In reply to WA7JTM:
Does the Es season occur in VK at the same time? We have VP8, VK, ZS as Southern Hemisphere associations and there are people working on associations for South America. So you’d probably need 2 challenge windows, 1 for each hemisphere, or it’s not fair on all associations. But apart from that, it looks a reasonable idea. A 10m FM during the local Summer is another 3 month possible.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
You are correct…their season is opposite (December ish??), so we need to take that into account…that makes it tougher. Two different windows could work. I wonder if the VK’s have a second smaller Es season like we do. Ours, and I assume the one in Europe, occurs in Demember. You could set up two short windows for each hemisphere, one in the summer peak, one in the winter peak. They might coinside with each other, but the VK ops would have to elighten me on that one.
Pete
WA7JTM
In reply to WA7JTM:
This is an interesting suggestion, Pete. Our winter Es season usually only produces a handful of openings in December and January, it could be that there are fewer people active at that time of year, and enhancing activity with a SOTA challenge might reveal more openings that otherwise might be missed.
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
Good point Brian, and I think you are correct…there may be more going on than we suspect. Have u ever noticed that 6 meters seems to magically open for most contests, but the day before and the days after a contest are usually quiet?
Very similar to what I see on 10 meters also. Band seems to always be open for contests, when lots of people are looking for propagation. Then it is quiet again…
Pete
Wa7JTM
In reply to WA7JTM:
Have u ever noticed that 6 meters seems to
magically open for most contests, but the day before and the days
after a contest are usually quiet?
As a regular participant in the UKSMG Summer Contest for several years I can assure you that is not the case - there have been at least 2 years in the last few when the band hardly opened at all, but there have also been times when the band has been open (Beacons and Video being received) but there has been almost no-one on to work (I know this can mean the band is open to countries that do not permit 6m).
By the look of the weather forecast for Saturday I think I will be operating from home this year.
Stewart G0LGS
Can’t remember the last opening on Tuesday night 6m UKACs Stewart. It’s been flat every 4th Tuesday for ages!
Tom M1EYP
In reply to MM0FMF:
In reply to G8XYJ:
But near the big cities 2m FM will work
In Scotland? Really? Edinburgh? Really? You have results for this?
It doesn’t work near Bristol either! I once failed to qualify Dundry Down (G/SC-010) on 2m FM on a weekday afternoon.
The high level of 2m FM activity in and around IO83 square is unique for the whole of the UK.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
It’s certainly healthy around these parts, but it is rare that one cannot qualify a SOTA activation in most of G or GW on 2m FM. Jimmy M0HGY always insists on trying 2m FM first, even when the remoteness of the location or the surrounding topography suggests that 2m FM qualification might be difficult. More often than not, he is successful - see his activator log on the Database.
Dundry Down G/SC-010 is an interesting case. You would have thought that its position close to Bristol and overlooking Cardiff would have made it a banker for 2m FM qualification. However, looking at Jimmy’s log reveals that although he did get the 4 on 2m FM on his last visit, that took him 35 minutes to do. The time before that, he switched to 40m SSB after making just a single contact on VHF.
On nearby G/SC-001, SC-002 etc and several other SC/DC South West summits, he had no problem getting qualified on 2m FM, although on a handful he needed the helping hand of a couple of contacts on HF. The strange thing is that many of the 2m FM contacts from all these summits come in from the Bristol area - so why is Dundry Down itself, the closest summit to Bristol, and overlooking the city, so difficult?
Northern Ireland summits last week, were in the main, easy to qualify on 2m FM.
Tom M1EYP
But near the big cities 2m FM will work
In Scotland? Really? Edinburgh? Really? You have results for this?
Well it didn’t work for me on Arthurs Seat GM/SS-272 last week. I called for 30 minutes with 5 watts into a half wave vertical and got a big ZERO in the log 
Victor
GI4ONL
In reply to GI4ONL:
It takes 1 hour and 30 minutes Victor!
http://tomread.co.uk/arthur’s_seat_ss-272.htm
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
Dundry Down G/SC-010 what a scruffy depressing summit, one I`ll never repeat even for a “challenge”. My only activation was 9 years ago on a midweek evening when I managed 20 stations all on 2m.
