Never really been interested in VHF/UHF namely 2m and 70cm
But 6m is more of the magic band yet to get on.
But Sota has drawn out me interest in it for that reason, so may be next year see if i get some VHF/ UHF gear and certainly knock up me own beams and antennas for it. Am in good position here to run 2m and 6m being high up compared to surrounding land.
As for topic of logging daily, done here, not happy unless done on Sota files Eqsl and QRZ logs and of course me paper log.
Karl
Me too - as soon as I get home. Wash boots, scatter wet clothes and equipment around house to dry, enter log, subject family to tales of triumph over adversity! 
Adrian
I also like typing my QSOs into SAISIE SOTA program as soon as I can after my activation, preferably and most of the times within the same day.
After having enjoyed out in the mountain and a SOTA activation, I canāt wait to upload my log into the database and write a report about it.
While reading my paper log and typing the QSOs into the SAISIE SOTA program I enjoy recreating and bringing back again from my memory the very moment of each and every QSO.
The program also knows the names of the operators I have logged in the past and I like writing those which are not brought by the program as long as I know them or I can easily find them, because the program will learn them and it will write them the next time that same callsign will be logged. Itās something I really enjoy.
Doing it some or several days later is something I wouldnāt like as most of the little details of the activation would have already vanished from my memory by that time.
Using SAISIE SOTA program is extremely helpful and saves a lot of time. You donāt need to enter QSOs one by one to the database and S2S QSOs later separately.
Once youāve entered your complete activation log into SAISIE SOTA program and youāve saved the log, the program will automatically create 2 separate files. All you have to do is uploading the activatorās log and then the chasers log for the S2S QSOs.
Just 2 small files to be uploaded. Simple and quick.
Best 73 de Guru
P.D. sorry for being off topic
Today, I just happened to find myself in North Wales and as I was driving right past Llandudno, along the A55, I though I may as well pop up to Great Orme GW/NW-070 and see what the HF band conditions were like.
On entering the car park, my first disappointment was to see that the vandalised ticket machine had been replaced. Someone had absolutley trashed the old one a few months ago and as a result, parking had been free. Personally, I think the machines demise was something to do with the thevinā bar stewards at the Council, more than doubling the cost of parking charges. IIRC, a 4 hour to 12 hour ticket was Ā£2 and now itās Ā£4.50!
Anyhow, I chucked the Antron-99 in the air and bungeed it to the fence, then had a listen to the 20m band and above. Above 20m, all the bands were on life supportā¦Vitually unworkable, although not too surprising with the SFI at 80 and the K index at 4. Therefore, I was stuck with the 20m zoo.
A self spot and CQ found the going tough, however, I persisted and this began to pay dividends. About ten EU stations were logged when out of the blue, I received a call from KJ6OG/MM, who just happened to be steaming up the Suez Canal on a boat called the Green Bay. He was a hugh signal and 5/9 signal reports were passed both ways. A steady stream of EU chasers made my log and and despite appeals for North American contacts, non were forthcoming, which if Iām perfectly honest, was no more than I had expected. After about 40 minutes of working EU, Phil VE1WT broke the duck and called in, not easy but workable. We exchanged signal reports and I pressed on. After another 15 minutes or so, SOTA chaser Jerry, NG6R from California made the trip, once again, not easy but much to my delight, signal reports were exchanged. CA was one State that I was not expecting today. Many thanks for the big effort Jerry. Jerry was followed by Rich N4EX with a much weaker signal than normal.
It was at this point that Wayne 2W0WDS, turned up on the summit. It was good to see Wayne, He had spotted my antennas from the car park and wandered up to see who was activating it. As Wayne was on the summit, I offered him my spare log book and the mic and sat him down at the rig.
Trade was slow at first as by then, Iād worked quite a few Chasers, however, he pressed on and got his four including one into North America. While he was working 20m, I put up the fishing pole and got him onto 40m where he worked a mini pile up. Wayne thanked me and made his way back to his car. It was a this point, in a moment of madness, I tried the 17m band. What a waste of time that was, with one contact in 20 minutes 
It was getting late and so I went back to 20m for the last 30 minutes. A self spot brought an immediate response from Herm KB1RJC, Merle KB1RJD and James KK1Wā¦ George N1GB, was the last DX to make my log before I pulled the plug.
Once again, during poor band conditions the A-99 performed its sorcery, with 45 contacts on 20m and a single contact on 17m.
Thanks to all the Chasers
73 Mike
2E0YYY
Hi Mike,
Saw you and Wayne spotted but couldnāt hear either of you on any band unfortunately. Put it down to the horrible conditions (good to hear of your success despite the conditions). Managed 5 chased contacts during the day however, so better than the previous 3 days duck. Still, glad I didnāt go out on my possible activation yesterday as not only were the RF Cdx bad, the Wx was not what it was predicted as going to be. Looks like Autumn has really started here now, with cold weather predicted for the next week at least.
