If your assumption of an equal distribution of polarisation is correct, then 3 out of 4 would be the (approximate nominal) success rate with ANY polarisation!
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I suppose it is a bit like ‘setting out early to get a parking spot’…very effective as long as most people don’t do it!
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Well tonight’s the night. And it’s a lovely evening here in Cheshire. I’ll be QRV on 70cm FM 1800-1855 UTC and 70cm SSB from 1900z.
Any S2S opportunities for me to look for? And SOTA chasers of course?
Hi Tom
I don’t have room for a 70cm antenna but using my 2m beam I have worked down as far as Spalding - ODX 168 km to G4ODA who has a goodly station, so I’ll take a listen around tonight and see what I can hear. I got a 2m cross yagi switchable so slant polarisation is not applicable. I still see considerable directivity even thought its mismatched somewhat, and from where I live I have the RAF Fylingdales clicks always there in the background on 70cms, the noise blanker on my FT-991A works very well on them thankfully…
73 Phil
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It will be my first SOTA outing of the year tonight on my usual G/CE-004
May catch the tail end of the FM section, then will do all of the SSB.
Stuart
G1ZAR
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Sadly, I’m on a duty family visit to Sussex* but I will try another month. I’m hoping to visit a summit on the South Downs this week but I’m not sure if I can escape.
*Self-contained in our campervan (RV). 
Fantastic SOTA activity on 70cm this evening! That was reminiscent of the SOTA Fun Evenings of yesteryear.
I felt too cold and tired after 9pm local, so bailed out early. Before that I made 58 QSOs - 23 on 70cm FM and 35 on 70cm SSB.
There were four SOTA activations on air (that I am aware of):
M1EYP/P on The Cloud G/SP-015
G7WKX/P on Billinge Hill G/SP-017
G4AZS/P on Long Mynd-Pole Bank G/WB-005
G1ZAR/P on Bardon Hill G/CE-004
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That’s really encouraging, many thanks for being the duty thermometer.
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Nice and warm in centally heated shack… No SOTA stations heard. In the half hour that I was on the band the best DX for me on FM was M1DDD/P at 121 km. All 6 stations I worked were Portables. On SSB my best DX was M0GAV/P at 116 km. It was interesting to see what could be worked on a totally unsuitable mismatched antenna! The nearest station to me logged was G4FZN/P on Sutton Bank 27 km to the west of me.
Well done on your tally Tom.
73 Phil
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Thanks for the summit Stuart.
73, Phil.
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That was fun! My first activation for over five months saw me return to Long Mynd G/WB-005 for the 70cm FMAC and UKAC sessions.
The weather was kind, with hardly a breath of wind, and only one fleeting rain shower.
The available antenna was a 10 element section of a Tonna Yagi, still fitted with its slant mounting block from the last outing, so I used that for both FM and SSB sessions.
I was a little concerned that an extended FM activation would eat into my battery capacity, so for that session I just ran 2.5 W from the FT 817.
I operated for 40 minutes on FM, making 19 contacts, best DX being G4FZN/P at 216 Km.
Switching to SSB I increased power to 5W, and managed 50 contacts in 1Hr 40mins, best DX being GI6ATZ at 289Km.
Not all SOTA summits are good for VHF/UHF/SHF, but being on a high spot definitely helps!
By 9:15pm (local) I was starting to shiver, which is a sure sign to move around, layer up, have a warm drink etc. However, I was on 44 contacts, and there is that urge to reach a neat milestone so I kept trying. Just about to throw in the towel at 9:30, I worked GI6ATZ followed almost imediately by GD8EXI and GM3SEK. Three more stations followed quickly on, taking the total to 50, at exactly 9:45. I pulled the plug to avoid any further silliness, ate a celebratory Bounty bar, and packed up.
It was especially nice to have an S2S with the other activators, and indeed to catch up with some familiar chaser callsigns too. I did hear Stuart G0LGS working other stations, but didn’t manage to hook up - next time!
