April 2025 Trans-Atlantic S2S reports

[G6PJZ]

An early start for me and a much larger rucksack than I usually carry. I spent the morning supporting the marshals on top of Whernside G/NP-004 for the annual Yorkshire 3 Peaks race. First runner (though he was actually on all 4’s like most of the competitors) over this (the 2nd) peak was Alistair Brownlee. So that accounted for some of the extra gear that I don’t usually carry on SOTA outings.

About 1300z I was free to leave the summit for a quieter spot a few metres down and set up the tent, chair and HF gear (FT857) - most of the rest of the weight. I was glad of the tent though since I was on the summit for about 7 hours in total. I used 20, 17 & 15m. My only trans-Atlantic contact (not S2S) was on 15m. A few European S2S though so still a very enjoyable day.

[M1BUU]

It was a great day, my son took part in the junior race and my sister in law was representing the Wharfedale Harriers for the first leg of the relay race.

We watched Alistair Brownlee cross the finish line.

During the junior races I helped to marshal the road crossing near the finish line in Horton, along with my eldest son and nephew.

I was hoping to meet the Raynet guys but I only saw two that I recognised.

73, Colin

[G6PJZ]

The triathlete in action on the final ascent up Whernside. It’s steep!!!

[2E0OMX]

Wishing you well Gerald - it was a beautiful day up on Exmoor today.

No transatlantic contacts today, but a new record - 7 S2S contacts in one sitting.

The biggest surprise was a S2S with @M6BWA who was on GW/MW-022. Thanks for your patience (we got there in the end!). I think Pen-Y-Fan was in the way, so it’s quite impressive.

21 QSOs:

• 7 on 20m (1 S2S).
• 8 on 40m (4 S2S).
• 6 on 2m (2 S2S).

[HB9EKO]

Today, I headed for Hochwacht, HB/AG-012, since the walk from the parking lot is not far from the actual summit where there are a few picnic benches, which makes it a perfect summit for DX events.

Thus, I could carry a full and heavy backpack with my FT-891 + mAT-30 tuner, and 2 12Ah LiFePo4 battery packs, which give me around 6 hours operation time with 100W output power. I used my 10m fibre glass mast for setting up a vertical antenna. Exceptionally, I took a microphone with me as well.

When I got chased by WX1S on 20m at around 11:30 UTC, who had a pretty good signal, I was hoping for more transatlantic DX. 1 1/2 hours later I got chased by KP4DX on 17m, and shortly after that I had 2 S2S on 15m with KC1MXB on W1/HA-203 and N1ZF at W1/HH-002. both signals were pretty weak and I had to use the audio peak filter to copy them properly.

After that, my luck left me. There were neither replies from across the pond to CQ calls, nor could I copy any of the US activators that were spotted later. I made quite a few S2S QSOs with various European activators before I closed shop and went home.

73 Jens HB9EKO

[WN3F]

I had a great time this morning despite what felt like poor propagation. Many thanks to Gerald G4OIG / G8CXK for promoting these events, and best wishes for good health.

W3/CR-003 is a mere 0.4 mile and 300 vertical feet from parking so I brought a fairly heavy load. A bare-bones Elecraft K3 can be had here for less than a new IC-705 so I picked one up a little while back to use for things like this (in the past I used KX2 + Hardrock 50 amp for S2S events) to have more power and a nice radio receiver and interface. A 12 Ah Bioenno battery powered it and I also brought a small chair and table.

I wanted to try a vertical antenna so I brought a Wolf River Coils base with Chameleon whip with nine radials. The loading coil didn’t serve much purpose for the S2S bands of 20 meters and higher.

I started with the vertical, checking the tuning between band changes with the RigExpert, but did not have great results. After almost an hour with very little to show, I put up the off-center fed 404-UL antenna I brought that has served me well in the past. That worked much better, plus it made band changes much easier.

It was very tough snagging any S2S across the pond even using all the tricks I know to extract a weak signal with the K3 receiver. Jens HB9EKO, you’re in my log with a 319 RST from me, but I couldn’t hear your information. I was happy to get some other DX plus several domestic S2S.

Fun stuff and, as always, I look forward to the next one.

73,
Roy WN3F

[N4DCW]

Very nice! Yes I see the familiar valve cover inside matches the NA right next to it! Thanks for sharing!

[M0NOM]

A quick scoot up Gummer’s How today - WX was good but windy. I took the Chameleon MPAS2, IC-705, HLA-150V amp running at 50w and a Chinese 100w tuner with a 20AH battery. Yes, that weighs a lot!

Two Transatlantic S2S - Jonathan @KC1MXB on W1/HA-203 20m CW and right at the end of my stay Scott @K2CPT came up on 20m SSB W2/GA-139 - I’d written ‘heard only’ in the log book initially as he was very faint but another 5 mins later he was in the log book as a confirmed S2S!

