Cold and frosty today with the trees covered in hoarfrost. Dropped in to see Tom and Sean who seemed to be struggling for contacts. Called CQ for a short while on 2m FM with few takers (hand-held only). Enjoyable circular walk in the afternoon sunshine.
73
Richard
G3CWI
In reply to G3CWI:
One word to sum the day up…COLD! Just got in so still thawing out. When got in the car for the return trip it was -2c. Nice of you to drop by Richard and your right it didnt flow as we expected but we managed to get back on 20m with the vertical once it had quitened down a bit and were workng the States one after another. Just as it started to get interesting we had to go, lots learnt though. Sean / M0GIA
In reply to M0GIA:
A big thanks for the stations that worked me on CW and thanks Tom for your help, just need more practice A LOT MORE! Sean M0GIA
In reply to M0GIA:
we managed to get back on 20m with the vertical…
I’m curious… Was it the 1/4 wave vertical with the elevated radials again Sean? Did you manage to get it to stay up more reliably today? If so, how?
73 Marc G0AZS
Hi Marc,
Yes, it was the vertical for 20m with radials angled at 30 degrees to the mast. It did stay up more reliably, mainly because we used a normal size pole, not a the jumbo one that tries to harness wind energy.
Sean’s ATU was used with that aerial to enable some work on 30m and 15m, while I took my dipoles for 80m and 40m. All Sean and my QSOs were HF CW, mostly with contest stations, but including a short spell on 3.557MHz, alerted as promised on SOTAwatch for the benefit of any chasers that were interested.
Sean was very nervous about going live with his fledgling CW, but was rather taken and reassured by the patience shown to him by both SOTA chasers and CQWW contesters. I did tell him that this would be the case, but I don’t think he believed me before going on air.
So, congrats to Sean M0GIA for his debut CW activation, which included the following:
80m: 8 - DL, GW, G
40m: 3 - SM, DL, OZ,
20m: 5 - all W
My own activity comprised:
80m: 11 - DL, G, GW, SM, EI
40m: 7 - DL, OZ, ON, YL, W, SM, SP
30m: 3 - HB, OK, G
20m: 11 - W, S5, 9A, EA, OX
15m: 1 - G
Our QSO rate over the time we were there was pretty pathetic to be honest, but we learned a few lessons. 20m was nigh on unusable for most of the day with ten or more stations crammed into every 1kHz, but came into its own after 1500 with easy solid contacts made into North America one after the other. Unfortunately, just as we were really getting going with them, the mobile rang to say that tea would be ready at 5pm! I was delighted with the new DXCC of Greenland though.
It was nice to see Richard G3CWI (and daughter Mai Ling), and earlier Roger M0GMG (Chairman of the Macc & DRS) come and see us on the summit and take the opportunity to each bag a 2m HH RD activation.
It was a deathly cold day, around -2 by the time we finished, and never getting much higher I suspect. Sean’s tent was useful in keeping the worst of it at bay, but we were both cold by pack-up time, even though we would have preferred to stick around and carry on working the North Americans.
Thanks to Sean for the company, the brew at 9am, and the 20m vertical which always adds a touch of excitement to SOTA activations. Thanks also to all chasers, especially those that turned up on frequency to work Sean after I posted the spot. Great support.
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
A couple of video clips
I used the smaller pole (6M SOTA pole) this time which gave lower angled radials and once again it proved to work well. By using the shorter pole it was lighter and it stayed up, mind you it was less windy so a possible combination. Sean M0GIA
Congrats on your live CW debut Sean, you did fine and dandy. It takes a lot of courage for a debut cw activation, you had a baptism second to none with SOTA and CQWW CW.
Trust me when I say that although you probably think that you made hundreds of mistakes and you felt that your CW was awful, that couldn’t be further from the reality Sean, your CW had a few mistakes but was perfectly easy to read. Well done Sean, you have done the hard bit, now time to relax and enjoy it and practice, practice, practice.
Mike GW0DSP
In reply to GW0DSP:
Thanks Mike it sure was like moving up a cog when i worked the SOTA stations as i was only used to the format used for the contest.
I was impressed with the easy contacts into North America using 5w and although i have done it with 5w SSB it was much easier on CW.
I look forward to working you again Mike and many others using CW. Sean M0GIA