Z35M first activation of Z3/EM region

On 10.05 2009 I activated the summit of Crn Vrv, 774 m, Z3/EM-011.
This summit is located 40 km south east of the capital city Skopje.
A total of 61 QSOs were made on HF including some on SSB.
Much more QSOs can be made if the chasers are more active, especialy on SSB. I spent more than 15 minutes calling CQ on 7.118 - SSB running 50 w but only a few SOTA chasers answered the call. The rest of callers didn’t even know what is SOTA and asuming that I’m in unknown SOTA contest gave me a serial number 001 in replay - hi. I give CQ calls aslo on 14.285, but no replay. After that decided to tune down the QRG and make a few SSB QSOs with stations working in CQ-M Contest. The most remote station worked was RW0A in Siberia.
One third of the valuable operating time on the summit was spent calling CQ without takers.
Congratulations to the chasers who worked me regulary on all of my activations.
Thanks to HA7UL and HA7UG who spoted me several times during this activation.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37901690@N08/3521594070/?addedtags=1http://www.flickr.com/photos/37901690@N08/3521594070/?addedtags=1

In reply to Z35M:
Hi Vladimir.
Thanks for your activations - and I was very glad to catch you on May 8th at 7 MHz CW.
I simply could not hear anything from you on Sunday, neither on 10 nore on 7 MHz. 20 m is at present almost dead here in my QTH.
I am sure that all chasers were looking for you, but condx are quite poor at the time, particularily in northern Europe.
Hope to meet you on your next summit.
73
Mike

In reply to Z35M:

Hi Vlad,

I agree with Mike. It was a pleasure to have a CW QSO with you on the 8th May, but I heard nothing from you on any bands yesterday 10th May. Most chasers will have made a special effort to find you from your Alert and the spots, but propagation was well down. Thanks for using the higher bands.

Hope to catch you again soon, probably around 10117 KHz.

73 Roy G4SSH

It was the same here Vlado - I could not hear you yesterday, condx were poor on 40 & 20 plus the CQ-M contest, but was pleased to work you from WM-046 on 8/5/09

Hope to work on your next activation

73 Graham G3OHC

In reply to G3OHC:
You’re not kidding Graham. Conditions on 40m were shocking yesterday. I thought I had broken my PFR-3/antenna yesterday on Lambrigg Fell.

Well done on the activations Vlado and thanks for the photos. Perhaps you will join the Summits on the Air photo pool and add yours there too.

Join here (and from the link on Sotawatch): Flickr: The Summits on the Air Photo Pool Pool

73 Marc G0AZS

SOTA stations have marginal signals, and the bad conditions make the situation more difficult. During the activations I try to use different bands and modes to give as much as possible oportunities to chasers. Sometimes after long unanswered CQ calls I decide to use more power (max 50 W instead of 5W) to improve the signal and to be heard from the rest of the chasers (this was the case on my last activation).
I agree with all of you that the propagations were poor and the QRM from CQ-M contest was very strong.
The next planed activations are from EM-014 (2p), probably EM-006 (6p) and the second activation on WM-046 (4p) which is the closest summit to my QTH.

                                                    Vlado, Z35M

In reply to Z35M:

Hi Vlado,

I was in my workshop (is located just next to the shack) buzzy with building my antenna for HF and I hear you calling on 14.285 in SSB via the loudspeaker in the shack. You calling 3 - 4 times CQ SOTA Z35M CQ SOTA and you were strong (modulation). I came back to your call after , let us say, about ± 1 min … but noting to hear anymore, there was no reply to my call. I think I’ve just missed you. Later I saw via the sotawatch that you gone back to cw.

Next time will succeed !
Cu nxt sota and hope to work you.

73
Luc ON6DSL

In reply to ON6DSL:
I’m sorry Luc. Hope to contact you from my next activations.
I was calling on 14.285, and after the heavy QRM from CQ-M Contest I QSY-ed above 14.300 (on QRG previously alerted by another activator, but also no takers) and again back to 14.284.
If time permits on my next activations will try at least 10-15 minutes of SSB with power of 50 w (please remember to lsn +/- 7.118, +/- 14.285).
Vlado, Z35M