Surprisingly the Chameleon MPAS2 worked on 80m with the tuner and I was able to get Pete @MW0PJE in the log on GW/NW-043, Tom @M1EYP chased on 20m from The Cloud, managed Nick @G4OOE on 17m CW, Ivan OM1ACK on OM/BA-006, SP9LPK and SP9MPZ on OM/ZA-055, and GW0OER on GW/SW-033.

Thanks to everyone who made the effort today - dxheat was reporting lots of bands opened but my QSOs didn’t necessarily reflect this. I think other folk have reported somewhat flat conditions.

TIME	CALLSIGN	BAND	MODE	RST	RSR	OPERATOR	SIG	REF
14:34	SV2HSZ	15m	SSB	55	55	MICHALIS
14:38	AO1IARU	20m	SSB	59	59	100th
14:39	SQ9RZA	20m	SSB	59	55	Grzegorz
14:40	IN3ADF	20m	SSB	59	57	Markus
14:40	EA3EVL	20m	SSB	53	55	PABLO
14:41	3Z9VI	20m	SSB	55	55	Tomasz
14:42	OM/SP9LPK/P	20m	SSB	55	55	Wojciech	SOTA	OM/ZA-055
14:42	OM/SP9MPZ/P	20m	SSB	55	55	Marcin	SOTA	OM/ZA-055
14:43	M1EYP/P	20m	SSB	59	59	Tom	SOTA	G/SP-010
14:44	OH1CM	20m	SSB	59	57	Kimmo
14:45	SP9BAT	20m	SSB	55	56	Miroslaw
14:45	SP4CUF	20m	SSB	59	59	ADAM
14:46	SP5ZIM	20m	SSB	59	59	OSIEDLOWY
14:46	OM1ACK/P	20m	SSB	55	58	Ivan	SOTA	OM/BA-006
14:47	SP5M	20m	SSB	59	59	Wlodek
14:48	S57ILF	20m	SSB	59	44	FRANCI
14:49	9A2KI	20m	SSB	59	55	Istok
14:51	IK1GCB	20m	SSB	59	59	AMEDEO
14:51	EA3HYJ	20m	SSB	59	57	Agustín
14:57	SV8IIQ	17m	SSB	55	56	STELIOS
14:59	SQ9EZE	17m	SSB	59	57	Piotr
15:00	9A1BN	17m	SSB	59	59	Nikola
15:09	G4OOE/P	17m	CW	559	559	A.R.N.	SOTA	G/TW-004
15:17	W4C	15m	SSB	59	52	Special
15:29	KC1MBX	20m	CW	549	559	Maxwell	SOTA	W1/HA-203
15:34	GW0OER/P	40m	CW	559	559	Paul	SOTA	GW/SW-033
15:43	MW0CBC	40m	SSB	59	57	DENIS
15:43	G0FVH	40m	SSB	59	55	DAVID.
15:43	EI6FR	40m	SSB	59	58	DECLAN
15:52	MW0PJE/P	80m	SSB	55	52	Pete	SOTA	GW/NW-043
16:05	K4T	15m	SSB	59	59	FQP
16:23	LZ100IARU	15m	SSB	59	59	BFRA
16:24	UT1EK	15m	SSB	59	55	Anatoly
16:40	K2CPT	20m	SSB	52	52	Scott	SOTA	W2/GA-139

[M1EYP]

Really sorry to hear about your MH issues Gerald. I hope and trust you are free of them very soon.

Thanks again for extending these events to cover Saturday and Sunday. I was able to activate yesterday as it turned out, but needed to be QRT by 10am local, so no chance of TA DX.

Today I ran Liam to Manchester for an Anime & Gaming Con (no, me neither…) in the morning. I needed to hang around somewhere not too far away until I got the call to pick him up. So up the M61 to Bolton I went.

Pleasant sunny Sunday afternoon sat on Winter Hill G/SP-010 playing with my radio.

50 QSOs:

40m CW: 6
40m SSB: 23
30m CW: 1
20m CW: 13
20m SSB: 5
2m FM: 2

19 summit-to-summit contacts.

I walked up from the Pike Shack Snack Bar, passing Two Lads on the way up. I set up inside the AZ, just past the junction of footpaths on the 435m contour. When the sun shone, I could pick out the trig point on the horizon, about half a mile away.

Just one NA QSO (thank you @AC6ZQ). I was later called by a WA3 but QSB took him out and we didn’t complete. QSB was an issue throughout the day on all bands. Several chasers were being very “optimistic” with the QSB assuming it was them being worked. I’ve made a note to use the “Show who chased me” feature after I’ve entered my log for this one as I suspect a few will be getting NIL emails from me!

