Light at the End of the Tunnel?

And the only thing better than a Summit to Summit is an intercontinental S2S. :sunglasses: Thanks Mike! I had another great DX S2S with Iñaki - EB2GKK/1 on EA1/LR-047 as well. It was a perfect fall day with lots of fall colors to enjoy from the summit of Max Patch. It was quite windy here as well and we had a bit of trouble keeping the mast up at first. I had brought a tarp for shade but it worked just as well for wind protection. Busy summit with lots of inquisitive visitors. A good summit to have a co-activator on to give the whole SOTA/ham radio spiel while you operate.

73, pat - KI4SVM

Pete - WH6LE blocking the great view from the shack on W4C/CM-036 - Max Patch Mtn :grinning:

It’s Fall in W4!

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US chasers being worked on 15m with my headlamp switched on! All our troubles are over.

Tom M1EYP/P on G/SP-015

For a couple of weeks, then the less active side of the sun will be taking over and the SFI will drop to about 90 again!

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may!

Brian

Good fun that. I thought it might be a bit late for 21MHz with a 6.30pm (local) start time, but with the current conditions, thought I would give it a go. When I switched on, the band was completely empty. I wondered if I should have opted for 14MHz.

I set off my keyer on the CQ loop, and soon noticed that the RBN had spotted me, and from a US skimmer with a respectable SNR as well. This was a pleasant surprise, and soon I received a reply from K4MF. This headed up a little run of six USA stations, all on 15m CW, culminating in KX0R from Colorado.

The 7th and last contact was EA8/RN3QO with a very big signal, before I needed to pack up and meet Liam in Congleton. I’ll need to give 15m, as well as 17m and 12m, some proper airings within the next fortnight.

A handful more (G, LZ, RA, UA9, UR, YO, Z3) worked on 15m CW this morning from The Cloud. Heard a Chinese station calling CQ, but he didn’t hear my replies! Promising though.

Had a listen for you Tom, but nothing heard.

John VK6NU

I ran a VOAprop for you at 800Z on 15m and the prediction coincides well with you logged QSOs. (The redder the image the higher the probability of propagation to the area.)

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Indeed Andy, very interesting.

Just for a change, today, I thought I’d take the 55 mile drive to G/CE-004 Bardon Hill. An easy summit, if you’re not loaded up with a shed load of antennas, radios and batteries, like I was.

Anyhow, the WX was excellent, sunshine and a very light breeze. Therefore, getting the A-99 up to 15 feet and bungeed to the fence, was a piece of cake. My first port of call was 10m FM and it wasn’t easy, nevertheless, the requisite four calls were completed to qualify the summit.

It was then onto 10m ssb, were a run of 10 calls were logged including Rich N4EX, Peter ZD7FT on St. Helena, Hector CX2DA in Uruguay and Serge EK4JJ from Armenia.

Time to look at the 20m band. As soon as my spot had appeared, the chasers were onto me very quickly, with calls coming from EU and North America and in no time at all, about 38 contacts were in the log.

The main reason for my visit to Bardon Hill, is this summits excellent take-off, giving me good working conditions to check out the 15m band. My self spot on brought an immediate response from all over the shop and this kept me busy for some time, with a run of 53 contacts. It was at this point, I called it a day.

27 calls from North America, seven of them Canada.

Other noteable DX

Wes ZS1VV from South Africa
Bob V26BZR Antigua and Barbuda
Danny ZF1DM Cayman Islands

Once again, it was a story of QSB, however, it was worth the hard work.

The 15m band, seems to be providing better DX than 20m at the moment. The 10m band is still not great, however, some DX was worked on it today. If you’re planning an activation, the only thing I can suggest is to take a bag full of antennas, as the bands are a bit of a lucky dip!

Many thanks to all the Chasers, especially North America, for coping with the difficult QSB conditions. 104 Contacts logged,

73 Mike
2E0YYY

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Well 40 miles NW I activated the trigpoint on lantern pike South of Glossop & it was blowing a Gale ! I listened on 10 & 12m through the 40m dipole & they sounded quite lively. May be out on SOTA a week on Thursday.

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Did you take the path up from Vercor Close, Coalville, Mike? I think there are other approaches, but I’ve never worked out where from!

This morning, I had no plans to go out, but at the last minute, I gathered up the gear and chucked it into the car and headed for G/SP-013 Gun. Arriving at the parking spot, I was greeted with a very stiff breeze. When I arrived at the trig point, I figured I may have trouble getting the A-99 into the hawthorn tree. As it turned out, with the wind at my back, it went up fairly easily. I took a look at the 10m and 15m bands and opted for 15m.

Seems this was a good choice as my first call was George N1GB, followed by Phill VE1WT and Sylvain VE2STC with strong signals. Chuck AE4FZ, Dow W4DOW, Erik WX4ET, Lee KX3C, Tony KX3C and Walt NE4TN all called in. Nice contact with Mick M0MDA on groundwave

A switch to 10m ssb found Patel VU2XO from India for our umpteenth contact, Jul 6W1QL in Senagal and then SOTA Chaser Scott YN5Z (K7ZO), who was in Nicaragua for the contest, My last call was Paco PU2UAF, before returning to 15m. First call was PJ2/P DK3DM Heiko who was in Curacao for the contest, also. Five more North Americans entered my log, Rich N4EX Thomas W7RV in AZ, Rob AC1Z, Charles AA4IT, Ray W7USA also in Arizona.

A spot on 20m brought a run of eleven EU calls, with no sign of any DX. As I was about to go QRT, I took one last listen to 10m, where I heard a weak but workable Alexy HC2AO in Ecuador. He immediately came back with my callsign and first name, to bring a nice end to the activation.

