On Saturday I listened out for 2m activators on local G/NP and G/SP summits. The only station I could hear and contact was M9WRD on CW. Thanks Luke for the QSO. I listened out for Luke later on 2m SSB but couldn’t hear a thing. This confirms two things, the efficiency of CW and my suspicion that I have either a white stick or feeder fault. It’s also made me want to improve my morse from dire to mediocre and then brave a morse activation.
73 Steve
Ahead of my Pen-y-Ghent G/NP-010 activation tomorrow lunchtime, any views of which is best for the 2026 Challenge: To do 2m FM first then 2m SSB (and/or CW) OR vice versa.
Speaking briefly to Richard @G4TGJ, he favours FM first so you can notify chasers of your intention and who will then also work you on SSB/CW. My concern was (and why I’ve usually done SSB first) that some chasers having ‘bagged’ the summit on their 2m FM QSO with you, won’t bother to work you again on SSB/CW.
Now both could be true. The question is then, does the ‘FM first’ approach on balance get more SSB/CW chasers? I suppose a lot depends on how many have seen your (multi-mode) alert rather than were just monitoring or seen your first spot.
Both ways have worked for me on different summits, but I’m having fun with it either way.
Andy
MM7MOX
I tend to do 2m SSB first, then switch to FM, but then switch back to 2 SSB if I can drum up some more 2m SSB business.
Could just skip FM altogether.
It actually really depends on what you want to do and your preferred modes and how much time you intend to spend on the summit.
I doubt your going to end up short of the 4 required, so if your focus is 2m SSB/CW I would start with that. That way if you get a pile up you will spend the time on doing your preference. If you started on FM and get a pile up, you may find you don’t have enough time for the CW/SSB.
Can always switch back and forth especially seeing as the vertical SSB is becoming a thing , so no need to faff around switching antenna polarisations.
One thing I have noticed is that not many call on 144.300 ssb (then qsy) rather just find a frequency and place a spot. When I am home , I do tend to leave the rig on 144.300 but can’t always have spots up due to remoting into work.
I have had a few of non-sota contacts by calling on 300 and they also tend to be the best dx too although they are also mainly horizontal polarisation.
I’ll certainly be listening tommorow, but not very hopefully as anything to the north of me (Wigan) is not great but one never knows.
I’m going into my OF mode, but that’s OK cus I am an OF! 
When I started on 70cm in 1964 the experts told me time and again, the name of the game is DX, and the secret of success is to get as much horizontal metal as possible as high as possible, high power is nice to have but if you don’t get that metal up high you won’t hear the DX! I started with a 6/6 slot fed yagi and later got a 13-el yagi twice as high, and my AM got me contacts from the Continent. Later the B licencees were allowed on 2m, and I used an 8-el yagi from a better location and after changing to SSB (initially a mighty 10 watts!) was able to take advantage of openings to work all over western EU.
What the current challenge has done is return us to DX mode. Activators still try to get 4+ in the log and qualify the summit, of course, but now they are looking to see how far they can get, and once again we arrive at getting as much metal as possible as high as possible. The high is no problem, of course, the summit takes care of that, the problem becomes the metal. It has to be carried, assembled, and once up it has to stay on target. So far it seems most people avoid the challenge, preference going to low-gain/no-gain verticals for speed and simplicity, and probably they are not hearing possible DX with horizontal polarisation…and here we are on the thresholdd of the DX season with an anticyclone developing in a position that suggests that beaming east might pick up some tropo DX! (only currently my beam won’t turn! 
) Of course activity is a pale shadow of what it was even 20 years ago, but I bet that east of us there are still a few die hard OFs tapping their barometers and checking to see if they can hear any beacons from way out west!
If my legs and lungs were still up for the challenge I will tell you what I would be doing. I would be buying a hand held beam, on a summit a mast is not essential. I would be looking at something like the Moonraker YG27-35 with 3 el on 2m (7dBd gain) and 5 el on 70cm (9 dBd gain) to strap on my rucksack, or an HB9CV (cheap and cheerful, only 3 dBd gain, wide as a barn door but a lovely notch on the back to aim at interfering towers!) or even use some brazing rod or copper-plated welding rod to make a 3 el beam on a length of wood - I made a lovely little 4 el for 70cm using brazing rod, a length of wood, a trimmer and a hanful of staples, and it took less than an hour from construction start to first contact! Of course with a handheld beam it only takes a quick twizzle to find the right polarisation.
