Hi. I used to do sota when I had time and was in education but now I’m nearing my 31st birthday I thought I’d give myself a treat and go sota activating on my birthday(9th Feb). I’m so far planning on taking on cross fell in the Pennines as I like the high activation points in winter. I’m planning on taking a 2m handheld and my ts480 with a fishing pole and a resonant end fed ant for 20m ssb with a 12ah battery.
My question is how do I spot myself once I’m near my summit? And also is there any freq preferred on 20m for sota?
I’m planning on going across from the road going up to radar station on great dun fell.
Any tips or advise would be appreciated.
M0ved
Hi Anthony
If you have cell coverage you could put on a self spot using SotaWatch, that will draw a crowd. Andy MM0FMF runs a great SMS spotting service, you will need to email him and ask for your number to be included on his system. There are a few other ways to self spot which I’m sure others will let you know about.
You could always ask on of the regular chasers on 2m to put a spot on 20m for you, they will oblige.
As for 20m ssb, most activators operate around 14.285Mhz but it can get very busy at the weekends with several activators all around the same part of the band. So just find the quietest part you can and use it.
Hope this helps a bit. Have a safe activation and enjoy yourself.
73 neil
Cell coverage is ok with VF on Cross Fell I was able to connect to the SOTA watch via the website on the phone, the SMS spotting service is great to have and is worth having it set up.
You should not have have problem being spotted by chasers on 2m FM, I think for 20m 14.285 is the normal for SOTA if it is clear.
I have not started from the radar station myself but there is a good report on the summit page with some pics Catterblog: Cross Fell G/NP-001 G4OBK & G0VWP. Been up there twice in the summer now for activating and its always cold, they were just rebuilding the sheltered seating area the last time I was up so you should have a nice spot to operate from if it is not hidden in snow.
Would have been nice to get a summit compete for this one but I will be on my way to London early morning, hope you have a great for your birthday hike.
73
Graeme
Thanks for the info. I appear to be having trouble logging into the sotawatch page at the moment. If someone could put a future spot on if thats possible for me then that would be grand.
Otherwise i’ll just ask on the air for someone to spot me.
I’m planning on being on the summit around lunchtime and will try my new baofeng 2m handheld with nagoya na-771 antenna. I havent got the adapters to use my sota beam for it yet.
I also will try my First HF activation (if my kit isnt too heavy) with my TS480, 12Ah battery, and 1/2 wave resonant end fed ant on a fishing pole for 20metres. I’ll try to be around 14.285. I checked my logs and i haven’t activated a sota summit since 2005!
Thanks
Anthony m0ved
I meant to reply to your first message earlier, Anthony, shouldn’t your subject line have read:
" A couple of questions from someone back out in the cold?" ?
I don’t know what a ts480 weighs, but my first activation was with a ts2000 and a 7Ah SLAB, after which I decided I’d waited way too long to treat myself to something new. Prior to that I’d tried an activation with said TS2000 and an old 40Ah car battery I used to use. I totally failed to make a qso due to both car battery and myself being exhausted.
A few years back I regularly went up a local hill with said car battery and my old TS700 to do sunday afternoon 2m ssb. I think my total pack was 60lb, never again.
Wow and I thought my pack was heavy. The ts480 is 3.7kg apparently ( just googled it) I’d have never made it up with a car battery an ts2000. My legs are still recovering today.