23cm SOTA a success, thanks to Groups.IO and LoRa Kirkby Moor G/LD-049

[G0HIK]

What a cracking day today. I saw M0JKS had posted for 23cm from a summit, seeing I’m always keen for a 23cm QSO and had not managed a S2S on that band I was really up for it.

I set off for the summit with my wife, but at the summit she carried on walking the dogs and left me to it.

I soon set up, but found the power lead for the IC-705 was damaged, luckily I had the high capacity battery fitted and it was 2/3 charged. I also found I had left a coax adapter out of my kit, but luckily I had a spare patch lead that I used instead, so the configuration was not as expected, but it all seemed to work OK.

Kit was IC-705, Two LiPo batteries ( I took a spare this time and needed them both too). SG-Labs 23cm Transverter, SG-Labs 25w amplifier, Tonna 23ele on a camera tripod.

The first call was on SSB at 10:52 and I worked Roger G3OHH and received a 5/6 with him, he was 5/9 with me.
Then Ross G6GVI at 11:02, 5/2 both ways, which was pretty good and I didn’t notice any multipath distortion either this time.

I then went on to work

2E0ILJ Paul
G8ZLU Mike
G4HGI Richard
G4NOY Jeremy
A fail was with Graham G3TCT in IO81, I did hear him occasionally with a bit of CW, but he didn’t copy anything from me, conditions were not great on the band today.

All on SSB

Then on to FM where I worked

G4HGI 5/9 both ways
G7IEI 5/9 both ways
GW0NPI/M in Rhyll was a surprise as he was only running 1w to the car mounted vertical

The battery on the IC-705 was showing red, but I turned the beam to the northern Lakes and manged to work M0JKS/P on Place fell, for my first ever SOTA Summit to Summit (S2S) on 23cm.

So six QSO’s on SSB (a record for me on a SOTA) five QSO’s on FM and a S2S in the bag, I was a happy camper.

Seeing M0JKS is out again tomorrow, I’m planning on doing the same SOTA again.

Very many thanks to all and Ross for setting up the 23cm-NorthWest@groups.io | Home forum, which has made a real difference to 23cm SOTA activations from the LD’s.

Nick G0HIK(/P)

[G6GVI]

@G0HIK

Ross G6GVI at 11:02, 5/2 both ways, which was pretty good and I didn’t notice any multipath distortion either this time.

Just to explain: living in a valley to the SE of Winter Hill, I’m blocked towards LD by the West Pennine Moors.
Back in October, I managed to get a good signal from Nick (strong enough to work on FM) on another LD summit by beaming NW - that was when we heard the multipath.
However today I couldn’t hear him at all on that heading, but was getting a clear reflection (good enough for an SSB QSO) without multipath when pointing East of South.

[G4TGJ]

@G0HIK

I set off for the summit

Unless I’ve missed it, you’ve forgotten to say which summit!

[G0HIK]

No you have not missed it, I omitted it in all my excitement.

It was Kirkby Moor G/LD-049. But that is sort of irrelevant. The interesting thing is, where I would often get no QSO’s or not enough to qualify, 23cm is now a productive band.

Nick G0HIK

[M0JKS]

Hi Nick,

It was great to work you today on 23cm from Place Fell LD-027). I don’t do a lot of 23cm, so I tried in vain to call on 1279.5MHz.before I realised the altitude and cold had clearly turned my brain to mush - and it should be 1297.5MHz. Duh! Your signal was cracking considering the large lumps of rock between us.

I’ll be on Red Screes (G/LD-017) tomorrow and St Sunday Cragg (G/LD-010) Friday and will take 23cm (FM only) again with me.

73 Dave

[G8CPZ]

@G0HIK

I omitted it in all my excitement

The sleuths among you might have deduced which summit from Nick’s APRS tracker trail.

[G0HIK]

Quite surprising there was not as much rock in the way as you might expect, the LOS managed to miss a lot of it.
The high spot on the profile is the ridge between Hart Crag and High Pike, just west of Red Screes.
Today your signal would go from 5/9 to 0/0 I guess as you moved around, so the signal had a very small path to get through all that rock ?

True Line of Sight signals tomorrow.

Nick G0HIK

[G4TGJ]

@G8CPZ

deduced which summit from Nick’s APRS tracker trail.

Or even easier from his spots. But the reflector lives for decades.

