In reply to 2E0YYY:
Hello Mike
I did look today at other bands (17,15,12,10 & 6)- basically noise.
When the NE QSO Party was on the other day I worked about six stations in the evening to see how I could be heard and the propagation was really strange, from 51-59 in seconds. I thought at one point I had a dodgy connection somewhere. I didn’t! Anyway…
Mike G6TUH
In reply to DF2GN:
same here mike,
i monitored 24.963 ssb for a time long, but no chance for s2s with you
today
The 12m band was very difficult, Klaus. I managed to work one PU station but failed to make contact with a big Japanese station JR1XIS. He was working with 1kW. He heard the YYY part of my call but could not hear my prefix 
Maybe we can make a 12m s2s when the band conditions improve.
73 Mike
2E0YYY
Hi all,
later i´m on the way to do some other things in the area of plettenberg summit.i´m not sure how long it takes, but after that i do a quick jump onto dm/bw-046 plettenberg. the road is not closed anymore. its another test of my multiband vertical. in addition to this triple leg i want to set up a 42m endfeeded halfwave wire with also multiband tuner. i want to try a second antenna for my higher bands activations to have a good antenna for nearer chasers. i hope it works for nvis. the wire is only 2-3 m up in the trees.so i do some antenna switches by calling cq or in rx mode. maybe i do some tests on 40 and 20m ssb. if the conditions the same as yesterday i are more on 40m. pse have a look on me on 24mhc, i will spot or rbn catch me 
at the end of the activation i plan to do a very interesting test for me on 40m. i want to lay the 42m wire as a loop directly on the gras or a few centimeters above ground on bushes. never done this before, so pse give me a second call later if you here me with this antenna laying on the ground.
vy 73 es cu later, klaus
In reply to DF2GN:
Hi Klaus,
it looks your antennas work well. Just worked you on 10 MHz with pretty strong sigs. Even I don´t know which ant did you used I guess you can be satisfied. Now you are booming on 7 mHz as well. Which one did you used ?
73 and thanks for the points !
Vrata OK1KT
In reply to OK1KT:
Hi Vrata,
thanks nice qso also. i looked at the logbook. at the time we had qso teh antenna was a inv.L ,a endfeeded 42mtr wire as elhw between two trees with a horizontal part at about 15-20mtr high.
vy 73 es cu agn Klaus DF2GN
Hi all,
as most chasers know my goal in sota is to work as many chasers as i can on different bands and modes. but sota is grown. on my last 8 qrp sota activations i made 968 qso´s with fullsize antennas. not bad for qrp. but every activation took me about 3 hours operating time. so i will add some monoband activations ( or higher bands only,lower bands only ) in future. more for my own fun ;-), just to have a short “after work” walk and do some qso´s and enjoy the nature. when i have a bit more time i will add a longwire as second antenna for low bands…but only if time.
planned for next weeks is a 160/80m activation with two antennas. one of the antennas is a fullsize inv.V. supported by a 30m tree…it would be nice that another activator from dm/bw or hb9 will read this and maybe want to do a joint activation. not ever easy to set up this antennas alone.
also planned some “after work” activations with a small tripple leg for 15-10m bands. maybe i can add some activity to the 12m challenge. lets see whats possible on 12m with qrp only. and i will stay qrp only 
but i think on the low bands 80 to 160m band a little amp was a great help…
on the last rainy days i build also a new antenna for 12m. i decided to build a bi square antenna. i hope it will work ok. the big plus is that i can use a bisquare as a folded dipole on other bands down to 40m. i also have a link at the top to close the bisquare to use as a loop on 20 and 17m. i take a 13m fiber mast to set up.
in moment i have many work and little time for sota, but the wx is also very bad.heavy rain an rain since days…and sfi ? maybe it will raising up again ?
vy 73 and hope to see you again soon
Klaus
Hi all,
first thanks to NA Chaser who gives me a call today and some nice dx in my log. also thanks to european chasers who stayed a bit longer at the radios to work me on DM/BW-228.
think i was to late today , activity was very low…maybe its to late to do sota for most chasers.
i was out for another night activation today 30.June on DM/BW-228 only to test a new antenna that was complete homebrewed. it was a test of a homemade air isolated 
symetric feeder line.i done it the cheap way , but i don´t know the english word for the material of the spacers. electricans use it very often
the setup was at sunrise so i decided only to go up to abt. 10mtrs with the feedpoint because the set down at night time then. the antenna was 2 x 13,5 mtrs long with a link at 5mtrs on both sides for better performance on higher bands. the feeding line have also a length from 13 mtrs. with my z-match the antenna working on 160-10mtr. but on 160m you can´t win a contest with this ant its more a bigger dummy load.i only tried if its possible to tune it with my z-match…on 80-30mtr the signals was very strong and also the received rapports was very good. on the higher bands i was very happy about the north american chasers who called me on 20m band. mostly very nice reports for my qrp signal at SFI 102 / SN 67.
