S2S - Distance records

My personal s2s ODX is my only (so far) VK S2S qso, with VK3HRA/P on April 25 2015, long path 20 m cw. YU/CS-043 to VK3/VC-024, 24.749 km according to VOACAP.

I was using MTR v2, 5 W. Allen was also qrp (according to his blog), I do not know what rig though.
Allen has an MTR v2 also, but I guess he was using his FT817 this time.

73 Fric YU1WC

Sorry folks but I thought the idea of SOTA was:-

An award scheme for radio amateurs that encourages portable operation in mountainous areas.

Not to see who could get the farthest on the lest number of watts

Peter
G1FOA

Well, give them some time to reflect on their past achievements at least. In the next year or so this will become increasingly more difficult to achieve.

I have done it VK <=> GW s2s, it was marginal splattered in QRM. Exchanged reports…gone !
All I remember was getting very cold that morning and increasingly more irritated with 20m.

Much prefer to relax on 15/17m in the evening talking to the Americans and learn something about their way of life in the hobby - each to their own I suppose.

Jonathan

It is Peter. And one of the obvious things anyone will check on when running a “man-carried” portable station is does it work well or not? The easiest way to check if your portable station is any good is to see if you can work similar portable stations the other side of the world.

Some people will be happy with an S2S GM - VK S2S. (These are typically the longest S2S paths workable from GM, insert your own antipode). Some people will want that on CW or Data or QRP or homebrew. Some will want the longest and they will need to find a pair of summits with the greatest separation, arrange to climb their summit and get someone to climb the other summit, do that at a suitable time and see if they can have a QSO. It’s taking portable operation towards a limit and as Jonathan points out, this will get harder and harder as we drop down the solar cycle.

Or you can do what Jacques did yesterday… his first overseas activation with a 2m handy on FM. Just as much fun.

1 Like

Wouldn’t a GM - ZL contact be further? Still waiting for my first ZL SOTA contact.

73 Ed.

Hello,
although I enjoy with every single S2S contact no matter where the activator is, it is true S2S with VK-ZL are especially rewarding.

I have just done it twice in my activation history.
Thanks a proposal of 9H4RH, a special EU to VK event was organized last April 25th 2015. That day I grabbed 5 S2S with VK being the longest distance these two:

  • 14 MHz Mode CW, VK3JBL/P on VK3/VC-016, 22844 km = 14195 mi
  • 14 MHz Mode SSB, VI6ANZAC on VK6/SW-039 25519 km = 15857 mi

My rig FT-817 @ 5 watts and End Fed vertical half wave antenna.

VK3JBL/P used FT-817 @ 5 watts and a GP vertical ant.
VI6ANZAC (VK6NU op.): FT-857 @ 40 watts and a Half square ant.

Look forward for further chances of such an event, a good way to test new antennas and check band condition.
VY 73 de Ignacio

Ps: info on that event here:

Peter,

SOTA is what it is, no matter how we get the fun out of it.
If my fun is reaching far with 5 watts, I am not operating against SOTA rules, am I?

The fun in SOTA activations is a personal thing of each activator, as long as it does not conflict with SOTA rules and SOTA spirit. Be it reaching far with minimal power, having a chat after a long hike, collecting activator points, being heard at all with homebrew equipment, squeezing the most of a PF3 battery, working S2S with an fellow activator, being on the other side of the pile-up, or simply joining two passions: radio and mountains.

For me, the greatest thrill is not the DX contact, but the fact that with my litttle rig, tuner and antenna, all homebrew, I am being heard at all, anywhere, no matter how far.

73 Fric YU1WC

2 Likes

Not sure Ed. I though the true UK antipode was in between VK and ZL ( is that the Tasman Sea??) So both ZL and VK contacts are asymptotic and so similar distances. I maybe mistaken.

There’s where it is for G/SP-015!

Hi Ignacio

I just looked at my info for the activation. The Callsign was VI6ANZAC not VK6ANZAC and I was using a FT-857 and power was 40 Watts and a half square antenna on 20 metres.

73

John VK6NU

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Wouldn’t a GM - ZL contact be further? Still waiting for my first ZL SOTA contact.

73 Ed

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You would have though so Ed.

If we’re talking short path, I suspect Rob G7LAS and myself, may have a reasonable claim for the longest SOTA contact achieved, working Bryan ZL3XDJ, a distance of 11795 miles (18982Km) from G/CE-004 Bardon Hill last year.

73 Mike
2E0YYY

1 Like

Thanks for the point John, right, call and data updated in my post.
Thanks! 73

That said perfectly !

Jonathan

Yes, Mike very good. But not QRP and not S2S I believe… or am I wrong?

73 de Phil

PS

DX wise Mike you have beaten me using QRO if that what you used.

MY QRO QSO was with ZL2IFB Gary (Fixed DX Station) in Loc RF80HL.

I was on Suzleklamspitze OE/TI-628 LOc JN57pk on 20m CW (23/07/12 1528z) short path distance is 11524 miles (18545 Km). FT-857 running 30 watts to an inverted vee dipole.

73 Phil

This may be a stupid question…if you are using a vertical antenna or a dipole how do you know that you are working LP or SP? With a beam easy to figure out…
Night night
Mike

Hi everyone,
Just my input into the debate.
On the 20/04/2013 , I worked Andrew VK2UH in QF45LD at 07:03 UTC from St Boniface Down SE-008, using my newly built MTR 2. This was my first qso on this rig, and Andrew also answered my first CQ call. It was powered from a PP3 battery, the antenna was a 1/4 wave vertical, with 4 elevated radials. I estimate no more than 2 Watts output at 9v.

Distance was approx 10,592 miles Short Path … or 14,264 Long path ?

I must state, this was not a S2S.

73
Rob G0PEB

3 Likes

By using your knowledge of physics and propagation. Some places are such that the LP and SP are very unlikely to both work at the same time unless conditions are really special. So you can assume using a prediction program that if it says LP no SP yes, then a QSO was SP.

When you get both the sound is amazing. CW can be unreadable due to echos and reverberation effects.

My s2s logs are about 9 months behind, Phil. However, according to what’s in the Database, my longest s2s contact, is with Matt VK1MA//P2 a distance of 17164Km,10665 miles. Working from GW/NW-041, Y Golfa, with the Antron-99 and about 40 watts. Possibly the longest s2s would be VK/GM?

73 Mike

Tom,

It’s meaningless to use the short path distance if the contact was long path.

If you only have the short path distance then the long path distance is approx 40,075 km - short path km.

73
Ron