It is possible that the voltage indication on the 817 has drifted. If it indicates low on a known voltage from an external PSU then it can be reset from the third menu row 17 (VCC). I might do that for mine, it indicates 12.5 volts on a 13.8 volt PSU but I’ll check the PSU first!
I worked three activations on two metres today, two on FM and one on SSB. The activators were clearly getting enough customers and I could hear many of their callers. Despite that, activity was otherwise very thin on the ground and at this moment nothing but repeater IDs and the Wythall net can be heard. I couldn’t hear Tom although I heard people working him, and I couldn’t hear MW3ECX/P from SW-041 though that has been a reasonable path in the past. Perhaps all will become clear when I finally get the beams down to replace the damaged 6 metre beam.
AA cells charged in series that are a few years old and have “been round the block” a few times. It’s obvious what the problem is (whisker grow back) and the fix is either
a new set of cells
a short, sharp shock to each cell with our friend Mr. Big Capacitor charged to 12V.
Sometimes the cells can be a little recalcitrant and they need several short, sharp shocks. Discretion is the better part of valour, so leave about 30secs between shocks and stop if any cell gets obviously warm. Otherwise your batteries may start to resemble a high rise Dubai hotel
Yes Tom, I think you are right.Time to put this one to bed.
FM chasers struggling to hear activators like me spraying out 2m FM out in all directions from a summit using an omnidirectional antenna, would do better by using a short boom rotatable vertically polarised 3,4 or 5 element yagi I reckon, if it is possible to erect one.
Well done on your efforts today on 2m FM, Geoff 2E0NON was very excited tonight on the phone telling me about your S2S QSO with him today when he was on WB-009 Worcestershire Beacon.
That is the all-or-nothing solution, the reverse of my situation. I would rather think in terms of five element crossed yagis, giving all polarisation options, as and when I re-equip.
Thanks for the contact earlier today Tom from a VERY windy Foel Goch GW/NW-039. I made the 4 contacts I needed in 11 minutes and “got the hell out of Dodge” ( do like a good Western reference).
My 2p on this subject… if I have non SOTA people with me on the hill so I am in a hurry, or the weather looks a bit poor then I always use 2M FM in North Wales. Rarely do I have any trouble and this is just using a FT-270 5W handy into a dipole. There are some summits in the West which are a bit lower that I would struggle with just on 2M but they are few and far between,
Yes Brian - agreed. That is without doubt the best all round solution. I don’t see many crossed yagi’s advertised on the commercial market (rather like VHF SSB Transceivers - not much call for them). I believe a crossed yagi needs to be fed with a twin coax feed or a switch box at the feedpoint. I’ve never used one but it is an attractive solution for a 2m SOTA chaser serious about making the best of it.
Yes, agreed Gerald. In certain more remote parts of the UK using 5 watts can be a challenge in terms of qualifying. I find I can overcome the more remote summits most of the time by increasing the power to 40 or 50 watts, carrying my 15 year old Yaesu FT-1500M and a 7 amp LIFePo battery. I failed to get any contacts on the easy winter bonus summit of GW/SW-015 Mynydd Llangorse on 2m a couple of years ago and came away empty handed when I was using 5 watts and a dipole. That taught me a hard lesson. Despite SW-015 being 515m ASL it is surrounded in most directions of population by higher summits. I’m going back there tomorrow with the 50 watt radio (in wet weather no doubt so I don’t want to hang around) and it will be interesting to see if we can qualify it with the extra power.
I think Moonraker still offers crossed yagis. IIRC you are right about the two feeders, plus a switchbox in the shack to select vertical, horizontal, and left and right circular polarisation. I think that you can also get a rotator that will change the beam orientation from horizontal to vertical, this is an attractive option since, again IIRC, circular polarisation is only useful for moonbounce, but I would have to change my stub mast for a GRP pole if I try either option.
Three antennas, two magmounts and two coaxial switches bought from them is not a large sample, but that sample has given me no cause for concern. I suppose a brickbat makes more noise than a bouquet when you throw it!
I bought my first trap vertical from them when I was 13-14. It was made by an Italian company if I remember rightly that they then re-branded. Quality of construction was OK, apart from using pop rivets to secure the ceramic insulator between the radial section and the vertical element stretched over time causing it to lean.
One of the traps also failed towards the end.
Pretty much ashamed to say that I bought my first antenna, much more useful to have put up a doublet early on !
No need to be! The main thing is that you did something, took the first step, and look what you’ve learned since
One of the first things I remember in pursuing my interest in radio at a similar age is touching a beehive trimmer in the anode circuit of an IF stage, and finding out what 350v dc felt like. That’s much more to be ashamed of, but also a useful lesson
Just to keep on topic - when I started in SOTA, I used 2m FM exclusively, and had no difficulty qualifying summits in G/WB, NW or SW. The advent of RBN then made 30m CW more of a surefire option.
So, now if weather is bad, or I am in a hurry for some reason, I have a quandary - spend the extra couple of minutes putting up an HF antenna first, or put up the wire JPole and try 2m first…
I think in 2016 I will make more effort to include 2m FM, as it is very well suited to SOTA, and activity encourages activity, after all…
Interesting to read that the activity levels on 2m FM are a concern in the UK too. In most areas of VK it is important to talk up the operation well in advance - and just before - and at the time, to ensure enough people will move to a simplex channel and give you a contact. 2m SSB is a specialist’s area and is populated by a few enthusiasts who do it well, but are not always available when you need them. For more remote summits a 2m FM simplex contact is just a dream as there are no locals available and no way to work back into the cities.
I find that HF contacts are usually (in “normal” conditions) fairly easily made, so to add some interest and a personal challenge, I like to qualify the summit on as many modes and bands as possible. If I have the time, a 4 band VHF/UHF activation is interesting, with increased antenna requirements, equipment and reduced numbers of available contacts the higher you go in frequency. Apart from that, ensuring I qualify on CW as well as the voice modes is another personal preference.
I have just returned from 5 days in Southwest Scotland (Dumfries & Galloway and East Ayrshire). I took a 2m FM handheld with me. In the 5-day stay I did not hear a single signal on 2m FM. Not one!
Four years ago, it took me 45 minutes, to get four 2m FM contacts from the summit of GM/SS-272 Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, 822 feet ASl, using a 5/8 over 5/8 colinear and 25 Watts.
Well 2m was better than HF. Loads of CQing both on SSB and CW on 18MHz resulted in zilch. A single 2m FM CQ call brought in Pete 2E0LKC. Pete QSYd back to 17m SSB with me, and I then also worked his XYL Anne.
It was a bit frustrating as V51WH (Namibia) was CQing on 17m SSB and J75KG (Dominica) was calling on 17m CW. These were the only two signals heard on the band throughout my activation (apart from Pete and Anne), but I didn’t manage to get back to either of them.
