JOTA is always the third full weekend in October.
But if you are on a mountain, see if you can talk to a Scout. I think JOTA and SOTA go together naturally. Give a listen on one of the World Scout Calling Frequencies. Most of the activity is SSB, so at least listen on 14.290 MHz.
More frequencies are listed here.
http://www.jotajoti.info/jota-rules/
wunder
I think one year a Scout troop in VK based themselves on a SOTA summit - can anyone else remeber this. I think the Scouts were running power with a Generator and one of the supporting Hams was running QRP on batteries for SOTA.
In my experience the scouts I hear are often not on the planned frequencies because they are already in use (either by a different scout troop or by someone else).
73 Ed.
Hi I will join this event on 20 Oct. Also I introduced this event in japan radio program “Ham’s Radio” that is local FM radio broadcasting. This program will be on-air this Sunday 2 Sep.
http://www.kawauchi.homeip.mydns.jp/jh0cjh/blog/2018/08/30/ハムのラジオでsota紹介♯2/
Toru K JH0CJH
Hi all,
great idea, thanks for planning. I am sure we will participate with 2 or 3 stations around Frankfurt/Germany. Propagation has been really poor during summer. On many mornings not even QRO-signals from ZL and VK made it through to Europe. But that will improve until the end of October, I hope.
Looking forward to contacting you s2s!
73
Chris DL4FO
Will there be much CW from VK ZL JA? I think the last event was mostly SSB which just makes it too hard.
This is the list of alerts from last time. Mostly SSB, but some CW. I didn’t immediately find a list of actual contacts.
wunder
Hi Richard, the majority of activators in Japan use CW, it’s rare that you find an SSB one. In VK/ZL SSB is in the majority, however there is a push to increase the number of CW activators at least in VK.
Lets hope conditions improve over the next month otherwise we wont hear any SSB or CW contacts (FT8 maybe?) - actually short path 40m might be a better bet than long path 20m this time!
73 Ed.
I will be on CW and SSB, depending on the activity on each mode. I expect to also have 40w or more. I am planning a slightly better antenna than my single vertical.
This event is getting closer, so I decided to comment on it to bring it up the list and to everyones attention.
I am seriously considering putting back together all the cables and adapters so that I can run FT-8 from the summit using the FT-817.
We have had discussion previously on how to get the /P transferred and the SOTA Reference (or at least the 6 char Maidenhead grid that can be converted to the SOTA-Ref), I believe with v 2.00 this is now possible (I need to look at the details again) - in any case these features are ONLY possible when both ends are running v2.00 of WSJT-x with the features enabled by having the 77-bit messages enabled and so as not to cause confusion with those still using v 1.9x on the normal FT8 frequencies Joe Taylor has asked that the JT7 frequencies on 20m & 40m (7.078 & 14.078MHz) be used. As these are effectively “mini-bands”, I propose that anyone taking part in this VK-EU event use these frequencies as well and make sure you are on WSJT-x v2.00rc2 as a minimum level (RC3 if it comes out before the event).
So is anyone else planning to run FT-8 v 2 from a summit on October 20th? If not there’s no point me struggling with all the extra equipment.
Perhaps we can get some shack-to-shack tests in, in the next couple of weeks? Then we can check out the message format capabilities.
73 Ed.
If I get out for this I will only be running CW. Even though the contacts are of the “5nn tu” variety I love the fact I get greeted by name and there is some character to the QSOs. You get none of that with FT8. Just my personal opinion. And I can’t be a***d to carry extra kit up the hill.
Not a big fan of FT-8 myself but even less of a fan of CW ('cos I can’t do it) and unless I was to drag a 500 watt amp up to the summit, I suspect I wont get through on SSB, FT-8 is the last option. If you want FT-8 as a conversational mode FT8CALL (or what it will now be called) could be an option but I think it’s too early for “production use”.
At least with FT-8 a TRUE signal report is given not just 5nn!
73 Ed.
SOTA reports on CW tend to be accurate - on my last activation I got 3 599s out of 26 CW contacts. I also got 229, 519 and 439.
Also, FT8 does not give a true signal report but a signal to noise ratio. So this is heavily affected by the receiving station’s noise level and receiver bandwidth.
As I said, I’m not a big fan of FT-8 but surely a SNR is not a bad way to report a received signal.
I guess any signal report will be dependant upon a local noise level and receiver sensitivity and bandwidth - I very rarely read the S-meter when I give a report, so the generated SNR value from WSJT-x is probably more accurate than my normal signal reports in any case!
Good luck with your CW contacts during this event, that reduuced bandwidth used in CW may just make it possible to get the DX contacts even in the current conditions, that I was fighting to make on SSB yesterday.
73 Ed.
You are right that no signal report is actually going to be very accurate. On my home rig if the attenuator is on then the S meter reading changes. I always give reports based on how they sound which is effectively a signal to noise ratio. My comments about FT8 are because many people in forums don’t actually understand what the FT8 report really means.
Hi Ed
Re: March 2018 VK- EU S2S event.
Durinng my stay in Bregenz (2 weeks ago) Herbert mentioned Jurg HB9BIN heard me calling CQ on 40m SSB but he didn’t have a Tx 40m antenna to return the call.
After making numerous EU S2S contacts on 20m, I QSY to 40m for local VK S2S, my Tx power level was 50 watts. Apparently Jurg heard me calling which means 40m long skip was open to HB9. For clarification, my 40m antenna was an inverted V, broadside east-west with the antenna appex at 9m.
With the above in mind on Saturday 20 October Herbert OE9HRV and I will attempt 20m and 40m QSOs. We will use WhatsApp for liaison. I will post spots for 20 and 40m frequencies.
73 Andrew VK1AD
Ill be out portable ~100Km NE of Canberra in VK2 but not on a summit. I should be local noise free on SSB so hopefully will hear what is happening. I can run FT-8. I’m still looking for a 23cm FT-8 S2S, havent got one in the log yet.Compton
Hi Richard. I’ll be there on CW. Only 5W from the FT-817 but I’ve worked S2S with Europe using that set-up before, in similar propagation conditions, so fingers crossed and let’s give it a go!
Sorry, Ed. FT8 leaves me cold. Not my bag at all. Good luck with it though and I look forward to hearing about how you went with it.
73
Bernard, VK2IB
I will also be out CW and SSB 20 meters LP seems best option for VK6 but will be checking 40 also.
Looking forward to it already, I’ll post alert nearer the time when I decide which summit.
73
John VK6NU
At the moment Herbert has only alerted for 20m but it looks like he’s still considering which summit is best as well and that could affect his antenna and hence band choice I guess.
73 Ed.
Hello,
weather permitting, I’d like to participate.
This time I would try using an FT-857 at 25 watts and an EFHW to give an extra punch in my signals.
I think I will focus on CW but I would keep an eye on SSB spots to jump in, just in case.
20m and 30m would be my choice, as they both were reliable for EU - VK & ZL contacts in the last edition back on march this year.
Look forward to hear as many of you as I can.
73 de Ignacio EA2BD