2m Filters + random nonsense

Indeed, it could just be a matter of perspective…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh5kZ4uIUC0

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Just thinking aloud here, but if I were using it, I’d like it to involve minimal fiddling at the summit. I think I’d find a way of attaching the filter to the belt clip of my handie, so that the input connector was at the top. I’d make a short coax connection from the top of the filter to the handie, using elbow SMAs. That could be assembled before the walk, and would be robust and easy to put in the rucksack. The cable to my JPole etc would attach to the bottom of the filter, where the option of a BNC connector would avoid the need for an adaptor…
I usually bring the coax down through the belt clip anyway, to act as a strain relief for the connector, so this would be a neat solution for me.

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I’ve only been reading the SOTA reflector for the last two years but it seems to me that Tom and Brian have been arguing this point on various threads since the dawn of time. They are both right but they’ve been talking about different things.

I think 2-metres is alive and well during events or ‘on demand’ for SOTA/WOTA (I rarely fail to get the minimum 4 contacts just on 2m during an activation if I alert and self-spot). 2-metres, if not dead, is ill or dying at other times for ad-hoc contacts and especially with non-FM modes c.f. the ‘good olde days’ pre-Morse test abolition.

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Hey! Don’t let facts get in the way of a pleasant argument! (Cue the Monty Python sketch…)

True.

I reckon the vast majority of SOTA participants agree with Brian, not me.

I reckon the vast majority of SOTA participants don’t make as many QSOs on 2m FM as I do.

It is, therefore, a very circular debate … til the next time…!

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Update. The filters are on order. 6 weeks or so for the first batch. We have included chamfers on the enclosure for cable ties.

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RE: 2M is dead. I was thinking about this when noone was answering my CQ call from my car the other day

  1. 2M is alive and well with people calling up their mate to talk about how things used to be better in the good old days. They seem to have no intention of talking to anyone but their rose-tinted-bespecticaled buddy. You can call CQ and a few seconds later here them call their partner-in-nostalgia, get no response and go off air! Quick anecdote, I heard my all time favourite Brexit quote (NB: I didn’t express a view either way!!!) recently on 2M.

“I have no idea, I deliberately have nothing to do with politics, I don’t follow the news. But in my opinion…”. Priceless. You can’t beat a deliberately uninformed opinion! Almost beats the guy (again on 2M FM, but rather pushing the bandplan) who recently professed to his partner-in-inanity that planes shoudn’t have autopilot because, “that is not proper flying”. This is my overwhelming experience of 2M FM, and it aint pretty.

  1. Call CQ SOTA and people wake up a bit. If you have alerted and spotted you have a good chance. I think there are plenty of people who will turn on their set and browse around for SOTA activators. They are often the only people who will respond. When you;
    a) spot well in advance
    b) discuss trips on the reflector
    c) are known to the locals as a reliable activator

then I’m sure people will plan to be on air when you are Tom.

I don’t think the two views are necessarily incompatible. 2M FM is dire, except for the SOTA crowd?

edit: Typo

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Apropos - I have made a resolution that I will not say a band is dead, instead I will say that the band is inactive. It amounts to the same thing but the word “dead” evokes an emotional response - and we don’t want that, do we?:grinning:

I always have a good trawl through Radcom when it arrives, looking for interesting articles (sometimes I’m not disappointed!) but I see all those V/UHF handies, mobile and base station rigs being advertised - dozens of them it seems - they must sell them, but I wonder where the heck are they all afterwards, gathering dust and slowly fossilising? I suppose I shouldn’t poke fun, after all my XYL has a small collection of porcelain figurines that are taken off the shelf and gently washed once a year but otherwise are never looked at!

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Tom won’t be able to resist replying

He is now!

Andy F/M0FMF

:slight_smile:

I tend to concur with your observations, and some of the analysis James.

…except this conclusion (partly).

I say partly because I actually agree that being active on the reflector with activation reports, discussions, spots, alerts etc does maintain an “interest” in people working an activator, and I do have a band of excellent chasers that tend to be “there for me” on 2m FM.

However - on my travels around the country (SOTA on Tour), I rarely announce my detailed plans or alert in advance - simply because I don’t really know what I’ll be doing until very last minute! There have been exceptions - usually geographical - but in the vast majority of cases I have no trouble attracting sufficient activity to qualify an activation on 2m FM with no more than a 5w handheld with rubber duck.

With the addition of a helical filter, I’m sure it’ll become so easy that it’ll feel almost like cheating.

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ah, but will it be FT8 easy? :innocent:

I sincerely hope it will not be as “easy” as FT8, as I wouldn’t want to be late for soundchecks!

I’ve had that experience on a summit, when I would really like a 4th contact! Sometimes a plea for a quick report works, but not always. Difficult to understand the thought process…

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I have to agree with your comment here, as there is a strong element of this on 2M. I don’t think 2M is dead but it can be hard work sometimes. On two occasions I came to the conclusion that calling CQ SOTA might have put people off responding, as some listeners might have assumed I only wanted to talk to other SOTA activators.

Regards,
David
G4ZAO

Indeed David. It’s a dilemma I still haven’t worked out the answer to! Does “CQ SOTA” attract people, or does it annoy them and make them inclined to ignore? I reckon the answer is “Both”.

Therefore, in times of trouble - ie battling to get that 4th (or indeed 1st) contact, my strategy is to vary it up as much as possible. Some “CQ SOTA”, some “CQ 2”, some calling into existing conversations, some checking for potential simplex-range activity on repeaters etc. Usually one of the approaches pays dividends; you just never know which one it’s going to be!

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Seems a good strategy to me :grinning:.

A lot of the time I’ll just use plain language when calling from summits. “This is VA7JBE from the summit of Mt. Strachan. Looking for simplex contacts this afternoon, is anybody out there?” This often gets better results near urban areas where there’s a large population of amateurs with a dual band HT and little operating time.

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HI Richard @G3CWI
First I like the new name of this topic :slight_smile:
Second you said the filter is rated for 5w and my question can use it with an Baofeng GT3 TP who is Txing 8w ?
73 Eric
F5JKK

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Rated at 5 Watts means rated at 5 Watts. Hopefully that’s clear!

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