Hi all,
I also want to give it a try on Saturday. I think, so far, my S2S contacs have all been within Europe.
I am really looking forward. By the way I am quite a young operator, but I really found passion in the hobby.
Best 73
Thomas DF7TR
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Iāll give it a go, now that Iāve finally got an HF setup.
The question is which summit in the G/SC area - lots of variables to consider.
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Hia,
I intend to participate, as usual. So far the WX forecast is good in EA for Saturday.
Most probably Iāll be on a EA2/VI summit this time, using a telescopic vertical focused in 21 - 28 MHz.
See you and good luck!
73 Ignacio
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I will try to be QRV from CT/MN-???
TRX-FT817 + Tokyo Hy-Power HL-50B (25-40w) + 10-15 m band dĆpole.
6.200 mAh Lipo 11.1v
Good luck!! 73 Jorge
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The weather forecast in W4V is very favorable and I have my alert up for a new-to-me summit that supposedly has cell coverage according to the coverage map from my service provider. Fingers crossed! I love these events but one year I tried operating from a summit without cell service and it was pretty rough going trying to collect S2S across the pond without being able to see spots. I plan to have my usual setup for these with KX2 driving a Hardrock 50W amp to a UL-404 OCF antenna, mostly CW.
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The primary consideration is getting down from the summit at duskā¦ or even in the dark if you are tempted to stay later. Take a headlamp and a spare set of batteries. I actually prefer to use a small headlamp to log in the dimming light and a more substantial one to descend to the car. Make sure the summit has an amply defined route.
Second considerationā¦ take off. Is the site good out to the west and north-west?
Personally Iād be tempted by G/SC-005 Selworthy Beaconā¦ car park not far, good take off. Just a pain in the backside to drive to. 
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Good points - especially getting back in the dark.
G/SC-004 - odd things happen in the car park at night. I wasnāt considering this summit, but just pointing out that nocturnal activities can take place in such car parks.
There is a lay-by very close to G/SC-005, but as you say itās quite a wiggly drive to get to it. The large carpark/viewing point at the top (near the memorial) can attract boy racers etc, but they will only drive past to the top.
Iāll settle on Dunkery Beacon - Iāve camped up there a few times, so I know the spot quite well. In fact, Iāll take the tent to use as a shelter. I have a setup in mind. 
1 Like
Andy @GM4LLDās other hobby.
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Hi all,
If the wx allows it, @EA7KUG and I will go to Cabras EA7/GR-068. We will work ssb and CW
Good qso and good luck.
73
1 Like
Hello Guys
On the 2nd I will be at the Transatlantic Event, in SSB.
Please watch for South America.
Yaesu FT857D 30W, EFHW 5mts up, 2 Lifepo4 12Ah batteries.
Estimated 3 to 4 hours of operation, good propagation 28 mhz
PY2/SE-026
73
Carlos PY2VM
9 Likes
Of course it is interesting for all chasers to reach a DX station that activates a summit.
And that is how it will be again this year. Chasers often even have a PA and a beam.
For the comparatively weak SOTA activators it is then really difficult to be heard in the pile up.
Please take a short break every now and then and give a station that calls S2S or /P a chanceā¦ so that an S2S can also happen.
TNX Armin
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30W on SSB got me back across the pond a few months ago from just down the road from there.
Cell coverage around there seemed pretty good (canāt remember which provider I was using), maybe because itās in the National Park and thereās plenty of customers.
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I believe itās customary to use your headlights to indicate to other activators that youāre looking for a S2S.
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I thought he was only after ācompletesā
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To extend on what Armin says,
as well as allowing a summit-based station through the pile-up, when you are calling, the activator may call āS2S-Onlyā at some point - please home-based chasers respect this and do not call at these times. The activator will call for āall callsā once he clears any S2S calls.
In short, especially for this event, please give S2S calls priority.
73 Ed.
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So can anyone give me some idea of propagation conditions please? I donāt operate very often, almost all of my operating is for SOTA activating so I only get to experience snapshots of band conditions.
I intend to operate until it gets dark on Saturday. Itās my intention to use a linked dipole antenna as thatās the antenna I have and I know it works.
What kind of strategy are folks going to use?
I was thinking about trying different bands, but then I always seem to end up on the wrong band! Itās fairly quick to change dipole links but I guess the time for each change adds up to quite a bit of lost operating time.
Iāll be using QCX-mini radios, so each band swap will mean a radio swap too. I have QCXs for 20m, 17m, 15m and 10m. I reckon the 10m QCX will work on 12m too, but the RX might be a bit rubbish.
Iāve seen quite a number of Alerts for 10m, is this the band where most people are expecting to operate?
I got a secondhand QCX-mini a few weeks ago and I band swapped it to 10m. I operated the radio three times now, once from home and twice from G/LD-052. On the second SOTA test I was on 10m during the first part of the afternoon and I was amazed to be working transatlantic so early in the day.
This was the map of my QSOs generated by the SOTA Database -
The first transatlantic QSO at 1215utc with WX1S.
73, Colin
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Iāll be using 10m mainly I suspect. KX2, 10W delta loop. Last Saturday at 1030Z I was working Europe, Asia, Africa and USA on 10m CW/SSB.
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One of the reasons 10m is popular is probably because of the 10m challenge.
Recently, 10m has been pretty good for transatlantic contacts after noon in the UK.
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Iām intending to activate on all 4 of those bands plus 12m (with 10W of CW to a Cha MPAS Lite vertical with 4 slightly-raised radials]. Iāve noticed the MUFs and 10m activity in the late afternoons recently have both been high which is very encouraging for Saturday.
Iāve decided to do my most-local summit, Arnside Knott G/LD-058, like Iāve done mostly in previous years rather than a summit not activated so far this year with a less-known descent in fading light.
I get too cold sitting for longer than 1-2 hours in low temperatures no matter what I wear. So, doing an easy local summit means I can carry a tent up and spend longer on the activation.
Iāll self-spot and work chasers rather than hunt-and-pounce mode because I donāt have the patience to wait while the other activator works through a long queue of QRO chasers just for me to get a S2S.
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Iām thinking about participating in this event. Iām in Eastern Europe and only do SSB (I could try FT8, but Iām not too fond of it). So working transatlantic stations will be a challenge for me. Iām willing to carry my IC-7300 for extra power. Maybe Iāll get lucky. 
4 Likes