the next activation at this place and also at the same time i will do at friday this week and especialy i will look for NA. maybe i try at this qth a halfwave vertical or a loop horizontal pol. i like this qth. the antenna was only 2mtrs away from the cliffs. a few steps behind the antenna it goes 200mtrs down into direction north west.
i have took some photos with my phone, so the quality is not the best…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36645961@N00/9179761788/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36645961@N00/9179760902/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36645961@N00/9177542039/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36645961@N00/9177541453/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36645961@N00/9179757234/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36645961@N00/9179813524/lightbox/
vy 73 Klaus DF2GN
In reply to DF2GN:
Hi Klaus,
What a nice pictures! Lovely nature!
Tks for the many contact. Now i understand why your are often after yr work in the air.
All yr antennes worked nice!
"See"you on the band.
73, Sake.
Hi all,
had a nice last night on dm/bw-228. the V-beam works very good
had a lot of two way qrp qso´s to stateside with really nice sigs…
the antenna at beginning was a 2x40m v-beam slightly inverted from the feedpoint to the ground. the opening of the the two wires was about 50° to direction 300°.this antenna works fb. also made a few qso´s on 160,80,40 and 30m. on 160m i had a nice qso with UX0DA…not bad for 5 wtts qrp and a vswr at abt. 1:2.5…don´t know why i had problems with the antenna on top band. maybe i add some more feeding next time. but i´m not often qrv on top band in summer months.but i will try some nvis at daylight on 80 and 160m next weeks if time.
after the test i changed the wires to 2x20m to same direction north america and made my next qso´s on 20m…the antenna works then more as ufb !! at this time not many sota chasers come back to my calls on 14.057 cw , but rbn shows me many good spots in north america, also to the west coast. so i decided to go on 14.060 like in old days and calls cw qrp 
and this was the best thing last night. i had done many 2 way qrp qso´s to stateside,some of them had only wire antennas…thanks all who called in !
next antenna project is a 10m bisquare. this antenna i can use on 20m as a loop with two feedpoints ( vert/hor. ) and on 40m as folded dipole. first i planned to build one bisquare for 12m band, but this is not good for other bands. so i will built it for 10m. i like this band later i go on a local summit to built it. wx is fine. i take a second antenna, a longwire 40m endfeeded with me as backup to switch this antennas to see the difference on lower bands…
cu from the summits
Klaus DF2GN , not so much activity last time…the work have me back
here the rbn-spots with 5watts cw. good to have N5XL again in log as two way qrp. long time no contact…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36645961@N00/9238536580/lightbox/
vy 73 Klaus DF2GN
whats next ?? i had build most antennas…going qro ? building a small amp for ssb ? mhhh… but then many qso´s are not the 2 way qrp´s
In reply to DF2GN:
Klaus,
Amazing! I was very happy to make contact with you again! I was just about to ask you what kind of antenna you were using and I now see that you were experimenting with a 2 element wire beam for 20M.
On this end, I was also using a 2 element 20M wire beam that I put in a fixed position specifically for EU.
As you know, its difficult to work DL from this part of NA and I am always happy when we can make contact. It seems our SOTA friends on the east coast of NA have it a bit easier time to make DL contacts with you. I listened to several of them (N1EU, N4EX) make contact with you initially. Hummelsberg is a very good location for you.
Klaus, you continue to amaze me with being up all night activating and going out the next day to do it again!
vy 73 my friend…
Dave
N5XL
In reply to N5XL:
Hi Dave, today on bw-228 i also had a few weak rbn spots on the east coast. but very weak… the night acctivations i do, i do only on a few safe summits with flat tops and a large activation zone. for me nothing special,because sometimes its only a after work fun activation. and i really like this qrp dx. hope the sfi will going up a bit next time, so we can try again at daytimes here. sometimes not easy to set up in dark,but its ok with a good headlamp.
but the mean reason that i´m often on local summits at all times is that i haven´t a shack ok, many shack´s very close to my home around here. i have abt. 20 sota summits here only 30min away from my home.i´m often on the summits , sometimes only to do some cw qrp and to enjoy the nature and the fresh air. at home i´m only a swl with my perseus sdr and a small indoor active loop. mainly i listen to cw qso´s at all speeds. at home i also make a bit training in hscw…but not very usefull on the qrg, sometimes at callsigns only it sounds a bit as rtty
and on the summits i can play with antennas and heights for that many amateurs have no place…me included.so i can do dx with my qrp setup…thats fine. and the frequencys are so clean…no electric qrm from plasmas,plc etc…but i don´t want to find the best antenna for me…its only for my fun to work the bands with different antennas and to build them…think i´m stay portable only
tomorrow i had another summit on the list for an activation. but after i arrived at home from today´s bw-228 activity …oh no… one small bag with antenna wire conectors/links and some other usefull parts…not in the car ? ok, it seems i had forgotten the bag on the summit. the first time for me…
so, tomorrow morning another walk to look for the bag…hope i can find it.
