SOTA NEWS OCT 2014 Part 2

…SOTA NEWS OCTOBER 2014 - PART TWO …

SOTA ON TOP BAND - Mark G0VOF

Hello everyone & welcome to this month’s edition of SOTA on Top Band.

After a very quiet August when no SOTA QSO’s were logged on 160m, September turned out a little different. This is because leading Top Band activator John G4YSS embarked on a ten-day tour of Northern Scotland, with no fewer than seven summits activated on seven separate days including four previously un-activated ones.

The first three of these summits were activated using a mix of HF & 2m, although for the final four, John included sessions on Top Band. Being so far north, this would likely not result in many contacts, however John had a secret weapon in the form of friend & local chaser Ray GM3PIL.

After sked’s were arranged on other bands John & Ray would QSY to Top Band where on three of the four summits QSO’s were had on both CW & SSB. I will leave you to find out why that was not the case on GM/NS-020 Ben Hope by reading John’s report which is linked further down.

John’s final summit of the trip GM/NS-020 Ben Hope on Sunday 14th September was the only one this trip that I had any chance of chasing, the rest being activated on weekdays. I did manage to work John on 40m CW & SSB & after following his activity on other bands I monitored 160m for any sign of his signal. Unfortunately, the best-equipped UK Top Band WebSDR was offline that particular day so I could only listen on my own very noisy 80m loop, or another not quite as good WebSDR.

I was not expecting much over the distance in the middle of the day & after an hour of monitoring I had heard nothing. A chat with Roy G4SSH sometime later confirmed that John had been active on Top Band but was now QRT.

John has done a fantastic job as usual posting very detailed activation reports for all seven summits he activated (including some excellent photos). These are well worth a read on their own, but for anyone contemplating activating these summits they contain invaluable information.

John’s reports on the first three summits are here:

G4YSS: Meall Dheirgidh GM/NS-114, 1st Act'n 07-09-14 - #2 by MM0FMF

G4YSS: Carn Garbh GM/NS-101, 1st Act'n 08-09-14

G4YSS: GM/NS-074 Ben Tharsuinn on 09-09-14

And the four summits where Top Band was used:

G4YSS: GM/NS-069 No Access; GM/NS-014 Act'n,10-09-14

G4YSS: Maovally GM/NS-111, 1st Act'n 11-09-14

G4YSS: GM/NS-037 First Act'n on 12-09-14

G4YSS: GM/NS-020 Ben Hope on 14-09-14

Thank you very much John for the excellent reports & for the QSO’s from Ben Hope. Thankfully we didn’t almost lose you this time!

At the time of writing, those were the only Top band activations during September that I am aware of, if I have missed any others please let me know.
On 10 September, John GS0OOO/P (GM4YSS/P) Activated GM/NS-014 Ben Klibreck - Meall nan Con & made 2 QSO’s (1 CW / 1 SSB)

On 11 September, John GS0OOO/P (GM4YSS/P) Activated GM/NS-111 Maovally & made 2 QSO’s (1 CW / 1 SSB)
On 12 September, John GS0OOO/P (GM4YSS/P) Activated GM/NS-037 Meallan Liath Coire Mhic Dhughaill & made 2 QSO’s (1 CW / 1 SSB)

On 14 September, John GS0OOO/P (GM4YSS/P) Activated GM/NS-020 Ben Hope & made 1 QSO’s (0 CW / 1 SSB)

As always, If you do have any suggestions on things that you think should be included, or if you wish to contribute tips, ideas or anything else that you think may help others on the band please email them to me at mark@brownhill.demon.co.uk

Until next month,
Best 73,
Mark G0VOF

WHAT OF THE (SOTA) FUTURE 7 - Roy G4SSH

BOUNCING BATTERIES

If you see a SOTA activator standing on a Trig point, taking the batteries out of their handheld and dropping them one by one onto the concrete base then it might not just be out of frustration, but an attempt to determine which batteries are dead.

Research has shown that, when dropped, spent Alkaline batteries bounce, but fully charged ones do not. The test works equally well for AA, AAA, C, D and 9 volt batteries.

The theory is that a good battery contains a gel-like substance which solidifies as the battery discharges. Whilst the gel is in a semi liquid form it absorbs energy when the battery hits a solid surface and does not bounce, but when the gel turns into a solid state upon discharge the kinetic energy pushes it back away from the surface and it bounces into the air.

Sceptics can enter “Bouncing Batteries” into Google and observe the You Tube video demonstration by American electrical engineer Lee Hite.
Happy Bouncing

=======================================================

CW REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 2014 by Roy G4SSH

It was a pleasure to hear Cap, W0CCA, activating summits in Germany, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Slovenia and Austria during the month and we hope he enjoyed his visit to SOTA Europe.

