Thanks Stewart - will clear that up next time,
73s
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Which club taught your FL course?
There is very practical reason for channel old names. If I have 23 memories in my station numbered 0 to 23 simply program that in old fashion way. So, 145,475 is S17 for me and is equal to number 17 on my dial.
Today, you can give channels name. So, you can program 145,425 and give him name V something. Or on 70cm U something.
But, I wont. I like old way
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Hi Andy (MMF) My UK call is GM4LGK based on my office address in Dunfermline, although in the UK I am actually of no fixed abode. I was planning a trip over there in 2020, and 2021, and⌠Now, who knows.
Interestingly, being an early adopter of 60M for SOTA I quickly ditched the MOD âFâ designators eg FA = 5.2585MHz and adopted 258, 278, 288, 398 and 403 as the channel designator for the original 5 channels. 398 tended to be a calling freq (like S20/500) so âQSY 403 if thatâs ok?â Just add a 5 to either end and you have the frequency. Simples!
For some users the âFoxâ designations lingered much longer, Iâve even heard âFox Mikeâ used quite recently.
During the 60m âexperimentâ there were also âFoxâ channels designated on 40m and 80m so the sunset nets could QSY to debrief. In its own way it was quite an exciting time, exploring the characteristics of a new band! Also the only time that I regularly participated in formal nets, otherwise not my thing at all.
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Didnât know that Brian. Where they an extension of the MOD âFâ Classifications or just something we amateurs came up with?
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Sorry, Jack, I canât find anything about it now in my files, except that I kept the original NoV from 2006 as a souvenir. I would guess that the people running the amateur side of the experiment set up the Fox designations, they donât appear on the NoV.
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There was a lot of RSGB mandated âguffâ when the 60m experiment started that had no legal standing, the only thing that mattered was complying with the licence and extra terms in the NoV. However, the RSGB had negotiated access on the grounds of a propagation experiment so it did seem reasonable to ensure whatever you did on the band was documented to a sufficient degree that you could demonstrate you where doing some kind of propagation experiment. My early SOTA notes record where the antenna was deployed on the summits (orientation, using fence posts with fence wires underneath etc.) the rest being a constant of 817, 5m pole, Inv-V dipole.
I donât know the origin of the channel names, possibly MOD names or names agreed between MOD and RSGB when discussions on the possible allocation was taking place. There could well have been an FA-FZ and in the end we got the 5 then 8 that the MOD were happy with hence the odd frequencies and non-sequential name. There may be people still at the RSGB who remember the origins but the one person who would know is the late Gordon Adams G3LEQ, SK since 2018. Though knowing Gordon heâs still at the Pearly Gates introducing himself to St. Peter and has been talking continuously since his arrival there in Feb 2018 
I never heard of 40/80 Fox channels before. I know I had 3 NoVs but canât remember when I got the 1st one, 2005/6 ISTR, so it could have been before then. The idea of a propagation experiment is pretty lame as Her Majestyâs men in green (and all other countriesâ men in green) would be really rather clued up on 5MHz propagation well before a bunch a grumpy old hams turned up on the bands with their SINPO codes and RSGB procedures. Still it showed we could share a band with the MOD (what about 70cms?) without causing major carnage and helped in making bits of spectrum available permanently to us and also many countries.
Thinking about it takes me back to my start in SOTA when having dragged my unfit body to a summit Iâd be wondering and wondering if anyone would be listening on 60m to hear my CQ SOTA calls to spot me. It take a while to be found at times back then as this was well before the explosion in self-spotting from a summit. Happy days 
Still going off the Original Topic, but:
Checking my log, here was my first 60M QSO and indeed with Ken.
GM4COX/P 16/05/2004 1015 GM/SS-143 5.3985 SSB GM0AXY 59 58
Short skip or groundwave - hi?
Almost like 2M on HF with the conditions I experienced in these early days. What a change to have a quiet inter-UK Band than trying to work stations on the crammed 7.0 - 7.1MHz band, as it was then.
(;>J
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