Right! - This afternoon!
It was DEAD this morning when I was activating!
That’s life.
73 Ed DD5LP.
2 Likes
I worked F5 and SQ9, this afternoon but pretty boring
1 Like
I was up G/SP-015 around 1500z. I worked EC8ADS but that was all. I never really got chance to make more contacts because my antenna kept collapsing in the high winds. After the fourth collapse, I lost the will and went home!
2 Likes
I know the feeling. Was it the pole?
My 6m-long Life’s a Breeze is a lovely pole but, in the last year or so, some sections have been prone to collapse if it’s windy [although adding a bit slack in the guy strings helps]. The classic case (opt cited by me on this reflector) is when the pole collapsed mid SSB QSO with @MM0FMF and even though the antenna and pole were on the ground I could still hear Andy say that I had disappeared and wondered if a SID was the cause.
Conversely, some sections - particularly the two thinnest - are very hard to unlock. From time to time, I put all the separated sections to soak in soapy warm water and then dry them thoroughly - which helps a bit.
I hope the pole behaves for this afternoon’s activation of G/NP-026 on 10m (and 40m and 20m). I spent a few hours yesterday adding and trimming lengths of wire to both ends of my trapped 40/20/10 EFHW (in inverted “7” config, i.e. sloping to ground) to move the minimum-VSWR ‘dips’ to the CW ends of all 3 bands. As I use a KX2 with internal ATU, I wonder if I’ll even notice the difference.
Yeah! Around 1638z driving on the Autobahn, I heard both stations, a local station in QSo with a G station. 
Shame, the local station had the frequency, not the English.
Ahoi
Pom
1 Like
Take all the sections apart and clean the joints with preferably isopropyl alcohol or soapy water. Make sure you dry everything. Also make sure you clean the inside as well as outside of the joints. Someimes it’s fine dust from the fibreglass etc. that builds up. Reassemble and try again. I’ve found dust from wear to be a source of collapses.
1 Like
Yes I agree - that’s what I said. I sometimes see a black powder during washing which I suspect comes from the friction surfaces.
1 Like
For a permanent installation, I do as Spiderbeam does and add clamps (jubilee clips with finger-type tighteners) with rubber underneath to hold each section out but this is too much of a “Faff” for a portable set-up.
Ed.
1 Like
I wonder if the old solution to slipping of cord drives on older radios would apply here? We used to apply resin to cure the problem. One source of a suitable resin is to nip into the nearest music shop and buy a block of the resin that string players apply to their bows.
I’ve had a 10m Lifes a Breeze heavy duty fishing pole and a 12m DX Commander pole fixed in the top of a 50 feet high beech tree now for several years with velcro straps and large cable ties. The friction joints have given me no trouble at all with this lighter weatherproof solution. To fix them permanently I used a good quality Concordia insulation tape, then I covered it with an overlap of black heat shrink sleeving to suiit the diameter of the pole section. Despite movement withiin the tree and pole flexing no joint has slid inside its mate yet.
I find that heat shrink tubing (adhesive and non adhesive) of all sizes right up to 70mm (unshrunk diameter, which I always have to hand at home) is invaluable for antenna builds to provide protection and prevent chafiing and for waterproofing / joint strength and general maintenance of connections and to cover link connector pins for the aerials used when activating.
73 Phil
3 Likes
Hi Phil,
Sorry, I should have said permanent but serviceable installation. When I need to, I can take down my 12m mast without having to remove tape or the like to get to the antenna feed-point - do whatever maintenance may be needed. e.g. after storms, I’ve had to lower the mast to connect the replacement or repaired wire element and then put it back up again.
But again, this is too much effort for a portable installation, which is what we were talking about.
73 Ed.
2 Likes
Hi all,
In the past I have mentioned on the reflector “put on” section masts. I was fortunate to purchase a 6m long “put on” carbon / glass composite roach pole soon after my first activation and never looked back. I have since seen these poles for sale at sensible prices and I also have a 8m carbon version for curbside use.
On another matter, when the 10m Challenge was announced I thought towards making up a 10m inverted vee dipole, then spent some time looking into the theory and practicalities of Vee beams. Even with the attraction of the 10dB ish gain, this approach is still looking like a bridge too far for summit use.
Having made very successful so called “Flower pot” aerials for 2m, it was not a big step to use the design to be found on this reflector for a 10m Flowerpot end fed dipole. I have found that the design does exactly what it says on the tin.
