I was going to say, It’s raining again & 10m has been closed here for the last couple of hours. That’s not to say it won’t open up again is it worth the risk?
Happy New Year!
Mark G0VOF
The risk doesn’t bother me Mark. I enjoy using 10m as a VHF band and working the NW locals too, same for 6m. Plus, 2m works really well from my 10/6 trap antenna, and it is very quick and easy to deploy, so the very least is I get a 2m FM activation out of it.
However, so much for that gorgeous morning for Shining Tor earlier today. The weather would appear to have changed…
Just started snowing in Buxton.
Is winter here at last?
Worthy of some analysis to show where 2m FM is still extant?
It was 11C yesterday here near Edinburgh, same time today it’s around 4C. Noticeably chilly compared to recently.
6C here in Belfast, definitely chillier, but much drier than it has been
…Northwich, Manchester, Stafford, Dudley, Ludlow, Bolton, Wirral, Stoke-on-Trent, Gainsborough, Bolton, Dewsbury, Ilkeston, Stockport, Caernarfon, Stoke-on-Trent, Llangollen, Kinmel Bay, Oldham, Buckley, Swadlincote, Epworth (N.Lincs), Bury, Manchester, Bolton, Buxton, Southport, Warrington, Birmingham, Stockport, Rotherham, Burton-on-Trent, Halkyn, Telford.
I appreciate that some or most of you will be sleeping in tomorrow. But if you are up around 0830 listen out for me from GW/SW-009 on 145.500 FM the later on GW/SW-015 at 1100 ish. I will not be relying on 2-fm but will give it a go. I will have a VX-8 and an RSS aerial (a latter day MFD). Will be self spotting.
73 Glyn G(W)4CFS
Interesting. I don’t think I have ever made it to Shining Tor from Brum on FM, the vertical doesn’t have enough gain and/or height and there would be perhaps 20dB cross polarisation loss from the beam. I’ve made it on SSB, of course.
I’ll have a listen - after you run out of contacts it might be worthwhile to try again with horizontal polarisation.
Brian
cheers Brian will give it a try.
Glyn
Yes, there are a few ops active on 2m FM out that way. Most of the others listed fit the IO83 zone or are quite close by. There are a decent amount of stations over to the east side of the Pennines as I found out when I activated The Chevin G/HNP-027 near Otley with just 1 watt to a whip. As to whether I would want to rely upon the band/mode combination for qualification of a summit is another thing. Certainly outside of the IO83 zone the guarantee of success reduces rapidly, unless you happen to be in a pocket of activity. Hence why I was able to qualify Blaeloch Hill GM/SS-220 using the handheld hooked up to the beam when the battery for the 817 was flat.
Actually, I’d say that was a fair spread of activity across IO82,83,92,93 - which is to be expected as we were quite close to the point where those four squares meet.
I might nip out in the morning and borrow Jimmy’s kit to see how many I can rack up on 2m FM.
I’ll say it again - 67 QSOs on 2m FM from the North Pennines last Monday from 4 summits… the band and mode are still well alive. With 5 watts I would probably still made about 40 QSOs. Contacts all over the place from Buckden Pike including Cromer and Watford - but there was some tropo about…
Who’s going out tonight to let the New Year in? I am with minimal alcohol unfortunately, as I am driving the 8 miles home from the party in Malton - the band is called HUGE… very popular around these parts… I digress…
TOM - I am in IO94 by the way so add that to your list. There are also keen enthusiasts in Cumbria who use the mode on SOTA and WOTA. People like 2E0MIX, G0TDM and G4WHA. Maybe the usage of the blunt instrument that 2m FM is makes it a northern phenomenen…
Tomorrow is the start of a new SOTA Year - and fellow 2m FM enthusiasts such as Dave G3TQQ/P will be out and about making QSOs using that very mode from the North Pennines!
73 Phil
…not in the log Phil…
I didn’t mean today Tom. No contacts recorded on the mode today - only CW and SSB heard. I just meant grid squares generally, where users and enthusiasts for the mode live.
73 Phil
OK. I was referring to today - specifically the distribution of 2m FM stations worked by Jimmy.
