It never ceases to amaze me, the amount of interest SOTA activatations create on 2M. In particular, mobile stations who call in and then listen to an activation for many hours. So many base stations call in and say they’ve beem listening for a long period and indeed, continue listen after making contact.
Seems SOTA, holds a facination for just about everyone.
I worked from a very cold Shining Tor today and had some long qso’s, which were really enjoyable.
However, I made the mistake of lugging up a 5 element yagi, a portable dipole, 2 five foot poles as well as the FT-857 and a 20Ah SLAB…won’t be doing that again in a hurry
Anyway, got fed up with the Yagi after a couple of hours and revereted to the dipole …much more fun. Final tally, 100 QSO’s with quite a few S2S.
Yep, I’ve been looking at one or two which are quite small and have big gain. I’ve also looked at a few homebrew desigins, which look very interesting.
If it’s any good it should at least produce a small increase is signal
strength and perhaps a few more contacts (DX) than the dipole.
The facinating thing about Shining Tor, at 1840 feet, its’s just full of surprises. Worked G8GIN in Wisbech on the dipole using just 7 Watts recieving a 5/2 signal report. But you’re right, the Yagi is the way to go.
I think you’re very lucky to have chasers who listen. I had a ferocious pile up on 40m SSB last Sunday whilst on Stronend SS-163. I had to call 3 or 4 times for an MM1 only to reply and every time got an M3 and G4 calling. Only when pointedly told that asking for MM1 means MM1 and not M3 or G4 did they hold back. The G4 certainly knew he was trying it on, the M3 probably but I’ll put it down to inexperience this time. Both calls noted in my bad boy list for future reference. If they continue like that they’ll get an immediate NIL in future.
Another ton of calls is most impressive. I’ll scrape the database and map their locations when I get a moment.
I think you’re very lucky to have chasers who listen.
Indeed Andy, totally agree with you. No chasers, no SOTA.
I had a
ferocious pile up on 40m SSB last Sunday whilst on Stronend SS-163.
…snipped for brevity…
Yep, been there. However, I tend to let them know, I’m not going anywhere and I’ll get back to all of them…just be patient. Clearly, this is not always an option for someone like yourself, who may be activating a remote summit in the Highlands, where time and daylight constraints must be taken into account.
Another ton of calls is most impressive. I’ll scrape the database and
map their locations when I get a moment.
Thanks for that Andy, it would be most appreciated.
Well Gerald, I planned to do Shining Tor tomorrow, working 15 Metres.
However, after yesterdays jaunt, I’m suffering from sore knees.
Sore knees generally result from steep descents. I used to suffer a lot when I first started SOTA, but have little trouble nowadays as the muscles around my knees now help support the joints. The same goes for my hips. My range now extends well beyond 2 hours walk time, whereas at one time I’d be in considerable pain after an hour or so.
With regards to backpack weight, I think you’ll find the only piece of kit that you carried up Shining Tor that might be considered to be “inappropriate” was the 20AH SLAB. I used to haul a 12AH SLAB up hills, but found a lightness in my step once I’d discovered the price of LiPOs had dropped.
However, after yesterdays jaunt, I’m suffering from sore knees.
Sore knees generally result from steep descents. I used to suffer a
lot when I first started SOTA, but have little trouble nowadays as the
muscles around my knees now help support the joints. The same goes for
my hips. My range now extends well beyond 2 hours walk time, whereas
at one time I’d be in considerable pain after an hour or so.
Yep. Same here Gerald, I can go much further than 6 months ago.
It would appear I was fated not to activate Shining Tor today. Despite the weather forecast, I decided to drive there anyway, arriving at the Cat and Fiddle at about 0720 only to find it hammering down. I stayed for over half an hour hoping for a break, which never came. At 0800, I reluctantly turned the car around and made my way home. So to sum up, a 50 odd mile round trip for nowt.
With regards to backpack weight, I think you’ll find the only piece of
kit that you carried up Shining Tor that might be considered to be
"inappropriate" was the 20AH SLAB. I used to haul a 12AH
SLAB up hills, but found a lightness in my step once I’d discovered
the price of LiPOs had dropped.
Well there are quite a few other bits and bobs I bring along, which all add up.
I too have a 12Ah SLAB as well as a 9 and 7.5Ah
As for the 20Ah SLAB, the performance from the battery is superb, especially with the FT-857, which if I’m not mistaken, draws about 1 Amp on receive, so I don’t mind carrying it too much.
OTOH, as someone who deals in batteries for a living, there’s really no excuse for me not having LiPOs
A visual representation of the chasers worked by you on 144MHz from SP-004 is now available. Green marker is the summit, red marker for FM contacts and blue for SSB.
Restrictions: only stations who were QTHR in 2009 July callbook data are included, no mobiles, no portables. The callbook data is full of many out-of-date and inaccurate entries but I’ve got about 50000 callsigns to NGR. If people have moved since then then the map will show their July 2009 location.
If you hover on the marker you should see the callsign of the chaser appear. The location data for people in urban conurbations should be accurate to a few hundred metres. Accuracy gets worse the more rural the location.
A visual representation of the chasers worked by you on 144MHz from
SP-004 is now available. Green marker is the summit, red marker for FM
contacts and blue for SSB.
