Today was HB9TNF/p on HB/GR-114 at 7116 and ON3FMB/P on ON/ON-011 at 7118 at the same time. I had contact with the two stations without problems. When the Italian Stations make their local QSOs with 1000 or 2000 watts, we have qrm for 12-15 kc. My request to make qso with 50 or 100 watts to save frequencies. And for local QSOs 5 Watt that will do. Most SOTA QSOs over all Europe are maked with 5 Watt!
OE7HPI
Holger
In reply to OE7HPI:
1000 - 2000 Watts that,s QRP in Italy 
Yes, 1000-2000W is QRP in Italy hihi…
I think we have to live with this circumstance and also with an OM who is keying “idiot” to a station making tests on SOTA-QRG… like before on 40m. Sometimes i think there are also chasers who are working with more than 100W to a QRP-SOTA-station, only to be earlier than the others… Often i’m waiting till the QRM is over and then…no problem to work the activators. good luck and be happy.
73 Peter
Yes, 40 metres (particularly) seems to get vey busy at weekends, and it’s not at all unusual to have a QRO station close to a SOTA one. This particular situation was a bit unusual, with 2 SOTA stations rather close, but they were also suffering from QRO stations on either side. Here, though the ON stations might have been workable, I could only just about hear the HB station, and the pile-ups tipped the balance…
(…and, for added interest, throw some strange propagation that variously pushes one station or another about by several S-points…)
73, Rick M0LEP
In reply to OE7HPI:
You can never complain about the Italians when UK stations give them a run for there money giving calls several times over each other , QRP is called a M6 10w into 2kw amp. That flatten full legal power stations in the UK there are bad operators in all DXCC but UK must be in the top five worldwide .
In reply to HB9CMI:
You are a good signal when we have worked on 40/30m Peter. What antenna and power do you normally use and have we worked on 20m?
Andy, MM0FMF
(FT817 5W, 40/30m dipole, 20m loaded vertical)
In reply to G0TRB
Hi Roger
You are very welcome to come and have a look at my set up.
I have a Gap Challenger Cobweb and a long wire antenna running 50w from my Yaesu FT1000MP no amp, it’s not just the British every one is doing it. It,s the nature of the game.
Regards Nigel 2E0NHM
In reply to OE7HPI & OTHER REPLIES:
I’m surprised that more activators don’t say and operate “listening 1 to 2 (or more) up” when there’s a pile up? I don’t think it would be considered bad operating practice and speed things along perhaps? Some rigs may be difficult to work split possibly but otherwise one of the DX operators ways of looking for the low power but astute operator/chaser.
Damian M0BKV
In reply to M0BKV:
I don’t consider myself to good enough CW operator yet to work split and spread the pileup out and about and take up even more bandwidth. I don’t think it’s hard at all on an 817, either true split or just use the large coverage the RX clarifier has.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to M0BKV:
So you are saying it is a good idea to have twice as much qrm and twice the splatter which may still cover the sota activator remember he is only on a summit and not a rare IOTA island . Some UK stations are end stopping on 20m and they cant blame band conditions its just overdriving the equipment and amps there are a few well known chasers both SOTA and WAB who insist on shouting all the time, so others dont get the correct reports this has now spilled onto VHF .
In reply to MM0FMF:
At this moment in the sunspot cycle about 90% of European SOTA CW activations take place on 40m, which becomes very congested, especially at weekends where it is common to have 3 or 4 SOTA stations active at the same time between 7031 and 7034 KHz.
To attempt a SOTA split operation on this band would cause great confusion unless the activator self-spotted to a different part of the band.
Split working is perfectly feasible on other bands, and was used with great success by HA6QR Gyula just a few days ago on the 19th February when he operated on 10118 KHz and listened up whilst on HA/EM-018 in order to manage a pile of of some 50 chasers.
Calling by numbers by SOTA activators has also been tried on one of two occasions but this has never been successful in view of the long wait if a chaser misses his own number.
73
Roy G4SSH
In reply to M0BKV:
why split?? its a bit tight in the SOTA chunk and most SOTA chasers have plenty of patience, after all it’s not a contest and speed is not the point. As for low power I have never found it to be a disadvantage when used with CW, just wait your turn.
Steve.
In reply to MM0FMF:
The 817 is not too hard to work in split mode, but it can be rather embarassing if you forget to take it out of split mode when you want to move to another band, and because of it’s menu system, that’s easier done than I’d like… 
In reply to M0BKV:
Last weekend’s issues on 40 metres were mostly because the band was jammed full from end to end, so working split would only have made matters worse. 