I think Gerald remembered to order the weather for this event - it was a gorgeous afternoon up on Winter Hill - but forgot to order the TA propagation. The nearest I got to a NA DX S2S was being able to hear @WN3F on 20m CW from W3/CR-003 - but it was clear after a few attempts that he couldn’t hear me at all - so that went down as one of five SWL logs noted in the day.

Nonetheless, activity was fantastic, and lots of S2S QSOs were completed successfully - so thanks again for a great event Gerald @G4OIG.

Interestingly, the service road and footpaths within the area of the guy cables for the Winter Hill mast, were fenced off and out-of-bounds due to maintenance work taking place. The actions of a worker being lifted in a small cage from the ground right up to near the top of the mast was entertaining, breathtaking, and rather terrifying! Each time, the activity drew a crowd of fascinated spectators!

[M6GYU]

!!! Thats a grim looking summit Tom…

I listened out for you on CW a couple of times today, but nothing heard in Robin Hood’s Bay.

[MM0FMF]

I wasn’t able to get out on Saturday, somewhat damp weather And I forgot the event was running on Sunday to but I just popped out for some exercise.

I only worked one stateside station, AC6ZQ who was a nice 599 signal on 17m and gave me 559 for 10W CW into an inv-7 EFHW pointing the wrong-ish way. In general conditions were rubbish. I only worked 1 on 15m, 3 on 17m, 1 on 40m and 16 on 20m.

I put out a bum self-spot on 7.285 and was called almost at once by Tom M1EYP/P who had mentally corrected my poor typing. I did fix the spot. Tom was on Winter Hill SP-010 which turns out to be a complete some 15years in the making. I did not believe I’d never chased Winter Hill in all those years. And worse, my alert was for GM/SS-135 not SS-125, very poor operation here by me. I spotted that this morning and due to the amazing admin powers I have, fixed all the chaser logs so they now say SS-125. If you chased me, your SOTA log on the DB is correct but do check any personal logs you may have. Second time in 19 years of SOTAing I have given the wrong ref, very poor. I should do GM/ES-067, Creag Ghiubhais again as penance.

I was using the 705 again as it was in the bag. I must say I am now exceedingly impressed with my ATU-10 tuner. Small, lightweight and it just works. If you want to work with non-resonant antennas then it makes the 705 as easy to use as a KX2+ATU.

I was sorry to hear Gerald is a little poorly. Men tend to ignore health issues, often till it’s too late. It requires real effort to admit to mental health problems in public and I hope that Gerald being open encourages others who may be suffering to get attention.

Now time for dangerous strength coffee followed by some dogging with the dog. I found two disposable vapes on the pavement walking back to the car yesterday.

[M1EYP]

@M6GYU

Thats a grim looking summit Tom…

To be fair, in every other direction, the scenes were of upland remoteness, tranquility and beauty. Visibility was exceptional with the Snowdonian mountains and the Burbo Bank Wind Farm (Irish Sea, 10 to 25km from Liverpool) clearly identifiable. I guess it’s my choice of photos that is “grim”!

[M1EYP]

@M0NOM

Tom @M1EYP chased on 20m from The Cloud

I wasn’t there! (Although you have the correct reference in your log extract, so I’m happy it’s a good contact!)

[MW0PJE]

@MM0FMF

some dogging with the dog.

Have you trained the dog to sniff them out?

[MM0FMF]

Sadly no, it’s only squirrels,rabbits,hedgehogs she sniffs out. And again found yet another Crystal vape at the car park for a forest/nature reserve we walked round. People are such scum just throwing these away.

[HB9EAJ]

First and most important: Gerald get well and take the time it needs to. Admitting a problem is already a good start and I think you are on the right track. All the best and good luck!

On Saturday, I spent about 5h on HB/SO-015. But I was not always fully active and aware, as I met an old school friend on the top that was not impressed with what I was doing and explained his whole life to me…

Compared to the last NA S2S party last November, this time the propagation was not that great. The most fruitful band for me was 15m.

To make the results comparable, I used the same activation spot on HB/SO-015 and the same equipment:

• Radio 1 with 10W into a 12m long EFHW, inverted-7 setup max. 6m high
• Radio 2 set to 80W into an AliExpress 10-20m quarter wave vertical with 16 2.6m long ground radials. In the end, the 18Ah 4S LiFePO4 still had about 30% capacity.

I have to admit that after some time, I also started to spot for POTA, which helped a lot to make many NA contacts.

Result: 88 contacts in the log, 40 from the USA and Canada (all with the vertical and 80W), 1 NA S2S and a total of 18 S2S.

