21 Apr 2018 NA<>EU S2S event

I like these events but in the past they have been held around the (UK) May day holiday weekend. The bank holiday weekend is usually hopeless for me due to XYL’s birthday, my birthday and our wedding anniversary!

I vote for any spring weekend except the last weekend in April / first weekend in May. In 2018 May day actually falls on the 7th though.

Hopefully QRPTTF will take place on April 21, 2018 and, if so, that would work for you Colin.

Maybe we can get some FT8 NA-EU s2s activity as an experimental antidote to depressed propagation.

There’s a bunch of you NA chasers that don’t need propagation!

April 21st sounds good at this point but life tends to get kinda busy in spring, into the summer!

My step dad has just treated the family to a motorhome (RV) to share, so no doubt we’ll be planning some adventures when the warmer weather arrives.

Data modes don’t really inspire me but I think I’ll give them a go just for the experience!

73, Colin

5 Likes

I try to work the QRPTTF from a summit, so it would work well for me if the two events were scheduled the same day.

1 Like

I read the rules Malcolm and saw the “Theme” -

Then I read on and found SOTA operation is equivalent to RIVER operation -

It looks to be a reasonable proposal to have the NA<>EU S2S event on the same day. I couldn’t see an explanation for not including the WARC bands, but it is what it is. Presumably antennas are unrestricted, so setting up something with a bit of gain could compensate for the difference between the 30 watts out fairly common in the NA<>EU S2S event and the 5 watts in the QRPTTF.

73, Gerald G4OIG (still smiling from my first S2S with VE)

1 Like

NA-EU s2s will still be free to use the WARC bands. Just don’t include those qso’s if you submit a log for QRPTTF. “30 watts fairly common” might be true of SSB but it would certainly be a small minority of CW activators in NA-EU s2s. The vast majority of cw activators are using 5-15W.

73, Barry N1EU

Hi Gerald

Thank you for your work!

I fully agree with Andy. It’s ok running the event along side QRPTTF and Sept is ok for me as well.

I’m sorry that I couldn’t take part in the last one,

Vy 73 de Pedro, CT1DBS/CU3HF

1 Like

So, April 22nd is the date. I got time to build me another 2 element yagi then. I’ve been playing around with 1 already.
Malen
VE6VID

1 Like

April 22 was last year’s date - it’s April 21 this year.

image

1 Like

Many thanks for this Barry. I have updated the header to reflect the actual date agreed. Not sure whether I will make it myself either as I am still awaiting the call for surgery. We can firm up on the Autumn event after this one.

73, Gerald G4OIG

Operate from a river or stream…

Not too many of those across summits. Will any of us be able to take part?

Plenty of them in Scotland Tom - you just have to choose a suitably wet day. :grinning:

1 Like

Doesn’t have to be a wet day either!

I’ll see if I can find a rarely activated summit for this.

From the Web site: “SOTA stations are considered a RIVER station for the x3 multiplier”

2 Likes

Hi Gerald,
Is there any suggested tiime for the SOTA event? To coincide with what propagation there might be and to avoid a time that means one end or the other has to set off before dawn or after dusk. I can probably manage a 90 minute activation before the battery gets low.

73 Ed.

Hi Ed,

I think it was 13:00 to 17:00 last time, but will need to check how the propagation went. The problem for more western stations is an early start if we choose an earlier time. That should not stop us setting a core period for the event and those that want to come on earlier and / or stay later can do so.

Currently I can run the 857 at around 30w output on a mix of S and P / CQs for 4 hours, if I am careful 5 hours. I would like to increase that to 6 hours. I reckon a LiFePO4 16AH is calling.

73, Gerald G4OIG

I suggest we choose a date when a EU to NA s2s QSO is actually possible due to propagation conditions based on past history. A date to early in the fall or to late in the spring will still result in a fun activation, but will not result in many over-the-pond QSO’s.

On the west coast of the USA the skip favors the lower latitude paths (those over the equator) and not Europe before October and after March.

Regardless of the date chosen I would likely give it a shot…watching TV as a second choice is not an option.

Pete
WA7JTM
Arizona

Prediction for 40w SSB April EU<->Eastern US:


It’s going to be hard work but your time slot 1300-1700 looks about the best regarding MUF.

As always this is only a prediction and a lot of other factors apply on the actual day.

1300-1700 UTC would be (as we’ve all changed out clocks by then) 9am - 1pm in New York State as an example.

73 Ed.

OK - I’ve posted my alert for April 21st. It doesn’t look like anyone else has yet…

73 Ed.

VOACAP analysis for Pennsylvania to England on April 21st, assuming 1/4 wave verticals on all bands and 100W CW

Good luck to everyone activating, it’s going to be tough. I start work at 10am Eastern so I may get on the near to work summit, I just can’t stay long enough for the “peak” time.