North America <> Europe SOTA S2S Party - 19th November 2016 1400 - 1700 UTC

Activation Reports Pre-Planning
347

It appears it was the LZDX contest that hit us (I’m SURE it wasn’t listed in any contest calendars a few weeks ago …)

LZDX Contest

Organized By
Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs

Date and period
The weekend before the last full weekend of November (the weekend before CQWW CW contest weekend) from 12:00 UTC on Saturday till 11:59 UTC on Sunday (19-20 November 2016).

Bands and modes
80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters HAM radio bands on both CW and SSB modes.
It is necessary to observe IARU band plan.

Recommend extra checking to avoid any HF contest for future vents.

Ed.

348

Thanks for the S2S contact Kevin. After we completed, the band got better, so I think if I had activated an hour later it would probably have been better, but I would then have had the rain and the dark. Thanks for your patience, my puny 15w and vertical J-pole was not the easiest thing to hear I’m sure!

73 Ed DD5LP.

349

It was a pleasure making the contact. Finally, I should add. You wouldn’t remember this, but two years when I first got on the air I was chasing you from my home station. I heard you clearly, but you were layered under an alligator working the freq during a contest. It was the first time I saw what a pan adapter display looks like during a contest.

350

Ed, I have the DYC-8x7 speech processor for my old 817 - it is VERY good and a bargain at $45. I just wish someone would make an adapter cable to plug it into my KX3 :grinning:

Here’s an audio recording illustrating its effect.

351

Hi Barry,

That sounds impressive. I must see if I can find a UK stockist, though most likely will have import it and run the gauntlet of the UK VAT inspectors. It could provide an edge on 2m SSB where the signals are often marginal and affected by QSB.

Many thanks for my first S2S into the US yesterday - did you see the eastern horizon glow after the QSO? - I was beaming a huge smile. Pete WA7JTM was close on your heels which widened the grin further. In a chilled out session between 14:00 and 17:30 I managed 5 US S2S, 11 US chasers, 11 EU S2S and 4 EU chasers. Also had a hotline to EA8 working Andy EA8/MM0FMF/P and later Nob EA8/DJ9RB and Carlos EA8AA. The getaways were the guys in VE who were unfortunately all affected by QRM when I heard them - hopefully next time.

Thankfully, despite there being no sun (that went in as soon as I got out of the car) weather conditions were near ideal for me. The heathery ground surface on the summit was bone dry and made a comfortable mattress to sit on. I erected a tarp shelter to cut out the cool breeze from the north-west. The wind eventually died and became a southerly as I packed up. As soon as I had packed away and taken a few steps on my descent, a weather front rolled in with wet snow which made it difficult to navigate with the headlamp, but I eventually made it back to the car.

I was really pleased that I had decided to add links to the 20m vertical to give me 17m. It certainly was the band of the day. Apart from a couple of battery failures which lost me a good 20 minutes trying to assess the problem and the subsequent limitation on power to 15W for the last hour, all the kit ran well. Despite the soaking on the descent, I was pleased to find I had little to dry out today.

Many thanks to all who participated in this event by whatever means. I am definitely up for a repeat. Now all I need to find is another summit with a similarly brilliant take off. Someone intimated that I had an advantage by being so far west, hmm maybe a Scottish island next time… :wink:

73, Gerald G4OIG (GW4OIG/P on GW/NW-077)

5 Likes
352

Wow, great photo Gerald! You’re definitely in the running for most scenic vantage point - love the vista.

Here’s my scruffy setup on W2/EH-001 (too long a hike to carry any furniture), which sits right on the border between New York and Massachusetts. Across the valley to the east, on the right side of the photo is the summit of W1/MB-001

Thanks for the QSO & 73,
Barry N1EU

4 Likes
353

I worked an EA8/M0 (don’t have full call to hand) yesterday but missed out on the others. I did manage an S2S with Carlos a couple of weeks back and that was good as it was all QRP. It gave me confidence that I would be able to work some EU S2S from here barefoot as Carlos was using an H1B trcvr which is only 3W. I spent the first 1hr40 just barefoot from the 817 and used a small PA for the last 1hr or so. Having done a quick activation already I wasn’t too sure about battery life as I didn’t have a chance to recharge anything.