As for Arthurs Seat, I understand if you`re using 2m, you would stand more chance of qualifying on AM as opposed to FM.
In reply to G1INK:
Yes, I’ve heard that about 2m AM in Edinburgh as well Steve, but never actually found any activity.
Dundry Down - done it 4 times, including a dark rainy night back in January - for the 12m Challenge of course! I don’t mind it - there are plenty worse.
Tom M1EYP
In reply to GI4ONL:
Well it didn’t work for me on Arthurs Seat GM/SS-272 last week. I called for
30 minutes with 5 watts into a half wave vertical and got a big ZERO in the log
145.800 MHz AM is a better bet in that locality, Victor.
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to G1INK:
…9 years ago on a midweek evening when I managed 20 stations all on 2m.
That was then Steve, now is now. Certainly 2m FM is much reduced on what it used to be, though I did manage a couple of contacts on the mode on Monday morning up in GM. As for Edinburgh, I did try both 145.500 FM and 145.800 AM from Allermuir Hill and Cairnpapple Hill a couple of months back, but my sassenach voice obviously did not cut the mustard with the locals. 
It is a real shame that the VHF bands are less popular than they used to be. 4m always has been a Cinderella band on both FM and SSB, considered to be a big quirky, probably on account of the lack of commercial equipment not requiring modification. 6m now exists on many commercial HF transceivers so doesn’t have that issue, but activity remains stubbornly low. This may probably be on account of antennas with any kind of gain being relatively large. I know of several people that use 6m only during the Sporadic E season and contests with temporary installations.
73, Gerald G4OIG
In reply to G4OIG:
Just found this 4m radio, looks interesting so I thought I’d give it a go. No modifications required. I’ll have to fire the transverter up if there’s anything on SSB though.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331211924647?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
Now I’ve got a dedicated radio for 4m FM I’ll be monitoring for any SOTA activators
73 de Mick M0MDA
So… 6M antennas… What’s the deal?
I can knock up a jpole no problem (I have the wire on order, the batch I have is about 2 feet too short ) Or a dipole to use no problem.
I bought a 2 element beam last weekend, which is annoyingly about 5 inches too wide to put on my small mast at home, it fouls either the wall of the house, or my 2m/70cm white stick if I put the mast up. And I can’t really move either the mast, white stick, or the house
A 2 or 3 element yagi may be a bit long to take up a hill (unless you have ‘yyy’ in your callsign ) but how about a one of these:
http://www.hamuniverse.com/K4mmg2and6meter.html
No need to tart them up with plastic pipes, or paint them of course.
Anyone tried either of these, or anything similar?
Oh, only ever had 1 4M contact from a summit, maybe should try more!
Don
In reply to M0HCU:
In the “good old days” I had some success in the 50MHz Backpackers’ contests (remember those?) with a homebrew 3 ele ZL Special which I carted up Beacon Batch or Hereford Beacon depending on which end of the country I was working at the time. It made Mickey’s Antron a lightweight though, with it’s 4m of aluminium support pole I reckon it probably weighed in at around 6kg. Then there was the 7Ah SLAB :-s Still got the old '690 somewhere…
de Paul G4MD (wiping away a tear)
Edit - just realised I’ve done a post that’s more or less on topic for once !
In reply to M0HCU:
I bought a 2 element beam last weekend, which is annoyingly about 5
inches too wide to put on my small mast at home, it fouls either the
wall of the house, or my 2m/70cm white stick if I put the mast up. And
I can’t really move either the mast, white stick, or the house
You can bend a few inches of each end of the elements down (or up) until it fits!
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to WA7JTM:
6 meters seems to magically open for most contests
It’s simply due to the QRO-ness of contest stations. When enough contest stations together produce enough RF into big enough antennas, the ionosphere is beaten into submission and agrees to play ball!
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to G4MD:
Edit - just realised I’ve done a post that’s more or less on topic for once !
Oh heck, does that mean we will have to talk sense during our long road journeys together from now on?
73, Gerald G4OIG
Edit: I do have a 4 element 50MHz beam languishing in the garage. We could carry that up a hill or two between us, provided you take the heavy end…