We were on F/AM-099 and finally managed to do a couple of QSOs with Australia. VK1MA/P and VK3EK, both on 20m. We were QRV earlier (around 0500 UTC) and it paid off in terms of propagation (but not in terms of temperatures, -5c at the summit combined with a nasty northerly wind that must have generated an eye-popping windchill factor…). Brazil was booming as well on 20m. I heard Japan as on 15m but could not manage a QSO. Thierry made quite a few QSOs on 144, mostly with Italian stations. All our QSOs were QRP 5w as always using solar and a FT-817.
Thanks to all the chasers as always for a fun day.
Once again, it sounds so great.
I tried to listen you on 40 meters and 20 but no signal.
On VHF only the portable on FM mode … QSO is possible if i climb a summit around the QRA.
Waiting for your film and pixs.
73 QRO
Roger
Well done Arnaud and Thierry. Sorry I missed your activation. I was doing other things which prevented me being on the radio for most of the day. It would have been great if you had got a QSO with Japan. Perhaps I will catch you on another one before you return
Best wishes
Mike
It was a very strange day. We did not work a single French station the whole day on HF, not even one! 40m seemed to melt away but 20m was decent. It is funny when you think of it that we could work Australia but could not even work a single French station. We did work quite a few UK stations though, so it looks like the skip on the propagation was a bit odd, as if there was a lead dome all over France stopping all propagation there. Between HF and 2m we had around 60 QSOs so still not too bad.
No worries Mike, Thierry and I were wondering what had happened to you. We thought you must be in hospital with a full body cast since we could not hear you!
Hi Arnaud - was definitely good to get you in the log yesterday. I was out at a friends place in VK2 where I had the use of a better antenna system than at my home QTH which made it much easier to work you!
There was another SOTA station only 1 KHz above you which made it tough going to hear you and Thierry but in the clear you were a very good copy. Great to see that you guys are continuing to get out onto the summits despite some rather chilly weather.
Thierry and I were very happy to get you in the log! We heard many VK stations coming 57-58 that morning but were only able to work 2 inclusive of yourself. My trip to France is coming to an end and I will be lucky if I get 1 more Sota done, but you never know.
Like many things in Japan, it is a bit complicated. There is something similar to Sota in Japan already but it is not called Sota and everything is in Japanese. They have their own rules that may differ from the Sota rules.
So if we were to start Sota in Japan, there would be a few questions such as:
Do you recognize summits already activated under the other Japanese organization?
What about their summit lists, do we agree with them?
etc…
I could always sit down with members of the Japanese organization if needed but that would have to be under the guidance / request of the Sota MT. So far nobody has contacted me about this (I am a very new Sota participant after all). Anyway, if my help is needed I would be happy to look into it time permitting. I must admit it would be very nice to have the Japanese summits under Sota as well.
I shall keep everybody posted if anything happens.
“I must admit it would be very nice to have the Japanese summits under Sota as well.”
I am sure you will get the answers/support about potential JA Association. If a JA Association did happen it would be wonderful. I dread to think of the pile up for JG1XMV/P JA/??-??? 8))
If we don’t speak before have a good return trip and thanks for the videos
Good news that you&re not in hospital
Well, tomorrow will either be F/AM-035 or F/AM-207 or nothing depending on the Wx.
I’ll put up the alert tonight.
Hope to catch a lot of people on the air.
Hi Arnaud,
I’m not a French station but I’m located in Navarra, pretty close to the French Basque Country border, so 20m band skip wise speaking, I may be in a similar situation as other French stations.
When you were first spotted, I went to the frequency and I almost copied nothing from you, just a whisper sometimes. I could just copy OK some of your chasers.
I patiently waited for your signal to build up and it finally happened. By the time we had our QSO at 08h14 utc, you were 56 on my RX, but it took some time for that.
Thanks for the QSO and best wishes for you.
I’ll look forward to copying you again soon.
Best 73 de Guru - EA2IF
Thanks for the information, it is good to know. I worked the QRG for quite a long time to give everybody a chance but I knew conditions were a bit unusual given that we did not get a single French station and 40m seemed to fade. I am glad you managed to hear us and work us eventually, it makes me happy I stuck to the QRG and kept calling.
Btw guys, we’ve cancelled today’s F/AM-035 attempt along with the F/AM-207 fallback. Thick low clouds this morning, not a chance for us sadly. Safety first.
I have put “CANCELLED CANCELLED” in the alert. I thought if I just deleted the Alert and people had previously seen it they may wonder what had happened and why it was gone. I am not sure what the normal procedure is in this instance and I did not want to spam the forum with a new topic to explain it, so hopefully this will be good enough.
Another attempt at F/AM-035 tomorrow morning. I have put the alert. It looks like the weather will clear-up and the wind calm down but we’re not sure if it snowed at altitude and how much if it did as the summits around my house are still socked in the clouds. The last section requires a bit of rock climbing and we’re not sure if it will all be a wet/frozen mess. Anyway, we’ll give it a go and see how it goes.
Dear Arnaud-san,
I won’t be able to chase you tomorrow, as I’ll be at work, but I wish very good luck and lots of fun in the mountain.
Best 73 de Guru - EA2IF
