Weather forecast looked good for Sunday 25th Feb and it was nigh on perfect. Frosty underfoot but no ice and zero wind at the summit. Nothing but sun all day. The Coyles is a local summit and one of my favourites, as the views of Lochnagar, Loch Muick and the Cairngorms are just superb. The route up has been described in my previous reports - the only change from my last visit was that the storm-felled trees have been cleared from the track through the woods.
At the summit, I was on my own for most of the day, apart from a father and young daughter who appeared around lunchtime.
10m was very busy with contestors and had similar propagation conditions to my previous activations this year. Great signals from Spain and Greece but nothing much else from Europe in-between apart from OH. I couldn’t hear any of the EU activators. Stavros, SV2RUJ/P was first in the log at 1203 for a S2S, quickly followed by OH3GZ and ZS5APT. Then nothing until Fraser MM0EFI called me from his garden 15 miles away using his KX2 and a whip.
I moved to 20m for a couple of EU S2S then back to 10m for another S2S after seeing a spot for EA8/OE9HRV/P on Tenerife. EA3EVL also called in.
Back on 20m, a spot brought 26 QSOs, including NT2A and another 3 S2S. As usual, there was good short skip to Southern England.
Another spot on 10m brought just the one chase from SV2HJW, then 20m again for a S2S with a joint activation by LB5JJ and LB9HI/P
40m was very busy with contestors, but a clearish spot brought 8 chasers.
17m brought my first S2S with HB0, another QSO with Fraser in his garden and a S2S with Stefan HB9HCS who told me that he will be in Scotland in a couple of weeks.
Back on 10m, at 1423 N4DH was the first of 3 US chasers, followed by Adele ZS5AYC.
A 12m spot brought 8 chasers, including NT2A again.
I finished the day back on 10 with a nice US run including WA7JTM and KF6HI in Arizona. Last in the log was a S2S with W6PNG,Paul,who was running 45w to a 2 el beam. A great way to end a glorious day of SOTA weather.
It is based on the design shown by MM0OPX on his Youtube channel, using the same hub and spreaders but with a simpler feed arrangement. I also found that I had to use adjustable tensioners to keep the spreaders from flopping.
I thought it was pretty splendid too when I did it. We were well up on the solar cycle then and nice working from Ukraine to The Carolinas on 17m with a simple antenna. I did it on a similar but less frosty day in November so the colours were very similar. There’s something hard to describe and single out but I really like the views from hills like this one and Meall Alvie, Craigendarroch etc.
It was cold though but not icey… I discovered they’re not joking when they say summer tyres don’t have much grip when it’s 3C and below. An sudden lack of grip on a sharper bend on the Braemar to Ballater road resulted in much sidewaysness and traction lights flashing followed by a more sedate rate of progress thereafter
Fantastic report and great photos, just makes me want to get out! Loughnagar looking in top form. Love the array of antennas for the day, especially the Moxon!
I saw your spots coming and thought to try a s2s on 40m but I also had so much trouble finding space and then had contesting noise from adjacent channels I pretty much just gave up on 40 and I didn’t think to chase - but looks like I should have tried 20m from Mid wales!
Many thanks for another excellent report Simon with some cracking photos. Your band changing obviously reaps great benefits, but I’d be dizzy doing that. I’m afraid for me,except for the Trans-Atantic S2S events, it is head down and work the callers, then move on to the next band I’ve got planned. It’s still a real pleasure to make S2S contacts, but I don’t lose sleep if I don’t make any… last time out 72 contacts, no S2S.