I modified a phone USB power bank from 3x2600mAhr cells in parallel with an inverter/controller to 3 cells in series. I have a battery pack that doesn’t raise a suspicion when travelling and with the USB to JST cable and my existing LiPo cables it looks kosher yet powers an 817 FB. :wink: With that powering the 817 and a small PA I can get about 18-20W on 14MHz for 1W drive and without a LP filter, the 2nd harmonic drops into 10m but is acceptable. It’s only 1 S point more but worth it I think. A 20/17m LP filter is the Xmas project.

I have one of the DYC8x7 speech processors but as of yet, I have not tamed the RF feedback. Grr!

354

Hi Gerald - it comes out of Germany - so no problems ordering within the EU - it’s from the “Funk Amateur” German Amateur radio magazine.

Ed.

355

In the future, perhaps we can consider moving the event to September to allow for better weather and more daylight.

Barry N1EU

356

No VAT risk involved Gerald, Funk Amateur are in Germany http://www.box73.com/

73

Victor GI4ONL

357

Well blame it on the guys that survey the hills. When Mynydd Anelog GW/NW-077 was added to the UK P150 summits, I thought “Oh no, why one that far away?” - I only activate uniques and had all the GW/NW summits activated until they added this one. Anyway, I absolutely love the Lleyn peninsula in north west Wales - bags of nostalgia as we used to holiday there in the late 1950’s. A visit was definitely on at some stage, but this event gave me the impetuous to travel the 220 miles to get there - a four and a half hour drive from my QTH. BTW, the island off shore that you can see in the photo is Bardsey Island, with Mynydd Enlli GW/NW-072 the highest point.

As for a repeat event, I would suggest that we piggy-back the 2017 QRPTTF next Spring which is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, April 22, 2017. We can then review what people want by way of an event for the autumn.

73, Gerald G4OIG

1 Like
358

Hi Ed and Victor,

Thanks for the information. Better get my order in before we Brexit. :wink:

73, Gerald G4OIG

359

I was happy to get away and climb my summit yesterday. Cathedral Spires is a popular rock climbing area in Colorado. It snowed 2 days earlier. There was only 2 inches of snow on the ground but the summit appraoch is very rocky and I was climbing snow covered rocks to gain my summit. I wore my double boots from my days of ice climbing. I could have worn my regular hiking boots nd hiked more comfortably.

I only had a total of 8 contacts. Two were S2S with WI2W and W2SE on High Point in New Jersey.

N2GBR said he could hear me and I think AC2KL was trying to contact me. I think my signal was getting out better than I thought it was. I was having dificulty hearing stations.

I was using a Yaesu 817ND with the WindCamp 3000 mah battery and an Alpha Delta 20 meter dipole. I had paracord securing the ends to large rocks on the summit. It took a bit of careful scrambling around the summit blocks to secure the ends.

There are several unactivated 14ers in Colorado and I think Ill head up one of those in December.

These are the points I climbed to getting my dipole up in the air a bit.

Mark
N0MTN

Edit,
Plus the parking area is three miles from my girlfriends house.

