Sunday, May 30th is the first 10G cumulative contest of the year and is one of only five good opportunities each year to make unscheduled 10G contacts. 2m talkback on 144.175 SSB is the best bet for coordinating SOTA 10G contacts.
A bad back and high winds nearly caused me to pull out of this contest session but I went out anyway.
Gun was very windy indeed and the horn looked like a good choice of antenna. Carrying the gear across the moor with my backpain required Ibuprofen in profusion. Four contacts in an hour on 10G qualified it for SOTA. Contacts were: G4KUX (Bishop Auckland CW), GW3TKH/p (Cefn y Galchen SSB), G3ZME/p (Brown Clee SSB) and G3LRP (Wakefield SSB).
Next I drove to Winter Hill where the walk was easier and there was a wall to give me some shelter. A further hour netted G3PHO/p (Pocklington CW), M0DTS/p (N York Moors SSB), G3ZME/p (Brown Clee FM) and MW1FGQ (Holywell SSB). Another summit qualified for SOTA on 10G.
All done with 1W and a horn + 2m talkback (no KST).
On my return home I glanced at KST and saw that Ian, GW8OGI was out on Halkyn Mountain trying to make 10G contacts. I nipped out yet again to a local site and we easily completed with end-stopping signals across the Cheshire Plain.
More Ibuprofen and bed followed in quick succession.
10GHz is a lot of fun for SOTA - why not give it a try?
Next I drove to Winter Hill where the walk was easier and there was a
wall to give me some shelter. A further hour netted G3PHO/p
(Pocklington CW), M0DTS/p (N York Moors SSB), G3ZME/p (Brown Clee FM)
and MW1FGQ (Holywell SSB).
Sorry we could not make it when you were up on Winter Hill, it’s a struggle even on 2m unless the activator is right on the top. I did manage to work M0DTS/p from the top of the field (at the back of the house) but I did have to swap the horn for the PW penny feed dish before he could hear me with my 250mW. Still, my best contact so far on 10GHz.
Weather permitting I will be trying to qualify another two summits during the day. Not sure which pair yet but may be The Cloud and Black Hill.
Even with 100mW you should manage up to 200km if you have a dish ( > 26dBi or so). The operating skills of 10G operators vary wildly so it rather depends on who you try with - some also seem to spend much of the contest chatting which is frustrating when you are struggling on a wild and windy hilltop.
not been at the computer much. We’ve just got back from Halkyn, got 5 QSOs including one up into Co. Durham and heard a stn in JO00 square. We had 144MHz talkback this time, we learned last month that KST is not the easiest thing deal with in the heat of the moment, although having two rigs to work at once also takes a bit of getting used to.
Should soon have the gear organised enough to take portable without needing the 18 foot campervan, 110Ah battery, 65W solar panel, inverter, regulated PSU, cooker, kettle, laptop, 2 rigs, dish, 2m beam, 2 tripods, table, chairs etc etc !!
Didn’t hear you, so I take it something cropped up as often happens on these occasions.
In which case I may well try and get up onto either Cleeve or Bredon for around that time or maybe a little earlier. Like you I’ll only have 2m talkback. 144.175 +/- QRM?
Slightly OT, but do you do KST with a laptop or by some other devious means? I’m looking for the devious means as I get going in microwaves and don’t want to / can’t cope with carrying a laptop up summits. 145.175 talkback produces no responses if there’s no contest on.
I use a 9 inch netbook with Vodafone built in. At the moment as I’m still getting started I’m operating out of my campervan. Hence the non-SOTA QTH ! When I get to the point where I’m carrying the gear up hills I’ll have to leave the netbook (unless the XYL will carry it). I guess setting up possible QSOs before setting off would be best.
I’ve not tried it but KST via a telnet client on your mobile might be sufficient.