Roger, nice pics and wx. I did not hear Matt, wonder if he heard me?
Looking forward to see that video. Nice S2S … U were keying fast!
Me too. A must repeat with better condx… Cheers Mike. …
I did listen for Tony - VK3CAT too but no luck early in the morning either.
Guru. Your 5watts booming hr. Magical as u say. It was a rapid off/on!
Gud luck in the Pyrenees tomorrow. I will try to chase u if I can.
73 Angel
Hi Angel,
I was pleased to work you after waiting for the band to open. I run 100 W to a 4 ele beam at about 13 m pointing long path for the Eu contacts in our late afternoon. Local noise is usually more of an issue than QRM but sometimes we enjoy both. I use narrow filters and noise reduction DSP and this helps noticeably although sometimes a noise source will sit on a SOTA frequency and that’s the end for me.
I was surprised to see your set up. It was a good signal for such low power.
Yes I have to listen very carefully for QRP stations and sometimes need repeats of report as noise QSB & QRM can happen at just the wrong time. But afterwards it is really great to have the QSO in the log.
I appreciate the EU home stations standing by while I try for a QSO.
Looking forward to working you again.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
Hi Angel.
Each time I had a listen on your freq it was zoo. Dunno why? I kept checking on your freq but I couldn’t pull you out sorry.
Matt.
Ron, it was the first time I worked VK LP on cw and sota. I will remember the qso for a long time.
Matt, I hope the next time there is more luck… I might try QSYing around next time…
73 Angel
Late last night, I posted an alert for G/SP-013 and with not much else alerted, I didn’t hold up too much hope for many contacts. Nevertheless, I loaded up the car at 0530 local time and made the 14 mile drive to Gun. It was still dark when I arrived, so it was on with head torch for the 15 minute walk to the Trig Point…
The Antron-99 was chucked into the hawthorne tree and I was QRV and spotted on 20m at 0538z. The band was not in particularly good shape and not until after 45 minutes of calling and in desperation, even changing the feeder, that I made my first contact. It was Ron VK3AFW who came back to me, to finally break the drought. Ron was followed in a minute later by Matt VK2DAG then Rob VK3EK and another minute later Matt VK1MA to qualify the summit for me. Talk about feast or famine!
The VK’s continued to call in but my signal reports were way down on a couple of days ago. Paul OE5SPW was the first EU contact, with little else being heard from EU. Nice ground wave contact with Phil G4OBK up in Pickering who was having problems with his beam that is stuck in one direction. Then things improved to EU with half a dozen of the regulars calling in. A couple of s2s courtesy of Mikel EA2CW/P and Marcial EA2BDS/P who were activating EA2/BI-055. Then a call from JA1QVR which came as something of a surprise. Allen VK3HRA called in from Victoria and the final call of the day, Garry VK6GLX in Perth.
Finishing up with 14 VK’s on a band I couldn’t buy a contact on for almost an hour, made this a fine couple of hours radio. As ever, thanks for being there VK and of course thanks for the spots.
.
Thanks also to EU for perservering on what was a pretty poor 20m band.
Just 30 contacts made this morning
15 EU, 14 VK and one JA worked.
73 Mike
2E0YYY
Hi Mike,
I checked your frequency 14.333 after RRT alerted me. I thought I could hear something. Maybe. I was able to imagine you calling CQ SOTA but in reality it was a negative S/N ratio. I expected the band to improve with a peak around 0700 UTC. After what I hoped was enough time I returned to the shack but could not hear anyone on the frequency. I put out a hopeful call and yes, you came back! Tough going but call signs and reports heard and confirmed. I said I would return in half an hour and check if sigs were better. I was back in the shack a bit before this looking for some wire and heard you call me. Sigs weren’t a whole lot better but a familiar call sign is quite readable at 0 dB s/n . Eventually I understood you wanted to QSY and be spotted if OK. Having retuned you on 14.340 and called in and confirmed it was QRM free at my end I went to spot you. I did not succeed in getting all my spots through today. Some seem to have gone to the next galaxy where no doubt they are causing some excitement. Sorry.
I did manage to work EA2CW/P on SSB and EA2BDS/P on CW.
Considering conditions were down it was a good return.
Now the referendum is over perhaps some of the stations up north might venture out early?
Very few EU stations are on air in the morning before you Mike. It’s an impressive effort. Should your alarm clock ever fail we VK’s will buy a new one for you.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
Ron, Mike,
Today was a beautiful day, plenty of VK QSOs from Ganguren.
Yesterday was Marcial’s birthday, and while sitting late night in front of a couple of beers, we decided to celebrate it making a new early activation today.
Perhaps a bit too early, as at the beginning there wasn’t any trace of chasers, nor EU neither VK. Mike being the unique activator, we tried several times to hear him, without success
Later, the things became more active, and several VK OM’s started to fill Marcial’s log for his plesure. And almost at the end of our 14 mhz band activity, Mike came to us for our only S2S of the day.
