VP8 News

Old Reflector
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Latest VP8 News on Summitsbase.

http://www.summitsbase.org.uk/tiki-index.php?page=Latest%20News

Congratulations to Robert VP8DMM/P (G0PEB) on his handling of the pileups. Also congratulations to to Robert and Carolyn DL/G6WRW/P for the first VP8 Summit to Summit QSO.

Robert is now QRT and there is unlikely to be any further operation from VP8DMM on this trip.

Summitsbase News was published this afternoon and is available here:

http://www.summitsbase.org.uk/tiki-index.php?page=SummitsBase

73 John GW4BVE

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In reply to GW4BVE:

Congratulations indeed to Robert & Carolyn on the first VP8 Summit to Summit QSO. If I had been 15 minutes earlier to my parking spot on at Jeffrey Hill I would have set off for the activation zone of G/SP-014 Longridge Fell & could have been S2S No.1 myself, or at least No.2.

As it happened I decided to stay by the road in order to be on the air early enough to work Helen DL/M0YHB/P on DM/BW-008.

In any case I think Carolyn is far more deserving of the first VP8 S2S than me, & she is much prettier too :wink:

I listened from home on Wednesday evening but Robert was barely breaking through the noise at my home QTH, so after noticing the alert for Thursday evenings activation I left work a little early. After a mad dash home & a quick change I made a dipole for 20m & headed for Jeffrey Hill with my FT897D & a 7Ah Slab.

I was monitoring 18.152 for some time & about 10 minutes before the alerted time heard John GW4BVE calling Robert. After a couple of calls Robert answered & had a nice unhurried chat with John. I was hoping to work Robert before a spot went up & the inevitable pileup followed, but it was not to be & I had to compete with the beam + Linear stations. Eventually I did get through on 17m & told Robert I would listen for him later on 20m.

It was very nice to hear the S2S & also several regular SOTA chasers getting through :slight_smile:

When Robert announced he was QSY’ing to 14.432 I was there in seconds & for a minute or so there was only the static crashes to listen to. After that it was quite amusing to hear a gradually increasing number of linears from around Europe being tuned up in preparation HI!

After a couple of minutes I heard Robert calling John GW4BVE & he was stroinger this time, up to 56 with me. He remembered that I said I would be listening & asked if I was on the frequency as he was finishing working John, but I did not manage to make myslef heard at that time. Fortunately, after working a few callers after he had been spotted he asked again if I was on the frequency & this time I got though to work him on 20m as well as 17m. :slight_smile:

It is quite rare for me to be on the radio in the evenings, & unheard of for me to actually go out to do some chasing. Maybe it was the the rarity of a VP8 activation & one that I had a chance of working that tempted me :wink:

Thanks to John for the alerts & a big Thank you to Robert for the new & very rare summit :slight_smile:

I have upoaded some video I took on Thursday evening of my location & the reception I enjoyed. It was definitely worth going portable for this one!

73,

Mark G0VOF

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In reply to G0VOF:
Good one Mark tnx for putting the video on. When you said you were going up to your spot on the bike there was me expecting one with pedals.73 Don.G0RQL.

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In reply to G0RQL:

Thanks Don, with the benefit of hindsight I really think I should have set off to the activation zone of Longridge Fell. It would probably have taken me about 20 minutes & looking at my log I could have been there in plenty of time. If succesful I could have been at one end of the first VP8 to G Summit to Summit QSO, which is still to be achieved as far as I am aware. So I was close, but no cigar.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn’t it. Hi!

From the article it is interesting to note that both Robert & Carolyn were using vertical antennas whilst both myself & Mike G4BLH/P who worked Robert on Wednesday evening were using horizontal dipoles mounted on sotapoles. I doubt that cross polarisation could have had an effect over the path from VP8 but it does show that even with relatively simple omnidirectional verticals remarkable contacts can be made. I must also commend Robert for his choice of operating bands & times, which proved to be the correct choices. It is no mean feat to predict reliable HF communication over such distances at this part of the solar cycle.

I am really looking forward to Roberts activation report when he arrives home :slight_smile:

73,

Mark G0VOF

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In reply to G0VOF:

Hi Mark

The antenna I was using was a 5/8 wave vertical which is actually my 40m 1/4 wave matched with a very simple coaxial transformer to make it work on 17m. The same antenna also works as a half-wave on 20m matched in the same way as a J-pole with a piece of 300 ohm ribbon. I have been developing this over the last few months ready for this holiday.

The reason for the verticals here are the (sometimes) limited summit areas because of conservation work.

Carolyn

BTW I was running 50W to contact Robert because of battery limitations.

PS Radio propagation has been very patchy with many thunderstorms popping up in various places causing loads of static; we were very lucky to work Robert.

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In reply to G6WRW:

Thanks for the information Carolyn :slight_smile:

It was very nice to be out portable & away from the noise level at home to hear the S2S & also the VP8 to DL/mobile QSO sometime later. I did listen today but only briefly heard either yourself or Helen on 20m or 40m, I even failed to work Rob G4RQJ/P on GD-003 on 60m & couldn’t even detect his CW on 40m, propagation was that dire.

Thanks to you & Helen for activating the DM/BW summits & once again congratulations on the first VP8 to Europe Sota QSO :slight_smile:

If only I’d left work a little earlier, who knows, we could have had a three way VP8 / DM / G Sota QSO.

I am still grinning like a Cheshire cat simply for working the Falklands again after so many years, so goodness knows what I’d be like if that QSO had actually happenned. Hi!

Radio, It’s Brilliant!!!

Thanks & very best 73,

Mark G0VOF