Bettina (DC1BF) andI decided to walk to the Brocken summit via the Brocken-Road (Brockenstraße) starting in the village of Schierke. The distance is 10km with an ascend of about 500m. On the first kilometres the road is in a perfect condition. After the first crossing of the Breockenbahn (Brocken Railway) were road works and the road were closed. I asekd one of the workers and ge told me, that we should wait 5 minutes then they will drive away the digger. Luck! We could pass. We made a pause after the frist 5 Kilometers. When we came closer to the summit many people were on the road. Maybe many people who drives up by railway and walked down one of the many hiking trails.
After arriving the summit we took a cool drink at the „Brockenwirt“ and then we walked to the highest point where I set up my station: FT-817 with 2.8ah SLAB, 5w output into a MP-1 antenna with a 3m long telescope (MFJ-1954).
The log was filled with 46 QSO after 36 minutes on 7 MHz. Time to go.
For the ascent we needed 2h 30′ including the pause. My Polar Watch said: 1234 kcal burned, the way back to Schierke was made in 2h 15′ with 767 kcal burned. The temperatures were around 15°C in the shadow. In the sun it was very warm.
