In reply to DF2GN:
Not looking good Klaus. 80m has been bad for months now 
Iāve only seen about 4 US stations in my evenings (on their dawn) I used see dozens of them. And P5 OHR is raging tonight. Taken up about 300+ KHz of bandwidth. Funny how the North Korean OHR stops just short of their shortwave broadcaster on 3.480!!
See if things improve over the weekend. But I donāt think so this time
Matt.
In reply to VK2DAG:
Hi Matt,
ok, thanks for the info. lets see at sunday. maybe i go out at moday evening around 18-20utc for a try on 80/160m with an halfwave vertical on 80m band. hope on some contacts on mid rangeā¦UA9ā¦i let the antenna there over night and comming back at early morning on 18/03 to have a look at NA chasers on 80m.
i love the low bands, but no so good times for this bands yetā¦
hope for some time next week to give 28mhz a tryā¦or again at monday morning for 20m ssb/cw for a vk activation again. try then 2xhalfwave verticalā¦
hope wx is as good as today then 
hope cu ! vy 73 Klaus
In reply to DF2GN:
Hi Klaus,
Great to speak with you whilst I was on Mount Lofty, VK5/ SE-005 and get you summit to summit. Although I have worked a lot of DX whilst on a summit, you were my very FIRST DX S2S, which I was very very happy about. I was operating with Larry VK5LY and you were also his first DX S2S.
I have posted on my Wordpress site re the activationā¦
Best 73,
Paul,
VK5PAS
In reply to VK5PAS:
Hi Paul,
also nice to work you both on the summit for this great s2s over such a big distance.hope we can do that again in future.really nice report on your wordpress site ! At that time i had 4x s2s to VK. Also the first time for me. At monday morning iām on a summit here on my local dm/ bwāsā¦to test 2 times halfwave vertical antenna on 20m band, or i go again horizontal but very high over ground. Good signals on the inv.V. at my last activation.
So hope to work you again ( monday and tuesday off from work 
vy 73 Klaus
Good morning all
waked up early today on my day off from work. now on the way to dm/bw-195 after a coffee. will take some wires with me and my big slingshot. maybe i try some 80m and 160m if antenna works there. a bit too late for greyline, but i can let the wire there and repeat that tmrw morning. if time i set up a bi-loop or bisquare for 20m VK laterā¦hope to be qrv in 60 to 90minsā¦
73 and cu, Klaus DF2GN
Hi Klaus,
Great to work you this evening / this morning. You had a genuine 5/7 signal into the Adelaide Hills in South Australia, with your 50 watts and vertical dipole. My antenna is a 3 el yagi @ 51 feet. Local time here when we worked was 7.50 p.m. and it was almost dark outside. I had my beam pointed towards you on the long path. We are 30 minutes behind the east coast of Australia and about 750 km to the west, so the band stays open a little later for us here in VK5, than it does in VK2, VK3 & VK4. It is always a real pleasure to work European & UK activators. Thanks for listening for VK.
Best 73,
Paul,
VK5PAS.
In reply to VK5PAS:
Hi Paul,
thanks nice qso again 
i was a little bit to late for VK on 20m after changing from the inv.L to the vertical dipole. on the inv.L i heard nothing from VK or other dx on 20m. no wonder by a vertical part of 30m lenght. a good cloudburner. at the same tree i set up then a 2x7m dipole with the feedpoint at abt.~~20m high. that sesults in a very nice pile up on 20m then with big sigs over EU and some takers from NA. Today iĆĀ“m a bit late at home again, so i stay off from the summits today. go noe for 2 hours training and then its too late for another activation. but no problem, the qsoĆĀ“s made today are enough for two activations. maybe i type the log later in evening.enough sota for today
if i go very early tmrw morning at abt. 5-6utc for a top band activation is not sure yet. maybe i sleep too long at my last free day. so i set no alert and let the things happen
greetings to all the chasers and thanks for the real nice pile ups today !
vy 73 Klaus DF2GN
not much to see. the feeding line and the bottom insulator of the 2x7m dipole
https://www.flickr.com/photos/36645961@N00/13218291284/lightbox/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/36645961@N00/13218288694/lightbox/
In reply to DF2GN:
Hello Klaus,
Very pleased to speak with you on 80/40 this morning. I also am not sure when I will be up but when I do will listen out for you.
My normal 40M inverted V for inter EU is down and I have to rebuild everything and some cabling. I have to rebuild as there are too many repairs after storms.
I will get my 897D setup for 80/160M.