Phil G4OBK delighted many chasers by activating all of the eight summits in the CT/AL region of Portugal (plus CT/BT-001 for good measure) during the first week of September. Phil was running QRP and had quite a struggle coping with the deep and severe QSB that plagued the bands during his expedition.

Peder SM0GNS was also active as HB0/SM0GNS on many days giving summits in Liechtenstein to many chasers.

John G4YSS operating as GS0OOO/p gave out Uniques and rare Ref’s from Northern Scotland, although deer hunters prevented access to some intended Uniques on his list.

Marko OH9XX was activating , 2 or 3 summits in Finland per day, including many Uniques.

Chris OE3CHC was heard active on vacation in the UK. and David CT1DRB was heard activating SE-006 and SE-010 from Southern England.

Klaus DF2GN continued his regular appearances, including at spell of activity for many days around 0600z, which delighted many VK chasers and even some s2s VK activators. He has announced that he is to concentrate on the VHF bands for a while, with occasional HF QRP activity.

As usual, Juerg HB9BIN appeared almost daily, from HB, DL and OE

Hans HB9BQU was active from Madeira as CT9/HB9BQU then he moved to the mainland and appeared as CT7/HB9BQU on CT/ES-002

Sake PA0SKP was active from Germany and Belgium, operating from 4 summits (on/on-25, on/on-11, dm/rp-003, dm/nw-258) where he worked 12 S2S stations out of a total of 140 QSO’s.

On 14 MHz - VK,VE1. 24MHz. NE4TN, G4OBK ,KC3RT.

On DM/NW-258 he had some problems with his key but managed to fix it.

Robin was again active from Malta and Gozo as 9H4RH

Uwe was heard listening “1 up” whilst in Liechtenstein as HB0/DL4AAE/p on 18 MHz on various HB0 summits during the last week in September.

Frans MM/PA0INA was heard activating summits in the GM/SS region of Scotland, accompanied by Rob GM3YTS. Welcome to SOTA Frans.

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SOTA CW ACTIVATORS SUBMITTING ENTRIES TO THE DATA BASE ABOVE 7 MHZ DURING JULY 2014 - from Kevin G0NUP (27th Sept)

Mode: SOTA CW on 1ØMHz: activity for September

9H3RV/P, AD4XJ, CT7/G4OBK/P, DF2GN/P, DJ9MH/P, DK1AX/P, DK7MG/P,
DK7ZH/P, DL/F5HTR/P, DL/HB9BQU/P, DL/HB9BRJ/P, DL/ON6ZQ/P, DL/PAØSKP/P,
DL/PA7ZEE/P, DL1AIW/P, DL2XL/P, DL4MFM/P, DL4MHA/P, DL4TO/P, DL6AP/P,
DL6UHA/P, DL7UGN/P, DL8DXL/P, DL8DZL/P, DL8MBS/P, DL9MDI/P, EA1/HB9AFH/P,
EA2BDS/P, EA2CW/P, EA2IF/P, EI7KH/P, F/G3VQO/P, F/HB9AFI/P, F/HB9BQB/P,
F/HB9IIO/P, F/VK2IO/P, F5LKW/P, F5UKL/P, F6AVE/P, F6HBI/P, F8FEO/P, GØHIO/P,
G3RDQ/P, G4ISJ/P, G4RQJ/P, GI4ISJ/P, GI4ONL/P, GMØHIO/P, GM4YSS/P, HA5LV/P,
HA5MA/P, HBØ/SMØGNS/P, HBØ/SMØHPL/P, HB9/F5HTR/P, HB9AFI/P, HB9AGO/P,
HB9BAB/P, HB9BCB/P, HB9BHW/P, HB9BIN/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9BRJ/P, HB9BSH/P,
HB9CAT/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9CLT/P, HB9DGV/P, HB9DOZ, HB9DST/P,
HB9EWO/P, HB9HVK/P, HB9IIO/P, HB9JOE/P, HB9TVK/P, HL1KKC/P, KØJQZ, K6EL,
K7ATN, K9ZMD, KD5KC, KE5AKL, KG3W, KI8R, KR7W, KU6J, KXØR, LA1ENA/P,
LA8BCA/P, MØHDF/P, MØIML/P, MMØFMF/P, N1EU, N4ERM, N4EX/P, N6JZT,
N7RR, NA6MG, NS7P, OE/S52CU/P, OE3HPU/P, OE5EEP/P, OE6WIG/P, OE9AMJ/P,
OH2NOS/P, OH9XX/P, OK/DL6UHA/P, OK/OM3CUG/P, OK1DVM/P, OK1HCG/P,
OK1MLP/P, OK1XVZ/P, OK2BDF/P, OK2BMA/P, OK2BTK/P, OK2SAM/P, OK2TX/P,
OK3EQ/P, OM/OK2SAM/P, OM/OK2VWB/P, ON/PA7ZEE/P, ON5XX/P, ON6ZQ/P,
S5/DL2RVL/P, S51RU/P, S52CU/P, S53XX/P, SP9AMH/P, VK3CAT/P, VK3KS/P,
W1ZU, W7TAO, WA2USA/P, WA6ARA, WA7JTM, WA9STI, WB4SPB/7, WB5USB,
WH6LE, WSØTA, YO/HA8BE, YO2BP/P

