I have enjoyed the 10m challenge so far and certainly good to chase away on 10m whilst band is in more perky conditions as allowing me to catch me first ever South African sotas.
Plus being the top UK Inter Licensee holder at mo and well with in the top ten
But all being well me weapon of war should be on line come Sept as I construct me nice 3 El Moxon wire beam and me 12m tilt mast is also in play, bar the upgrade to convert into a vertical leccy winch side of it.
The boom is nigh on done and now onto the Plex glass mounting plates and the spreaders to hold the wires etc etc.
But as been bit of a disruption since to the build since this prat launched his car in to my shed earlier this month. thankfully missed the tilt mast by feet.
Note the lack of tire marks across the grass hence the launched as it flew as he fell asleep at wheel⌠Was in bed room thankfully as was in shed 10m prior and heard the crunch and the engine reving as he flew and then the shed crunching.
Thankfully I had moved the 2m death ray else where prior to eventâŚ
DXCC on 10m completed! Well not really, as QSOs have taken place from more than one DXCC (G, GW, GM), but now 101 entities worked on 28MHz from SOTA activations in 2024. Some of the Challenge scores absolutely dwarf mine, so Iâm sure a few activators are already there and well beyond in this regard.
The year started very promisingly on 10m, giving hope that we could be moving towards a spectacular solar maximum, but in reality, the last few months have been more difficult. CW and SSB activity has been very rare, and USA - despite it being my most worked DXCC on the band - has hardly been heard for a number of weeks.
Trans-equatorial N-S has been the best bet, by a long way, for a good while now - in my experience anyway. At least the handful of Sp.E events in the early summer managed to tick off most of EU - though gaps remain.
It has indeed been hard going this summer, and on the bigger hills recently I have resorted to the little QMX and FT8CN to scrape a few contacts. I have however managed at least one 10M contact on 47 of 49 unique summits this year.
As conditions were poor over the summer, I took the opportunity to have a short city break in Wythenshawe NHS hospital, where they removed a sarcoma from my thorax, and replaced a few discarded bits and pieces with some plastic surgery. Iâve been home a week now, and improving by the day.
Keeping priorities in mind, I asked how long before I might shoulder a rucksack? The consultant suggested six months as a reasonable target to set.
So, for now, Iâll be chasing from home, and itâs good to see that 10m is stuttering back into life.
Get well soon OM, quite a big job you had done when you were in dock by the sound of it.
I just went by to listen to see if I could hear F/HB9IIO/P on 28058. Only white noise apparent and I lost concentration. While distracted though a W USA station called the Swiss Op and made a good QSO - by the time I turned my beam the USA station was sending his 73 at 569 unfortunately my lack of concentration meant I didnât copy the USA chasers callsign.
Enjoy the chasing - the only 10m QSO today for me was 9A/YO5AI/P at 11:57, but I am working in my garden on a big job at present so only in the shack every now and then to see what is about.
If you are into DX then the CY9C DXpedition is QRV and fairly easy for us to work on several bands, especially for FT8 users.
Sorry to hear your news Adrian but glad to hear you are on the mend. If its any consolation you may have noticed that the weather conditions havenât been very kind recently. When the wind is gusting 32+ in the city of Hereford it doesnât seem to be a good idea to go on even the smaller local hills - and, of course, there are a lot of hungry ticks in this area (1 Herefordshire and 1 Shropshire for the first time ever) waiting for you (or perhaps it is just me??)
I am glad you are enjoying reading the reflector - I find it much more interesting usually than all the little jobs Iâm supposed to be doing (weeding the garden, dealing with paperwork - and even planning a rather imminent trip to the Channel Islands in September when we hope to visit 3 uniques). I have a feeling we may have a few tales to tellâŚ
73 Viki
Thanks for the 10m chase this afternoon Matt on Hill of Nigg. Good signal here. ODX in a rushed activation was Fred KT5X. WX was torrential rain and 35mpg gusts when I left Edinburgh. 200miles North and 3.5 hours later, 21C, sunny, blustery but a huge downpour was coming so I aborted the activation and got back to the car before the heavens opened.
Stunning achievement, congrats!
About the time summer began (possibly late spring) the DX probabilities dropped sharply.
Since the challenge started, I have only achieved 39 DXCCs and from what I see the DXCC would be an impossible mission.
Will I have to settle for the âHalf DXCCâ?
With the autumn (or fall) Northern hemisphere DX season now under way your DXCC opportunities are not over! I suppose the SOTA equivalent of DXCC is activating/chasing Associations, and there are currently 212 of them so that makes a worthy target for us all.
I can sympathise: it rained all morning here, and 10m has remained stubbornly silent, but at least I am retired so I can enjoy poor conditions at my leisure!
PS I posted â10m has remained stubbornly silentâ then a few minutes ago I was listening to the noise where a SOTA station should be and suddenly there is a PY2 booming in calling him - donât you just LOVE 10m!
The 10m band propagation opened up enough for me to make QSOs with WX1S on a Vermont SOTA (1528z) and with KE8OKM on a Pennsylvania SOTA (1535z) yesterday, 04-09-24.
10m Condx are becoming autumnal now, as is the weatherâŚ