but then i´m on the summit anyway then…i will do a quick activation again…why not ? for most eu chasere not a unique …but maybe i can get a few calls at morning time then…
here some photos from a few of the todays antennas.
at the beginning of the activity i worked with a 20m fullsize loop with links and conectors in the wire. with the upper link opened and feedpoint at the bottom it works as a bisquare on 10m band and as a folded dipole on 40m band. with the upper link closed and feeded at the bottom or at the side as a loop on 20m for vertical or horizontal polisarition. fedded at the bottom and upper link opened work as folded dipole from 7-28mhz with no problem. feeder is the small 300ohm one.if i have trees on the summit i don´t need a mast…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36645961@N00/9241135941/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36645961@N00/9241139603/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36645961@N00/9243926066/lightbox/
vy 73 es cu…DF2GN Klaus
Hi all,
thanks first to the 4 chasers from UK who stayed so long last night on the band and wait for my sigs from DM/BW-228. the only 4 contacts on 80m…but i think much to late,and most chasers sleeping i was late yesterday from work and had to build antennas in dark night with headlamp. not easy to build the 2x40m/2x20m long dipole at a 13m mast.never done this, normaly i use more stable trees as a mast :-). never think that it took so much time…
then the biggest mistake !! i do so much activations and never thinked about so a big mistake from myself, but after my calls on 160m,later, i notice that i transmit all the time only in one leg of the dipole !
so that was the S9 noise on the “longwire” without counterpoise…next time i will use this antenna as a dipole fine to have 4 qso´s on 80m cw with this half antenna…
then i switched to 20m and made some nice dx including ZL2JJ as a two way qrp.
Peter uses only a wire antenna and that was the odx for this night.by the way, before i changed to the 2x20m section from the dipole and noticed then the mistake with the antenna before.
then i changed to a 10m vertical as 1/2hw on 20m and as 1/4gp with 3 counterpoises also fullsize. feedpoint in abt. 3 mtr over ground.
had a lot of nice dx contacts then in this wonderful tropical night.
special thanks to north american chasers for calling me. think the farest away was K6XM in California. also had a nice ssb s2s with KD5ZZK. And i made my first 3 qso´s on 40m cw with chasers from NA ! with good signals on this antenna.
All contacts in qrp 5/10watt and with a more as a ugly style vertical because no parts with me, so i had to build the antenna with the few parts i had with me…at night time
greetings , klaus DF2GN
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36645961@N00/9426468623/lightbox/
qth 2mtrs away from the cliffs
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36645961@N00/9426465805/lightbox/
ugly style vertical 4x10mtr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36645961@N00/9426464647/lightbox/
another night…same qth
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36645961@N00/9429237546/lightbox/
In reply to DF2GN:
Hello Klaus
I do not normally operate my radio in the evening but last night I stayed up for your activation however I fell asleep in my chair, when I woke up I had missed your activation, maybe next time HI.
Best Wishes
Steve G6LUZ
In reply to DF2GN:
I could copy you on 80 but closed down and made the station safe as there was a thunderstorm nearby!
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to DF2GN:
Hi klaus,
I listened for you on 20m SSB but nothing heard here 
Well done with your ZL contact
Hope we can have a QSO next time.
73 de Mick M0MDA
In reply to DF2GN:
Klaus, I set up my SOTA dipole in my garden to try and finally work you. I can only fit a 40m dipole in the garden so had no chance of trying 160m or 80m. I waited for a spot but heard n0thing on 160m or 80m (with non resonant ant). I heard some very faint CW on 20m from you but there’s no way we could have worked, I was hoping that, by some miracle, I would have been able to work you on 20m.
At 0000utc a heavy rain / thunderstorm passed by so as no alert for 40m had been posted I thought it was game over and I dismantled my station and headed for the dry of my house. The dx propagation on 20m seemed to very good last night , I heard a Californian station for the first time and also a lot of JAs.
Looking at the spots this morning I discovered that you later tried 40m, oh well one day I’m sure I will eventually get to work you! I’ve certainly put a lot of effort in so far!