The flower pot aerial hangs comfortably on my 6 m pole with the pole passing through the self resonant coil which is about 1m AGL.
Thus far I have made qso’s every time I have deployed it. In fact it is lightweight, seems to perform just like its 2m smaller brother, and cost almost nothing to make.
David
G0EVV
3 Likes
This sounds like a very practical, cheap and easy to make antenna David, for the 10m Challenge - noted! I was talking to John @G4YSS AKA @M1NNN at Scarborough Club on Monday night who had also made one and used it from a non-SOTA hilltop. He thought it produced good results.
I was in the shack on and off this morning into the early afternoon before I went out. The only station heard and worked on 10m was Paul operating as EA7/W6PNG/P. Paul was 55 at 12:27 in SSB for a short time before fadng out. Some time later he moved to FT8 but he wsn’t visible to me at that time as band conditions had changed, as I have found lately.
73 Phil
1 Like
TU, Elliot. It was great to meet you in January and activate your summit, W6/NC-423, Mt Davidson.
I’m just plugging away on 10 meters as much as I can.
72, David N6AN
Tom, that’s an amazing result so far! I was dazzled to read your message.
So I downloaded my complete log and started sifting through the 2024 QSOs to see what I’ve worked on 10.
I was stunned to find 87 entities, mostly on CW with some SSB and RTTY. Your list includes 20+ countries I’ve yet to hear.
Call/ Country/Mode/S2S/Power
3W9 3W CW
4O/E73DX 4O CW 4O/JC-074 10 watts
5R8AL 5R CW
5W0RC 5W CW
8P5A 8P CW
8R7X 8R CW
9A4WY 9A CW
9Z4Y 9Y CW
BX2AKP BV CW BV/HS-009
BY4DX BY CW
DK7PE/C6A C6 CW
CE2ML CE CW
CN3A CN CW
CO8ZZ CO CW
CT2IWW/P CT CW
CR2N CT2 CW
CR3DX CT3 RTTY
CX2AQ CX RTTY
D4C D4 SSB
DL1HBT DL CW
DU3T DU SSB
E72U E7 CW
EA1FBU EA CW
EF6T EA6 CW
EG8WWA EA8 CW
EI6FR EI CW
F4WBN F CW
TO1Q FG SSB
FY5KE FY CW
G3VXJ G CW
GI4ONL GI CW
GM0GAV GM CW
GW0PLP GW CW
HA5LV HA CW
HB9DDZ HB CW
HH2AA HH CW
HI3T HI SSB
5K4X HK CW
DS1TUW HL CW
IV3FYW I SSB
JP3PPL/3 JA CW JA/HG-175
NK6A K CW
KH6TU KH6 RTTY
KP2B KP2 RTTY
WP3C KP4 RTTY
LN8W LA CW
LU1MAW LU CW
LY5A LY CW
LZ1GU LZ CW
OE9HRV/P OE SSB OE/VB-491
OH2N OH CW
OK2PDT OK CW
OM3GI OM CW
ON3UA ON SSB
OZ5E OZ CW
P44W P4 CW
PD3W PA SSB
PJ2/AD4ES PJ2 CW
PJ4K PJ4 SSB
PV2K PY RTTY
PZ5DZ PZ CW
S57S S5 CW
SM5LNE SM CW
SQ9JTR/P SP SSB SP/BZ-050
SV2HJW SV CW
T77LA T7 SSB
TF3SG TF CW
TI7W TI CW
RL3A UA CW
RZ0L UA0 CW
V31XX V3 CW
V51MA V5 SSB
VE5CPU VE CW
VK1MCW VK CW
VP2MER VP2M CW
VP5M VP5 CW
VR2T VR CW
XE1XR XE CW
8A0RARI YB CW
YT5K YU CW
YV4ABR YV RTTY
ZD7W ZD7 CW
ZL1TM ZL CW
ZP0X ZP SSB
ZS5AYC ZS SSB
Conditions have really tapered off. My last new country was FY5KE on 20 April. During a SoCal SOTA outing last weekend (great fun!) I was lucky to have other local activators or N4LAG save me on 10.
I surely hope the band improves and holds up through the fall and early winter.
Let’s do another S2S, shall we?!
