Unfortunately, the weather was bad in Japan on that day.
I wish you all success.
73 Katsu JP3DGT
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I will try and get out, summit TBC.
Will be on SSB and FT8.
Doesn’t seem to be too many contests on at that time.
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I’m ready for the event!
VOACAP forecast say that the better chance will be on 12mt on short path and for long path will be on 20 and 17.
which are your advice?
73
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Hi Roberto, I’m no expert! Personally I’ll be on 20m. I haven’t tried 12m, but if you think it will work go for it. It will help if you can spot your frequency when you’re operating.
Good luck
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Hi Andy!
tomorrow morning I will try from a hill with a good take off for long path. Sunday I will try from other sota reference good for short and long path.
Fingers crossed!
73
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Ciao Roberto,
according to the many posts, 20m LP is currently in vy good shape.
12m SP might be open in Italy but further up north, I don’t think it’s open this early.
Good luck with your activation tomorrow!
73, Roman
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Hi Roberto,
Keep an eye on the Kp Index - when it is high, it limits how high the Maximum Usable Frequency can get up to and if the MUF where you are is below 24 MHz - 12m will be closed.
At the moment the Kp Index is a little high at 4 but the forecast maximum for tomorrow is only 3.
As Roman says, propagation conditions are usually different in Southern Europe compared to Central and Northern Europe. Normally countries around the Mediterreanean will be the first to be heard in VK & ZL, perhaps as the Long Path signal route is more over water when starting in the south of Europe. Further north the signals bounce of land masses more and hence lose more of their signal strength en-route. As you will see below (dotted line) LP from northern Italy to VK3 goes mainly over water:
Whereas stations further north, hit some more land e-route:
It’s also clear from these diagrams why Long path despite being further can often give a lot stronger signal than short path - due to less signal loss over sea rather than over land.
73 Ed.
UPDATE: - This wasn’t expected - lets hope it clears soon!
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After a dismal rainy Saturday morning the weather has cleared and the sun is shinning. Looking good for tomorrow.
Will try to get a bit early and work the local S2S on 40M and get onto 20M for the dx around 0500Z.
73’s VK2WP
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Many thanks Ed,
This morning 20mt was open from 05:15 to 07:30, 17 was poor.
Good luck for tomorrow!
73
Thanks Roman,
Tomorrow I will try to start from 12mt but I will focus on 20 cw and ssb.
See you soon!
73
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Thanks Ed for your interesting explanations, because I didn’t take the short/long paths for these effects into account!
Fortunately Kp-index went down to 3, so let’s hope that it stays like that!
For tomorrow I put an alert for HB/SO-009 at 5:30. This will be also a celebration, since exactly three years ago I did there my first SOTA activation, which was not very successful but a lot of fun.
I just built a simple up and outer antenna, by following roughly the suggestions from DK7ZB for the 17m band and will go now to the park for tuning. I finally decided for the 17m band because my available mast is only 6m tall. For the other bands I still can use one of my EFHW.
Good luck to all!
73 Stephan
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Hi Stephan,
HB/SO-009 → good choice! This is my favorite for EU-NA events. It was also my first ever activation. Didn’t know anything about spotting then and I didn’t do too many QSOs, but from then on I was hooked.
Remember that HB/SO-009 (Hohe Winde - high winds) lives up to its name. I was there two times and boy was it windy!
If (and that’s a big if) I can get up tomorrow morning, I’ll head to HB/NE-001.
73 de Martin / HB9GVW
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Hi Martin,
How funny, great minds… 
Thinking back, I had no idea, also didn’t spot and just went ahead. Just one contact on 2m FM, since I didn’t have a HF-rig then. First QSO since more than 30 years ham break. I took the longest walk up there, not the easy one I will choose tomorrow (if I hear the alarm, hi).
Back from tuning the 17m vertical antenna in the nearby park and answering several “what the heck are you doing” questions.
Hope to catch you tomorrow for a S2S!
73 Stephan
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No wind from a certain direction during my visit and therefore unfortunately the entire summit in strong grill smoke and taste - not to mention the acoustic QRM of the large group … So only a short stay.
It is also conceivable that the name Hohe Winde comes from the time when ore was still being mined in the area and there was a winch (Winde) for it up there?
Apparently ideal as a radio location, considering the contribution of the many 12m QSOs to my 12m SOTA Challenge Score, hi.
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Sorry to hear that. Yes, many summits are busy, even the ones you think only you (and possibly some other SOTA guys / girls) have heard about.
Might be the better explanation. Anyway, it was windy for me, both times.
Tips to activator (and note to self): When its windy, don’t position yourself right on the crest. Even 5m leeward down the crest (if possible 
) will reduce the wind.
Happy SOTA!
73 de Martin / HB9GVW
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… probably dreaming of or listening to DX with SOTA with HB9 …?
73, Markus HB9DIZ
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VK1AD on 40m for 30 min
Long path view from VK1/AC-048
Edit: worked Terry G0VWP on 7.095, my power 5 watts.
Andrew VK1AD
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A very pleasant evening. 13 S2S including VK, SV, HB, DJ and I. 36 contacts all up before rain stopped play. Considerate patient operators all. Wonderful, enjoyable experience. Thanks to all who were out there or at home chasing.
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It seems from this end that the bands this morning (0500 - 0700 UTC) were not nearly as good as they have been during the week. Possibly caused by the X-flare and higher Kp index yesterday and today. On 20m SSB, I did get two VK3 fixed station contacts in the log from my home station and I heard as clear as day a VK5 working Andrew VK1AD/P early on, but heard nothing of Andrew unfortunately. Now whether I would have heard Andrew had I been out portable myself - that is possible but the forecast here was for constant rain, so I called off my plans. No storm arrived of course (or at least not yet).
In short - I think there are even better conditions to come and THAT is good news! Thanks to those who went out today and sorry that I chose to believe the weather forecast and not go out!
73 Ed DD5LP.
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