VK/ZL <> EU S2S - 11 March 2017

[IW2OBX]

I reached a summit I/LO-320 in the dark with the aid of led head torch,

I started to calling cq on 40mt ssb some minute before sunrise.

I menaged in a log one europe cheaser
the prop was so so…
I QSY to 20 meter and I kept calling
I monitored the freq between 14.280 and 14.340, but I heard only one russian qso, and incomprensible signals in the range 14.315 and 14.330, probably vk/zl activators, but the signals was too weak.

I contact John ZL1BYZ from long path, my best dx
My log on I/LO-320 Palanzone
sp9amh 40mt ssb
zl1byz 20mt ssb
ea2dt 40mt ssb
g0rql 40mt ssb
cs7afi/p ct/es-007 20mt ssb
oh3gz 20mt ssb
ik2ilh 40mt ssb
ea2ckx 40mt ssb
i2czq 40mt ssb
rm5m 20mt ssb

Great event!!!
Thanks you for organising
73!

[EB2GKK]

The sun was rising when I was reaching this summit, nice weather conditions on EA2/ss-003, but with a little wind enough to move the blades of the windmills.

I was running an IC703 at 7W, the antenna was an inverted V dipole on a 7m fishing pole for 20m.

After starting, I did not heard VK’s, ZL’s or EU’s station calling CQing on 20m.

Considering the poor propagation conditions for the last days, I thought that was normal and it would improve in some minutes.

But the big noise in my receiver did not let down from 59.

I decided to try 40m, I was pleased to be able to manage some QSOs on this band. Here the noise did not reach 57.

After testing my hearing loss with two active EA2 chasers, I resigned to continue calling close to these windmills.

I packed up all my things at 09:00 UTC.

This time I have chosen a bad summit for 20m, all wind turbines were working today generating electrical noise.

For goodness sake, I would not like to know that any of you may have heard my calls on 20m…

Thanks for arranging this event, I look forward anxiously to the next one.

73s de EB2GKK, Inaki

[ZL2ATH]

Conditions on ZL1/WL-153 Crawford were less than perfect last night with intermittent rain and cold southerly wind. 20 meters to VK was not bad with five summit to summits achieved and a few Qso’s with VK chasers. Thanks guys!
I could just copy Mike 2E0YYY/P but could not work him on my 5W, likewise for JS1UEH/1, he was coming through quite strong but obviously had no copy on me.
I changed sets to one capable of 100w and within a few minutes of doing that the rain came down in bucket loads and that was that… A good event to be a part of though. Well done organisers.

[VK1AD]

Hi all

A big thanks to everyone, activators and chasers alike, for your participation in the March 2017 VK/ZL <> EU S2S event. Special thanks to Mike 2E0YYY and Ed DD5LP for their contribution to the event organisation, which from the feedback in this thread it would appear this activity was well received.

From Mt Ginini VK1/AC-008, I started my SOTA DX Ops at 05:50 UTC and made my last 20m QSO at 08:52, just over three hours of VK/ZL/JA <> EU jam packed S2S fun.

On 40m S2S SSB QSOs included:
VK5PAS - VK5/SE-005
VK5FMAZ - VK5/SE-005
VK3ANL - VK3/VS-036

On 20m starting at 06:40 UTC SSB S2S QSOs included:
VK6NU - VK6/SW-042
VK1MBE - VK2/SC-050
ZL2ATH - ZL1/WK-153
HB9SOTA - HB/SZ-025
EA2IF - EA2/NV-151
2E0YYY - G/SP-004
JS1UEH/1 - JA/IB-027
VK5PAS - VK5/SE-005

80m S2S
VK2IO - VK2/IL-017

DX SOTA chasers included, ZL2AJ, ZL3DJ, ZL1BYZ, ZL/GI0AZA, ZL/GI0AZB, SM1ALH, EA2LU, IK2ZJN, 9A7W, JA1VRY, 9A3NM, ZL3CC, EA2DT and VK6XN.

All 20m DX QSOs were completed using a FT-857D at 40 watts feeding an inverted V linked dipole with the apex at 9 metres. My 20m 1/2 wave J-Pole was 2 points down on the Inv V. After sunsrise this morning I found the 1/2 wave J-Pole telescopic support pole bottom two sections had collapsed, which I didn’t notice last night in the dark.

Earlier in the afternoon on 40m I worked local VK chasers: VK4RF, VK1FWBD (S2S on 2m), VK1RX (S2S on 2m), VK1MA, VK5WG, VK3CAT, VK7CW, VK3BSG, VK3GRK, VK2IO, VK5FANA, VK3LED, VK3PF, VK5IS, and VK3SQ for one QSO on 80m.

20m appeared to open to Europe 30 minutes earlier than normal, I was surprised to work HB9SOTA at 07:03 UTC. I was expecting EU activators to come online at 07:30 UTC, one hour before VK1 sunset. I think the early opening caught a few VK activators short.