72, David N6AN
3 Likes
Hi David,
I have employed 10 m flowerpot antenna in similar fashion. Initially I used a 7 m carbon fibre mast but changed to a 7 m glass fibre mast. I did not detect any difference but feel more self righteous with the latter. In both cases I dropped the coil over the mast before erecting to its full height. This minimises flapping about in the breeze.
Fast to erect, small footprint, works. A good solution for the Challenge imo. It’s had more than a dozen activations so far.
I should make ones for 6 m and 12 and 15 m. I have a 10 m mast. That’s for when the challenge is over.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
3 Likes
Superb David! Yes I agree, conditions have tapered off somewhat, but I have added a few more DXCCs in the meantime nonetheless. I’ll update my table after updating my activator logs.
S2S - yes please - as many as we can between our various 10m summits this year!
1 Like
Now up to 87 DXCCs on 10m, from SOTA activations in 2024:
| Prefix | DXCC | QSOs |
|---|---|---|
| 3A | Monaco | 1 |
| 4K | Azerbaijan | 1 |
| 4L | Georgia | 2 |
| 4X | Israel | 8 |
| 5B | Cyprus | 7 |
| 5R | Madagascar | 2 |
| 5Z | Kenya | 1 |
| 7Q | Malawi | 2 |
| 9A | Croatia | 3 |
| 9H | Malta | 4 |
| A6 | UAE | 1 |
| BY | China | 6 |
| CE | Chile | 3 |
| CO | Cuba | 1 |
| CT | Portugal | 5 |
| CT3 | Madeira | 1 |
| CU | Azores | 1 |
| CX | Uruguay | 5 |
| D4 | Cape Verde | 1 |
| DL | Germany | 1 |
| DU | Philippines | 1 |
| E7 | Bosnia Hercegovina | 2 |
| EA | Spain | 8 |
| EA8 | Canary Islands | 39 |
| ER | Moldova | 1 |
| ES | Estonia | 1 |
| EU | Belarus | 4 |
| EX | Kyrgyzstan | 2 |
| F | France | 9 |
| FR | Reunion | 1 |
| FY | French Guiana | 1 |
| G | England | 143 |
| GM | Scotland | 3 |
| GW | Wales | 32 |
| HA | Hungary | 2 |
| HB | Switzerland | 5 |
| HI | Dominican Republic | 3 |
| HL | South Korea | 1 |
| I | Italy | 15 |
| IS0 | Sardinia | 1 |
| J6 | St Lucia | 1 |
| J8 | St Vincent | 1 |
| JA | Japan | 9 |
| JY | Jordan | 1 |
| KH7 | Hawaii | 1 |
| KP2 | US Virgin Islands | 1 |
| KP4 | Puerto Rico | 4 |
| LA | Norway | 1 |
| LU | Argentina | 14 |
| LY | Lithuania | 2 |
| LZ | Bulgaria | 13 |
| OD | Lebanon | 3 |
| OE | Austria | 1 |
| OH | Finland | 10 |
| OJ | Market Reef | 1 |
| OK | Czech Republic | 2 |
| OZ | Denmark | 1 |
| PJ2 | Curacao | 1 |
| PJ4 | Bonaire | 1 |
| PJ5 | Saba & Sint Eustatius | 1 |
| PY | Brazil | 44 |
| PZ | Suriname | 1 |
| RA | Russia | 151 |
| S5 | Slovenia | 3 |
| SP | Poland | 4 |
| SV | Greece | 70 |
| SV5 | Dodecanese Islands | 1 |
| SV9 | Crete | 5 |
| TA | Turkey | 10 |
| TK | Corsica | 1 |
| UA9 | Asiatic Russia | 26 |
| UN | Kazakhstan | 3 |
| UR | Ukraine | 57 |
| V2 | Antigua & Barbuda | 1 |
| V3 | Belize | 1 |
| V4 | St Kitts & Nevis | 1 |
| VE | Canada | 24 |
| VK | Australia | 2 |
| W | USA | 367 |
| YB | Indonesia | 7 |
| YO | Romania | 24 |
| YU | Serbia | 5 |
| Z6 | Kosovo | 1 |
| ZC4 | British Military Bases, Cyrpus | 1 |
| ZD7 | St Helena | 1 |
| ZF | Cayman Islands | 1 |
| ZS | South Africa | 6 |
This topic was automatically closed after reaching the maximum limit of 100 replies. Continue discussion at 10M CHALLENGE (Part 2).