73 Ed.
Given that there isnāt any light at the end of the tunnel, I originally thought I would take just my 40m dipole up The Cloud G/SP-015 this morning. But then I wondered about 30m. So I decided to take my modified 20m GP and Micro Z tuner, hereafter known as my āMagic Wire Systemā.
Of course, it is not magic. āInefficientā would probably be more accurate, but it gets me on the air with a vertical antenna on several bands, and with the unquestionably superior and efficient mode of CW, I can out get with results anywhere on a continuum between mediocre and quite-good.
So with that I made 12 contacts split between 40m, 30m and 20m, all CW and including S2S with HB/BE-146, OE/TI-314 and OK/JM-018. So still no light at the end of the tunnel, and no soup because I intended being home by lunchtime in order to catch Macclesfield Town v Kidderminster Harriers being shown live on BT Sport 1 HD.
Fingers crossed the end of the tunnel shows itself for the second period of the 10m/6m Challenge this coming winter. And if as expected it doesnāt, at least Iāll have my Magic Wire antennas and exotic flasks of soup to cheer me up as I try to eke out those 28MHz and 50MHz QSOs to build my SOTA Challenge score.
ROTFL 
Talking of limited efficiency antennas, I need to have a small light portable antenna that can be put up on a couple of summits that I hope to activate before they get snowed in. Both have insufficient room for an inverted-V, both have no trees or fence posts to support a squid-pole.
So I pulled out the diamond RHM-8B a few weeks ago and tried it on a small activation, with it connected directly to the top of the FT-817 (as designed) but with added counterpoise raidial wires attached to the FT817 casing. The results - dissapointing, even with added plain wire extensions on the top of the whip.
Last year I modified a camera tripod, adding an SO-239 socket to the top of it for use with a car HF vertical antenna or the RHM-8B. Again last year results were not the best. This week I have gone back to that tripod design but added 4 radials to it and the extension to the whip on the RHM-8B.
While itās cold and damp outside today, I decided to try the set-up INDOORS to see how it was on receive. I found there was a Scandiavian contest on and OH0Z was hammering in here at 40db over 9 on 20m on the main station rig - and calling and calling CQ. Great - a strong semi-constant signal to test with. Well on the FT817 and the internal vertical with radials and extension, he was also S9+40db - which was lucky as the noise level inside the house was between S8 and S9!! He kept calling and calling, so I thought - why not and gave him a call on the FT817 - 5w into an internal antenna, really? He came straight back to me! He gave me 5-9 which I donāt believe - in contests the report is always 5-9 but he fully copied my over which was the important point.
Miracle/magic antenna - not really but given that I made a 1500Km contact from inside the house, it seems to be working OK. Hopefully itāll still be working this well when I get it on top of a summit HI.
Ed.
I had a look at the light in the tunnel with a spectroscope, and found it was red-shifted! 
Brian
A quickfire 11 contacts in not many more minutes on 40m and 30m CW this morning on The Cloud. On bands above that, I could hear activity (lots on 20m, a bit on 17m and nothing further up), but the activity - nor the chasers could hear me. The RBN could, but thatās scant consolation. Time to bring my experiments with a multiband GP vertical using a Z match to a close I think.
I expect Iāll move on to using traps to achieve a 3-band (17m-15m-12m) GP vertical, a bit like the 10m-6m GP vertical I already have, which works really well. I may return my modified 20m GP to its original state for just that band, or may go for a 20m-30m version using traps and an āLā shape beyond the top of the SOTA Pole for the extra length of driven element. Would obviously need a guy string to achieve that, but better than using a 10m pole I reckon, which are rather heavy, and difficult to manage in less than perfect wx I seem to recall.
Lots of Magic Wire, but still no soupā¦
Wouldnāt links work better and be cheaper than traps? Iām thinking aloud here so it could be rubbish that getās written! The only advantage of traps over links is you can stay sat on the ground when you change band. And you get the fun of making them and tuning themā¦ The two advantages of traps are you can stay sat on the ground when you change band and get the fun of making and tuning them and an almost fanatical devotion to the pope. Iāll go out and come back in!
Are you going to put traps into the GP radiating element and the radials or just the radiating element? I think the theory goes that 1/4 radials drooping at 45degs gives a near 50ohm match and anything else will change the impendance and radiation pattern.
That is one hell of an advantage.
And you get the fun of making them and tuning them.
Iām a generous sort of a guy so I might let someone else have that particular fun.
Are you going to put traps into the GP radiating element and the radials or just the radiating element?
Just the radiating element I think.
I think the theory goes that 1/4 radials drooping at 45degs gives a near 50ohm match and anything else will change the impedance and radiation pattern.
