Continuing the discussion from 2026 SOTA Challenge (Part 5) - #104 by VK1DA.
Previous discussions:
What is there not to like about a 2m SSB Challenge 
My first 2m SSB QSO into a chaserās 50 ohm resistive dummy load over 12km 
Very pleased with the 857D sensitivity on receive in such a harsh RF environment at Black Mountain.
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Another plus point for the challenge, is that from a scoring point of view, it makes no difference if you are on 10 point or 1 point hill. So this may have the side effect of encouraging more 1 point activations, and more challenge activity.
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Yep, Iād thought about that too! Definately some opportunities for me around here.
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Iām hoping that the transverter Iāve put together using a couple of boards off eBay and the 5-element yagi Iāve put up in place of the 2/70 white stick will help me get off the ground with this yearās Challenge.
Iād previously tried using the white stick and my beat-up old FT-817, but wasnāt able to hear any of the activators I listened out for.
The yagiās pointing just west of north, which is the direction in which I have the lowest horizon. To my west thereās a hundred feet of hillside, and more distant hills of similar height wrap all the way round through south to north-east. I donāt yet have a rotator for the yagi, but I figured that pointing that way it stood a reasonable chance.
Today, whilst trying the transverter out for the first time, I noticed, first, that 2 metres is totally devoid of CW Skimmers in this part of the world, so youāre not going to hit RBN, and second, that at least two of the spots on 2 metres today mentioned using a vertical antenna. I could, however, use the VHF SDR at Hack Green, and it could just barely hear my CW, but not my SSB signal.
Next step will be making an antenna suitable for use on a summit (Maybe something like this oblong?) so that I can give the transverter an outing. Are activators mostly using vertically-polarized antennas? Iām guessing that chasers with SSB/CW-capable base stations probably have horizontally-polarized antennas to go with them, but maybe they also have the option to switch to vertical?
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I use my ft818 and flowerpot antenna for 2m. I just switch it from FM to SSB and keep the antenna vertical. I usually put vertical in the comments section of the spot.
Andy
MM7MOX
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I am doing the same, with a flowerpot on the ic705. I think most chasers that I have spoken to are using vertical polarisation.
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Iām also running vertical. Most of the chasers are too. I do intend building something so I can do horizontal but will probably include vertical on most activations since thatās what so many stations have.
Me too. I tried to use my FT817 with a 1/2-wave whip (RH770) but I needed 3 hands to operate it. So I use a j-pole on a 3m pole, guyed to pegs if I have to, but propped up against a rock if I can, which is a bit quicker.
If Iām doing HF as well (usually 30m CW) Iāll put the j-pole part way up a 5m pole with inverted-v EFHW from the top. I donāt think the two wire antennas detuned each other that way.
I am currently activating 2m SSB on my vertical Slim G omni antenna. Frankly I canāt be bothered messing about with pointing and turning a yagi in the winter. Iām having sufficient success on the vertical omni that I donāt yet feel the need to add complication. I know I may get better distance and more contacts. But itās a trade off I am personally happy to make.
At some point in the future on a nice warm, sunny, not too windy day, I will try out the 3 element yagi I have. I will use it vertical and horizontal. This is also limited by my current activating plans which involve attempting two or more summits in a day.
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I sometimes used a rightangle adapter to the rear socket and a half wave mobile whip, sitting the rig on a rock or the trig point. I tried a three band mobile whip for the extra gain but it was a pain to carry!
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In my early days of SOTA activating I used to use the trig point (if the summit had one) but found - even on the remotest summits in foul weather - someone would turn up mid QSO wanting to touch it, sit or stand there, etc - Sodās Law in action - so now I avoid TPs. As for big rocks (or drystone walls in my area), they are not often where you want to operate (good VHF takeoff but shelter from the weather). Many summits are featureless.
You canāt rely on natural and man-made features being at every summit so you must take and make your own solution.