When all is ready, it then comes down to being in the right place (a summit) at the right time (an opening with other people on!) Its a matter of looking at the met office pressure charts, tapping the barometer, checking the predictions (or casting the bones - about as useful!) and crossing your fingers. There has been some lovely fat anticyclones that never produced a smidgeon of DX, and minor highs that got me out several hundred klicks, there are no guarantees!
One little quirk: my first club back in the sixties went out on a summit during a major opening. They set up the station and switched on, and zilch. Not a whisper of activity. They packed up, went back to the club station and re-assembled the rig, and immediatly worked a stream of Dutch and German stations. They believe that they were actually too high up, above the temperature inversion, and all the fun and games was going on below them. I dunno, perhaps it was an undiscovered fault in the setup, but that was their theory - they were too high. Perhaps its better to be on a one or two point summit during an opening?
Below is an extract from my sota log from Winter Hill G/ SP-010 04/09/2005 using 2.5w from an 817 into a 9 element tonna.
Yes it was in a contest, yes some of the DX had BIG stations, but did I care 
The next 2 hours of the contest were just mainly UK stations (what a disspointment )
I was 59 with everyone too, I truly beleive they were genuine
| 11:06 | DR9A | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11:12 | ON4KHG | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:13 | G2XV/P | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:15 | ON4WY | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:17 | PI4Z | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:18 | G5B | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:19 | DL1EJA | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:21 | PA6NL | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:28 | F6KQV/P | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:32 | F8BRK | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:34 | DL0DR | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:36 | G3SAD/P | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:37 | M0LKB/P | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:39 | M3DPQ/P | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:42 | G4ZAP/P | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:44 | G0HIK/P | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:47 | OR5A | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:50 | PA2M | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:52 | M2F | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:54 | GJ4ZUK/P | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:57 | F4DRU/P | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:58 | M8C | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 11:59 | F6BEE/P | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 12:04 | G4DEZ | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 12:11 | OO4BAX | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 12:13 | PI9CM | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 12:15 | PE1OPK | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 12:21 | F6KSL | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 12:22 | G3BPK/P | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 12:24 | DK5DQ | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 12:26 | M0FGH | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 12:30 | PC5T | 144MHZ | SSB | ||
| 12:31 | PE1AHX | 144MHZ | SSB |
Hi Ian, An impressive list of contacts and reports. Is your point that you worked a lot of good dx stations with just 2.5W SSB? I think your 9-element Yagi has a forward gain of ~13 dBi so it doesn’t surprise me.
Am I right in thinking – if you pre-assemble parts of the Tonna at home - the on-summit assembly (and disassembly) time for a solo activator would be about 15-20 minutes? For a 2m contest in September (nice weather?) I can see it’s worth the effort. But I wonder how many ad hoc dx QSOs you would have got had you gone over the same 80 minutes on a non-contest day [especially in 2026]. Would you have taken the Tonna then? What about on very windy, rainy, cold weather days like we’ve mostly had (in the UK) so far this week?
My point is – and I’ve mentioned it before in this topic, and other activators have too – that Yes, many of us currently using quick-to-deploy vertically-polarised 2m antennas (usually exactly the same one we use for 2m FM) on our week-in-week-out activations look forward to those warm, dry, windless days where we can leisurely erect our 2m Yagis to catch some decent dx without having frozen hands before calling CQ. The purpose of the 2026 is to encourage more SSB and CW activity on 2m. Had the MT chosen to constrain the Challenge to only horizontally-polarised antennas, I contend we would not have seen this big increase in activity from the start of the year.
As for Brian’s point about barometers and anticyclones: a point I’ve made before (but probably about openings on 6m band) many activators are highly constrained by personal circumstances (e.g. commitments to family or working life) as to which day that can go out for SOTA and then the actual time-of-day of their activation by weather, safety, travel/walking times and other factors. So, while we’d love to align our VHF activation with a lift/high, sadly for most of us that would be the tail wagging the dog.