Yeah the theory says that. Evidence in practice suggests that the angle is irrelevant so long as the feedpoint is at least lambda/40 (or is it /20? - canāt remember) AGL.
I worked HV0A on 20m SSB yesterday. Thatās the first time Iāve heard/worked a Vatican City station for at least 10 years!
I donāt think there are any SOTA summits in the Vatican City, though ā¦
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
Well, once again, I found myself in North Wales for a meeting this afternoon. Knowing this would take no longer than an hour, this would give me another chance to activate GW/NW-070 Great Orme, as I was driving through Llandudno. Iād taken the trouble to look at the space wx and miraculousy, there was some light at the end of the tunnel. SFI up and K index down, now thatās more like it.
It was windy on Great Orme and this gave me my first headache, I was unable to get the A-99 any higher than 10 feet above the ground, 5 feet less than I wanted. It was at this point, I nearly gave up with HF and put the colinear up. However, nothing ventured nothing gained.
A self spot on the 20m zoo, brought an immediate reponse from EU with 10 contacts logged in a couple of minutes, before a call from Phill VE1WT with a much improved signal. Marc WA2FON from NY was hot on his heels. There was a couple more EU chasers logged when I heard Gerard VK2IO from Sydney, call in. This was a big surprise at 1425z! Many thanks Gerard. Ah, the mighty A-99 at its best despite being short.
Robert AC1Z was the very next call from NH. Rich N4EX popped in again, with a much better signal. Plenty of EU DXCCās were filling up my log book. The next DX was Khalid 9K2HK in Kuwait. Canāt remember the last time I worked Kuwait on a SOTA activation. Anyhow, time to take a look at the 15m band and once again there was some DX to be worked.
Kam N3KS was first in my log then SOTA Chaser Marc W4MPS called in followed by Curtis KC5CW from Texas. Curtis was followed by those magical words all SOTA activators wish to hear āSummit to Summitā, from Pat KI4SVM activating W4C/CM-036, big thanks for the summit Pat. Dow W4DOW was next then Charles AA4IT in TN and finally Scott KG3W in PA. Just as I was about to pack up, I took a look at the 10m band and nicked Roberto PU2RTO in Brazil for my final call of the day.
A pleasant couple of hours on Great Orme, despite the cold wind, returned 65 contacts with 5 continents worked.
So there we have it, the inefficient SSB mode and beaten up CB antenna worked quite well really.
Thanks to all the Chasersā¦
73 Mike
2E0YYY
Nice to hear you again, Mike. FYI- 10m was alive this morning. An Aruba station, P40JW, was booming in. I worked him with 5 watts from home. I heard your half with the VK station. Sweet!
Hi Marc,
Thanks for the call today. Iām not sure who was more surprised with the VK contact, Gerard VK2IO or me!
The 10m band was open to South America from the UK although not easy, I could here nothing from North America. Sadly, I had to get back home, nevertheless, a nice afternoons radio,
73 Mike
2E0YYY
The more active side of the sun is starting to rotate into view again, SFI has already climbed to 109 and spaceweather.com reports a CME from an active region that is just out of sight around the limb of the sun (the erupting prominence is very photogenic!), so we should have better conditions for a couple of weeks before the sleepy side of the sun takes over again.
Brian
Hi Brian,
I am hearing more SOTA activity today than I have heard in a long time. Still about the same number of spots, but the difference is that I am actually able to hear more of the stations again.
So lets take advantage of the better conditions while we can! Iām hoping to get out and do a DL/OE activation next Friday (Earth weather conditional) and then hopefully two UK summits the following week as part of Philās TW-Funday.
Ed. DD5LP / G8GLM
Sat in the shack, both 10m & 12m are buzzing with N Americans and Caribbean stations, looks good for the winter months.
Luckily, the good propagation conditions are back.
I worked WH6LE yesterday evening on 15 m with very good signals from W4C/CM-036 and I got a great pile-up of European chasers on 20m CW over the 15 minutes of my weekly express activation of Saturdays morning from Mt. San Cristobal - EA2/NV-119.
This is the log:
I was even chased by George - SV2NCH/P at SV/MC-077. Thanks for the S2S QSO!
Unfortunately, I couldnāt work 2m FM because the batteries of my NEW Baofeng handheld seem to have died after less than 5 times used, as they died unexpectedly early during my last Sunday activation and the HH hasnāt even switched ON when I got to the summit despite having had the batteries charging all night before todayās activation. Well, the usual garbage products coming from that Popular Republicā¦
Letās have fun while the HAM-radio friendly side of the sun is facing us 
Have a nice weekend.
73 de Guru
Hello Steve, some light showing.
Worked this pm at 1630Z a VK SEStation and time now 1714Z and still hear him albeit now down to 55.
Fingers crossed
Cheers
Mike