Look out for the next VK/ZL <> EU S2S event to be held in late September or early October 2017 or should we now say ‘VK/ZL/JA <> EU S2S’? A huge thanks to JA activators JS1UEH/1, JP3DGT/3, JJ1SWI and JL1NIE (CW and SSB) and chasers for joining in. Thanks Tadashi JA1VRY for chasing on 17m 18.145 MHz.

73, Andrew VK1AD

[VK1AD]

Hi Andy

I heard you calling @ 07:50 UTC, I called back 3 or 4 times. Sorry we didn’t make the S2S QSO.

73, Andrew VK1AD

[VK1MIC]

Wow looks like it was worth it! Great session!

Just checking that S2S was with me? Callsign VK1FWBD not sure if it’s just a typo here or wrong on your log too.

I did AC-048 today - saw on those angry sticks … agree on need for Snake Bonus Points for VK activators !

My linked dipole should be here next week. Keen to try some QRP DX.

Wade

VK1FWBD

[VK1AD]

Hi Wade , it was and yes a typo. Fixed!

I will upload my activator/chaser log tomorrow. I arrived home at 11:00 this morning followed immediately by a family lunch/gathering. I’m now catching up on SOTA admin.

73, Andrew VK1AD

[VK1MIC]

Heard you on the call backs and was glad you got home safe. I got to the base at around 1130 so crossed over.

Lucky your blog described the car park with boulders - google maps had me around in Uriarra village!

I had very very sketchy data. Lucky I posted an alert the night before. VK1DI and VK7CW spotted for me too!

Have to catch up soon. VK1Sota dinner soon?

W

[G6PJZ]

Yes sorry Andrew - you would have been my first VK. Unfortunately a continental station started up about 2KHz up from you which put an end to me hearing you. Now I’ve got the bug though I hope to catch you another morning

[HB9DQM]

Activation report from Tom OE9TKH and Manuel HB9DQM, operating under the HB9SOTA callsign:

We spent the night in a shabby hotel at the trailhead for HB/SZ-025, which was the summit chosen for the HB9SOTA group snowshoe excursion, coincidentally on the same day as the VK/ZL <> EU S2S event. Got up at 05:00z, no breakfast (not available so early), hiked to the summit and were QRV at 07:00z. We alternated between chasing VK summits, and calling CQ on 20m. Total 5 VK summits worked; no ZL summits heard unfortunately.

When VK2WP got spotted on 30m, we listened on the 20m antenna, not expecting much, but to our surprise heard him loud and clear! So we immediately put up the 30m antenna, worked the S2S, and then a few more VK/ZL chasers on 30m. To me this was the biggest surprise of the day, that 30m would work so well.

After about 09:00z, other HB9SOTA members started arriving on the summit, and at one point there were close to 20 operators and lots of antennas everywhere.

Thanks to all the organizers, activators and chasers for this great S2S event – we had a lot of fun!

DX worked on 20m:

• VK1AD/P (S2S)
• VK1RX/P (S2S)
• VK2IB/3 (S2S)
• VK2WP (S2S)
• VK5PAS/P (S2S)

DX worked on 30m:

• VK2WP (S2S)
• ZL1BYZ
• VK7CW
• VK4FW

Equipment: FT-857D, 100 W, full-size EFHW for 20m (vertically on a 12m mast), and EFHW about 9.5m long with loading coil for 30m.

WX: sunny, up to 10 °C, no wind – in a word: ufb!

(This is not a teletubby! )

[2E0YYY]

My VK/ZL/JA/EU Report Saturday 12 March.

I met up with Rob G7LAS at the Cat and Fiddle pub at about 0610 z and we made a gentle 40 minute walk to the Trig Point of G/SP-004 Shining.

After my lousy activation of Great Orme on Friday, we decided to take a colinear with us for VHF as an insurance policy against the HF bands being broken again.

We set the station up and took a look at the spots. The SOTA activators appeared to be out in force. At 0725z, I found a clear QRG on 14.325 and put out a CQ. My first taker was Adrian GW4AZS/P with a s2s from Corndon Hill. Another s2s from Andy G6PJZ up on G/TW-002 followed. My third call was from Andrew VK1MBE and my fourth contact was from John M0WRG, to qualify the summit. Cheers guys.

Colin M1BUU/P gave me a call from G/NP-008 for another s2s…Good to hear you Colin. Next s2s was Tony M0VED, who was activating G/TW-003…

Then a call s2s call from my good friend Andrew VK1AD/P activating VK1/AC-008. It seems I was on a roll! Peter G1FOA was my next in my log, he was activating G/WB-005.

Another VK s2s call was made by Alister VK1RX/P who was activating VK1/AC-038. Then A wonderful call from Carl 2E0HPI, who was activating G/TW-001 with his friend Steve 2E0EFP. Thanks for the two s2s contacts guys. Another friend Pete G0WGL gave me a call from Manchester, many thanks Pete!

Really cool to hear Warren ZL2AJ, a tricky contact but the all important signal reports were exchanged. It has been a while since Paul VK5PAS and myself have worked, so I was delighted when he called summit to summit. Paul was putting out a brilliant signal from VK5/SE-005, Mt Lofty…

Matt VK1MA followed Paul, we struggled a bit but Matts persistence paid off. Rhett VK3WE was the very next call to make my log. There was VK s2s call thanks to Bernard, VK2IB/P3, who called in from VK3/VE-061, Mt Emu, a new VK summit for me. Next was up, was Colin VK3LED, who I hadn’t worked for some time…Cheers Colin.

Great to hear John ZL1BYZ once again! A big thanks to John, for staying on frequency, to give so many Activators in EU, a highly prized ZL callsign in their SOTA log. It was then the turn of Jonathan VK7JON, Cheers Jonathan, always good to get Tasmania in my log.

Another good friend, John VK6NU called in for a s2s. John was activating VK6/SW-042, Mt William, which I think is a unique summit for me.

Tony VK3CAT was the next call…Great to hear from you again,Tony! An excellent signal was received from Ian VK3YFD, followed by a nice chat.

The very next call was Frank VK7BC, another call from Tasmania… My final bit of DX was from Eli 4x5EB in Jerusalem …Shalom Eli.

As I was about to go QRT, John VK6NU cane back and we had a nice chat, for a great ending to my activation…Cheers once again John.

Good to see so many QRPers working VK and ZL, a really enjoyable couple of hours.

45 Contacts all 20m ssb, courtesy of the Antron-99 and FT-857.

13 VK’s logged
2 ZL
13 s2s logged 5 of them VK.

Thanks to all the callers and of course, to those who took part in this fine event…

73 Mike
2E0YYY

[VK2IO]

Linking the VK/EU event with the VK/NA event meant an overnight stay so this was a “heavy” activation. I carried in tent, camping gear and a newly acquired HF linear to Bulgo Hill VK2/IL-017 about 1.5km - the first of this type of operation for me. Started later than planned at around 0745z and hunted through the stations already spotted. First was Compton VK2HRX (S2S) on the other side of Sydney who advised how weak sigs were and this turned out to be the story of the evening. Spotted myself on 20m CW and then worked John VK6NU (S2S). There were 3 EU chasers EA2LU, DL3HXX and SA4BLM but no S2S and max signal strength was 2 both ways. Two JA and ZL1BYZ called as well with much stronger sigs.

Started some hunting around the bands for S2S. I heard Mike 2E0YYY very weakly with QSB. Also heard OE5AUL but calls were unanswered so no S2S with EU. Did not hear Ed DD5LP or Tom M1EYP amongst numerous others either. My location was not in the “sweet spot” for LP to northern EU which tends to favour ZL, VK7 and VK5. I was very glad to make 4 S2S contacts into JA: JL1NIE, JS1UEH, JP3DGT and JJ1SWI all on 20m. Also made 5 S2S in VK over 20m and 80m: VK2HRX, VK6NU, VK2WP, VK1AD, VK5PAS.

A stint on 40m SSB and 80m SSB and CW exhausted all the local chasers so later in the evening I made some CW contacts in the Commonwealth Contest using just 5W. This netted 5 40m and 7 80m contacts. The best was E51KTA.
Finishing time was 1256z (11:56pm) with 35 stations logged.
Thanks to the organisers and participants for a great event!

Cheers,
Gerard - VK2IO

[DD5LP]

Great, Great pictures in the reports everyone - they show the real contrast in weather and environment in the countries taking part in this event - does anyone mind if I use their picture, perhaps in publicity of the event??

73 Ed DD5LP.

[CT1DBS]

The 3 CT activators (CT1DBS, CT7ABE, CS7AFI) went together to CT/ES-007, Serra do Socorro.

The wx were cold, mist and cloudy but no rain.

Heard a lot of stations including some activators but made only 1 S2S with EA2BD/p. Difficult to get through the pileup.

Also heard some weak VKs and J’s but only had the chance to QSO with VK2CW on 30m.
60 m were very noisy.

Working condx were a kx-2, 5w max, CW only and trapped dipole.

But, as always, activation of a summit was a lot of fun!

Big TKS for the organizers.

Awaiting for the next S2S party…

Vy 73 de Pedro, CT1DBS/p

CT7ABE, João Fragoso in the mist

KX-2 in the mist

CS7AFI, Jose Gomes, helping to roll the antenna

[M0VED]

Looking over guisborough at around 5:50am.

