Managed a WSPR ping on VK1AHH at 1929 UTC today on 30 meters, so there’s hope for tomorrow. Bands certainly not at their best, however. Nothing but 30m was reaching out significantly.
Bruce - WB8OGK
Andrew
Will be looking for you from the home QTH in Maine. It will be intersting to see how the band conditions play out and which of the antennas you deploy work best. Good luck working NA!
73
Mike NS1TA
at 1839Z I was copying VK6NC s4 on 14054.7 via long path to NY
but no copy on VK1AD on 12m, 17m, or 15m (3-el SteppIR @ 60ft)
@VK1AD
You were right at my noise level (I could hear voices but not make anything out… of course it could have been the strange accent… :)…) when you were on 12m at my home station… listening with a K3S and a NW-SE positioned Dipole at @55ft.
N2GBR // Richard
Andrew
Congrats on making the VK-NA S2S haul with Paul W6PNG in California! That had been a goal of mine while in Cali but the move to Maine put another 3K miles in the way. Will keep trying but I suspect it will most likely happen via CW given the band conditions. I listened for you on 17m but no copy here in Maine on 18.142. Congrats again Andrew!
73
Mike NS1TA
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Andrew and I made contact on 12,15 and 17m from So Cal to Canberra.
Thanks Andrew for suggesting this and I’m game for more “research” in the future.
Paul W6PNG
Eureka! I worked Andrew solid 52 copy both ways on 14.310MHz 2015Z, beaming long path (3-el SteppIR @ 60ft)
Thanks Andrew! Congrats on a nice job from the summit - that was 23775km path length.
73, Barry N1EU
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Had my ears stuck out a mile, but no copy here. Thought I heard some stuff down at the noise level a couple of times.
Congrats on your successful S2S contacts, Andrew!
Bruce - WB8OGK
Listened on all spotted frequencies on 12, 17, 15 and 20 metres - no surprises - nothing heard over here in Germany.
Great to hear you made several contacts with Paul in Cal. though. Was Paul out /P as there’s a comment about an S2S but I never saw a spot for Paul.
Were you out just to work Andrew, Paul? Well done indeed if these were all S2S contacts!!
Looking at WSPRNet, 20m should have been best for VK-NA.
40metres “might” have been possible for VK - to some of the big EU stations.
73 Ed DD5LP.
I was portable at a peak in Laguna beach and I setup my Buddipole and used my K2 at around 50 watts.
I went up expressly to help Andrew determine if contacts could be made and we arranged ahead of time to use WhatsApp as our back channel. As such I didn’t spot!!
Paul W6PNG
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Well done on the contact!
Ed.
Congratulations Paul and Andrew.
Hopefully this will encourage more research 
Andrew VK3JBL
Photos from Mt Taylor VK1/AC-037 below.
Woke at 4:30 am for breakfast, left home at 05:15 am for a 10 minute drive to the base of Mt Taylor. The ascent is 2 km taking 25 minutes to walk.
Although I planned to be ready at 06:30 am (19:30 UTC) I found myself ready to go at 19:15 UTC with 15 min to spare. I sent Paul a ‘Ready’ message via WhatsApp.
First S2S QSO with Paul W6PNG was on 15m 21.310 at 19:19 UTC for a 5-2 each way. I believe our S2S SSB QSO is the first VK - NA S2S exchange. After a short QSO on 15m we moved to 12m 24.955 for what was a struggle to complete a 4-1 and 5-2 exchange. With 15 and 12m in the bag we tried 17m 18.142 MHz for a 5-2 and 5-1 exchange 
In addition to working Paul S2S on W6/SC-369 other chaser QSOs included: On 18.142 MHz Jack W7CNL, Gerard VK2IO/P. On 21.280 Mark VK1EM. On 14.310 - 14.345 Barry N1EU, Warren ZL2AJ, Phil NS7P and Matt VK1MA. Phil NS7P mentioned he also heard my signal on 18.142 MHz.
My station: Yaesu FT-857 @ 50 watts. Antennas: Inverted V linked dipole and mono band J-Poles.
My contacts with Paul were made on the mono band J-Poles, I did listen for Paul on 21 MHz, switching between the Inverted V and the 15m J-Pole. The J-Pole with less background noise had 2 S units over the Inverted V. All 20m QSO were made on the Inverted V Linked dipole. I simply didn’t have time to hoist the 20m J-Pole. Next time I will start with the 20m J-Pole installed then work my way up to 17m, 15m and 12m, although 12m was certainly less effective than 17 and 15m.
A final mention to Compton VK2HRX/p on VK2/CT-006 for the S2S from Bonfire Hill. Thanks Compton.
Photos in order of time taken. You can see the UTC time on the clock face.
2nd operator is Harry.
Thanks Paul for taking up the opportunity to work a local W6 summit, I am so pleased with the outcome, you have made my day. I am happy to pursue more VK <> NA S2S opportunities 
73, Andrew VK1AD
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Hi Andrew,
Congratulations on achieving what you set out to do. Good planning, good coordination, the right equipment and antenna. We will follow your lead.
73
Andrew VK1DA/VK2UH
I was “local” to Andrew VK1AD about 100KM to the North on Bonfire Hill VK2/CT-006 hoping to tag along with some S2S’s. I used a linked dipole and an FT 857 D ant 100W and heard nothing on15M and 20m on the spotted frequencies. I considered the band dead. Around 8:30AM local it was like a switch was pressed and Andrew changed from a 3/3 on 40m to 59+. I suspect the difference in the 15m and 20 m to the USA was the J pole Vs my dipole.
I’ll be up for the next one.
Compton
VK2HRX
Andrew VK1AD was using a dipole on 20m.
well done! you had an antenna farm there!
Hi Tasos
Yes, two telescopic fibreglass poles 7m and 10m. The 7m pole, closest in the picture is supporting a homebrew linked Inv V dipole for 6/10/15/20/30/40m. You can aee the links in the picture. On this ocassion the 10m pole was used to support homebrew mono band 1/2 wave wire J-Pole antennas. The J-Pole change over period is around 4 min.
My backpack plus two poles weighed in at 13 kg. This was a walk up ‘heavy’ activation.
73 Andrew VK1AD
I can easily see the weight! Before my kx3 i did one activation with my 587d… i can sympathise! And i dodnt use lipo batteries back then!!
The plus was the in england the usual hill is 200m heheheh
Very good job lads!
It is interesting to consider what constitutes “heavy” for the average activator. I think you managed to be very conservative there Andrew, especially with two poles to carry. The 857D alone weighs 2.1kg. There is always the temptation to put things into the backpack just in case you might need them. This not just affects a single activation, it creeps up on you over time and I find a review every so often is beneficial.
Like Tasos, I have done “heavy” activations. Back in the bad old days of SLA batteries, aluminium poles and aluminium VHF antennas, I managed to haul in excess of 20kg up a summit (4.5km each way, 310m of ascent), but ten years on I know better. Even so I managed to accrue over 15kg of weight on the NA-EU S2S event, though that did include a certain amount of additional kit to ensure that I qualified the summit. I didn’t fancy a repeat trip of 440 miles - failure to qualify was not an option.
Many thanks for the detailed report and well done on achieving the contacts with Paul - most inspiring. Hopefully this will develop into a full VK-NA S2S event some time in the near future.
73, Gerald G4OIG
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