G/SP-004 and 10m Band Report

Activation Reports
1

Well, this is one activation, I really should have given a miss. Leaving Stoke-on-Trent, the WX was misty. Once I started gain height on the Buxton Road, the visability deterioted very quickly, As I made more height, about two or three miles before the Cat and Fiddle pub, the wind got up. When I got out of the car at the start of the track, some 300m past the Cat and Fiddle, I knew exactly what to expect - no mobile phone signal and no Internet. The fog had made the phone about as useful as an ejection seat in a helicopter. If I had any sense, I’d have turned around and gone back to the Cat and Fiddle.

But, since being seriously infected by the 10m bug, I set off for the trig. The trig point was very cold and windy and visability was poor. To make matters worse, I couldn’t get the A-99 any higher than 10 feet.

So with no mobile or Internet signal, it was a case of suck it and see. My first contact on 10m ssb was at 1211z with UN7MMM who was working quite a pile-up. I was tempted to call him with my old callsign of M6MMM, which would have made for an awful lot of Mikes. After about 20 minutes of calling and about half a dozen contacts, I noticed a couple of bars on the phone and so I made a call and was finally spotted. This livened the proceedings up somewhat and sparked a run of 50 contacts.

It was then that the urge to try 10m FM overwhelmed me and so I sacrificed my good USB QRG for 29.200 FM where, as luck would have it, Mick M0MDA found me and stuck a spot up. Cheers Mick!

Its a shame that this part of the 10m band is plagued by Russian Taxi controllers or something similar. The QRM made life very tough on FM and even a couple of QRG changes didn’t help too much. Nonetheless, I persevered and managed 34 contacts, the best of them Angel LU6DC, for a 7000 mile hop into Buenos Aires. It was at this point where a combination of fog, wind, cold and QRM was driving me batty and so I went back to SSB for about 20 minutes before pulling the plug.

Well, IMHO, the 10m band was not as good as it has been and at the end of the activation contacts were becoming quite difficult to fish out.

Anyhow, 101 contacts for the activation.

67 contacts on 10m SSB.
34 contacts on 10m FM.

34 contacts into North America.
17 contacts on 10m SSB.
17 contacts on 10m FM.

Thanks to all the chasers.
73 Mike
2E0YYY

1 Like
2

You really have got 10 metre fever Mike, but like you say the band has been in great shape recently. Yesterday using your favourite combo 857 and A99 I was lucky enough to break through a huge pile up and work VP8KF/100 who was taking time to talk rather than the usual 59 73.

73
Victor GI4ONL

3

Hi Mike,
Great work. I tried 10 m briefly yesterday from a summit and could detect Indonesian fishermen 3,000 km away using their AM sets and a weak JA. But with no phone coverage to spot and no alert to indicate I might try 10 m it was not productive.

I did enjoy temperatures in the low 20’s and full sunshine, no flying insect attacks and only a few ants and one leech inclined to nip so there were compensations.

73
Ron
VK3AFW

4

I nipped up The Cloud with Liam and Richard late afternoon and rattled off about 30 contacts on 10m CW, all CQWW contesters. Nothing exciting even though it was virtually all North America. Finally a tad more interest with the S2S with you (my only fone contact of the day) followed by working Uruguay on CW.

Then to the Harrington Arms for seasonal ale and poetry (John Cooper Clarke’s haiku).

Currently on The Cloud watching the 10m band open. Haven’t been able to make a contact yet!

5

wind what wind
should have gone up kitt hill yesterday
wot a lovely day, air less, wall to wall blue skies and warm too

again thanks for the report behind your sota

Karl

6

Great good work, Mike.
Congrats!

1 Like
7

Hi Mike

Well done yesterday. I could hear you on 10 FM and called you twice with no joy. One of the few times we have failed to make the trip :frowning:

Antron not at optimal height :smile:

73
Allan GW4VPX

1 Like
8

Hello Mike,
Another good tally. Perhaps too late for EU activators but 10M here was like the 40M band from about 1630-1800 yesterday.
How long will it last I wonder?
Mike

9

Hello Victor,

Nice call to get, excellent. I think stations that take “time to talk” slows down the frenzy and sort of obliges callers to listen, whatever mode. Some recent SOTA activations have been really hard to chase, not because of their signal, but chaser stations constantly calling even when the activator is still talking.