Mode: SOTA CW on 14MHz: activity for September,

9H3RV/P, AC1Z, AC7MA, AD4IE, AD4XJ, AE5KA, AE7AP, AG5CQ, CT1BWW/P,
CT7/G4OBK/P, CT7/HB9BQU/P, CT9/HB9BQU/P, DC8MH/P, DF2GN/P, DF3MC/P,
DF8KY/P, DG5WU/P, DK1AX/P, DK7MG/P, DK7ZH/P, DL/F5HTR/P, DL/HB9BQU/P,
DL/HB9BRJ/P, DL/PAØSKP/P, DL/WØCCA/P, DL1AIW/P, DL2FMK, DL4MFM/P,
DL4MHA/P, DL4TO/P, DL6AP/P, DL6UHA/P, DL7UGN/P, DL8DXL/P, DL8MBS/P,
DL9MDI/P, EA1/HB9AFH/P, EA1AER/P, EA2BD/P, EA2BDS/P, EA2CW/P, EA2IF/P,
F/G3VQO/P, F/HB9AFI/P, F/HB9BQB/P, F/HB9IIO/P, F/VK2IO/P, F5LKW/P, F5RGY/P,
F5UKL/P, F6HBI/P, F8FEO/P, GØHIO/P, GØODA/P, G3RDQ/P, G4ISJ/P, G4WSB/P,
GI4ISJ/P, GM4YSS/P, HA5LV/P, HA5MA/P, HBØ/SMØGNS/P, HB9/F5HTR/P,
HB9AFI/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9BAB/P, HB9BCB/P, HB9BIN/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9BRJ/P,
HB9BSH/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9CKV/P, HB9DGV/P, HB9EWO/P,
HB9HVK/P, HB9IAB/P, HB9IIO/P, HB9JOE/P, I/WØCCA/P, IZ2DQB/P, KØFTC,
KØJQZ, K1MAZ, K1TNT, K1URC, K3KHF, K6EL, K6HPX/P, K6TW, K6XM,
K7ATN, K7JFD, K7NEW, K9ZMD, KB7HH, KC4LE, KC7DM, KD5KC, KD7WPJ,
KE5AKL, KF7PXT, KG3W, KI6FCT, KI8R, KK1W, KR7W, KU6J, KXØR,
LA1ENA/P, LA8BCA/P, LI1EBA/P, M/CT1DRB/P, M/OE3CHC/P, MØHDF/P,
MMØFMF/P, MWØIDX/P, NØEVH, NØTA, N1EU, N1FV/P, N2GDS, N4EX/P,
N5XL, N6CK/P, N6JZT, N7CW, N7KRN, N7LKL, N7RR, NA6MG, ND7PA,
NE1SJ, NG7A, NK6A/7, NM5S, NN5K, NR7T, NSØTA, NS7P, OE/DG5WU/P,
OE/DL4MHA/P, OE/F8CZI/P, OE/S52CU/P, OE/WØCCA/P, OE3HPU/P, OE5EEP/P,
OE5FSM/P, OE8SPW/P, OE9AMJ/P, OH2NOS/P, OH3KRH/P, OH9XX/P, OK/DL8RL/P,
OK/OM3CUG/P, OK/WØCCA/P, OK1DVM/P, OK1MLP/P, OK2BDF/P, OK2BMA/P,
OK2BTK/P, OK2BWB/P, OK2PDT/P, OK2SAM/P, OK2VWB/P, OK8DDR/P,
OM/OK2SAM/P, OM1HI, ON/PAØSKP/P, ON6ZQ/P, PAØSKP/P, S5/DL2RVL/P,
S5/WØCCA/P, S51RU/P, S52CU/P, S53XX/P, S57X/P, SP/OK2PDT/P, SP3LRS/P,
SP9AMH/P, SV1COX/P, SV9/MMØDHY/P, VA2OTA, VA2SNL, VA2VL, VA2VL/W1,
VA7VJ, VE2DDZ, VK1DA, VK3CAT/P, VK3KS/P, VK5CZ, WØCP, WØVLZ, W1ZU,
W1ZU/6, W2CKL, W3ATT, W4EON, W4QO, W6AH, W6JP, W6UB, W7TAO, W7USA,
WA2USA/P, WA6ARA, WA7JTM, WA7NCL, WBØUSI, WB4SPB/7, WB5USB, WH6LE,
WSØTA, YO2BP/P