I am surprised, Brian. I once worked Mickey on Shining Tor from here in Tewkesbury on 2m FM. Weak but workable. We were both using vertical colinears.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
My point being that this was the norm on 2m SSB. Adding FM to that mode would have been a bonus and no doubt would have doubled the number of contacts. Now I find myself having to use both modes to make a decent total on the band, indeed sometimes to qualify a summit on the band. I was not doubting that there are people out there to be worked, but in my experience they are definitely fewer on both modes than they were 5 years ago.
IO84 - worked 2E0MIX, M0XSD and M6EPW on FM on Tuesday, so the square still is definitely represented on the band and Geoff GM4WHA was worked on SSB from his home in Annan.
73, Gerald G4OIG
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That is mostly a clear run up the Severn Valley, Walt. Down the Severn Valley I have a fairly clear run to the southwest and get out much better than to the northwest where I have the hills of Brum to cope with. As they say, location, location, location! 
Brian
Time to put this one to bed I think.
I went to bed nice and early after the New Year’s Eve festivities at 0030 UTC, so I could get up at 0540z and make the most of the morning, which was forecast to be dry and fairly calm, albeit cold.
First port of call was Gun G/SP-013, which I did as a “raid” - 2m handheld in one coat pocket, logbook in the other, no mast, no separate antenna, no FT817 and no rucksack. Even at 0725 to 0730z on New Year’s Day 2016 morning, even with a HT and rubber duck, I had four quick contacts into the log to qualify my first activator point of 2016. I walked back to my car by the light of my headtorch as it was still dark.
I then drove across to The Cloud G/SP-015. The previous day, Jimmy had reported some apparently low voltage readings on the FT-817 LCD screen, giving him some concern about his 8 x 2600mAH AA rechargeable NiMH batteries. Nonetheless, they still lasted him for 33 QSOs. I said I’d give his system a run out after an overnight recharging cycle.
I was first into the parking spots at Cloudside, and the first walker up on the summit. It would get steadily busier throughout the morning though, reaching levels of between 50 and 100 up there at some points. I set up Jimmy’s SOTAbeams MFD mounted vertically at 5m on a SOTA Pole. It was extremely cold, so I commenced the activation inside the bothy bag, which made things very much more comfortable.
I connected up Jimmy’s 817 with its internal rechargeable AA cells, but again only 10.0V was indicated on the LCD, dropping down to 7.2V on transmit with 2.5 watts. I dropped the power down to 1 watts and started calling. 38 QSOs were made on this power setting, and the indicated voltage on the LCD seemed to gradually rise. This made me wonder if the cold temperature was influencing the behaviour of the batteries.
I then switched up to use 5 watts for a while, and did so for 15 QSOs. I then ran the rig on 2.5 watts for the next 4 QSOs, and then on 1 watt for a further 7. At this point, I had exhausted the batteries after 64 QSOs, all 2m FM. Although the indicated voltages seemed lower than expected, the radio certainly got plenty of life out of the batteries.
At this point, I packed Jimmy’s 817 away and replaced it with my own, this time powered from my Tracer 16Ah LiFEPO4 pack. A further 36 QSOs were made, and I decided it was time to go home. The activation had yielded exactly 100 QSOs, all 2m FM, in four hours. Power levels varied between 1 watt and 5 watts as detailed above.
Clearly nothing wrong with the current state of 2m activity in the MIdlands or the North. Furthest DX was possibly Grantham, Bromyard or S2S to Black Mountain or Buckden Pike. Ten S2S contacts were as follows:
John MW0XOT/P on Corndon Hill GW/MW-013
Rob G7LAS/P on Bardon Hill G/CE-004
Matt 2E0DQK/P on Worcestershire Beacon G/WB-009
John M0XOT/P on Stiperstones G/WB-003
Richard G0VXG/P on The Wrekin G/WB-010
Neil MW0ECX/P on Black Mountain GW/SW-041
Dave G3TQQ/P on Buckden Pike G/NP-009
Gerald MW0WML/P on Foel Goch GW/NW-039
Peter M1CNL/P on Bardon Hill G/CE-004
John M0XOT/P on Long Mynd-Pole Bank G/WB-005
A very enjoyable start to 2016. Thanks to all who worked me. A very Happy New Year to everyone.