With Pat KI4SVM installing a hexbeam I thought they were taking over the world, but perhaps the A99 :wink:

Mike

10

I did want to post a “live” photo during my activation this morning, but having taken it, I couldn’t find a way to upload it onto this reflector using only my phone. Nonetheless, here it is:

Maybe when I get my “free” upgrade on my phone contract in February, it will be able to do this. I was just thinking it would be good to be able to post live images from activations, during activations, and on this site, rather than Facebook!

Anyway, this morning’s activation of The Cloud G/SP-015 started shortly after 6am following another early get-up. 10m CW dominated again, and 105 QSOs were made - 101 on CW and 4 on SSB. Notable DX included P3 (Cyprus AS-004), 9K (Kuwait), 4J (Azerbaijan), 5R (Madagascar AF-090), 3B8 (Mauritius AF-049), UN (Kazakhstan), UA2 (Kaliningrad), UA9 (Asiatic Russia), 9M2 (Malaysia AS-015), CT3 (Madeira AF-014), EA8 (Canary Islands - Tenerife AF-004), VU (India) and CN (Morocco). I’m pretty sure the 5R was an all-time new DXCC for me, while most of the above will have been new band/mode slots at least.

Frustratingly, I found and received super signals from VR2 (Hong Kong) and E2 (Thailand) as well, but couldn’t make contacts with either despite lengthy periods of trying to reply to the CQs. The best I got was a “YP/P?” from E2X, but that was as near to a contact as it got.

Lots and lots of other visitors to Cloud summit, and therefore lots of explaining what I was up to. Eventually, I gave in, as it was too cold, and returned home. Not a bad activation at all.

11

Well done Tom,
Your photo - looks nice and comfy; good stuff.
Mike

12

Pity about the VR2XAN and E2X getting away. (I forgot about that earlier, and have just edited that into the report above). I don’t think I’ve ever worked either Hong Kong or Thailand. Close today, but alas no cigar.

Looks can be deceptive Mike. The only side of the topograph affording any sort of shelter was that facing that final steps up to the summit. The ground is particulary hard, stony and uneven on that side, and due to a boulder in the way, you don’t get to use the topograph itself as a backrest. And although my Acctim 60kHz clock claimed 9 degrees, the windchill removed much of that. The first three times the cold got too much to bear, I got inside the bothy bag for a while. On the fourth occasion, I chucked in the towel and went home!

13

Well. I had no plans to activate anything today. However, with the WX taking a turn for the better and the battery fully charged, I chucked the gear into the car and made my way to G/SP-013 Gun.

There was next to no wind and so this allowed me to get 15 feet of poles onto the A-99.

Just as I got set up, I noticed a spot on 20m ssb for Guru EA2IF/P, on his local summitI and tuned up the A-99. This was easy copy for us…Thanks for the s2s, Guru!

I also saw G0EVV/P up on G/SB-010 on the 40m band and once again hit the tune button. Another armchair s2s contact in the log. It seems this antenna is capable of just about anything.

A self spot on 10m SSB brought a run of 41 chasers with plenty of North Americans in there.

I knew there were a lot of chasers who wanted to work 10m FM and so, 10m FM it was. There was a total of 29 chasers logged on this mode.

My last port of call was 10m AM and this was much tougher. with just 4 contacts.

Nice to see Mike GW0DSP make all three modes with AM proving the most difficult.

Uncannily enough, I finished up with exactly the same number of contacts as yesterday, 101

1 contact on 40m
1 contact on 20m
66 contacts on 10m SSB
29 contacts on 10m FM
4 contacts on 10m AM

43 North Americans logged.
26 contacts on 10m SSB
16 contacts on 10m FM
1 contact on 10m AM.

As ever, thanks to all the chasers fo a fine days radio.

73 Mike
2E0YYY

14

Hi Ron,

It’s amazing how frustrating it is when you’re unable to self spot. On my local summits, its not normally an issue, however, once the fog comes down, that’s it…Zilch.

I was unable to send a single spot yesterday. Managed to make one phone call, before the signal disappeared for good :frowning:

Temperature in the low 20’s eh, Ron? Luxury :wink:

73 Mike
2E0YYY

15

I’d be happy to move there and set up a VR2 SOTA association.
I just need some financial backing!

Pete
VS6WD

18

Hi Mike,
It’s not called the lucky country for nothing.

73
Ron VK3AFW