This is true - I sometimes have to move my piece of wire from the apple tree to the mulberry tree or back to work these bands 8)
Best wishes
Mike G6TUH
In reply to G6TUH:
Hi Mike, iĆĀ“m sleep longer tmrw go on a sota activation maybe later to the black forest area. but not sure yetā¦
in moment i have a problem with my lowband equipment. this morning my 160m inv.L. donĆĀ“t tune on top band. no swr. first i have to check the antenna and the tuning network. better build a new antenna
this year i havenĆĀ“t the same time for sota as last year, so i will go mostly for 40/30/20/17m band activations with staying longer on the summit. on this bands i can work most chasers.today i logged 168 qsoĆĀ“sā¦ limited time, but i will try to work as many chasers as possible in my activations. sometimes iĆĀ“m only qrv with my small cw qrp rig, then no ssb. today i had more chasers in ssb as in cw, maybe the first time. a big pile up on ssb 20m with a lot of nice chasers, great ! dx from VK to NAā¦
after worked NA on 80m and VK on 40m iĆĀ“m ok, fine job on my antennas. maybe a bad time for dx on top band these days. this morning 80m was very quiet. but why not use the higher bands in the sunspot maximum ? better times for low bands comming, for sure.
think the problem with my inv.L. antennas and working DX on the top band is the bad ground/earth on a summit. sometimes i canĆĀ“t tune my inv.L. for a good swr. and mor as 8 radials is too much for a short sota activation. but the ground is bad at all. better near the seaside or wet ground.that the problem with the verticals on lower bands on summits. maybe i try a halfwave system with coils and a tuning network / fuchskreis as my next antenna. but its time for a change of the antennas for low bands. the sigs in EU are mostly goodā¦
hope i finished my work then fast the next weeks.
but first i buy a portable antenna analyzer, donĆĀ“t know i never do that ?
i have a old mfj, but to big for the rucksack to take ever with me.
maybe these youkits FG-01 ones are ok ? small and cheap, but not sure if working ok or not.
hope cu on a summit again !
73 Klaus DF2GN
In reply to DF2GN:
Hi Klaus,
SOTA followed by training -I think you deserve some rest
I donāt think topband would work in the morning perhaps 80M just.
168 QSO is an amazing total for an activation.
I have a very small antenna analyser. It runs off a 9v battery and has a bnc connector and it is the size of about 10cm x 12cm. It is very very good but it needs a laptop/PC/tablet to display its readings. I think now the fitting is with SO.
http://www.arraysolutions.com/Products/AIM4170.htm
http://www.bnk.com/w0qe/AIM4170_page1.html
Yes you are right about the higher bands. The other day 12,21,28 were so busy it was like a bad 40M traffic jam.
Night night and best wishes
vy 73
Mike G6TUH
In reply to G6TUH:
h mike, yepp. nit the best time for low band dx. but no problem. then i enjpy the high sfi on the higher bands. next week i will look more for NA again.
Nice to work N4EX on 28mhz yesterday. wow, it was very early in the morning for him i think. also had rbn spots from VK on 28mhz.but very weak.
i need an analyzer with a display in it. the newest cheap chinese ones are small and hve bluetooth on board to use with a smartphone.
not sure which one is the best for me. the are better ones, but all very big.
i found this :
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Youkits-FG-01-1-72Mhz-HF-Antenna-Analyzer-/271400285865?pt=US_Radio_Comm_Antennas&hash=item3f30b7b6a9
maybe somebody knows these ? nothing about quality or bad soldering
only want to konw how they working 
vy 73 Klaus DF2GN
In reply to DF2GN:
Hello Klaus, I do not know these items. I understand why you want a built in display. I suppose I thought you needed the kit for pre activation testing at home which is why I suggested the AIM4170. Oh wellā¦
Night night
Mike
In reply to DF2GN:
Hi Klaus.
Yesterday I was up before dawn and I did a JT65 check on 80m. Signals peaked for an hour from 19:30z to 20:30z. Before 19:30z whilst I was CQing there was nothing and no one about. Then at 18:30 I worked a OH7 and after that I was coping a lot of callsigns till my sunrise. Also worked a EA3 well into my daylight.
80m still isnāt very good yet. I am watching for NA each evening on their sunrise. But the band is starting to improve. Just need the massive thunder storms we been having to settle down. But I only get those storms in the evening and very rarely in the morning.
So maybe in a few weeks (which will be around the equinox) we could give 80m another go.
Matt.
In reply to DF2GN:
i found this :
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Youkits-FG-01-1-72Mhz-HF-Antenna-Analyzer-/271400285865?pt=US_Radio_Comm_Antennas&hash=item3f30b7b6a9
I have one of those, and very good it seems to be too. Found it simple to use and to tune up my sandpiper MV10, new cobwebb, and linked dipole.
One thing to be wary of though (although you said no comments about bad soldering etcā¦) is that the internal battery isnāt a snug fit, and rattles aboutā¦ fine, apart from the fact that if you carry it about in your backpack, sooner or later itās going to rip the crystal (and tracks) off the PCB! So if you get one, make sure that the battery is secure!
Don
In reply to M0HCU:
Hi Don,
thanks for info ! veryx usefull. in moment iĆĀ“m not sure for which analyzer i go.
maybe i spent a little money more and get a new one from rigexpert. seems to build solid. know only photos from the rig expert AA30 or AA54. if i get one i write about then.
ohhhh man. summertime in DM/BW and two weeks full of work :-(((((
nooo time for sota. hope on a bit time on saturday early morning for a few calls to VK/UK all others who are activating in this FB WXā¦have fun !!!
vy 73 Klaus DF2GN
In reply to DF2GN:
Hi, Klaus
This last weekend we have had our spring day of this year. Now back to rain, snow and winds, waiting for our summer day (May be next august)
72(+1 if no QRP) de Mikel