Thursday 18th November 2021: TF-007 Cruz de Gala

 An easy ascent with a nice activation spot worth 10 SOTA points

 

 This is a brief account of my SOTA activation of this summit in 2021, with a few tips that may help aspiring activators!  I returned in 2026, a few things have changed, so updated comments in blue with a few new photos:

 

The car park is easy to find, just of off the TF82 and up a short steep road.  I parked just before the 'Authorised Vehicles Only' sign.  When I later returned to the car park it was full with vehicles trying to park creatively, so if the car park is full you could consider driving up a little further, past the sign.  The road is good tarmac all the way.  It seems this is a popular start point for a hike.

The ascent is a steady 20-30 minutes walk on good tarmac road  You can't get lost!

 

Keep going beyond the commercial masts and buildings, hop over the barrier until you get to the site of a demolished building.  You will see the blue trig marker to the right of the path which I used as a handy post to hold my Sotapole. Others have noted that this road is closed at the top before you get to the commercial masts:  this is true (see photo) but one can easily divert to the left of the barrier and walk through the wooded area to rejoin at the summit:

Another footpath arrives at the summit, so the summit is accessible and permitted.  The next 3 photos are out of date as another commercial mast has been built and the trig marker almost swallowed up - see below update 

 

 

I had been in touch with Andy, GM6ZAK, who was holidaying on the island, and he suggested we try a 2m QSO.  We had arranged a sked at the two summits yesterday, but we were on opposite sides of the island with a volcano in the way, so VHF didn't work for us.  Here, though, we managed both 2m and 70cm FM QSOs, so I was off to a good start

Now on to HF, and I set up my sotapole and inverted V antenna fully using the ample space available and self spotted on 20m.   I managed a further 12 HF QSOs which was my best tally in  Tenerife, so very happy with the result.  With 5W SSB I worked stations as far as Sweden and the Czech republic.

During the activation I saw a steady stream of walkers and indeed spoke to a couple who enquired what I was doing.  I explained the hobby and SOTA to one German couple, and as I had just worked a German ham, I was able to show them on QRZ.com where he was located.  They seemed genuinely interested and I felt this was good PR for our hobby.

I headed back to the car and started thinking about the afternoon's challenge: TF-006...  

 

UPDATE 2026

There is no longer a large activation space.  The trig point that I had previously used has almost been swallowed in concrete and there is very little space there to activate. 

 

 

 

 

I sat on the new wall at the point that the footpath arrives at the summit and this time strung my antenna between 2 points and balanced the sotapole to give the apex some height:  

This turned out to be a very rewarding activation in 2026, with 33 QSOs including several contacts with US hams and 3 with South Africa on 10m.