[G8CPZ]

@G4TGJ

Or even easier from his spots

Ah yes but even if an activator does self-spot that’s usually less than 1-minute’s warning before he goes on air. Some switch bands pretty quickly if they don’t get a reply especially in winter. Seeing a new spot I’ve rushed out a few times to my outside shack only to find the activator has already abandoned 2m and is working 20m or similar. At least with the APRS tracker trail you know whether you’ve time to make coffee, have lunch, etc.

[G1ZAR]

Hi Nick, nice report and pictures.
Good to see you achieve another first in your SOTA journey.
Did you keep the same polarity H/V for your contacts, or switch between FM and SSB?
Did you include the rock in your kit, or was that already available at the summit?
Ross and the local net have been a great help in the past on 23cm and I am looking forward to getting on a hill again by the summer.

Stuart - G1ZAR/P

[G0HIK]

Hi Stuart,

Oh, yes, I always take a rock with me where ever I go, you just don’t know when you will need one

No the local cairn, provided that.

The camera mount has a gimble and locking mechanism, it enables me to change from H to V in just a moment, which is very handy.

Nick G0HIK

[G0HIK]

Seeing Dave M0JKS was planning to be out on Red Screes today and taking his Alinco 23cm handheld radio, I decided to do Kirkby Moor G/LD-049 again and see if I could work him for another Summit to Summit QSO.

Again I was accompanied with my wife and our two dogs. About 2mins away form the summit I heard Dave calling me on 23cm as I had my Alinco on 1297.500 on the way up. I let him know I was almost there and he had a cup of coffee while I finished the last part of the ascent.
When I got to the cairn we easily worked at 5/9 both ways. The interesting thing was Dave also worked Dave GW8TBY at 5/9 and I couldn’t hear TBY, very strange, I guess the extra height JKS had was part of it. The pressure today was around 1040mb, so I wonder if there was a high level duct between them.

I then set up my kit, IC705, SG-Labs Transverter , SG-Labs amplifier (25w) and Tonna 23ele on the camera tripod. I put a few calls out on FM, but there were no takers.

I went on to SSB and easily worked Dave GW8TBY, he said I was the strongest signal he ever heard on 23cm and got a report of 5/9 +60.

I then worked Ross G6GVI at 5/2 both ways, with Ross pointing in a southerly direction again, what is giving you that reflection?

Next in the log was G8ZLU with another 5/9 both ways.

I saw two stations on KST Chat, I messaged them both, one didn’t answer, but Phil G3TCU in IO91 did.

While I could hear him, he could not hear me. We tried with a few planes to get an enhancement , but we just couldn’t get enough. Phil went of for his lunch, but after that we tried again and Bingo a good plane reflection and we exchanged 5/2 reports.

A nice couple of hours up on the summit, the views were great today and ducking behind the cairn it was quite warm out of the wind. No breakages to any of the kit today, so no repairs to do this evening, just charge up the batteries.

Seeing Dave M0JKS is planning on doing St Sunday Crag tomorrow, I hope to be on from Kirkby Moor again. I’ll have the tracker with me again. aprs.fi

Nick G0HIK

[M0JKS]

Hi Nick,

Great to work you once again today on 23cm from G/LD-017. My setup was nowhere near as impressive as yours, but it was enough for someone to asked me, quite seriously, if I was trying to talk to.Aliens. Once I explained the purpose of what I was doing, and they listened to a S2S to a station in the Italian Alps they went away somewhat impressed.

To work Dave GW8TBY on the North Wales coast was an real bonus. 46 QSOs and 11 S2S today on 23cm,2m,20m and 40m. I almost worked a station on Tenerife on 10m (EA8/TF-007) but as he came back to my S2S call, the Lipo battery powering my KX2 gave up.

It was also great to see so many activators out with LoRA APRS trackers.

73 Dave

[G8CPZ]

@M0JKS

it was enough for someone to asked me, quite seriously, if I was trying to talk to Aliens. Once I explained the purpose of what I was doing ….

Dave, you missed an opportunity there. Last time a group of walkers made a hilarious-never-heard-that-one-before remark/question about what I was up to [in my case, “Was I spying?”] I said Yes, but that my cover story is to pretend I’m a radio amateur making radio contacts with other hams on hills and mountains around the world.

@M0JKS

It was also great to see so many activators out with LoRA APRS trackers.

Yes, agreed. The blue one in the middle is my tracker trail drive from home and the walk up to Loughrigg Fell. Good LoRa coverage on all those activations – and checking once home – often involving multiple iGates.