Basically yes. Yes the fact that it was a major contest day helped with some of the bigger stations being prepared and able to pick out weak signals.
The tonna was one of those portable ones, so the beams split in 2 and the elements folder round so they were parallel to the boom. For a summit like Winter Hill back then when you could walk up the tarmac access road it wasnt too onerous. After a bit of practice, the tent/beach-shelter mast and antenna with radio check was about 30 minutes.
Also back around 2005 2m SSB was a goto band/mode with for general activations some form of small lightweight beam such as the 3element sotabeam was fairly widespread. Hard to compare then to now as the general level and awareness of Sota is different. Myself and Peter (M1BZJ) did carry the tonna up Cyrn-Y-Brain GW/NW-043 (another relatively straighforward summit) in the snow in Feb 2025 and worked 31 stations on a mix of SSB and FM on a non contest day. I know we had it vertical that day as I have a picture of it attached to the wooden broom handle used as the top portion of the mast to prevent any interaction
I have no problem with vertical ssb, its all I have at home and is currently serving me well, my example was more as an encouragement to back up what others have said about what can happen when the stars align. I have no doubt that when some of the favourable propagation kicks in, polarisation will be less of an issue, but a bit of directionalality and certiainly some front to back ratio will be an advantage.
From my original post, my main point was not neglecting cq’s on 300 just to see if there is anyone listening. I worked 200 miles from Billinge with the 3 element (I think vertical but not 100%) + 817 just from a cq and it is my bext DX in the challenge (not that its a vast list) and it came from a random CQ on 300 and some poor guy in Hertfordshire who jumped out of his skin when his rig started talking
Agreed, but would loved to have how that would have been monitored
Hence why my activator log is very short (considering how long I’ve been interested) which does have an advantage of making it easily searchable
The example of 2005 was 21 years ago, and I’ve not even come close since then mainly because of opportunity.
I suppose it does also give the hint that looking at the contest calendar could be an opportunity to virtually guarantee a successful activation (probably even more so with CW)
Ian
9 element antenna.
…Hi Ian, can you tell me more about your yagi, did you make it or is a commercial made (brand)?
Geoff vk3sq
Tonna is a brand name eg 220089 2m 9 element portable Yagi antenna - radioworld
There are a some VK activators getting good results without carrying a Yagi to the summit. A single length of wire and a suitable support can do the job. CQ 270 CW SSB Gang! - Cool Kids Sip from the Hour Glass? - Equipment / Antennas - SOTA Reflector
As Andrew VK3ARR stated, it was a commercial antenna that unfortunately is no longer available.
While its named as “portable” it still required a reasonably stable mast to mount it on so wasnt ideal for rough terrain or long hikes.
Each of the elements was attached to the boom with a wingnut fastening that when loosened allowed the element to swing so it was parallel with the boom so leabing no “sticky out bits” when transporting.
Its sat in my garage at the moment, and has been for some time. I must take it out on a trip one day.
I will also try to find the photo of it in use on GW/NW-043 many years ago. When used vertically the final section of the mast was a wooden brush handle to stop any interaction with the main aluminium mast. This method is still used with the 70cm beam. I actually think its still the same brush handle too (unless its a case of Triggers Broom).
Ian
While I admire those dedicated activators carrying their 9-el (23-el?) 2m Yagis strapped to their rucksacks like mediaeval broadswords, after having gamekeepers and other busybodies stare at me intently [like I’m some ne’er-do-well] I prefer to walk to/from the summit more discreetly and like a ‘normal’ hillwalker. It doesn’t always work: I once had a Scottish gamekeeper ask me what I intended to do with the two (golden retriever) dogs with me. Okay, so my 6m Life’s A Breeze pole (when collapsed) sticks out a bit from the top of my rucksack but most people think it’s just a walking pole.
So, when it comes to a 2m Yagi, for many years I’ve been very happy with my (discontinued) Sandpiper 3-element 2m Yagi. For me ~7dBi is a fair tradeoff between gain and practicality.