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Iāve been reading all the Challenge threads and there are only a couple of cases that mention what Iām about to say: I think itās a mistake that both bands, 144/432, arenāt scored separately from the same summit, even with only one hunter involved. Whatās the point then of carrying equipment and antennas for both bands? I think double scoring for both bands would have greatly encouraged the use of both bands, participation, and fun. There would have been much more experimentation with UHF SSB, where its use is almost nonexistent except in SSB contests (at least in Spain). At worst, a separate table for VHF/UHF bands would be good to see who put effort into each band, especially if someone is willing to take on the 432 SSB adventure exclusively.
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This may or may not be an issue for this years SOTA eventā¦
I see one station in the USA W7 call district (KK7OVF) that has activated 2 summits and shows 62514 KM. He has scored 125,028 points so far in this event.
Seemed a bit odd, so I checked his SOTA log and it appears that his contacts are satellite contacts.
Just wondering if that is correctā¦
tnx
73
Pete/WA7JTM
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Hello Pete -
Yes, you have correctly read KK7OVFās SOTA log.
The MT has twice in this reflector weighed in on logging satellite contacts for the Challenge.
73, Etienne-K7ATN
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OKā¦just wondering.
tnx
Pete/JTM
I was able to hear a fair few of the UKAC activity on SSB on Tuesday evening, so I know reception via the transverter works, at least for the big guns. Iāve also tried listening for a dozen or more activations I figured might be in range over the last week, and at best just barely heard an activator. Clearly a serious chaser would have something on a rotator and some way of changing polarization, but at the moment my antennaās fixed. Iāve spent a few hours today sorting it out so that the yagi is now vertically aligned and pointing slightly west of north. Iāll see what the weekend brings in the way of contacts.
Not necessarily true.
I seem to be doing alright and only have the ubiquitous white stick at home at the moment. In general from my home I can cover the G/SP region south of Wigan, most of GW/NW and the more northerly G/WB summits so around 100km semi-cricle range with nothing much to the North or East of me.
As with a lot of these its about being there when an activation takes place. I make a point of looking at the alerts and filtering sotwatch.to try to maximise my chances.
Once some better weather comes along, I would expect some of the higher summits will get more regular activations, although for me thats a double edged sword with the decrease in some of the classic winter bonus rounds (NW-44/51, NW-42/43, WB-3/5 etc)
Hope the transverter produces good result 
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I had my old 817 hooked up to the old white stick earlier in the year, but I was hearing next to nothing of the U/VHF SSB/CW activations on it, so it may need a check-over, but when I took it down I decided Iād give the long neglected yagi some fresh air instead.
From a VHF-chasing point of view my QTH is a bit limited (though a great deal better than my previous QTH, from which I only ever managed to chase G/SE-013 Detling Hill on VHF). In the seven years since I moved here Iāve only chased G/CE-001 Cleeve Hill, G/CE-002 Walton Hill, G/WB-006 Caer Caradoc, G/WB-007 Heath Mynd, G/WB-009 Worcestershire Beacon, G/WB-014 Burrow, G/WB-018 View Edge, G/WB-019 May Hill and G/WB-021 Ruardean Hill on VHF or UHF, and all those were FM. Iām hoping the Challenge will give me a chance to catch a few more of the relatively nearby summits on VHF. GW/NW may be a bit of a stretch, but at least a few GW/MW summits should be reachable, as well as most of the other G/WB summits. Thereās a bit too much hill between me and GW/SW.
Iām repeating a point I made earlier this year. I suspect - but canāt prove - that most of the āseriousā home-based VHF dxāers with horizontally-polarised Yagis and rotators operate their setups mainly during VHF contests and not for your average ad-hoc SOTA activator. I get a few during my 2m SSB/CW activations but most of my chasers are using vertical collinears at home or their 2m FM antennas if activators.
I view this as a positive development: getting home-based ops with VHF multimode and āwhite sticksā to switch their rigs from FM to SSB and CW for the new (2026) SOTA SSB and CW activity on 2m.
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