15m PSK

15m band currently open to North West Spain. Nothing else heard on the band here at home, but yesterday that was sufficient indication that a 15m activation would be worth doing - and indeed it was.

So shortly I’ll be off up to The Cloud G/SP-015, and hope to do some CW and SSB, but mainly PSK31. Interested chasers have (probably) a couple of hours to get their data set-ups configured.

Sunday 24th July 2016 - The Cloud G/SP-015

Quite busy at the summit so I moved along a bit to a flat grassy area by the cliff edges. Set up my 15m GP antenna. Unlike the previous day, when one solitary signal on the 15m band at home turned into good activity from a SOTA summit, this time the activity level already on the band decreased - by one - to zero!

For once my Mini Palm Paddle and Code Cube was not playing up and was ready to go with my preferred and custom settings. So I set the CQ loop off and sat and relaxed in the very warm weather until something happened.

Just one thing “happened” - when EA1CVZ came back for a QSO on 15m CW. Much more CQ loop CQing didn’t attract any further callers. Actually, I did hear “SP” at one point, but when I responded with “SP?” and “QRZ?” and the like, nothing came back.

Time to set up for PSK31 which after all was the prime intention of this activation. Almost identical results to CW - lots of calling, just one contact, lots more calling, unanswered, and eventually I gave up. That one QSO though was with PP5BBN in Brazil, which was something of encouragement.

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Late evening tends to yield better results to South America at the moment Tom.
Its there, just not many on the band I suspect.

17m might be worth a try too.

Jonathan

The SFI is plummeting now as sunspots 2565/2567 rotate out of view, from an SFI of 107 a few days ago its now down to 84, which can’t be a help!

Brian