Ham Radio in the Rhön Mountains of Germany

Our adventures took us into the Rhön Mountains in the Northern Bavarian state of Bavaria. The Rhön Mountains highest peaks are 950.2 meters (3,117 ft). One of the more interesting stops on our trek was to Kloster Kreuzberg which is a historic 864 meters located at an altitude of 864 meters (2,834 ft.) on the slopes of the 928-meter (3,044 ft.) Kreuzberg mountain—the "Holy Mountain of the Franconians". The monastery is known for its famous beer including Kreuzberger Kloster Pils and Kreuzberger Kloster Dunkel (dark beer). People come from all over Germany, Europe, and the U.S. to hike and sample to food and beer offered by the expansive restaurant and bier garden setting outside the monetary. On the weekends, and holidays, tour buses come from all over Germany with hundreds of tourists who look for refuge in this holly spot. In my opinion, I think the food and beer are the biggest draw in addition to the many kilometers of hiking trails.

Atop of Kloster Kruezberg sits a 744-foot TV and radio tower. The mountain is 3,044 feet high. The tower is used/operated by the Bayerischer Rundfunk digital TV/radio. In addition, the amateur radio infrastructure on the Kreuzberg and the surrounding Rhön mountains is primarily managed by regional clubs under the Deutscher Amateur-Radio-Club (DARC), with nearby relays facilitating wide-coverage communication. I was told by a local ham radio operator that the range is between 50-80 miles for a mobile unit and 100-150 miles for a base station on the UHF frequencies (439.8375 MHz Downlink / 430.4375 MHz Uplink). Ther is also a D-Star repeater on 1298.100 MHz. This is a very impressive range when you consider the reach of most VHF/UHF ham radio repeaters. For comparison, In the US, Pikes Peak (14,115 ft.) is listed as the highest repeater located near the visitor center operating on 146.970 MHz with a *crossband link to 448.450 MHz UHF. According to Google AI, the Pikes Peak Height Above Average Terrain (HAAT) can achieve a line-of-sight of 100+ miles from a simple hand-held transceiver. Both of these repeaters are impressive when one considers the initial construction and on-going maintenance cost of these radio towers and repeater infrastructure. The DARC radio club in Germany has over 33,000 members (roughly half of all licensed operators in the country). Membership ranges from €36.00 per year for a youth membership to €105.00 per year for a full membership.

I highly recommend a day hike on Kloster Kruezberg mountain. Remember, the weather can be unpredictable so check the forecast before you leave for Kruezberg.

* The linking of the 146.970 MHz VHF repeater to the 448.450 MHz UHF repeater on Pikes Peak is done for three primary reasons: coverage optimization, interoperability, and remote network backbone access.

Some additional pictures from the top of Kloster Kreuzberg in the Mountains.