VHF Fun Day Sunday 2nd Jan 2011

In reply to 2E0XTL:
Plenty of people up on cleeve hil ce-001 today and a few were inquisitive even some dogs had a sniff around the 817. But for my
1st G activation it was all good fun all be it a very easy walk from the car to the trig.
That said I suffered on both rigs with qrm from the transmitters on the hill which made it difficult on VHF.
Made 5 s2s contacts although one chap wasn’t participating in SOTA and couldn’t give me a reference so I’ll have to look it up.
40m band ssb was really poor for me today, was it the non resonant antenna setup or just poor propogation I don’t know.

40m - 8 qso’s
20m - 4 qso’s
2m -17 qso’s
70cms - 2 qso’s

A tri band qualification can’t be bad surely!!
Thanks to all chasers and other activators worked and sorry to anyone who missed me.

73
Adrian
M0TAI

Thanks to all those that were out and about today - it was good fun here.

It was quite busy at times on 2m with the number of stations appearing on both FM and SSB as well as 60m.

I had been hoping to reach a personal milestone of 4000 chaser points by the end of 2010, but unfortunately missed that goal by 14 points, several contacts on 01/01/11 meant I almost made it a day late, but in the event I had to wait until my first QSO of today to reach that goal.

I did hear someone comment on the lack of a frequency being given for some (of my) spots, this was intentional because giving the frequency was not appropriate as they were for stations being heard but working other activators that had already settled on a frequency, actual frequencies were updated once an activator had settled on a frequency.

Stewart G0LGS

In reply to 2E0FSR :

Hi all,

Really Sorry I missed you all yesterday,family commitments meant I could only go up on Saturday!!! (I had to have my funday a day earlier)

And by the time I got back in the shack it was too late!!

Great to hear those that went up had the fun they had hoped for.

I agree lets make it at least 4 times a year for fun days( but have fun also on every activation you do)

73

Tony

Four times a year? One VHF fun day for each season. I can live with that.

It’s very rare that I venture below 50MHz also.

73 Chris 2E0FSR

In reply to :2E0FSR
Hi, Chris, nice video of your outing, on my trips I always take a couple of still shots using the self timer just to record me being there.
73, Derek

In reply to 2E0MIX

I always take photo’s too but thought I would try video for a change. Here are just a few photo’s…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24041576@N04/

73 Chris 2E0FSR

As there is some interest in a repeat how about another VHF Fun Day on Sunday 27th March at 12:00? Weather should be ok as it says in my diary ‘British Summer Time Begins’. Also, anyone interested remember the clocks go forward.

73 Chris 2E0FSR

In reply to 2E0FSR:
A regular activity day sounds good, the more the better. How about using different bands, ie 50mhz, 144, 433, 1.2ghz etc etc. 4 activity days per year each using one of those bands???

73
Adrian
M0TAI

Edit: perhaps Barry could organise a couple of awards to suit?? Only a thought!

In reply to 2E0FSR:

If you promise it will be much warmer than Sunday hihi…

Good thinking

Bobby
GM7GAX

In reply to MM0TAI:
I agree with you Adrian! We need to get more activity on 50MHz especially FM as well as 432MHz SSB and 433MHz FM! Looking forward to the next VHF Fun Day!!

Matt 2E0XTL

So how about Sunday 27th March at 12:00 using 70cm FM and SSB? Then a 50MHz Fun Day a little later into the summer months as then there should be some Sporadic E about which would be fun.

If this is on then I will post an Alert for my chosen summit.

73 Chris 2E0FSR

In reply to MM0TAI:

Edit: perhaps Barry could organise a couple of awards to suit?? Only a
thought!

If you give me some ideas I will see what I can do - suggest contact off-list to save clutter

73

Barry GM4TOE
SOTA Awards Manager

In reply to 2E0FSR:

To far ahead for me to confirm Chris, However I will try my best to ensure this date is free! Why dont we make this UHF Fun day and Include 23cm??? Might be worth a go!!

I will put an alert on with my chosen Summit!

Matt 2E0XTL

In reply to 2E0FSR:

So how about Sunday 27th March at 12:00 using 70cm FM and SSB…

An absolutely brilliant idea Chris. Hopefully others will be encouraged to carry long thin antennas up the hills and suffer the inane jibes of Joe Public - usually something to do about one’s inability to get Freeview at home!

73, Gerald G4OIG

In reply to Matt 2E0XTL:

Unfortunately I don’t have an 23cm gear so I’m afraid that’s out for me at the moment. I have posted an Alert for my chosen hill.

In reply to Gerald G4OIG:

When I activated G/SP-005 Pendle Hill recently I had an enquiry by a group of walkers as to what I was doing. I explained and at the time I was in QSO with Derek 2E0MIX/P who was activating G/LD-006 Pillar. As the walker had walked Pillar so he was aware of where it was he was quite impressed with the audio quality over what he saw as a fair distance.

To anyone posting an Alert, please remember the clocks go forward on the 27th March so the 12:00 I have alerted is UTC, therefore 13:00 local time.

73 Chris 2E0FSR

In reply to 2E0FSR:

To anyone posting an Alert, please remember the clocks go forward on the 27th
March so the 12:00 I have alerted is UTC, therefore 11:00 local time.

ITYM 1300 local time.

Andy
MM0FMF

In reply to MM0FMF:

That’s what my post says Andy. It does now anyway, my apologies.

13:00 local. Even better.

73 Chris 2E0FSR

(now with ‘Edit’ button)

In reply to 2E0FSR:
I suppose that we should make a UHF Fun Day page on the reflector a bit closer to the date!

Looking forward to it, My 817 is not used to going that high!!

Matt 2E0XTL

In reply to 2E0XTL:

Looking forward to it, My 817 is not used to going that high!!

Unfortunately that goes for 99% of the 817’s in use… you only have to look at the stats for 70cms SOTA operation in Slovenia to see what the potential of the band is. Better still, read my 70cms section in Summitsbase News - it would be great to have more action from the UK to report on.

73, Gerald G4OIG

In reply to G4OIG:

My FT817 goes onto 70cm on most of my activations, most of the time I get ZERO contacts!

I did get spotted by G4OWG on Sunday, but gave up calling on 70cm due to lack of takers.

I’ll keep on trying though!

73
Colin