Time Call Band Mode Notes
15:30z WI2W 14MHz SSB S2S W2/NJ-001
15:31z W2SE 14MHz SSB S2S W2/NJ-001
15:35z NS7P 14MHz SSB
15:45z NG6R 14MHz SSB
16:05z KQ6QB 14MHz SSB NPOTA RC-11 Golden Gate Rec Area
16:29z KD8VZE 14MHz SSB
16:42z W6GMT 14MHz SSB
16:52z KF7CLH 14MHz SSB

7 Likes
360

Hmm, yes I noticed - S9+ with me as a result. :smile: As for batteries, my 2009 date LiPOs must be near their expiry date, after all I reckon they have each done around 180 activations. My power pack is a 3S 4AH LiPO in series with a D cell 10AH NiMH, paralleled with another the same. This easily gave me 30W out for the first 2 hours - mind you, the LiPOs fell over the edge and now register 3.5V per cell, so must get them back up to 3.7V for storage. When I changed the batteries, I discovered an issue with a D cell holder which gave me just one half of the capacity. Swapping the cells around, I also found that I had a poor NiMH and a poor LiPO. Probably time to move to LiFePO4.

73, Gerald G4OIG

361

Hello from western Canada.
The weather yesterday was great, -10C, no wind and about 2" of snow on the ground. On the other hand, radio conditions were not good. I contacted only 23 people, of whom only 12 were known SOTA participants. I managed 4 S2S, all in North America and all of them very hard work with the signals weak and hardly readable. I had one moment of excitement when G3HQG came booming in from the UK on 17m, but I could not find any other contacts trans-Atlantic.
I was running 25 watts on 20/17/15m and I was on the air for over 2 hours, the total number of contacts was less than I normally get in 30 minutes.
Better luck next time, I hope.

Ian VE6IXD

3 Likes
362

Hi guys!
Marco IZ2YWI and I had decided to activate I/LO-320 for NA EU sota s2s Party.
In the morning the WX was cloudy and rainy and the temperature was about 5 celsius degree.
we leaved anyhow and after about 1h30’ we reached the top of Mt, Palanzone.
The summit was lashed by wind and immersed into fog.
After having mounted a makeshift tent we installed two antennas, endfed for 17mt and dipole bazooka for 20mt.
I started to work on 17mt ssb while IZ2YWI was using a 20mt SSB & CW.
the propagation was so so, between 14:00 and 16:30 I managed 1 UK chaser, 1 UK activator, 1 US summit and many other italian hams.
I heard W6PNG,WB8OGK KW6xxx/7.
I really enjoyed this activation for sotaparty!!

Tent and setup

73 de Roberto IW2OBX

5 Likes
363

Now that was fun. Thanks for organising it guys.

38 contacts in total.
14 S2S contacts
2 US S2S N1EU and WB8OGK.
4 US and 1 CA chasers

Could hear other US stations but couldn’t get through the pile ups. Only negative was getting blasted by a KD7 calling VE for a schedule.

Equip KX3 10w to pair of 1/4 elevated verts phased 180degrees. Not quite sure how effective these were on tx athough I could see some benefit on rx. Switched to broadside and made several UK s2s contacts.

Could have put up an ant for 17M and 20M but my optimism on 20M was too strong.

Looking forward to the next one and might try more power.

Pic of the ants takenot late in the day, and yes a tent glad I took that with my otherwise I would not have lasted the afternoon.

Thanks to all those who did or tried to contact me. Also any SWL who picked me up.

Neil G(W)0WPO/P

5 Likes
364

Saturday 19th November 2016 - SOTA EU-NA S2S QSO Party - The Cloud G/SP-015

Didn’t think anything could top the SOTA EU-VK S2S QSO Party - but how wrong could be? The results from my activation were remarkable - in fact I still can’t quite believe what happened!

My participation was in serious doubt. I had been suffering with a cold all week and every morning was starting with a nasty sore throat. I seriously considered bailing out of Friday football after work in order as to not deteriorate my health. Predictably, I couldn’t resist joining in, so I feared for how I would feel waking up on the Saturday morning!

Well I woke up feeling better. Not “better” as in cured - I still had a cold. But better than I felt yesterday, and the day before that. So, it would be game on. I was pretty last minute as I still had a few bass parts to transcribe for three bands I’m working with, and I wanted them done before going out.

