Good to hear and work Marco @SP9BIJ/P tonight after dark despite the recent aurora. The activation of Szczebel SP/BZ-038 was on 7044 CW 579S/589R.
There seems to more operators prepared to operate after dark these days, its well worth keeping the radio on with an eye on SOTAWatch into the evening hours.
HF condx I found to be dreadful today. I was regularly checking to see if I could hear the activations alerted on SOTAWatch, but only 4 stations were worked all day.
73 Phil G4OBK
I agree Phil,
Conditions poor on GW/NW007
I worked
16Qs on 30
5Qs on 40
0Qs on 60
5Qs on 20 sv1 best DX
That took 55m, few 599 reports.
Should have taken dipole for 17/15 but the flesh was weak!
David GW0EVV
Well done David, good on you, in the face of radio aurora adversity! That’s one of the Welsh summits I would like to visit, GW/NW-007.
I can feel another pang of enthusiasm coming on for North Wales uniques…put off though by the thought of crawling along the M60, bordering Chester and then the A55 in the early morning rush hour (by the time I get there) and not walking therefore, until getting on for lunchtime. Going north for Scotland uniques for me is much easier for sure, but the uniques are further away than they were a few years ago now which dulls the enthusiasm to continue doing it…
Back to Wales then - if I can overcome the thought of grid lock in the M60 death valley t’other side of Prestwich turn off, where I usually fill up with Tesco petrol and an OMs comfort break, I might get over to Wales myself for a night or two in some guest house or pub in the autumn. I should start spending a bit of money again on “radio fun” and petrol rather than banking it. Yes, with the flesh becoming weaker with age and a touch of lazyness, I’m tempted to take the easy option for North Wales and just carry a couple of handhelds and an RH-770 whip, you still get the reward of the SOTA points without carrying the weight and it makes for a speedy activation.
A non-ham friend has started ticking off the 214 Wainwrights. I guided him over Blencathra and its Wainwright friends in late July armed with the FT-65. So I’m planning to do the same trick one day with him next month for Skiddaw and it’s Wainwright friends, and then leave him to it for the other 200 Wainwright to visit on his own or with his wife. You know the score David, you’ve done them all as well.
I lost another OT ham radio friend who died yesterday, non-SOTA ham. He was 87, the first ham I met when I moved to Yorkshire for work in 1993. He was big on 160m like me, but latterly spent a lot of time on the LF bands that we can now use below 500 KHZ. Part of his ATU for one of the LF bands I recall was a large coil wound on a plastic dustbin!
As one gets older one attends more funerals and memorial services, until the day ones own takes place.
Best not get too morbid though, life’s still worth living, although for me it hasn’t been the best of summers.
73 and good night
Phil G4OBK
Where needs must I use my 60/40/30 link dipole on those bands. 40m setting for 15m and a combination of 60/40 for 17m as an OCD. Not ideal, but the 817 doesn’t baulk at it.