The VK-NA CW S2S contacts should come before too long, especially from the US west coast. On Jan 14, I made chaser QSOs with VK1DA (20m cw, 559/579) and VK2IO (20m cw: 559/559, 20m SSB: 44/55 and 17m CW: 449/339). These were in the 1900 to 2000z time frame. I was in my home station where the quad at 23 meters is a real plus. It is nice to hear VK CW signals.
The problem for some of us here in NA is the winter weather. It is often more challenging to get to some of the good peaks this time of year. Hopefully soon.
Well it was a very successful weekend of activating - 7 summits in all.
From Mt Bindo VK2/CT-003 made 9 contacts with NA stations - 3 SSB on 20m inc. the S2S with Kevin AC2KL/P and 6 CW on 20m(2)/17m(4). Also notable are the first 160m contacts from a VK summit the previous evening local time - 3 CW and 1 SSB. I used a double-sized ZS6BKW for those contacts. Expect there will be VK S2S attempts on 160m soon…
The following UTC afternoon at VK2/CT-012 tried again to make more NA contacts. This time made 7 CW contacts using 20m(4)/17m(1)/15m(2). No SOTA operators in NA were heard.
Very happy with the outcome.
I shall keep trying for the elusive NA CW S2S so there’ll be more overnighting on summits for those early morning starts
Thanks Andrew VK1DA for getting the ball rolling and for the S2S and contest contacts. Quite an ordeal with the WX you had setting up. Glad you were able to participate.
Thanks all chasers!
Interesting, I used to use a normal-sized one at home at 17m high and loved it. The matching section of ladder-line is longer than your mast is high. Do you bend it 90 degrees at the base and try to keep it off the ground?
There were two antennas using separate 10m squid poles. The double-sized was used for 160m contacts. The matching section is over 22m long so I set up the pole about 10m away from the tent and ran the feedline across the thistles and long grass to keep it off the ground.
I used a standard one for our contact, Kevin. Set that up against the trig point a few metres away from the tent. 11m feedline is only just long enough to reach the radio. Have one at home too!
My weather problems were eventually overcome but I would have liked to find more opportunities (matching my alerts) to get onto HF bands that weekend.
It’s a dilemma when VHF is producing such interesting contacts.
We have discussed other aspects of the operation offline from this site.
What you have done is demonstrate to us all how feasible an S2S is in the mornings, so you can be sure there will be others following your example.
A post here and an alert on sotawatch is recommended. Looks like 14 is still the band of choice, but as sunspots decline, 10 mhz and 7 mhz need to be considered too. I made a perfectly good CW contact with a W7 on 40m a month or two ago, around 0900 UTC, 10w to a linked dipole at my end. I was not on a summit, just at a local WWFF park.
The facebook group SOTA Activations does carry some discussion but I always request that SOTA operators treat SOTAWATCH as the source of truth for SOTA ops.
Do you worry about coupling between the two antennas since they’re probably close to each other? Do you have to have a termination load on the one you’re not using? Anyone who operates with multiple antennas on a peak is welcome to chime in.
Some photos from the five summits I activated on (local) Sunday are now up. The link is also up on the facebook group. SOTA from Mt Bindo area
Cheers,
Gerard - VK2IO
The two antennas were pretty much perpendicular to each other and a minimum of a few metres apart. When one antenna was in use the other one was unterminated. In any case they are non-resonant by design.
I’m not the same Andrew, so I am not answering for Andrew VK1DA. Back in Nov 16 I volunteer as the VK rep for the organisation of a VK - NA S2S event.
I am waiting for Paul W6PNG to get back to me with a proposed date and UTC timings. Paul was planning a broader discussion with W AMs to gauge interest in a VK - NA S2S event. I’m unsure of what’s happening on your side.
I am prepared to stay on Mt Ginini VK1/AC-008 on the evening of 11 March 17, following the VK. - EU S2S activity, to test a propagation path on 14, 18 and 21 MHz.
I will have 1/2 wave J-Pole vertical antennas assembled on each of 20, 17 and 15m bands.
What is your preferred UTC window to attempt a S2S SSB QSO with me on Mt Ginini on Saturday 11 March 17?
My calendar is open on 11 Mar so far (the xyl might change that), so there’s a chance I could be on a summit. I’d probably use a ZS6BKW and could do 15-17-20m-SSB @ 100W. For UTC pref, your dawn and the NA afternoon worked last time.
John VK6NU was suggesting going out late to try for short path contacts into Europe, not sure if he might also be out long enough to try for VK6-NA as well? - John any comments?
Ed.
EDIT: - this conversation has moved to a new thread here:
