Dear All,
I will join this party and post on alert once I decide which summit (BV) I am going to activate.
My equipment will be: 20 meters band EFHW, 160W Tx. And I can do CW, SSB and FT8 mode.
Best regards,
Huawei
73 de BX2AI
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Hello,
Iām just curious.
How will you manage to get 160 watts output from a SOTA summit?
For how long do you expect such capability?
73,
Guru
Dear Guru,
The transceiver I use is Kenwood TS-480Hx which can transmit 200W. The power source is a LiFePo4 20Ah battery. And my EFHW single band antenna could handle 200W power.
However, I havenāt tried how long I can operate with this 20Ah battery, so I plan to bring another 20Ah spare battery for this party. I might reduce my power with second battery if the first one drains out too quickly.
Cheers,
Huawei
Sounds like a very heavy pack weight! Is it only a short walk from the car park?
Yes pretty heavy, my backpack is around 14Kg excluding the telescopic 10m pole. I have done twice activation. One is a 50 mins walk, the other is a 30 mins walk.
Now that Mike @2E0YYY is taking a break on his heavy load SOTA activations due to his back problems after a recent slip and fall (best wishes for your prompt recovery, Mike), it seems like Huawei is taking it over from Mike.
Well done!
73,
Guru
Thanks, I guess I could learn a lot from Mike 
BTW, I do have the alternative: I have a ICOM 703 in my hand although itās said for SOTA purpose Yaesu rig might be better. And I manage to make a home-brew 10AH (or smaller) LiFePo battery pack for a lighter SOTA rig set.
I am open for that, there are still lots things need to learn and gain more experiences.
Wish we have a good propagation.
Cheers,
Huawei
Hallo Huawei
The IC 703 also works great with Sota. It may be a bit more sensitive than a ft 817 and you need an extra battery, but it has a good antenna tuner. You have to pack it well. There was even an own Icom backpack for it.
I did the first Sota activities with this device. I like the display and how to handle it. But itās heavy and so I have a KX2 now.
I would apresiade, if you make a thread about your adventur with your high-power-sota-equipment afterwards.
73 Armin
Will find a summit and have a go at this. 45W CW and a 9 metre squid pole vertical should do well for DX.
Cheers, Wal VK2WP
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Hi Wal,
Iāve found 20m to be fairly useless lately, 30 and 40m are much better. Iāll probably equip for those 3 bands for this event.
73 Andrew VK1DA/VK2UH
Iām not sure if Iām going to be able to participate in this one atm. Iām hoping to find a way though, and if I do, Iāll most likely go for 30m.
So - the dice have fallen - The vacation request was approved by my wife. There is a sota day.
I am at 6:00 am on DM / BW-019 to take part in the s2s party.
And since Iām already in the area, Iāll try to activate afterwards -029, -047 and -054.
Now I have to bring sacrifice to the weather godsā¦
73 Armin
Hallo Armin - 0600 UTC (0700 CET) is too early for long path into VK/ZL. 0700-0800 UTC (0800-0900 CET) is more often when contacts are being made.
73 Ed.
Iāve just received notification of one gig being rescheduled - and that means Iām now completely clear to take part in this event! Therefore Iām now thinking of taking both 30m and 20m - 30m for the first two hours or so, swapping over to 20m sometime around 0800z. Should be fun!
Itāll be interesting to see if you get any VK/ZL/JA DX on 20m. Lately 20m hasnāt delivered (at least not on SSB). Iād recommend you pack 40m as well if possible.
73 Ed.
Iāve been having decent results on 30m with my new GP.
Hello Tom,
Iām glad to hear you will join the event.
I will prepare another element for 30m band.
Hope to see you on the air.
Aki JI3BAP
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After working Mike and Jorge on 40m from Mt Ainslie VK1/AC-040, my focus will be on 40m operating from Mt Ginini at 1700 m ASL 8 points.
I will have wire in the air for 17m, 20m, 30m, 40m and 80m SSB. In VK we have a narrow 30m SSB segment, I understand UK/EU doesnāt.
Andrew VK1AD
Actually IARU region 1 & 2 donāt allow SSB on 30m. The reason given is that itās such a narrow band that there would be no room for SSB signals. Of course SSB is allowed on 60m and thatās even smaller so the reason doesnāt hold water but historically 30m in Europe and the Americas has always been a CW band only, with digital data now allowed. In principal I suppose as long as the actual mode category definitions are not listed FreeDV being a narrow bandwidth phone mode, coul;d op[erate on 30m - but Iād have to check each countries specific definitions of their regulations for the 10MHz band.
73 Ed.
You need to review the discussions of WARC-79 and the previous band incumbents to understand the reasoning.