I completely agree its been allot of fun, conditions have been good and I’ve learn’t allot along the way.
Hats off to whoever organised/suggested it.
Its been really good for me approaching sunset QRP. This morning i got up early to try the pacific. You could hear VK, JP stations on 10m but I struggled, high demand with allot of power in the way.
Then I tried 20m expecting europe and got VK and saint helena in the log almost immediately. I never would have thought ……
Hi All,
Well, I’ve logged my first 10m activation of the year. It was not as easy as I had hoped on a very busy band and a lot of calling was needed to get 5 valid contacts, that being said the first two were Adele ZS5APT and Sid ZS5AYC out of South Africa and the last one was Gary K3TCU out of Pennsylvania, so my new wire beam antenna seems to be “sort of” working - albeit the contacts into South Africa were off the side lobe of the beam!
Yesterday I activated my first SOTA peak in 2024, on the 10m band I was able to log several stations from the USA, Canada and South Africa. Highlights were my first S2S ever with north america (a big thanks to @K2CZH) and two contacts into South Africa. I worked with nothing special, using my usual setup … KX2 with 10 watt and an inv-v endfed 49:1 for 40/20/15/10m. Here is part of my logfile:
Enjoyed a nice pre-spring activation, it was unusually hot (+10°C) on the summit for this time of year. After the sunset I rushed back to the car to get there just before complete darkness.
Hi Martin,
I saw your spot and listened for you and although I could hear your chasers I could not hear you for an S2S - too close I think.
73 Ed DD5LP.
Hi Paul,
I had hoped for an S2S with you based on your alert time but unfortunately, I had to pack up prior to you getting to the summit I think - more luck next time.
Whether I plan one or more activations in a day, I always try and do the first such that I am on a peak around sunrise. Bit chilly (well, by Cal standards) but it enhances the chance of a “memorable” long distance S2S.
I’ll go along with Dave, N6AN, 1500 to 1700 for Europe to West Coast USA
on 10 and 15 meters. It has been pretty good so far. I have 20 European SOTA
QSOs this month, all on 15 and 10 meters. A few before sunrise!
I have never (that I can recall) ever gotten a European SOTA QSO on 20 meters
any year.
73,
John, K6YK
The beauty of the flowerpot style dipole is 1. It’s cheap, 2. It’s mechanically strong and takes lots of abuse, 3. If you make it out of a 50 foot piece of coax you can get the base at least 16 feet off the ground, and the takeoff angle is favorable to DX.
I’ve been starting out on 10m the last couple months and have yet to come up short.
Yesterday from W3/PW-038 I was able to pickup ZL1TM Pennsylvania to New Zealand with the IC705 and 10/20/40 endfed 10m off ground! That is my longest QSO to date. @8500 miles @5W
Yes agreed its been fun back on 10m especially catching the Sotas on a nice long distances across the pond etc and only using 50w and the FW loop for 40m with tuner. All being well have the beam back up :-)))))))
But the most DXCC wkd so far is Greece where there always loud at Mo and Reg as clockwork worked again NICE :-))))
Come spring summer when Es kicks in again oh god its going be a European mess again NICE LOL and good to get logging in Sota’s on 10m bit a of a different band to normal sota catchs.
Phil, I heard him calling and aswell the qsos with Mario, DJ2MX and more. But I was on Pota and and had to control myself very much not to call S2S. Here’s the qso with Jan, SM5LNE and maybe Michael, DJ5AV?
N6AN reached 100,000 activator points in the challenge, more than double my own … and I’m trying really hard. We’re only three and a half months into it. What’s the prediction for end of year challenge points?
