Second NA<>EU S2S Event

Some of you in Europe seemed to have better luck with propagation !
On this side of the pond not as good.

I finally got some pictures up for all to view here on my blog:
http://va2mo.blogspot.ca/

73 :relieved:
VA2MO

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Mark (NK8Q) and I arrived at our first summit quite late (even though I left home before 5am)… we were not in the favor of the propagation gods and all through the day pretty much struggled to make CW contacts around the US. We ended up activating four summits including one first activation. The weather was cool and with plenty of Drizzle most of the day… but for our last activation we did see the sun and enjoyed a nice hike.
I didn’t log any S2S, but I know Mark logged some DX and one or two S2S later in the day.

Little Pine Mtn (First activation) W3/PW-027
Sugar Camp Mtn W3/PW-039
Narrow Mtn W3/PW-043
Keller Reservoir W3/PW-046

Richard // N2GBR


Mark NK8Q keeping his KX3 safely covered from the weather.

Richard N2GBR, enjoying the view on the last Summit of the day…

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Zip here in Arizona from Europe from my 8300 ft summit. May is not a good month for Western USA to Europe, but it was still fun to try.

I made about 65 QSO’s overall, with 14 s2s contacts stateside. Best non-SOTA DX was an E51 (Cook Islands) who I chased just to see if I could work him.

Monitored 6M all day, but no love, and no ES skip.

73

Pete
W7A
Arizona

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I think that embodies the general sentiment Pete. I certainly enjoyed trying and had some success. Like Colin M1BUU, I felt conditions were not that bad, though from my perspective, the propagation certainly swung away from North America around to the east during the four hours spent on the summit.

First off I must apologise for being slightly late arriving at the party, especially as it was I who sent out the invitations!. The itinerary was fine in principle, but I hadn’t allowed sufficient time for setting up the shelter that was needed as a heavy rain shower arrived at the summit just as we did. There was also the saga of the missing adaptor for the morse key, such that I had to borrow Paul’s key… he earned the “KItchen Sink” award on this outing. :grinning:

Many thanks to Pedro CT1DBS/P for the first QSO and S2S. After our QSO I moved up a few kHz and called CQ and enjoyed a decent run, with Matt KA1R making QSO number 5. It took a couple of goes to get Matt’s call as there was a lot of “exuberant” calling over the top, or everyone had a K in their callsign. As well as the contact with Matt, the highlights were contacts with Andrew K5QR, Rich N4EX, Bill W4HBK and the only trans-Atlantic S2S which was with Mike NS1TA.

I moved to SSB and concentrated on trying to work S2S, but with only a slow and very intermittent internet connection I could not make much progress other than to self-spot blind using the SMS facility on Rucksack. I did try a brief period on 17m, working Andy G6PJZ/P on nearby Black Combe G/LD-030 on SSB and Rich N4EX (again) and Ivo I5XX on CW. After a while I returned to 20m to find Kevin AC2KL in QSO, but affected by heavy QRM from a European close to the frequency. I worked two more EU S2S and then decided to call CQ in the hope that I would be picked up by NA stations, but sadly it was not to be. However another 3 EU S2S made the log.

At 15:00z I started on PSK31, but it was evident that conditions were moving east rapidly through JN, KN, KO squares to LN and LO. The only recognisable chaser was SO9EWA. The datamodes kit (first time out) worked perfectly without a hitch, though I found the Samsung N310 screen a little hard to read, especially as I often could not find the mouse pointer! :unamused:

Before the battery packs eventually expired I set up for 2m SSB and phoned Don G0RQL. Unfortunately by that time any potential contacts were probably preparing to sit down for the evening meal, so only Derek 2E0MIX was worked. It was certainly a case of too much to do and not enough time.

Summary:

NA S2S - NS1TA
NA Chasers - KA1R, K5QR, N4EX (20m and 17m), W4HBK
EU S2S (CW) - CT1DBS/P, F5LKW/P
EU S2S (SSB) - G1FOA/P, SV2OXS/P, IW2OBX/P, G6PJZ/P, EA2IF/P, SV2HJW/P, YO2SSB/P, HB9GKR/P, F4ESK/P

20m CW : 22
20m SSB - 11
20m PSK31 - 9
17m CW - 2
17m SSB - 1
2m SSB - 2
Total - 47

My grateful thanks go to everyone that turned out for the event. I really do appreciate the effort that you have all made and hope that you all enjoyed your activations despite the indifferent conditions.

73, Gerald G4OIG

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It was my pleasure, Pedro.
Thank you too for the S2S. As you have probably seen, you were not only my first S2S but also my very first QSO of the day.

No doubt, Gerald @G4OIG. Despite the poor propagation conditions, not favouring trans-Atlantic S2S, I enjoyed very much the activation and it was very nice for me to log so many S2S from Europe.
I’ll surely try to participate in other possible future events.

73,

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T’was hard going for DX, from G/CE-002 Walton Hill, QSB was a pain. Nicked one s2s into North America, before I had to leave after about 6 hours, just before the EU/NA party got into full swing.

Failed to work John VK6NU who was activating Mt.Cooke VK6/SW-031. Shame as John was hearing me no problem and this would have given me a s2s on three continents for the activation.

Maybe next time…

Mike
2E0YYY

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It was fun, thanks again to those organising it.
I must apologise for going QRT soon after starting,but the audio I was getting out of the newly repaired rig was quite awful… Perhaps I should have checked all the menu items before venturing out :wink: Many thanks in particular to KA1R who I must have asked to repeat his callsign way too many times :frowning: By the time I had it sorted out there appeared to be no more callers on the frequency so sorry if I missed anyone there.
Thanks to all the callers afterwards, on 20m, 18m and 2m, just the one na s2s with NS1TA, so thanks for that, and the few UK and EU ones too, very welcome.
Weather started off rather gloomy and damp, but cleared up quite nicely towards the end.