In reply to G0TRB and MW0BBU:
Yes, it’s nice when pile-ups are well-mannered. I don’t know what they’re like on CW, but I’ve heard a few on SSB recently that I decided to avoid… 
73, Rick M0LEP
In reply to G0TRB:
You can never complain about the Italians when UK stations give them a
run for there money giving calls several times over each other , QRP
is called a M6 10w into 2kw amp. That flatten full legal power
stations in the UK there are bad operators in all DXCC but UK must be
in the top five worldwide
As you quite rightly point out Roger, there bad operators all over the world. Most of the pile-ups on the higher HF frequencies tend to degernerate into a screaming match these days. It’s rare for me to sit in pile-ups anymore, lifes just too short. Some of the best DX I have worked, has come directly as a result of calling CQ, not sitting in pile-ups for hours on end.
73 Mike
2E0YYY
In reply to G0TRB, Roy & Andy:
Well it was just a thought.
I love the way people get so heated in both DX and now SOTA. It’s only a game, surely? You win a few and loose a few. And we must remember some of us have to work for a living (writing this at work too - naughty naughty). Sometimes I sneak out and work the odd SOTA did this earlier with poor soaking wet Phil. Now I take my hat off to him and the others in the snow and rain.
I’ve noticed we now have the band police in SOTA shouting aswell! You’ve got to laugh.
I still love it - HAM RADIO & SOTA - best thing since sliced bread!
Damian M0BKV
In reply to 2E0YYY:
Some of the best DX I have worked, has come directly as a result of calling CQ,
not sitting in pile-ups for hours on end.
Yeah, I know what you mean. While operating from Kenya (as 5Z4/M0LEP) over Xmas I did get one 60-station pile-up, and I did sit in a small handful of pile-ups myself, but a bit under a half of the stations I worked were my answering their CQ calls. Almost all the interesting conversations came that last way.
73, Rick M0LEP
In reply to 2E0YYY:
has come directly as a result of calling CQ, not sitting in pile-ups for hours >on end.
I think you hit the nail squarely on the head Mike. Not enough people call CQ.
The nice thing about SOTA (and I assume WFF/IOTA etc.) is that you can cause your own pileup. Having spent far too much time calling into the pileup and getting frustrated I’d much rather be the DX everyone else is chasing, something that SOTA gives me nearly every time I start calling.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to M0LEP:
Yeah, I know what you mean. While operating from Kenya (as 5Z4/M0LEP)
over Xmas I did get one 60-station pile-up, and I did sit in a small
handful of pile-ups myself, but a bit under a half of the stations I
worked were my answering their CQ calls. Almost all the interesting
conversations came that last way.
Hi Rick,
Kenya isn’t easy to work ssb. IIRC, there are very few licensed hams out there, less then 30 if my memory serves me correctly and not too many are QRV. I’m sure I’ve worked a retired ex-pat school teacher out there twice, he’s normally CW, but occasionally, just occasionally, he pops up on the 15m band. He’s a great rag-chewer and I’m certain his QSL manager is in the UK and they have a cw sked every day. I keep a paper log, so finding him won’t be easy. Ring any bells?
73 Mike
2E0YYY
In reply to MM0FMF:
I think you hit the nail squarely on the head Mike. Not enough people
call CQ.The nice thing about SOTA (and I assume WFF/IOTA etc.) is that you can
cause your own pileup. Having spent far too much time calling into the
pileup and getting frustrated I’d much rather be the DX everyone else
is chasing, something that SOTA gives me nearly every time I start
calling.
There’s little disputing that Andy. I’ve worked Rich N4EX and his QRP station at least a dozen times in the last few months, on most occasions using nothing more than a bit of wire tied to the top of my collinear. I stll get a buzz every time he calls and spots me, because it usually brings the other Stateside chasers in.
Mike 2E0YYY
In reply to 2E0YYY:
My morse isn’t up to working CW, and the electric fences played merry games with digital modes, so my operating was all SSB. I joined the Sunday 40 metre net while I was out there, and it typically got half a dozen folks on air. The ARSK call book ( ARSK CALLBOOK ) lists more than 60 individuals, but quite a few of them aren’t very active, and it doesn’t, for the most part, list visitors. Of the folks I met out there, Tim 5Z4DV probably comes nearest to your description. He told me about the fun he had activating Mt. Kenya (on VHF) a great many years ago…
Kenya requires a full log to be kept, including any callsigns called, whether worked or not, and that kind of log inevitably gets a fair few “not called” entries too. I was skimming through counting the “CQ” lines, and I noticed a line with a familiar callsign:
21/12/2011 12.48 21.263 SSB 100W 2E0YYY – – QSB
…so I obviously just heard you, but not well enough to put down a signal report and call back (though, given I’ve noted a time, it’s possible I did answer at least once).
73, Rick M0LEP