As it was, I was QRV on The Cloud G/SP-015 just after 2pm, so not too bad. Part of that “punctuality” was due to my last minute decision to not bother with 17m, and just set up the single 20m groundplane/vertical. I was pleased with this tactic, and the 20m kept me perfectly busy throughout the 3 hours. I did naughtily chase a couple of S2S opportunities on 17m through the 20m aerial with “less-than-optimum” SWR!

Anyway, what I ended up with was 66 QSOs, with more than half of them - 37 in fact - being S2S. Summary as follows:

66 QSOs: 20m CW: 37; 20m SSB: 27; 17m CW: 1; 17m SSB: 1.
4 SWL logs.

QSOs:

4X: 1
CT: 1
EA: 9
EA8: 1
F: 3
G: 2
GW: 8
HB: 6
I: 2
IS0: 1
LZ: 1
OE: 1
OH: 1
OK: 2
S5: 2
SP: 1
SV: 2
VE: 4
W: 14
YO: 2
YU: 2

Asia: 1
Africa: 1
Europe: 46
North America: 18

37 S2S QSOs:

Africa: 1
Europe: 27
North America: 9

AC2KL - W2/WE-031
CT7AGT/P - CT/DL-014
EA2IF/P - EA2/NV-151
EA8/M0FMF/P - EA8/FU-042
EB2GKK/P - EA2/VI-029
F5LKW/P - F/CR-254
F6HBI/P - F/AM-617
GW0WPO/P - GW/NW-039
GW2HFR/P - GW/NW-044
GW4AZS/P - GW/NW-013
GW4OIG/P - GW/NW-077
GW4TJC/P - GW/NW-071
HB9AFI/P - HB/VD-048
HB9BCB/P - HB/FR-036
HB9BIN/P - HB/ZH-018
HB9DQM/P - HB/ZH-018
HB9FVF/P - HB/ZH-018
IZ2YWI - I/LO-320
KB1RJD - W1/AM-217
LZ1GJ/P - LZ/RO-092
M0HCU/P - G/WB-004
MW0WBG/P - GW/NW-071
MW0XOT/P - GW/NW-061
N1EU - W2/EH-001
N2GBR - W3/SV-018
NS1TA - W1/AM-038
OE9HRV/P - OE/VB-511
OH9XX/P - OH/JS-067
S52FT/P - S5/PK-041
S58R/P - S5/PK-043
VE2DDZ - VE2/LR-017
W3CDW - W3/SV-018
WB8OGK/P - W1/CR-013
WI2W - W2/NJ-001
YO6PIB/P - YO/EC-403
YO8AZQ/P - YO/EC-576
YU1CA/P - YU/JS-073

SWL - tried to call all these but couldn’t get through…

2E0YYY/P - G/SP-017
DL4ROB/P - DL/CG-094
M0JLA - G/WB-021
N1EU - W2/EH-001 (on 18MHz)

I was supposed to go QRT bang on 1700z as I had work that evening. I was still QRV at 1715z, enthralled by the afternoon, but “had a word with myself”, packed up and drove home. Then onto a local gig with a band named “Funky Treacle”, and pleased to see a healthy AR turnout in the audience, with 2E0NSR, 2E1AEQ, G0DMV, M0GIA, M0HGY and M1BYH all in attendance!

Great event!

10 Likes
365

Just got through totalling up the spots for stations taking part in the event yesterday - this can only be verified when all logs are entered, howevver I expect it to be fairly close (stations who were never spotted will not be in this list - also stations that only operated on 2m or 40m were excluded as not taking part):

On Saturday morning there were 66 summits listed as planned, some with multiple activators. During the 3-4 hour period there were 77 different summits spotted as taking part in the event. This compares with 51 summits alerted and 73 stations taking part in the VK-EU event a month earlier. It’ll be interesting to see what the numbers are for the NA-VK event which is starting to be discussed now.

Ed.

3 Likes
366

Thanks for the S2S. I only made 5 S2S’s and you guys were 2 of them. Catch you on the next summit.

Roland, KG7FOP

1 Like