Out of the radio shack


Yesterday I and Second Op. Pepita went to the Swedish nature reserve Storforsen. This reserve´s rapids in northern Sweden are the biggest in the Nordic countries. Here you can watch a short shaky video from our visit. I  brought with me a Yaesu FT-857D transceiver in order to hunt for the SMFF Award. Up here in the north the HF bands are almost dead, but I managed to contact two CW stations on the 40 m band, SM5CNQ and OH3BHL.

Hunting for the SMFF Award has been increasingly popular in Sweden since its start in April this year. SMFF stands for Swedish Flora Fauna. It is about having radio contacts with hams in nature reserves/national parks. In Sweden there are about 3,500 of them. Some of them are easy to reach by car and some needs long walk to reach. This means low power and simple antennas and often CW.


Internationally this started earlier in Russia by WFFAn independent association for radio amateurs who like to combine the technical interest in physical activities and outdoor experiences.

Recommended frequencies to use are:

SSB: 3,744, 7,144, 14,244, 18,144, 21,244, 24,944 and 28,444 kHz
CW:  3,544, 7,024, 10,124, 14,044, 18,084, 21,044, 24,894 and 28,044 kHz

SMFF Award is organized by SK6AW, Hisingens Radio Club. They run a very nice and informative blog with an on-line radio log for the award participants. It is in Swedish, but do try Google Translate to understand what is going on.
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