Mode: SOTA CW on 18MHz: activity for September,

9H4RH/P, CT7/G4OBK/P, DF2GN/P, DK1AX/P, DL/HB9BRJ/P, DL4MFM/P, DL8MBS/P,
EA2BDS/P, EA2CW/P, F/HB9IIO/P, F/VK2IO/P, F5UKL/P, F6HBI/P, G4ISJ/P, HA5LV/P,
HBØ/SMØGNS/P, HB9BCB/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9BSH/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9IIO/P, KØJQZ,
K6XM, K7JFD, K7NEW, K9ZMD, KE5AKL, KI6FCT, KU6J, KXØR, N4EX/P, N6KZ/P, N7CW,
NA6MG, NSØTA, NS7P, OE5EEP/P, OK/OM3CUG/P, OK1DVM/P, OK1MLP/P, OK2BDF/P,
ON5XX/P, S52CU/P, W7TAO, WA2USA/P, WA7JTM, WH6LE,

Mode: CW on 21MHz: activity for September,

DF2GN/P, DL/HB9BRJ/P, EA2CW/P, EI7KH/P, F5UKL/P, F6HBI/P, HB9BAB/P, HB9BCB/P,
HB9BRJ/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9TVK/P, KØJQZ, K5XY, K6XM, K7JFD, K9ZMD,
KD5KC, KE5AKL, KI8R, KK1W, KU6J, KXØR, N4EX/P, N5XL, N6CK/P, N7CW, NA6MG,
NSØTA, NS7P, OE3HPU/P, OE5EEP/P, OH2NOS/P, OK/OM3CUG/P, OK1MLP/P,
S52CU/P, VE2DDZ, W2CKL, WA2USA/P, WA7JTM, WA7NCL, WH6LE

Mode: SOTA CW on 24MHz: activity for September,

DF2GN/P, DL/HB9BRJ/P, DL/PAØSKP/P, F5UKL/P, HA5MA/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9BCB/P,
HB9CBR/P, K7NEW, K9ZMD, KD5KC, KE5AKL, NA6MG, OK1MLP/P, OK2BDF/P, S52CU/P,
WØCP, W7TAO, WA2USA/P, WA7JTM

Mode: SOTA CW on 28MHz: activity for September,
CT9/HB9BQU/P, DL4MFM/P, F5UKL/P, HB9BCB/P, HB9TVK/P, K7JFD, K9ZMD, NA6MG,
OE/MØFEU/P, OE6TPF/P, OK1MLP/P, WA7JTM

73

Kevin J Prince
G0NUP


SOTA News is normally published on the last day of each month, but there will be occasions when the Editor is not available at this time, in which case it will be published as soon as possible afterwards. It can only be as interesting as the items submitted, so if you think your particular field of interest is not being covered then please submit an article by the 25th of the month. Have you a favourite SOTA? favourite mode? favourite rig, antenna, or favourite band? How did you find your first day / month / year as an activator or chaser? Your comments and experiences will be read by SOTA enthusiasts all across Europe, the USA, South Africa, Australia and beyond, in a total of 64 different associations. Your input will be most welcome.

I receive many e-mails during the month containing details of activations, milestones reached and general SOTA news. Unless advised otherwise I will use this information in the next edition of SOTA News. It is important therefore that you advise me if any information is not intended for publication.

73
Roy G4SSH
SOTA News Editor
g4ssh@tiscali.co.uk

U.S. and Canadian reports to:-
Fred K6DGW [aka “Skip” on the radio]
Canada/US SOTA Reporter Dude
Auburn CA
k6dgw@foothill.net

Australian input to:-
Allen VK3HRA
VK Reporter
arharvie@gmail.com

South African input to:-
Dennis ZS4BS
zs4bs@netactive.co.za

10 Likes

Hi Roy,

Thanks for another fine issue of the SOTA news. Thanks to all contributors plus Mark G0 VOF for writing up the Top Band activity and Rob G4RQJ for his section. Sorry to hear that Alan M1EYO is not too well. Hope he soon recovers. He is one of our SOTA heros!

73, John

Hello Roy and MT
Thanks a lot for this news. It is always a pleasure to meet chasers and S2S.
Best 73
Andre f5ukl

Another excellent edition of the news Roy, I’ve finally had a chance to digest it all & like John G4YSS I am very saddened to hear that Alan M1EYO has not been well. I worked Alan several times when he came back to activating after a break of a couple of years. Some contacts were very memorable & stick in my mind to this day, mainly due to the appalling weather we were both experiencing on our respective summits.

Get well soon Alan.

Very best 73,

Mark G0VOF

Thanks for news Roy.
73,
Frank

Thanks for the news Roy and all contributors.