A huge success for HBBOTA

From 24 July to 2 August 2026, the HBBOTA management team organised the first Outdoor Radio Activity Week. The event proved extremely popular and far exceeded the organisers’ expectations.

After HB9HXX had ensured in the run-up to the event that the list already included over 4,000 bunkers in Switzerland within a very short space of time, the campaign week kicked off with the international bunker festival organised by WWBOTA. Over the course of these three days, six activators activated a total of 86 bunkers and made contacts with almost 450 hunters. As the rules for the Bunkerfest were stricter – only one bunker could be activated at a time – the high density of bunkers in Switzerland, with its many overlaps, was not an issue for this part of the activity week.

National Activity Week

From Monday 27 July to Sunday 2 August 2026, the rules for normal activations then applied: a minimum of 10 QSOs for HBBOTA awards or 25 QSOs for WWBOTA awards, as well as the option to activate five bunkers within a 1,000-metre radius simultaneously. This further increased the number of activated sites – to a total of 261 bunkers during that week, which equates to an average of around 37 bunkers per day. The majority of these were achieved by a few very dedicated activators, in particular HB9HCR and HB9INY.

New hunters

The outdoor programme, which is not yet very well known in Switzerland, also attracted new hunters from HB during the week, such as HB9CYV, HB9GUR and HB9HDK, all of whom secured the Gold Award as hunters. Among the most active hunters outside Switzerland were DE1VTM, DL1RI, EA1062RCU, M0ICR, NL14196, OK1HCG, ON3DWG, ON3LMA, ON3MOH, ON4TH, ON5JK, PA1H, PA7RA, PD3AR, PD9HIX, SM5ELV, SWL-1011 and YO6CFB – a reflection of just how popular the programme already is in various European countries.

Winter Festival in the planning stages

The next major event, the international Winter Festival in January 2027 (the exact date is yet to be confirmed), will present additional challenges due to the wintry conditions. We hope, however, that there will still be activators willing to set up their stations at a bunker once again.

Further information is available on the BOTA website.

A detailed report will follow in the next issue of HBradio.