The final bit of the path up to the folly on Callow Hill G/WB-015

Antenna near the folly, operating position on the nice seats just to the right of this picture.

Don
m0hcu

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Thanks for staying on Mike to take part in the event. Shame about not working John. That certainly would have been something.

I think Mike might have the monopoly on EU S2S contacts, probably conditions working for him, but not for others slightly further away. I wonder if anyone else Stateside worked (or heard someone) across the pond.

73, Gerald G4OIG

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Hello Firends.
For the event i went to F/CR-142
I did 19 s2s - That’s a great day. I had to back home before 05:00 pm then i couldn’t stay any longer for NA s2s.
I heard NS1TA, we were on the same QRG (14.063 Mhz). I called him so many time but with all chasers no luck.
I will try next event :wink:
I want you thanks for QSO and fun
73 QRO

  • s2s:

OK1DO/P - OK8DF/P - OK2BDF/P - EA/OE6WIG/P - DL2DXA/P (GMA) - OE/IW3AGO/P - SV2OXS/P - EA6/ON7DQ/P - OK2PDT/P - OE/OK1WS/P - DL6FBK/P - EA/PB2T/P - M1BUU/P - CT1DBS/P - DL2XL/P - G4OIG/P - F4ESK/P

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An excellent total Roger. Many thanks for the call. :grinning:

73, Gerald G4OIG

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Yes Gérald !
You were my last s2s on HF.
Your signal was so strong for QRP on 20 meters.
73 QRO

Well Roger, I was not QRP as I was running 30W output from my FT-857D to my 20/17m vertical. Maybe call it QRP+, Hi. :wink:

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Well done all and thanks to the EU activators who braved the elements on this fine event. I had the luck of fair weather here in Maine and was able to stay on Streaked Mountain W1/AM-074 for two hours. Started on 14.063 mhz hoping I would run into F5LKW and pounce at an S2S but heard nothing on that frequency on this side of the pond. Starting calling cq and worked mostly US stations and HB9CGA on 20 m cw. Got a few more contacts on SSB - really worked hard to make the QSO with Esther GI0AZA on 20 m SSB. Looked for my EU SOTA brothers on 20 m SSB after checking the spots but heard nothing. I knew there was a SOTA activator on 20 m by the pile up of EU QRO stations but the SOTA station was too weak to copy on my end. Moved on up to 17 m and thats when I heard Colin M1BUU call me back from Penn-y-Ghent. A look at my log and it appears that 17 m was most productive for EU contacts with 20 m close behind. It seemed that I heard many more stations from all over Europe on 17 m. Many thanks to the chasers and the activators for the effort on Saturday. Tally looked like this from NS1TA in Maine:
S2S - M1BUU Colin wins the longest distance award in my log for any S2S - 3209 miles!
M0HCU
G4OIG
ND9Q - my first only PSK31 QSO ever in 40 years a ham and it was an S2S!
AE5KA - also in Maine
Equipment here was a KX-3 running 10 watts into a EFHW on an 8 meter telescopic mast and the wire sloping to the NE. I use a trap EFHW for 20-17-15 meters as it gives me the agility to change bands quickly without having to get up, put the rig down, connect a link and sit back down again. It was easy to go from 20 to 17 and back to 20 m with the EU spots.
Thanks again to all. I do appreciate the opportunity here to build camaraderie around the world with such fine people!
73 Mike NS1TA

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F/CR-142 - View
Mike next time we will try s2s.

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Yes Roger looking forward to it!

Diaries out - Saturday 18th November 2017, 1300 - 1700z (subject to check nearer the time, but it worked okay last November)…

Now all I need is a summit… oh my, the temptation to activate G/DC-008 before November is very strong since my daughter lives only a few miles away. The alternative for the event might be a day trip to northern France. Anyway, I will be looking out for you again Mike, hopefully to bag another summit in the Appalachian Mountains. Unfortunately I missed you on W1/AM-038 last November.

73, Gerald G4OIG

I got to my summit (W9/WI-010, Blue Mounds, WI) a little later than planned, but that turned out to be a good thing as there were some light showers just leaving the area as I arrived. It was a bit cool (52F) when I set up, but managed to get up to 74F when I left a few hours later. It turned out to be a beautiful day in the park, despite the poor propagation conditions.

Equipment was an FT-857d with a 28ah battery, a Chromebook running Linux for digital modes, a quad-band EFHW for 40, 20, 15, and 10m, and a buddipole vertical for 17m.

Since I’ve activated this summit a few times this year, and I don’t have anything set up at home, I took this opportunity to chase as much as possible, while still digitally calling CQ when things were slow. I didn’t hear any EU stations, and didn’t get much from many NA stations either, though I did manage S2S with NS1TA on 20m BPSK-31, as well as AE7AP on 20m SSB. I also worked a regular SOTA chaser, VA6FUN, on 17m JT65.

I also took the opportunity to send out a few WSPR beacons on 20m, 17m, and 15m. Between BPSK-31, JT65, and WSPR, the only signal of mine that managed to hit a skimmer in Europe was a single 5w WSPR beacon on 17m. This one made it into France for a distance of a little over 6700km.

Maybe better luck next time.

-Doug, ND9Q

Looking forward to the next event Gerald!

Thx for the PSK31 s2s Doug!

Most of the US will be off Daylight Savings Time so adjust local times accordingly.
For me, it will be EST so UTC-5 hours.