10 Metres and SOTA DX, Plus Great Orme Report

Activation Reports
1

There can be little doubting, for the SOTA DXer, 10m is the place to be right now. If you have an easy summit at your disposal, then the 10m band + A-99 antenna, will = DX.

Dunno how many times I’ve activated Gun this year, but today, it was certainly as cold and windy as I can remember it :frowning:

As usual, I was greeted by the 15 minute mud plug to the summit. Because of the high winds, getting the antenna up, which is attached to a 15 ft pole, was a real PITA.

Found a QRG and my very first CQ produced John ZS6JSE, with an armchair copy. John asked if I was a SOTA station and then asked for the summit reference…A great start to the activation :smile:

Phil G4OBK followed him in for a ground wave contact from Pickering in Yorkshire. From then on, it was DX all the way with North America featuring prominently. South America was easily making the trip, with Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina calling me. Nice to work Bob 8P6FX in Barbados too.

A look at 10m AM, found a shed load of Russian taxi companies QRMing the frequency and the best I could manage on the FM mode was Greece.

In the end, it was the cold WX, which got the better of me and so I called it a day with 69 contacts, all worked on the 10m band, in the log.

30 North Americans logged

Big thanks to all the Chasers for calling in.

73 Mike
2E0YYY

4 Likes
2

That is amazing. What transceiver / antenna did you used? and what time of day ?

Thank you,
73,
Petronel

3

Hi Petronel,

The transceiver was an FT-857, the Antenna is an Antron-99 base station.

My first contact was 1232z with ZS6JSE my last contact was with Dow W4DOW, at 1458z.

Hope this helps…

73 Mike
2E0YYY

4

I’ve always activated on 20m with just 2 contacts over the “pond”.
Using an KX3 5-10W only and vertical fishpole antenna.

I will give 10m a try next time.

73,
Petronel
YO8SEP

5

Well done Mike! I was listenning in and while I could not hear you at all, I could certainly here the chasers and their 5-9 reports they were giving you. 10m certainly seems to be really ‘popping’ at the moment!

73 Ed.

6

good one as you know
one had me first sota out side europe on 10m :smile:
A99 damn good twigs on 10m

7

Cheers Ed,

Later in the day, I was expecting some West Coast of North America, however, it was noticable by its absence. Nonetheless, despite the cold WX, the activation was a lot of fun.

73 Mike
2E0YYY

8

Hi Karl,

Nice to see Dennis W4VIG, QSL so quickly. Great contatct.

As for the A-99, it’s not everyones cup of tea, but I like it :wink:

73 Mike
2E0YYY

1 Like
9

Had one on a old portable set up
just above the 3 el beam 20ft above the car
also one at home on twenty foot pole side of house
when very windy its rattled down the antron then the pole through the loft and echoed

those were the days :smile:

1935060_155542799684_8238782_n.jpg407×604 35.6 KB

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10

Just so long as you get a ham to swaaaaar it for you first!

:wink:

73,
Wlat

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11

15’ pole?

Try putting one of these up :wink: (not for vertigo sufferers…)

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12

Thanks for the trip report Mike, really interesting. I’m going to give 10m a bash tomorrow and see how I get on :smile:

James M0JCQ

13

New to the SOTA Group but just want to personally thank Mike for being out there on the Summits a few times a week on 10m. For those that are also active on 10m phone please keep in mind that some operators in the USA hold a Technician Class License and can not transmit above 28.500 so if at all possible please try to stay between 28.3 & 28.5 as there are some operatos like myself that would love to work you from a SOTA. Thanks !

Brian-N2BTD

14

Hi Brian,

Once again, many thanks for another contact from NY.

I’m always happy to QSY for a Chaser. It takes me just a few seconds to change frequency/mode

BTW, thanks for posting the video. I was working Mike G4BLH who was 75 miles away, about half of it sea path.

73 Mike
2E0YYY

15

do you think he walked into the activation zone? :smile:

16

Once again, it was time to make another work trip to North Wales. By getting my timing right, I could pay yet another visit to GW/NW-070 Great Orme. The plan was to get finished early and be QRV by 1300z, and try to make an s2s contact with Andrew VK3ARR, in North America. As luck would have it, things panned out quite nicely.

I was greeted with a cold sea wind at the summit. Because of wind conditions, I was unable to get the A-99 to the height I desired, something I’ve now learned to live with when activating Great Orme :frowning:

My first port of call was the 20m band, giving many of the EU chaser the chance of a point, something which would be very difficult for many of them on the 10m band.

In no time, 23 chasers were in the log including a couple of North Americans…Marc WA2FON, Phillip VE1WT, also a weak but workable Karl M3FEH.

With no sign of Andrew, I thought I’d pop up to 29.200 FM, hoping to find Dow W4DOW. Dow was pretty quick to pick up my spot and the contact was completed. Another 18 contacts were logged before I noticed a spot for Marco S56MS/P activating S5/CP-005 on 20m. Marco came right back to my s2s call.

Time for a look at 10m ssb. A self spot brought an immediate response from North America, before I noticed a spot for Konrad ZS/SQ6GIT/P. I QSY’d to his frequency and had a listen. Konrads QRP power was weak but workable and so I took a back seat, until his pile-up died down and then called s2s. Signal reports were exchanged and my first ZS s2s was in the log. Big thanks Konrad!
It was now back to 10m SSB, where the calls were steadily logged for about an hour,

Great to find some of the less frequently heard US States entering my log, New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Delaware are a few I can remember off the top of my head.

By about 1545, the wind was getting much colder and so, I logged a few more contacts before pulling the plug.

Great to work the NA chasers on FM, with Texas the best DX I can recall. A real treat was to work Merle and Herm on the 10m fm band, for a wonderful contact from NH into North Wales…Cheers guys!

90 contacts for the activation.
24 Contacts on 20m ssb.
19 contacts on 10m fm.
47 contacts on 10m ssb

46 North Americans worked
2 on 20m ssb
14 on 10m fm
30 on 10m ssb.

Thanks to all the Chasers.

73 Mike
2E0YYY

2 Likes
17

Congrats, Mike!!
How was the South Africa carrot taste? :wink:

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18

Great to work you again yesterday Mike, thanks for being out there from Great Orme. Just worked M0IML/P from Cheriton Hill G/SE-015 on 28.345 @ 1324 GMT. Hope some others come on 10m phone today.

Brian-N2BTD

19

Thanks to Dow’s spot we saw you on 29.200 but thought the “fm” odd. Tried it anyway and behold a 5/8 sig from you as well as the TX station. We’ve not been licensed for 54 years but it certainly was a unique for us also. . . .many thanks to your experimentations and inquisitiveness. 73 til next time.
Herm and Merle
KB1RJD and KB1RJC

1 Like
20

Hi Mikel,

I think you mean carrots…

I also worked Andre ZS1AN, he too was using an A-99 antenna…

The ZS carrots taste as good as the VK carrots :wink:

73 Mike
2E0YYY

1 Like