Note: Until I read @N4DCW’s post, I thought I hadn’t made a single NA S2S, but I was wrong and edited the entry. Thank you Michael! I gave you 44 and got 55, but in reality you were probably 31 and I thought you were a POTA station trying to give me your park reference…

From time to time I looked at the unfiltered spots and realized that most of the NA action was on CW, so in the future, this mode should be definitely part of my toolbox .

On Sunday I activated HB/SZ-028, a new and complete summit for me. I stayed for about 2h, mostly in the fog.

I only carried a 10W radio with a 2Ah LiFePO4 with me. I decided to carry two antennas, but in the end, I only used my 12m long EFHW configured as inverted-L, thanks to the sloping terrain.

I expierienced several software problems that took a lot of time to resolve: VK port-a-log didn’t receive and wasnn’t able to send spots, Ham2K PoLo received spots, but didn’t send (no error message).
Same with the SOTA Spotter app, but at least I got a 403 status and immediately understood the problem (outdated app using the old SOTA API).
Until yesterday, I had never used the SOTAwatch3 website to spot and tried this option. After all these failures and my summit brain, I was having trouble finding the spotting button on my small smartphone browser window. So I started to configure SOTAmat. But before sending the spot with SOTAmat, I thought I must have somehow overlooked this important spot button, finally found it and was a happy camper .

Later, during the activation, I found the reason why PoLo couldn’t spot: It had my correct SOTA API credentials, but somehow wasn’t logged in (did I mention that I didn’t get an error message when I tried to send a spot?) .
Also, be aware that PoLo doesn’t give you any feedback after you successfully send a spot, so you don’t know if it went out or not. You have to wait or reload the spots manually to know for sure. I hope to get VK port-a-log working again soon.

Result: 31 contacts, no DX at all, but 15 S2S in the log.

Note: There was also a SSB contest going on, but I didn’t hear any NA stations. As I walked back, the sun came out.

Conclusions: Propagation is king, but a little extra power during a special event can also help.

73 Stephan

[G7ADF]

@M1EYP

The actions of a worker being lifted in a small cage from the ground right up to near the top of the mast was entertaining, breathtaking, and rather terrifying!

I always understood there was a lift on the inside of the mast. Wonder why they were using that method , unless the inside lift doesnt go high enough. Apparently some of the transmitterpanels can be swung around so that repairs can be done from the inside.

I suppose it could be that they needed to repair the lift hence the need to use a somewhat more interesting method.

Ian

[MM0FMF]

Apparently the internal lifts in setups like Belmont, Winter Hill, Waltham, Bilsdale & Mendip are no longer used after an accident at Belmont where a lift fell 500ft. There were injuries but not deaths.

Of course being a hollow tube and thus a perfect chimney, when the cables started burning in Bilsdale, the chimney effect did give a good draught to the fire. Hence Bilsdale being demolished and replaced after the devastating fire. see: mb21 - The Transmission Gallery for the chimney going flat out!

[MW0PJE]

Brief report from the Ponderosa correspondent:

I was on the summit of GW/NW-043 Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Friday was mostly trying out my new 23cm transverter, with a few extra contacts on 2m. No S2S and no HF as I wanted to travel as light as possible. 7 contacts on 23cm, 5 on 2m.
Wanted to stay out longer but after an hour sitting in the breeze when I’d only planned on staying for 20-30 minutes I was getting pretty cold so had to pack up and head home.

Saturday afternoon on 17m/15m/12m and 10m. 22 QSOs, S2S with @G6PJZ on 15m, @GM5ALX and @M5RJC on 10m. Possibly a contact with PY (awaiting confirmation) but all others were in Europe.
Wanted to stay a bit longer but the weather looked like it was about to turn.

After the poor propagation on Saturday I wasn’t as interested in the S2S event so decided to spend the afternoon building a low band link dipole on the summit. I took the Aliexpress whip with me for any contacts while I was up there which ended up being a bit of a distraction from the building I was supposed to be doing
Despite not being up there to chase, I had 18 QSOs including S2S with @GM5ALX on 2m (3 times!), @M1EYP on 20m, GW4NAQ and GW0OER on 40m using the whip followed by @M0JLA on the 40m section of the new antenna. @M0NOM on 80m (on the new antenna) and finally @K2CPT on 15m using the whip.
I didn’t get time to finish tuning the dipole on top band, and the position of the antenna meant it was touching the ground so finding a better location.orientation for the monster will happen another time.
Unfortunately no photos of my antenna but obligatory picture of the Arqiva tower.

[MM0FMF]

@MW0PJE

trying out my new 23cm transverter

Vertical polarised antenna too. I assume there are people local with colinears for repeaters. The wee conifers around the BT mast are reasonably new self-seeders. Not there in 2010.