The station:
Sunset over Corndon GW/MW-013:
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That’s a very impressive result. I must try and get on a hill for next month’s event.
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Where is the “Envy” emoji?
I did listen for Tom and the other portables but nothing heard - nor were there many planes to assist
Running a big station from IO87 doesn’t guarantee loads of contacts - 10 in the log but closest at 180 km and best DX at near enough 600 km, it is very lonely up here on the higher bands.
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The highest serial number I recieved was 122, with an hour to go…
I didn’t work any stations in the south east despite often beaming that way. It seems unlikely that none were active, maybe they were pointing towards Europe…?
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I have regularly been using 70cm fm as well as 2m when doing SOTA on a Yaesu VX-7R (maximum 5w) and vertical dipole for some years now. I agree it is more successful when there are more likely to be a fair number of chasers as it is only a proportion who have the equipment to chase on 70cm (‘my 70cm aerial blew down last year and I haven’t got round to putting it back up’, ‘My radio will work on 70cm but I have never found out how…’ etc) but, with a bit of encouragement, I have helped many people to complete their first 70cm fm contact and they have been surprised how far the signal will reach - and also the good audio that can be achieved. In some areas of the country there are regular 70cm nets and you can join in and ask for contacts -if you can find them. Also there is a good coverage of repeaters but it is a long time since I have asked for help in that way.
As mentioned by someone, my techniques is usually to start on 2m fm and advertise that I will also be working on 70cm in my initial calls. Then I check with any new chaser to see if he/she will be able to talk to me on 70cm - and this gives them time to think about it before I QSY to a predetermined channel rather than the calling frequency. Sometimes I can get 4 contacts this way (from perhaps 7 or 8 on 2m) but often it is only 3 or less. I then go on to 433.500 and give a call as I have a regular contact who always listens there and other callers come in occasionally but I don’t find it a reliable source for 4 contacts. If I need more contacts then I go back to 2m and give out a SOTA call saying I particularly need help on 70cm and often it arrives very quickly. Sometimes it is a struggle and on some occasions I have to give up but it is an interesting challenge and it is sometimes possible to make contacts that, according to the map, are impossible.
As my fellow SOTA activators will know, I particularly like 70cm S2S and will usually ask if they can help after the 2m contact is safely in the bag. Often the reply can be ‘just a Baufeng with a stick aerial - it won’t work’ … but it often does and it is always worth the try (if the weather permits). I got my 70cm fm Mountain Goat some time ago and I am still piling on the points but know I won’t get a 2nd one - but it is still fun so give it a go. In Northern Ireland I got quite a lot of 70cm contacts from cars but this doesn’t seem to be quite so common in the rest of the country. I look forward to my my first 70cm S2S with you - how about tomorrow morning??
73 Viki M6BWA
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I really enjoyed the FMAC/UKAC on 70cm this week. I was active from Billinge Hill G/SP-017, which gets a hard time from many activators for it’s QRM issues (and mud etc in winter).
On 70cm, using the FT-818 (with a massive 6w) connected to a Comet GP-3 at 3m, I made these contacts on FM:
It was good to get a couple of S2S and to chat with some well known SOTA chasers.
Here’s a few pictures from the evening:
I still need to type up my UKAC log; I’ll add that later.
73, Simon
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In case it helps - when you enter your UKAC log, their system will email a copy of the log to you in the form of a text file (.log).
It is fairly easy to pop that into a spreadsheet, delete all the unnecessary bits, and turn it into a .csv for upload to SOTA.
It was good to work you, thanks!
Adrian
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Yes, that’s the process I use too Adrian!
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Thanks Adrian. I’ve just typed up the UKAC log - I’ll use your tip to get all the entries into the SOTA DB.
I’m pretty pleased with this plot of contacts:
I may have to invest in a beam though - using the vertical made chasing weak contacts a bit hard at times. My 6w for them probably didn’t help!
73, Simon
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