But anyway, finally we both filled more than 60 qsos, some of them with well-known VK “sloths”.
No troubles today with antenna or rig, and we again celebrated properly Marcial’s on a near “forest tavern” with some beer&lemon, black pudding and potato omelette.
We must certainly take care of our bodies, wich are becoming older and wasted…
Mainly Marcial’s… 
Thank you all!
Mikel
Hi Mikel and Marcial.
At 0657z I receive a text from a friend to say that you were QRV 14.285. When I visited your QRG, you were too weak to work. After 30 minutes I returned to your frequencey and we made an easy s2s.
FB on your 60 QSO’s, I could only manage 30…
73 Mike
2E0YYY
I forgot the new capability of th reflector…
Here you have a couple of photos of two satisfied goats 
Well done, guys!
The pole looks in perfect shape this time
HPE TO CUAGN SN.
I will be back tomorrow morning at Walton Hill G/CE-002 to try to work some VKs and S2S
I will use a 44’ doublet and hope my 5Watts of cw make it again…
I might QSY around to try to avoid QRN at the other end…I will spot the freq
Alert is in place… Start at 6.30z
73 Angel
Ron VK3AFW and Tony VK3CAT, many thanks for the QRP QSO this morning. Brilliant.
Ron, you were louder this morning than last week - 589 with the doublet. Prop maybe better!
Tony, what gear do you have at your end? beaming LP too?
We need more VKs at the key to balance SSB
Guru EA2IF - fb agn S2S - I had to RIT down - 50-100Hz? and picked you up better. … Might be my ears!
I found a new /P home at Walton Hill…!!! Brilliant WX this morning… was tough to leave!
Full Report hr.
http://m0hdf.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/g-vk-long-path-qrp-sota-activation.html
73 Angel
Hi Angel, yes good to have you in the log. A fair bit of congestion on the lower end of 20 metres this evening. Also quite heavy qrm on HF all day. WX was very sunny so the cause could be solar inverters plus people with nothing better to do than watch their plasma TVs.
Not running anything flash here. 100 watts on CW (can do 400 on phone) with a Yaesu FT-847 and a triband yagi mounted through the roof of the house at 15 metres. Using a Vibroplex paddle. Although I have the 500hz Collins mechanical CW filter fitted, I find the DSP set to 200hz works best with some IF shift for fine tuning.
Timing is everything to get the RX signal peaks to align with QRM troughs!
Our bands are generally not as congested as in EU and thus phone can be widely used without too much issue.
I must say I do get a big kick from cw contacts!
BTW, the sota station consists of a KX3 and a 20 metre double extended zepp doublet. This has provided numerous DX contacts (mostly CW but also some phone) to EU and just a couple to the USA.
CW is not as popular in VK as in Europe. My recent trip to France had the majority of activity on CW. Calling CQ SOTA in CW certainly does not produce the dog piles we hear you getting and thus (speaking for myself) often struggle to maintain concentration working DX as an activator. This may also be due to it being at the end of a long day. My most recent Sota expedition had me walking 7.5 kms with a 525 meter ascent to the summit plus the return of course. I then did a second summit and was able to pick up the start of the EU opening before things got too cold. The expedition prior had me doing 5 summits in the day, driving 450 kilometres and out for 15 hours.50 activation points for the day!
Shack is still much the same at Home and a sota blog of sorts at http://vk3cat.wordpress.com/
Cheers from VK3, Tony VK3CAT
Hi Angel,
Great to get you in the log again. Looks very comfortable.
Conditions were down a bit today - Mike 2E0YYY did not come up to his usual strength. So to get that report from you was a nice surprise. The doublet certainly works well. Tony VK3CAT and Marshall VK3MRG both use similar doublets. I used one for my first S2S with Mike earlier this year but have reverted to a linked dipole to avoid having the tuner…
I did manage to get Gerard F/VK2IO’s attention for a quick QSO - my first VK EU holiday op QSO. Sorry Ed I know you love your work but really you are not on leave in DL land.
Also after a couple of attempts I had a contact with Rafaele IZ5GHD/P which I am also pleased about.
I failed to complete with two VK SSB activators in the last 2 days because I could not copy my signal strength. (5x?) On CW it would have been easily completed. I’m OK with CW provided it isn’t too fast and you don’t want to tell me about the Latin names for the flora and fauna nearly your peak.
Hope to see you in the log book again soon.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
Hi Ron,
Just when you think you’ve got the 20m band licked, it bowls you another googly. My first spot appeared at 0541z, too early for VK over the last week or so. However, Rob VK3EK was more or less straight in with a good signal and he was immediately followed in by another 8 VK’s, including yourself at about 0600z with some who were not as strong as usual.
When things went a bit quite, I went looking for Andrew VK1NAM/P for our s2s sked. Unfortunately, not only was Andrew too weak to work, he was also being battered by QRM. As luck would have it, he QSY’d and we made any easy s2s at about 0735z. That, was more or less that, from VK, with the exception of an unexpected s2s call from PaulVK1ATP/P activating VK1/AC-042 Black Mountain, a unique for me… Thanks Paul.
