I’m one of the prodigals of the 2m band. Over the years, I’ve spent hundreds of hours on G/SP-004 working VHF. However, once SOTA became global, I found myself hooked on HF, especially 20m and above. Just recently, I’ve rekindled my interest in VHF and started carrying a colinear with me. Working into the VHF lift last Friday, was one of the best days radio, I’ve ever had.
People talk about how dead VHF is and this is simply not the case. Take a colinear up to SP-004 on a Saturday or Sunday and with a few spare hours, you’ll easily knock of 100 contacts. The VHF chasers are out there, it’s just a case of working them.
It’s good advice Matt but getting a small beam in to my luggage is a lot harder than a lightweight 5m pole and vertical, I’m out in Dublin for work not just SOTA!
Kindex still not looking good but I’ll see what can be done. I’m sat in Connelly Station waiting for the DART for Howth now and the sun
is glorious.
Have fun and mind the dwarf gorse
I used the bus which does have the advantage that the terminus is well up on the hill. I tried 2m FM but only on the handy. I did enjoy the view.
73,
Rod
Cheers Rod. On the train out I noticed the lack of LiPo to 817cable … Oh noes!!! Lucikly I have something which can be bodged and essential tools have been obtained from a marine supplies shop in the harbour
That may well be true in IO83 square, Mickey. But as you have discovered yourself, it’s a whole different story down here in the G/WB area. With FM and a colinear on 2 metres you often struggle to make 4 contacts.
I remember once going to Dundry Down G/SC10, which is right on the doorstep of the huge city of Bristol, and I could only manage 3 QSOs on 2m FM in more than an hour of calling, so I didn’t qualify it.
I agree with Matt - a small beam makes all the difference.
No luck on 2m FM despite calling for 15mins. However 30m and 20m both worked well enough. 2x S2S and 15 contacts. Time for a drink down at the harbour.
Twice I tried to qualify GW/SW-028 on two metres and failed. The second time I was prepared, though, and succeeded with 5 megs! It’s a similar story with G/DC-006 and 007, stuck that far out to the south west you need power and a beam, and even then you will struggle! Yes, if you are within reach of IO83 qualifying is a doddle, but even there the band is developing open spaces!
For forty years two metres was my bread-and-butter band, and although I started on 70cms (which was the lowest band available to the early G8s,) for years two was my ONLY band (until I added a Liner 430), and it distresses me to find it so empty! On the rare occasions when I go out I am literally geared up able to transmit on all bands 80 metres to 70 cms barring 30 metres (I don’t do CW) and 4 metres. I do not believe in spending more than an hour on the summit - my wife will be waiting down below in the car - so if two sounds dead I pick the band most likely to succeed, usually 60 or 40 metres. The first choice band until four or five years ago was two so I try it nowadays out of sentiment rather than in expectation that it will deliver!
No, Matt, I might just as well speak myself because when I am actively listening I will be turning the beam a little after each call!
I hate to take issue with my peers, although I take your point about the IO83 square.
However, it’s my experience that the colinear will bring in more numbers of chasers than a beam. With the exception of a lift, I would certainly agree that the colinear can never equal a beam for DX. OTOH, for sheer numbers, that’s a different story.
This thread peeked my interest on old 2m activations outside the South Pennine area and a look my SOTA log turned up this WB activation a few years ago.
I may have been using the X-300 or X-510 colinear, can’t remember. All the lower G/WB summits I have activated have been HF only. I still standby what I said earlier and on many occassions over the years.
The contacts are there to be worked on VHF FM, however, the beam is not always the best tool to bag them.
In the good old days… quite literally! It is a sad fact that there has been an exodus from VHF and UHF to HF over the years, as indeed we have debated on several occasions. I can now count the dedicated 2m SSB chasers on the fingers of one hand. Perhaps I should time my activations for contest periods and then I can claim loads of contacts and kid myself things are the same as they were a few years ago.
With the HF conditions we’re experiencing right now Gerald, maybe things will change. As the further downturn of the HF cycle approaches, those hams with the much smaller stations and antennas, may well have no option, other than to return to VHF/UHF. So maybe, there’s a little light at the end of the tunnel
Hopefully Mike. Like Brian ADD and many others, I have witnessed the decline in the interest in VHF over the past 45+ years and, particularly with reference to 2m SSB (out of contest periods), would very much like it to see it bounce back. I will keep dragging the extra batteries and linear up the hills, but over the past couple of years there has been a steadily diminishing return for the effort expended.
Oh and as to the linear versus beam argument - there is no question which to use from where I activate up in GM.
+1 for 2M from me… use it EVERY activation. Often the only band for me as I carry a good antenna and a 5W waterproof handheld. Amazing what I’ve qualified in deepest darkest West Wales (GW) on just 2M FM.
“Oh and as to the linear versus beam argument - there is no question which to use from where I activate up in GM. ”
I have recently acquired a small 15 watt amplifer for 2m, very lightweight thing indeed, so am half tempted to start bringing that with me Gerald! It will not move the S meter massively, but on the more remote hills it may prove a useful aid.
Still fancy having a play with HF though, however after listening to the pile ups that can be created on HF, I don’t fancy logging the QSOs afterwards!
Yes it does take some time, I tend to save 3-4 activation’s up and do it all in one evening - a bit of a chore.
It could be easier then it currently is. I wish I didn’t have to enter s2s contacts separately. The cursor returning automatically into the time box would save some finger work as well.
Hi Jonathan,
I take the exact opposite approach, I enter all my logs the next day (normally just one activation, but has been two and three at times). I find that it’s easier to remember what I meant to write in my scribble the next day. I also include a screenshot of my entered log in my blog post. I create a blog post for every activation - a habit I got into in Australia and carried on here.
but I’ll see what can be done. I’m sat in Connelly Station waiting for the DART for Howth now and the sun
”