After having a little chat with Tom M1EYP and Dave M0TUB we spoke about getting a sota net started up so the first question is is there any one interested in taking part in a sota net group ,What day or days do we have the group running and what repeater would we use i am able to use vt,mp,mm and a few others if there is no interest thats fine if there is we will see what can be done i will let people know in due course best 73s Dave M3XIE
In reply to M3XIE-1:
Repeater? I thought repeaters were an aid for mobile stations not for fixed station nets. Wouldn’t HF be better so people outside the NW of England could take part?
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
I agree, would have thought the Hf was a must. Repeaters seem to be fair game of anybody these days and mostly by people how refuse to help pay for their upkeep. Least that’s what its like in my part of the woods.
Hows your 817 last time we hooked up on here it was a bit “Tom and Dick”?
My lakeland trip is a bit messed up this year as my better half has decided that she doesn’t like walking up high hills any more so am trying to put together a package of easy 1’s and 2’s.
Peter
G!FOA
In reply to G1FOA:
HF would also be a big possibility i am just chucking out suggestions to find out who would be interested with hf we can get alot more people involved Dave M3XIE
In reply to G1FOA:
would have thought the Hf was a must
Otherwise it’s a local net, repeaters or otherwise.
OT part of the reply:
Hows your 817 last time we hooked up on here it was a bit “Tom and Dick”?
It has an expired driver FET, drain source short. There’s 2 in parallel which is easy to do with FETS (like bottles). The result is lots of drive at the gates from the predriver but naff all RF at the input to the PA board and thus no RF out.
I need to order a pair of drivers and need a hot air gun to remove them as my soldering iron seems a bit gutless. But just a bit busy and I keep forgetting! Anyway they’re SMD so a gun is the right way not chewing the board with a through-hole iron. I’m using my reserve 817 in the meantime.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to M3XIE-1:
what repeater would we use i am
able to use vt,mp,mm and
Repeaters are not an appropriate place to hold a net between fixed stations.
73
Richard
G3CWI
In reply to G3CWI:
Ok enough said i throw my hat in but i do agree hf is best but saying that i have heard nets held on repeaters 73 Dave M3XIE
In reply to M3XIE-1:
I will try and support a hf net as best as I can. It would be nice to be able to include some of our European friends as well.
Just my 2 pennys worth.
John
In reply to G1STQ:
Its not all that easy!
The problem that I can see is picking a band/time for the net. HF is fundamentally unreliable; say you pick 40 metres, one day there will be strong inter-G signals, the next day a solar flare means a noisy band with few signals to be heard, and the day after it will be “long” with nothing closer than a few hundred kilometres being audible. The idea of an international SOTA net is great, but I’m not at all confident that it can be achieved with any degree of reliability. Even a local 2m FM net can be difficult, there are places in Birmingham where the Birmingham repeater can’t be accessed!
For my money an internet conference or whatever you call it is a better proposition if you want to give everybody in SOTA a fair wack, otherwise resign yourself to limited but variable coverage.
73
Brian G8ADD
Hi Brian,
I thought the same about a choice of band earlier & came to more or less the same conclusion. Even if you were only looking at covering the UK, to suggest a band that would do the job reliably, day in day out, all year round, would be quite a challenge,if not impossible. Of course, if you move away from ionospheric propagation things do become more reliable, but how many of us actually have access to 137KHz?
For pretty reliable evening coverage of the UK & a sizeable part of Europe with relatively modest equipment, 80m would be the band to choose. If you want a much less reliable band that will give you much wider coverage of Europe & beyond,although for most of the year you won’t hear anyone nearer than 300Km away, then 40m would be the band to choose.
Of course, if you do wish to cover a certain geographic area all year round then you will hit the same problem short wave broadcasters hit many years ago. Their solution was quite simple, change to a different frequency when the one you are using becomes unreliable.
One band all year round will not work, if it did it would packed full of commercial stations making money.
Dave, by all means start a SOTA themed net using radio, which after all is what we all got our licences for, but there is no universal panacea, & no universal band.
I have my doubts about an internet based net, as from my (limited)experience of such things, etiquette & manners go straight out of the window.
Good luck 
Best 73,
Mark G0VOF
In reply to G8ADD:
For my money an internet conference or whatever you call it is a better
proposition if you want to give everybody in SOTA a fair wack, otherwise resign
yourself to limited but variable coverage.
Is this, the existing Sotawatch Reflector not an Internet conference? (Or at least as near to one as we are ever likely to get.)
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
Repeaters are not an appropriate place to hold a net between fixed stations.
Richard and Andy,
The SOTA-themed chat the other day, which has given Dave this idea, was through the GB3VT (Stoke-on-Trent) repeater. And the participating stations were actually M3XIE, M0TUB/M and M1EYP/M.
Tom M1EYP
In reply to G3NYY:
A now defunct SOTA site had a chat area where the exchanges were almost conversational rather than the set pieces on this reflector. The tone was anti-everything and as Mark commented, manners went out of the window, but I was impressed by the spontaneity, if this was opened for an hour each evening and moderated carefully I think it would be rather good.
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
…might as well use Skype!
73
Richard
G3CWI
In reply to G3CWI:
Although it goes against the grain to say so, yes, you are right! If the intention is to get the maximum number of SOTA-eers talking together rather than another wrinkle on playing radio, that is. Otherwise the grand idea descends to a series of local nets that can’t talk to each other.
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
I predict the grand idea will come to nothing in any case as it serves no obvious purpose. As Walt points out - the “net” is already here on SOTAwatch. There have been a number of SOTA net initiatives in the past that have not lasted beyond a couple of months (if that).
73
Richard
G3CWI
In reply to G3CWI:
Repeaters are not an appropriate place to hold a net between fixed stations.
73
Richard
G3CWI
Might be worth speaking to the Porthmadog and District Amateur Society. Whilst at University in Aberystwyth I would regularly pop out to the sea front with my VX-150 and listen to there very successful Tuesday night nets on GB3DW!
Seems to work really well, I suppose the biggest issue is the numpties you get on repeaters!! In West Wales radio is a rare thing so the repeaters are quiet but obviously in the 2m FM dominated 83 square it may cause some issues!
Whilst on the subject of repeaters could any SOTA activators take a listen for GB3GT (50.83MHz) when on there travels, It is located on Titterstone Clee Hill - Would be nice to get some idea of coverage!
Also if you find yourself in the Welsh Marches the repeaters GB3VM and GB3VN are kind and accommodating places with many SOTA activators/chasers talking on the box!
Many thanks
Matt my 2 pennies worth G8XYJ
In reply to G8ADD:
I agree with Brian, there are only two bands appropriate for inter-G communications during the day - 80m and 60m. 40m is a possibility at times, but over the past few years the critical frequency has been too low most of the time. 60m would be the most reliable, but that limits it to those who have NOVs - and it may be inappropriate to monopolise a channel there for long periods.
As for me, unless you want a CW net I would have to work out how to plug the microphone in…
73 Dave G3YMC
In reply to G3YMC:
As for me, unless you want a CW net I would have to work out how to
plug the microphone in…
Funny you should say that - I can’t remember how to unplug mine!
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
Hi Brian they are possibly mike shy or just anti social.Geoff