I did take a look at the 17m band and up popped Matt VK2DAG, dunno how he does it…Cheers Matt, great stuff!
I’ve not done too much VHF over the last year or so and there’s a lot of negatives to consider with Billinge Hill, It’s only 179 Metres ASL and the radio masts are considered bad news for breakthough on VHF. Neverthess, I chucked up the 5/8 over 5/8 Colinear and put out a CQ. The filtering in the Ft-857 easily coped with pager QRM and even more surprising, the 2m take-off was something else. No problem working into Cumbria, Coventry and an excellent 120 mile contact with Allan GW4VPX at his home QTH just outside Camarthen.
While working the 2m band, I recieved two calls to say Gerrard F/VK2IO was looking for me for an s2s on the 20m band. The A-99 was on the ground, so I put it back up in the air, found Gerard on 14.285 for a s2s and a bit of a natter. FB, Gerard, thanks for the 10 points!
What can you say about G/SP-017 Billinge Hill, the smallest summit in the South Pennines? Well it certainly produced some nice HF DX for me and for the VHF junkies, a 2m vertical with some gain, will certainly bring a smile to your face.
Thanks to EU and VK for some great fun this morning.
36 HF contacts 13 VK.
26 2m FM contacts one /MM
5 s2s, two VK, F, EA2 and one Shining Tor on 2m!
73 Mike
2E0YYY
Ron and Tony,
A belated thanks for the QSO’s on Wednesday morning.
I can tell you that I was more than astounded when a VK came back to me as the first contact!
Rig here was, as usual, the ATS4 with 4W to a 40m EFHW.
I’ll try and get up the hills early again soon.
This activation was a flying visit as I was travelling to help my son move house. I only had a window of an hour in total to get from the car to the summit, set up, activate, pack up and get back to the car.
I did it with 2 minutes to spare!
Thanks again guys and looking forward to the next one.
Pete
Hi Pete,
I like the card and the photo details. Well done. Also an excellent return for such a short trip.
Most of us in VK have at least an hours drive to the nearest peak. Add in the walk and station set up and break down plus an operating time and you have made a hole in a morning or afternoon. Although I have done two and three summits in a day some VKs put in the hard work and in a long day can do up to five decent summits. These guys are very fit. I get tired just chasing them!
Looking forward to working you again.
73
Ron
VK3AFW.
Hi Mike,
After working you I went out to put petrol in the car before the price rise (we have a 16 cent price cycle with uncertain period so when possible we fill at or near the cycle minima). Your signal was a bit better when I returned but still not armchair copy for me. Nevertheless you did very well with 13 VK QSOs.
What can you say about G/SP-017 Billinge Hill, the smallest summit in the South Pennines?
Bigger isn’t better?
Looking forward to more EU contacts before local daylight saving pushes the band opening time into my household meal time.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
Tony, thanks for all the info about your gear and cw/ssb
Ron, tnx for the report, gave me a good idea about the conditions last Sun and 2 antennas.
Catch you on the air soon.
73
Angel
Well, when I arrived at G/SP-013 Gun parking spot at about 0515z, it was pitch black. So on with the head torch to make the easy 15 minute walk to the trig point. I was spotted and QRV on the 20m band at 0542. It took 20 minutes to get my first call intto the log, courtesy of Paul VK2KTT and then nothing until Clive MM1YAM called in with a big signal and 350 mile hop from Lairg in Scotland!
It wasn’t until about 0645 when Matt VK1MA made the log, followed in by Tony VK3CAT.
At 0650, five VK’s called in, Ernie VK3DET, Paul VK5PAS with his big signal, Ron VK3AFW, John VK2YW and Andrew VK1NAM. A couple of EU’s called in and then VK3SIM, Simon and Rob VK3EK called me, both with wonderful signals.
Chris VK3AWG wanted the summit, thanks Chris! Then Jim KL7JD from Alaska popped in to say good morning, for our second contact in the last few weeks.
Matt VK2DAG gave me a call and tipped me off that Justin VK2CU wanted an s2s when he’d finished on the 40m band…As ever Matt, many thanks. Rhett VK3WE called for his point and as if by magic I heard “summit to Summit” from Justin. Nice signal Justin, a very easy copy…
Justin was followed by Ken VK3UH and Mike VK6MB, cheers guys. The final VK call of the day was Mike VK3XL. Mike was a huge signal and if your antenna was a wet noodle, you couldn’t have failed to hear him…Great stuff Mike!
That was more or less that for the DX…
A further 18 EU stations were worked including the double summit activated by Franz OE7FMJ/P.
51 Stations worked.
1 North America.
17 VK
33 EU
There’s no doubt the band to VK is opening later and later, so I may just have an extra half hour in bed in future
Thanks to the EU Chasers, for both your calls and patience.
Big, big thanks to the VK Chasers for a magnificent 17 contacts on midweek activation. Radio don’t get much better…
73 Mike
2E0YYY