The 6 element rods screw quickly into insulated blocks on the 31-inch boom. It fits nicely into a small shoulder bag or my largest rucksack [so in line with my ‘stealth mode’] and without its U-shaped pole clamp weight about 470g. For SOTA I think the large beamwidth of a 3-el Yagi avoids missing someone calling you currently well off your current beam direction.
I haven’t tried Brian’s @G8ADD suggestion using it handheld. I see some problems: 1) I was QRV on 2m SSB and FM for ~40 minutes today on G/NP-010 and I’m sure my hand/arm would be aching a lot after that length of time, 2) I might have managed SSB/microphone with the one free hand but not CW/Morse key, and 3) I need to sit in a comfortable chair for most activations and I don’t see how that works for all compass points if you have to keep moving your chair to face the beam direction. So, I’ll stick with my tried-and-tested solution of the H-pol Yagi on a short pole next to my seat and where I can rotate the pole/Yagi combination 360 degrees without getting up.
Today was my first activation of 2026 wearing shorts. It’s getting better but not warm enough yet to dust of the Yagi.
The company was Antennes Tonna and the company was originally setup by Marc Tonna F9FT in Reims, France. The antennas were high performance and very lightweight. They worked very well and were popular in W. Europe. Over the years I had many on my house in England a 2m 9ele fixed updated with a 2m 13ele fixed. On 70cm the 21ele was the business till bigger and better designs came out. So that was a 13 and 21 on one mast. I had a 6m 5ele on another mast. For portable work I still have a 2m 13ele. It was clever how the elements folded against the boom and the boom split into 4. I also have 2x 23cm 23ele. One is mint and the other suffers from the element fixings failing in UV light. To get around boom effect on such short elements, they stand about 6cm above the boom on plastic fittings.
Here you can see the elements (copper wire) on the standoffs from the boom.
They used a type of balun called a Bazooka. This was a 1/4wave long aluminium tube that slipped over the feeder and was a snug fit. You connected the N plug to the socket on the antenna and the bazooka had a plastic end fitting that clipped over the N. The far end of the metal tube clipped to the boom which was earthed. This acted wonderfully and the feeders were nice and RF free.
Here’s a grab from the manual… #8 is the bazooka balun, #7 grounds the far end of the bazooka and #9 is the plastic N connector weathershield.
Much DX worked on 6/2m & 70cm. Including on 2m Iceland via SSB MS and Ceuta and Mellila (both EA9 African islands) via SSB Es.
EDIT: 2m 9ele installation manual: G1OGY.com::Projects
Nice! Were these in one long burst or a number of fragments? Oh, BTW, EA9 are not islands!
Sandpiper made some excellent antennas and especially at the price.
Its a shame they are no longer around.
I have the 3 element delta quad that works very well in my back garden but I’ve yet to take it out anywhere, which is a shame as its light enough to be attached to a fishing pole. I must remember to stick it in my pack for the next time I’m allowed out.I think my reluctance is that it does feel a little flimsy.
I also had a 6 band HF vertical which was very short, could be ground mounted without radials and for what it was it worked a treat and suited what I could get away with in the garden. I did manage VK early one morning on 20m so can’t do much better . I dismantled it once and took it up Winter Hill and was even better in a rural low noise setting.
Yes you’re right. There’s a big chain fence at the border with Morocco ISTR. The TF was Perseids and was with the now sadly SK, Dave Johnson TF/G4DHF/P. Managed to get the full exchange on one burst. It was around 2.30am and so I couldn’t yelp and cheer as I’d wake the kids up So sad Dave passed at only 70, he was such a nice guy.
EA9 was midweek lunchtime. If it had been weekend then it would have been much harder. Enormous strength signals but not many takers. ISTR working a DXped in 5T Mauritania on 6m the same day. I’d done a huge amount of overtime to be paid for with bonus days off. I had 2-3 weeks of the 2m Es season off work using the overtime bonus up and spent the time in the shack on 6 & 2m. Mrs. LLD couldn’t understand how I remained interested for so many hours over so many days.
Closed due to reaching retirement age, Ian. They had some good products and were super helpful if you had problems getting them setup and working.
Robin GM7PKT used that on 2m for a huge number of his VHF activations. It would probably be easier to count which activations he didn’t use it on rather than those he did.