Took around 6:10am looking south ish from near g/tw003 summit.
I had a slight small breeze, no mist, no rain and after some hard work on 20m the band opened for me around 7:45 for 30 minutes and bagged a vk s2s and Romanian s2s too in that 30 minute window.
You can use any of my pics I don’t mind.

[VK2AOH]

Computer problems sorted out and can now access Reflector with a lateish report.
Chose Mt Macquarie for my overnight campout and forgot the pine harvesters had trashed the place. The pleasant campsite near the trig is now a tangle of heaped trees and not accessible. Set up on a clear spot on the northern side which at least gave a clear aspect. Saturday was rather hot and had the vertical set up in good time ready for the 0830UTC start.
Used the MX-P50M PA 45W. Noticed JL1NIE/1 was calling from a summit on 15M so started the show with an S2S.
Onto 20M with S2S OE5AUL and two other JA’s. 30M gave an S2S with HB9SOTA. All in all 7 S2S for Saturday evening.

Rather late in the darkness finally the LiFe battery for the P.A ran down so after putting it on the charger hit the sack.
It was quite mild and slept out in the open under an awning.

All in all a really good event, propagation was reasonable enough for the event and worth the camping out.

Looking forward to the next event and thanks for the efforts in organising the activity.

[VK5PAS]

Hi all,

I had a terrific day out late afternoon and this evening for this event. I activated SOTA peak Mount Lofty VK5/ SE-005 which is located within the Cleland Conservation Park VKFF-0778 & 5CP-042. Some VK’s and Europeans had organised a SOTA fest, hoping for some S2S action between VK & Europe/UK.

I made a total of 113 contacts on 20, 40, & 80m SSB, with contacts into VK1, VK2, VK4, VK4, VK5, VK6, VK7, VK8, Spain, Italy, New Zealand, Germany, Croatia, Bulgaria, Switzerland, England, Slovak Rep, Romania, Wales, France, Sweden, Belgium, & Portugal.

This included 20 x Summit to Summit contacts and 6 x Park to Park contacts. S2S contacts were with VK1AD/p, VK2IB/3, VK1MBE/2, VK2HRX/p, VK6NU/p, EA2IF/p, EA2BD/p, HB9SOTA, 2E0YYY/p, M0VAD/p, G6PJZ/p, YO6PIB/p, M3FEH/p, 2E0HPI/[, 2E0EFP/p, M1BUU/p, GW4AZS/p, DD5LP/p, & VK2IO/p, and P2P contacts were with VK3XL/p, VK2IB/3, VK4HNS/p, 2E0HPI/p, 2E0EFP/p & VK2IO/p.

I would like to say thankyou to Andrew VK1AD, Mike 2E0YYY, and Ed DD5LP who were instrumental in getting the event off the ground.

More info and photos can be found on my Wordpress site at…

VK5PAS

Thanks to everyone who called and thanks to those who spotted me.

73 all,

Paul VK5PAS

[G6PJZ]

Thanks Paul it was great to work you; my first ever VK and a S2S to boot! Just one thing, I think you mean M0VED not VAD for Anthony who was on G/TW-003. Congratulations on getting the TW trio

[M0VED]

Was my first vk s2s and first 5w vk QSO. It’s amazing 5w of power can travel all those thousands of miles from a bit of wire and someone standing on their head with another piece of wire can hear me.

[VK2IB]

Hi all

I’ve been having some issues accessing the reflector, so thank you to Andy MM0FMF for sorting it out for me.

Saturday’s EU S2S event went exceptionally well for me, I’m delighted to report. I activated Mt Emu VK3/VE-061 which I have done a couple of times before, because it’s reasonably accessible (4WD but OK in the dark) and has plenty of space on the summit to set up.

I got on the air at 0645 UTC and when I switched the rig on there was Paul, VK5PAS/P with a huge signal on 7090. So we made that S2S contact and then I went up to 14MHz where I proceeded to work a string of DX stations on CW. In the end I worked S2S contacts in most of Europe plus a couple in JA and one in ZL. I went over to SSB to work Mike 2E0YYY, couldn’t let the event pass without making that QSO!

I chased Ed DD5LP following spots on SOTA Watch but never heard anything workable. A couple of times I heard signals down in the noise that might have been Ed, but there wasn’t enough to try a call.

I heard some VK activators but all very weak and watery, so obviously in or close to the skip zone which is not all that surprising.

I went QRT at around 0815 UTC when I’d worked everyone I could hear, and there were no more replies to my CQs.

All up I was very pleased with my S2S haul, this time running 20W from the Barrett 940 into a link dipole with the apex at 7m AGL and the ends at about 2m up in the bushes.

Thanks to Andrew, Ed and Mike for organising the event. It was a lot of fun and very profitable SOTA points wise as well.

I didn’t get on for the NA event as I’m really not a morning person, particularly on a Sunday. If there was a Lazy Toad award I would win it!

73

Bernard, VK2IB