Good to be out

Thanks to everyone who worked me over the weekend.

After such a prolonged absence it was great to be out again, and what a weekend to choose. Old man of Coniston on Saturday and Pike of Blisko on Sunday were both activated in shirt sleeves.

I didn’t make many contacts from either hill, but I was very pleased at the discipline and patience of those stations I did work.

I won’t be out again for a few weeks as my diary is packed solid, but I do hope to be out a bit more later in the year.

73,

James M0ZZO

In reply to M0ZZO:

Just glad you enjoyed the smaller hills of the English Lake District.

Was a bit of a worrying moment when we found very professional Trumpton crews (who can name them) at the Black Bull on Sat evening but everything turned out well in the end.

Also great to met up with Rob and Audrey again.

The next YH week will be in GM

In reply to G6DDQ:

Hugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Gruff.

In reply to GW0DSP:

In reply to G6DDQ:

Hugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Gruff.

Mike, I owe you a jar, maybe at Blackpool

In reply to GW0DSP:

Hugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Gruff.

No, no, no, no, no!

The 1st two were twins, so it’s Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb. It’s always this roll call except for the episode of Cuthbert’s morning off when the roll call is Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Dibble and Grubb.

Andy
MM0FMF

In reply to MM0FMF:

Well it wasn’t a bad effort from an old f**t like me Andy, slapped wrist I guess for DSP and 500 lines, hi.

PS I don’t do rallies Myke, but maybe some other time when I’m in your neck of the woods.

It was a good weekend for us chasers - and I missed a good number of the activations!
40’ish points on Saturday with 2 uniques (and extra band slots good for the WAB books)
35’ish points on Sunday with 5 uniques (and similar assistance with wanted WAB areas).

Thanks everyone! :o))

73 Graham G4FUJ

In reply to M0ZZO:
Hi James M0ZZO,
sorry missed you on radio and in the lakes this year, I was in Leeds for a birthday bash, sadly won’t be out this weekend as I have another birthday bash (not a big 50 - but 48 nearly there) glad you enjoyed the walk, And the great views from the top of these nice mountains, When ddq said trumpton where around, I thought you was going to say they where at the top of the old-man,
posted by m0zzo ==
I didn’t make many contacts from either hill, but I was very pleased at the discipline and patience of those stations I did work.

well last time I was out it was also hard work, it looks like 145mhz chasers have other things to do, might catch up in gm land with you,

ddq will sort something out for friday,
Steve m0sgb

Last Weekend was my best yet as a chaser. 36 Points on Saturday, with 14 summits (1 unique) was my highest day total, followed by 62 points on Sunday, with 15 summits, 8 of which where uniques (3 x G, 1 x GM, 4 x DM).

Thank you All.

Stewart G0LGS

In reply to M0SGB :

“well last time I was out it was also hard work, it looks like 145mhz chasers have other things to do”

With 51 stations logged on 2m ssb from Fountains Fell, the chasers are there Steve, it`s just a matter of finding them. I see the wx is back to normal today (grey & wet), glad I took advantage of the last few days.
73 Steve G1INK.

In reply to G1INK:

In reply to M0SGB :

the chasers are there Steve, it`s just a matter of finding them.

Likewise with the activators, I managed my first double century weekend last weekend…
101 points Saturday and 122 points Sunday. Thanks to all activators.

73 Mike GW0DSP

In reply to M0SGB :

well last time I was out it was also hard work, it looks like 145mhz
chasers have other things to do

No problem at all Steve. I managed to get into double figures on a weekday from both DC-001 and SC-001, with 3 contacts on 70cms SSB from each as well. Maybe it is FM that is having a lean period, just as SSB has been reported as having had in the past.

Hope to work you again soon.

73, Gerald

In reply to G4OIG:
I suspect that SSB will go back to the lean times if activators persist in using vertical polarisation!

It isn’t rocket science. 20 - 30 dB cross polarisation loss means that an activation that would be S7 or less with no cross polarisation loss will be below the noise floor of an SSB operator searching in horizontal mode. If you can’t hear them you won’t call them!

Thought for the day!

73

Brian G8ADD

In reply to G8ADD:

20 - 30 dB cross polarisation loss

When I was taking in part in the 70cms FM contest many years back from Cyrn-y-Brain, we had a 19ele Tonna vertical and a 21 ele Tonna horizontal with a relay to swap polarisation and a switchable preamp. The antenna was probably 30ft AGL. We were sure there was someone calling us from the way the unsquelched 736 noise was slightly different. Swinging the beam didn’t help till we switched to horizontal and there was an audible click as the S-meter needle hit the end stop! Of course we could hear the other guy then! If I hadn’t seen it and heard it myself I would have found the amount of polarisation loss to be unbelievable as I never experienced such a dramatic loss at home. The other station was around 350kms distant and had 4x 21ele on a 60ft tower but was only running about 50W.

Do you have a good VHF location Brian? I ask because when I had some half-decent VHF/UHF beams up (13ele Tonna VHF/21ele Tonna UHF) the predicted loss and actual loss were quite different. I reckoned it was because my location was rubbish and there was enough scatter of nearby rooftops and buildings etc. to reduce the cross polarisation loss. There was a large metal sided 3 story factory building amount a mile distant. It was a big enough area that I was able to rx a P4 picture on 3cms from a guy 90miles away! The path was true LOS and a direct path was P5 with the reflection almost as good.

So I wonder if your antenna is well clear of any nearby roofs thus making the polarisation loss much more noticeable than people who have their antennas compromised.

Andy
MM0FMF

In reply to MM0FMF:
Hi, Andy, I suppose I have a fair location on the edge of a plateau but spoiled to some extent by a number of high trees. Experiments with surrounding stations show several S points of loss.

73

Brian G8ADD