream. Set up in the visitor meadow with a wire in a sycamore and worked eighteen stations between tour groups.

COTA @ DE-00113 Festung Ehrenbreitstein

Sun, 18 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A Prussian fortress overlooking the Deutsches Eck. Operated from the ramparts with a clean shot across the Rhine.

About

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’m Patrik, callsign DO9PSE, broadcasting from Koblenz at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle. Licensed since 2004 and still tinkering: by day I write software, by evening I’m chasing propagation on twenty metres or winding a common-mode choke at the kitchen table.

This site is a logbook of activations — POTA, SOTA, COTA — the gear that makes them happen, and the dispatches written between them.

The station

HQ is a fixed shack with a solid ground rod and a patient kettle. Most of the interesting work happens out in the field: on a hilltop with a squid pole, at a park bench with a wire in a tree, or beside a loaded bike on a riverside path.

POTA @ DA-0015 Mosel Valley

Sun, 14 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A cold, sunlit afternoon between the vineyards. The wire was in an apple tree and the contacts came steadily.

Icom IC-705

Sat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

All-mode, all-band QRP portable transceiver. Backpack-friendly, big colour touchscreen, built-in D-STAR and GPS. The daily driver.

End-fed Half-wave 40-10

Sun, 12 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Twenty metres of wire on a Kevlar winder with a 49:1 UnUn. The field workhorse — multiband, light, and forgiving of imperfect sky hooks.

Bioenno 6Ah LiFePO4

Mon, 08 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A 12.8V 6Ah LiFePO4 pack — four hours of QRP airtime, fits in the top of a pannier, and doesn’t mind a cold morning.