Hello all, Just wondering if anyone is going out for fun evening as there seems to be no alerts for it?
Mike GW0DSP
1 Like
In reply to GW0DSP:
Its been raining all day in Buxton - so count me out (I`m a fair weather activator)
In reply to GW0DSP:
No chance here, Mike, its been raining steadily for the last 14 hours with no sign of let-up and my lawn is vanishing under water - and its moving your way (the rain, not my lawn!)
73
Brian G8ADD
I hope to be out on 2m SSB between 8pm and 9pm BST. But only if it has stopped raining, and if the XYL lets me out.
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
I hope to be out on 2m SSB between 8pm and 9pm BST. But only if it
has stopped raining, and if the XYL lets me out.Tom M1EYP
AH! That means I must miss part of Springwatch!
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
I should be out later but i wont be on the summit as i need power to my 897 from the car 
however hope be active around 18.45 gmt give or take , Catch you all later
M3VXX
Oddly enough the sun is cracking the flags in CQ town and has been all mornig, NW-062 may well be a different kettle of fish by this evening. I’ll be out WX permitting.
Mike GW0DSP
In reply to GW0DSP:
The sun is shinig in the Furness area, and mum is busy, so I’ll try to cycle to LD-049. I’ll only be on for abt. half an hour, due to band commitments though.
Jordan M3TMX
In reply to M3TMX:
Up to now it looks as if I will be on NW-062 this evening, mainly on 2-ssb with the 857 and 2 X 7ah SLABs, so 25-30 watts and the SB5, 5 ele Sotabeam.
Looking for a possible S2S with you Robin GM7PKT, that would be some achievement looking at the path which is straight through the Lake district!
Good luck to all who venture out, stay safe.
73
Mike GW0DSP
Quite enjoyable. Just me tonight, Liam had stated his intention by being in his pyjamas as soon as he finished his tea! June, and sunny, but still cold - fleece, coat and hat required. Only one S2S, so some more encouragement needed to get the Fun Evening stations to stay out a bit longer and do the RSGB activity contests. Plenty of daylight now after 9pm for packing away and descending.
32 contacts, 9 squares (multipliers) = score of 288; not exactly competitive!
ODX was GI4SNA - IO64XM at 297km.
73, Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
Indeed Tom quite enjoyable, although almost a disaster for me. I opened my boot at the summit parking to realise that my FT-857 and coaxial feed for the linked dipole was still on a chair in our entrance hall back home. Apologies to those who may have looked for me on HF. Luckily my FT-817 is permanantly in my rucksack and it saved my bacon. I used the 817, just 5w, with a 7ah SLAB and the SB5 up at approx 4 metres.
To those of you who have not used or don’t possess the SB5, I highly reccomend that you consider buying one. SOTAbeams have come up with a real winner with this one.
2 S2S, Tom M1EYP/P on SP-015, Jordan M3TMX/P on LD-049. Robin escaped again.
29 contacts in just over an hour.
Best overall DX north, GM4JR near Dumfries 250k
Best overall DX south, 2E0PXW/M near Weymouth just over 300k
I may even consider a dabble in one of the 2-ssb contests one of these nights, just for a bit of fun.
73
Mike GW0DSP
In reply to GW0DSP:
Unfortunately I was working 12hr nights so the only band was UHF PMR and the best DX in any direction was about 300 yards ;0)
Helen (GW7AAU) however took advantage of me not being there a grabbed a point from Jordan M3TMX on LD-049.
Hope everyone had fun
73 Steve GW7AAV
In reply to GW0DSP:
I missed Jordan but was very pleased to work Mike both on horizontal FM and later SSB: as I have not currently got a working vertically polarised antenna for 2 I don’t get many FM contacts outside the area of Brum! The big surprise was working Robin GM7PKT at S9+ on 5 megs as recently the Scottish stations have been a bit of a struggle during the day, let alone the evening, but as my 40 watts and NVIS antenna got me K1GUN in the early hours of yesterday, also at 9+, I see that 5 megs needs more attention!
73
Brian G8ADD
I think I heard you working a contest station on 2 SSB Brian, but didn’t get you myself. I am always H-pol on the Tuesday night 2/70 contests. I haven’t quite got my contest operating procedure right yet, still suffering a couple of 5 minute gaps in the first hour, and only working about five stations when I do manage to establish my own frequency. And this despite seeing G3CWI’s excellent talk on VHF contesting in recent months; should have paid more attention 
Anyway, 70cm next week, using the new(-ish) 70cm SOTA Beam. Looking forward to that, and it hopefully should provide an opportunity for SOTA chasers to grab a chaser point on a less common band/mode. The interesting thing last night, was the lack of SOTA chasers. Now if a batch of SOTA chasers were out looking for the point, I could have kept my own QRG going for longer and boosted up my score. I was hoping that I might have got spotted on SOTAwatch to support this, but of course I couldn’t self-spot or ask for one with it being a contest. When I got home, I found I hadn’t been spotted.
Yes Mike, the contests are fun and well worth combining with the Fun Evening. You can enter your log online on the vhfcc.org website, and it’s quick and easy, so well worth participating fully. The thing I really like about doing the contests on the Fun Evening nights is that I get to focus on a particular band/mode that I don’t often use (2SSB, 70SSB or 6SSB), and know that there will be othere stations knocking around on those bands.
Anyone else fancy doing the 70cm contest next week? It wouldn’t have to be at the expense of other bands, for the contest doesn’t start until 8pm, and I see lots of people are starting much earlier on the Fun Nights now. I only operate for the first of the 2.5 hours due to Dad’s Taxi bookings, but then most contacts are made in the first hour anyway on these sorts of contests.
Cheers,
Tom M1EYP
SOTA Fun Evening - Tuesday 26th April 2016
Will it be fun though? I’ll be predominantly operating on 6m from 1900z until 2130z. Mainly SSB, but with occasional CW. Slight chance of a few E’s early on (fingers crossed).
Looking forward to working SOTA chasers and S2S contacts.
Nice!!! 
Frequency SSB?
i will be there chasing you!
73,
José Praça
CT2HTY
That would be great José. I can’t pre-advertise or self-spot an exact frequency, as I’ll be taking part in the 6m UK activity contest. However, I will be running and calling “CQ contest” and “CQ SOTA” many times during the evening, so hopefully you will be able to find me.
1 Like
Do you ever try FM Tom?
Certainly do - check out the G activator table and filter it for FM only.
Ah yes, thanks - 28/4/15. I was wondering because I sometimes have the 8900 on monitoring 6m, but rarely hear any activity even on the repeaters. I was considering popping up a local hill (non SOTA) in the car to see if I could work you (or others)