My thoughts are that the higher HF bands, weren’t as good as a couple of days ago. Looks like the 15m band is still the place to be for the DXers. Once again, no fireworks on 10m.

Thanks to all the Chasers. 52 Contacts logged.

73 Mike
2E0YYY

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15m on Gun G/SP-013 seems to be “where it’s at” currently, so I headed up there this morning after dropping Liam at college. I wasn’t expecting to match Mickey’s consistently impressive results with my 817, 5 watts and 4 quarter-wave bits of wire lashed to a fishing rod - the only thing that lot has going for it is that it is considerably lighter to carry than an 857 and an Antron 99 + mast.

And indeed, as expected, results were far from spectacular with a frustratingly slow QSO rate even though the 15m band was busy with lots of juicy pickings everywhere. Several JAs, VKs, a VU and even a HL were heard, some incredibly strong, but none made it into my log. My 15m “DX” was limited to Gambia, Kazakhstan, Asiatic Russia, Turkey and 8 into the USA.

The final tally was 61 QSOs, which were 29 on 15m SSB, 31 on 15m CW and 1 on 17m CW. Two S2S: F5UKL/P on F/PO-241 on 17m CW and HB9BCB/P on HB/BE-132 on 15m CW. Operating from 0930 to 1301, so 211 minutes - eek, even slower than I thought!

At least a treat awaited for those long periods of auto-CQing from my Palm Cube memory keyer. Yesterday, we happened to be in a supermarket in Knutsford where I noticed half-price Baxters Lobster Bisque - my favourite. I got six cans (2 x litre flask worth), and so that was my sustenance on this summit. It’s a marvellous soup made from lobster, prawns, fish, double cream, brandy and cayenne pepper. Every slurp a decadent delight. Activating in style I’d say. Glad I took the flask too, as it was very chilly out there today!

The soup sounds great. When I did Ben of Howth EI/IE-072 earlier this month I had nothing with me at all. The fish chowder I had back down at the harbour was magnificent, full of fish flesh and shellfish with a great flavour and fresh warm bread to accompany it. Excellent reviver after an (easy) day on a summit.

Ah the seafood chowder in the Point Bar, Co. Derry near to our holiday cottage in August, was simply magnificent. You could have it as a starter or a main - in which case it was HUGE. Great stuff. Now Baxter’s Lobster Bisque doesn’t quite measure up to that, but you’ll not get anything nicer out of a tin.

The extra power and height of the bottom of the vertical element against the physical ground makes the difference I reckon. This is comparing Mikes arrangement with the A99 against our 4-5 bits of wire on a standard fishing pole. There is nothing magical about the A99, arguably the Z matching is probably less efficient then a 1/4L match, but clearly its a good radiator !

With my 10 meter travel pole my 1/4L 15m antenna is roughly 2.5 meters above ground.Suppose I elevated the CP another 2 meters above true ground it could improve the performance at least theoretically anyway. Mechanically the pole would suffer more, which is enough of an incentive not to try it with the winter on the way


I am still using 12W on 15m. No spot could be obtained on Wednesday on Black Hill although DX was about certainly. The boggy summit and poor weather made it hard going.

Jonathan

Yes, it is the elevation of the base of the vertical that makes the difference.

Typical innit


My last attempt to work some early morning DX on the 20m band from G/SP-013 Gun, ended in failure due to equipment malfunction. So this morning I was hoping for better things
Yeah, right.

When I got to the parking spot, there was a cold nasty wind accompanied by a soaking mist
Nice :frowning:

Getting the A-99 into the hawthorn tree was a real PITA and I’ve got the cuts to prove it. Nevertheless, I manged to get three bungees around the antenna and that was job done.

When I found a QRG on 20m and tuned up, the band had an eerie silence to it. Anyhow, a self spot and CQ produced four or five calls and then my CQ’s went unanswered for quite some time. After over an hour of calling, I had just 13 EU calls in the log and as for DX, I couldn’t buy a contact :frowning:

If I had been smart enough to look at the DX maps on the mobile, I would have seen that the chances of working outside EU were almost Zilch. For once the 20m band refused to play ball.

By now, I was pretty cold and wet and was on the virge of pulling the plug. However, I did take a look at the maps on the 15m band and saw there was some JA activity. So 15m it was. Pretty soon, I had three JA’s logged which made me feel somewhat better. There was a mixture of Russia and EU contacts logged when just as I was about to call it a day I heard Z something in the QSB, I called Z? and Gary ZL2IFB came back for my first ZL for about 6 months
Gary told me he was beaming long path across the South Pole. Very nice contact of 18500 km short path 21500 km long path. A few more EU’s were logged, before I went QRT and headed for home for a change clothes.

The 20m band was well out of shape for the DX’ers. Once again the 15m band is the place to be.

Just 42 contacts for the Activation

13 on 20m
29 on 15m.

Thanks to all the Chasers

73 Mike
2E0YYY

Good to get the ZL confirmation from his QRZ page!

ZL Mike - very nice. Thought I was going to have to set up in one of the other spots - by the milestone, by CWI’s wood or down a bit towards the farm when I arrived and saw your motor. Then I noticed you were in it and had made an uncharacteristically early finish.

So I actually set up by your hawthorne tree where I still am now. Thankfully, have enjoyed much nicer wx than what you described!

56 contacts so far, 11 on 12m, the rest on 15m. India VU2 probably best DX, 14 North Americans so far and ZA Albania of note too. Better crack on


Looks like we might not yet be at the end of the tunnel -
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2015/november/geomagnetic_storm_warning_for_nov_2_3.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AmateurRadioNews+(Southgate+Amateur+Radio+News)#.Vjf3n2urH-s

Hopefully finished by the time you read this


Ed.