73,
Colin
M1BUU
In reply to DF2GN:
Hi Klaus, sorry I was awake but my last CW contact was with a German station yesterday on 40. I later looked at my send speed - not good 9wpm. Werner was very patient and helpful but…
So I did not try with you and hoped you would go to SSB (lazy me)!
Thunder now, no antenna.
Best wishes
Mike G6TUH
hi all and thanks nice replies to my post…
Colin, no problem,also look to catch you on the bands
Mike, i looked on 80m ssb for you, but by my mistake with only one leg of the dipole,the noise was very strong…on my lw with no counterpoise
on 40m i heard europe with very low sigs,so i tried no ssb with my vertical.
dx was loud and i will look to catch some dx on 40m next months. its going to UA9 and W the other direction with 5 to 10watts es nice reports…but then only in cw, because there i need no amp, because the 15db gain to ssb :-)k
for most contacts in europe 10watt ssb is only going well if conditions good.sometimes its very hard to find a gap for ssb on 40m as a qrp´er. but i work on my modulation eq / compression…sometimes its works well.
for all, i don´t have the time to do sota as the years before. many many work with very different working times. also i´m a trainer in two sports, that also took much time.
and i have done many thousands qso´s on 40m some years before…so i look for something new.
by the way, i have no shack at home and only qrv from the summits in sota,gma and wff. sometimes i have no good antenna for 40m or not enough time for working all chasers. a activation with all bands and modes and work all chasers took abt. 2-3 hours time. and i don´t like to do everytime the same.
so in future i will do more “special” activations and look for dx with focus on na. with my also special working times i have some time to do a night activation and i will use the warm summer months for that.the result of the last two milliwatt “running back” activations are negative. bad conds and some stations who called me over and over again without copying me and make it not possible to make much contacts, so i stopped with these milliwatting…
the last time i thinked about a amp with abt. 40-50wtts, but that results in more to carry equipment including batteries,heavier trx and so on. for ssb not bad, but for cw i don´t see any need for more as 10wtts with a “real” antenna.for cw dx i use often 10watts,only switch back to 5watt for the chance of 2way dx qrp.and there is no big difference…
and at nighttimes and setup in dark its easier to build quick a vertical with some radials or a simple loop, but these antennas are not so good for europe qso´s.
i also know that the summer is bad for 160m most times but i will do more test with antennas for top band next time. i will start at the end of the year with more activity on top band and the summer is a better time to build my antennas and try out. in winter i don´t like to build antennas on the summits
but from time to i´m qrv on 40m ssb at “regular” activations at day times to say hello,for sure if i have time and the qso´s are quick. i like to see norby´s style, he works the pile ups very quick.
in all of my alerts i post my antenna and power. the bands i spot are the main bands , for this bands my antennas works best. but everytime its possible i look to other bands for some calls if conditions are good.
my favourite bands in moment are 17,20,30m (daytime) and 40m(nighttime).
sometimes test on 80 and 160m .
i ordered abt. 600m of wire ( crazy) and much cu-wire i found in a store for electric fences ( good for radials ).
next antenna i try on 160m is a inv.L with 60m lenght with a vertical part of 20m between two trees on DM/BW-156, including 4 to 6 fullsize radials.
and again i think about a amp maybe usefull some 6db on top band, but first i try it with 5-10watt. but the very liked by me two way qrp qso´s give me more thrill, and its so much fun to work dx with qrp for me. and a good antenna is also a better amp. lets see … what happens…
everytime i´m out with my kx3 i give ssb a chance, there are also nice chasers and its much fun to work them. found good new friends on ssb mode, but i´m limited to 10watts at moment. sometimes i have another very good homemade trx with me who has a real preselctor as front end and this one is better as the kx3 at big antennas on 80 and 40m . but its a cw only trx
ah, i´m also open to any cw contact with abt 8-10wpm…no problem,call at the end of the pile up !
callsign es rapport is all we need !
but i think that stands for every qso in a pile up !? then also a 40m pile up is workable in less time…
hope its readable , no translator used
greetings and hope to see you from the summits in my freetime !
klaus DF2GN
hi all,
after bbq in the evening i go to Lindenberg-summit. i have time to work all on 80-30m. output is 10watt in cw and ssb, so no real qrp antenna is 2x26m doublet supportet by 3 trees . hanged up in direction sw-ne at abt. 15-18mtrs high.hope setup takes not so long, but i will setup in daylight. dx is also bad on higher bands because later i´m into deep forest with many trees and leaves etc…lower bands should work.also i give top band a try,but antenna is a bit short for that. then i´m testing a little microphone for my kx3 , because the headset takes a lot of space…i work in moment at comp,mic gain and eq to have best gain for my 10watts…
hope cu later, klaus DF2GN