I overdressed thinking I would be freezing on summit – no bad thing - but felt warm[ish] in that lovely sunshine. Great to be out. Thanks for the 2m FM S2S.

View looking south from the [visitor-free] nearby false summit at G/LD-047 this morning

[G8CPZ]

BTW: Did you park at the Kirkstone Pass Inn car park? And did you turn on your LoRa tracker there? Coverage was very good for most of the ascent up Red Screes accept the bit down to the inn.

[M0JKS]

@G8CPZ

BTW: Did you park at the Kirkstone Pass Inn car park? And did you turn on your LoRa tracker there? Coverage was very good for most of the ascent up Red Screes accept the bit I’ve marked in green in the saddle of the pass.

I did yes, and the tracker was on all day. Interesting, the tracker on the car (M0JKS-14) was picked up as I came over the crest of the Kirkstone pass in the morning - from Patterdale. But after parking and turning on the SOTA tracker, nothing was picked up for the first 5 minutes. Note to self, make sure the GPS has got satellite lock before beginning walk. Turning it on before putting on my boots would probably be sufficient.

Interesting, on the way up from the Peak District on Tuesday night, my car tracker was picked up all the way from home, with M0JKS-1 (digi n the Dark Peak) doing all the heavy lifting as I traversed the M60 around Manchester . Tracking was only lost as I passed the pub heading over the saddle of Kirkstone pass. There is clearly some work to be done to get coverage in Patterdale.

Dave

[G8CPZ]

@M0JKS

But after parking and turning on the SOTA tracker, nothing was picked up for the first 5 minutes

Which antenna are you using? I tossed the ‘stub’ antenna which came with my Lilygo PCB into a box [EDIT UPDATE: see below] and have been using the RF Solutions Flexi-SMA-433 antenna (from CPC) that someone recommended, with great success.

EDIT UPDATE (7-Feb): While that is true, the Lilygo PCB is actually my iGate board. The same kind of ‘dummy load’ stub antenna came with the Heltec PCB which is my tracker board.

With a very thick rubber band I strap the tracker to the top of either my collapsed 5m pole or collapsed Cha MPAS whip which both stick out the top of my 20l rucksack at about head height. In the car, I put the tracker on the mobile phone cradle that sits above the dashboard. The RF Solutions whip just touches the windscreen so it’s the perfect length.

[M0JKS]

@G8CPZ

Which antenna are you using? I tossed the ‘stub’ antenna which came with my Lilygo PCB into a box and have been using the RF Solutions Flexi-SMA-433 antenna (from CPC) that someone recommended, with great success. With a very thick rubber band I strap the tracker to the top of either my collapsed 5m pole or collapsed Cha MPAS whip which both stick out the top of my 20l rucksack at about head height.

I use the antenna that is included in the £8 SOTA tracker “accessory” pack

TX433-JZR-6_433Mhz_Antenna_Industrial Computing_

SOTA APRS tracker, aprswireless at SOTA Awards

It’s very flexible and has reasonable SWR at 439.9125MHz . Those shipped with all Heltec LoRA boards are terrible. I have draw full of them.

The SOTA tracker is also designed to take the Flexi-SMA-433 from RF Solutions (as recommended by Richard G3CWI). I have one,.but it’s currently being used on my car tracker

It works great, and is something that we could consider including as an extra option, when buying the tracker in the SOTA shop.

I have a telescopic Decathlon fishing pole strapped to my rucksack using the ice axe straps, so I simply attach the tracker to that with a couple of bungies.

73 Dave

[G4TGJ]

@M0JKS

Turning it on before putting on my boots would probably be sufficient.

That’s what I do now. The tracker is in a boot in the boot, so I can’t forget to turn it on before getting the boots on.

[G8CPZ]

@M0JKS

I have a telescopic Decathlon fishing pole strapped to my rucksack using the ice axe straps

I also put the red ‘wrist’ cord over the top of the pole just in case the tracker slips its straps. Belt and braces probably but then I can relax on the walk knowing the tracker’s not going to drop off back down the trail.

@G4TGJ

The tracker is in a boot in the boot, so I can’t forget to turn it on before getting the boots on.

Good idea, I put a bottle of anti-tick spray in one of my boots in warmer weather lest I forget to spray my legs. So far, I’ve always used my one and only tracker driving to the parking area so I can see what coverage is like en route.