Had seen somebody writing today on SOTAwatch: “. . . not audible here on 40 m, can try 80 m or 60 m?”. So will give an extended try to 60 m tomorrow Saturday on HB/BL-013, and I am curious how many countries will call in (depending on the bandplans). My antenna is not made for 60 m, but I like it for having me surprised already several times.
The summit Stürmenchopf, HB/BL-013, is around 800 m high only, so I’ll see how well the traffic will run. An alert mentioning 60 m is set. Maybe a second one later on Vogelberg nearby the Passwang col, HB/SO-008, on our way back to Lucerne.
Since he has spotted for SSB it would have been better to remind him that we have no access to 5.358 to 5.362. I currently have good copy of an activation on 5.360 but cannot call him - frustrating!
Marcus, for future reference you were 35 here on your first summit and 56 on your second and if you had used 5.362 instead of 5.360 I (and probably a number of other UK chasers) would have been able to work you.
I’ll be activating tomorrow, and hoped to try some 60 meters as well. Where on the band could I be to achieve a legal QSO with people? Usually I operate somewhere between 5.380 - 5.398.5 (VFO), but I know some have issues with that in their countries. Apparently we can go from 5.260 to 5.410 here, but lots of that is allocated to digi / CW
5398.5 and 5403.5 KHz would suit us here in EI very much. We can use high power and SSB on both frequencies.
UK stations can use the same frequencies.
So there you would have already plenty of customers.
Any time frame?
If only there was a way of transmitting on one frequency and receiving on a different frequency… we could operate so everyone could work everyone else. Oh well, it will have to remain a dream.
I think there was (maybe still is ) a requirement in the UK licence that you must be able to receive on your transmit frequency ostensibly so you can receive reports of any interference you make. However, that just means hitting SPL now and then and listening “unsplit”. There’s nothing that says I can’t do this in my licence so, as they say, I’m all right Jack, YMMV.
The trouble is that it takes two to tango! No good me setting up split if the other station isn’t going to reciprocate, and no way of telling the other station to set up split other than a quick burst of illegal operation. SOTA stations in countries using the full WRC-15 band need to be aware of the UK no-go “black hole” if they want the many UK chasers in their 60m logs.
If only there was some kind of system of informing chasers where and how you were operating that was accessible from the summits. A bit like a DX cluster but optimised for SOTA use.
Too much malt in your glass, Andy? The problem isn’t activator spots, its chaser talk-back. Now I could have put up a spot asking an activator to listen on or QSY to 5.362 but guess what? We officially frown on that sort of spot messaging!
5398.5 kHz is a sort of talk frequency.
Call on 5403.5 kHz if the other one is too crowded.
We worked on 18 MHz last year- so hopefully we have another QSO tomorrow.I will listen as of 0900UTC on both frequencies- if I am up early enough.
Quick bursts of operation on illegal frequencies are the way forward for some folks. Or a short sudden increase in power.
The card which will be issued for a “new one” just says “5 MHz”…
Brian, you have been dismissive of split operation on 3 or 4 occasions when it’s been suggested. As long as you keep talking it down, European activators constrained by the small WRC-15 allocation will be unlikely to try it. I find the negativity really strange as you would be a direct beneficiary of encouraging WRC-15 activators to work split and listen on one of the bandlets you can transmit in enabling you to chase them. Given the chaser always has the weaker hand in the game of SOTA (chasers have to QSO with activators whereas activators can QSO with anyone) anything to enable more chaser QSOs must be a good thing for chasers. Even if it needs the activator to be more accommodating in their operating.
Encouraging split enables more 5MHz operation without recourse to “accidentally” working out of band.
I’m not against split, I just recognise that if the activator is not aware of the need to use split then split won’t happen. Today I could have set up split and called on 5.362 but the probability is that I would have just sounded like adjacent channel QRM to Marcus. As a matter of interest, Andy, you usually activate on one of the old “Fox” channels, do you ever listen for split callers on the WRC-15 band?
As Andy, 8CPZ says this has been discussed several times - hopefully at some point the UK will get the WRC15 allocation (and keep the existing “bandlet” allocations as well). Until then, I have this label on my rig:
60m overlap WRC-UK - SOTA - suggestions
CW 5354.5 or 5362.5 KHz
DIG 5366-5366.5 KHz
SSB 5355 or 5363 KHz.
OR … Split.
73 Ed.
P.S. for US <-> WRC15 - I “think” Channel 3 is the only US 60m channel in the WRC15 60m band frequency range.
The problem isn’t activator spots, its chaser talk-back. Now I could have put up a spot asking an activator to listen on or QSY to 5.362 but guess what? We officially frown on that sort of spot messaging!