Last week Sean M0GIA made a version of his Magic Moggy (20m vertical with groundplane) for 17m, simply by proportionally reducing the lenths of the driven element and radials, while increasing the the lengths of guy lines. It worked really well.
Enthused by this, Sean as now made a MM12 centered on 24.897MHz. We tested it in South Park, Macclesfield last night. Noone responded to the CQ calls, but 5N50K (Nigeria) was calling simplex on 24.892MHz CW. I tried my luck and got the QSO first call! The antenna was also hearing PZ5RA (Surinam) on 24.894MHz CW working split, but with a weak signal, and unsurprisingly, I didn’t make the contact. It was still daylight though, and maybe a bit later it would have been a possibility.
So the MM expansion project rolls on and I understand Sean is already preparing materials for the MM10. Back to the MM12 though, and this afternoon I hope to try it out on a SOTA activation. 12m SOTA is very rare - 66 activator QSOs in total in the history of the programme - so it could be a good one to get.
In Congleton today, Friday 4th June 2010, between 1pm and 4pm, which were drop-off and pick-up times for Liam’s activity. It was another stunner of a day, so I knew where I was going to be to kill the time in-between, especially with a new aerial and a new band to debut for SOTA. Richard G3CWI decided to join me for an activation of The Cloud G/SP-015.
Surprisingly on such a corking day, there was space aplenty at the Cloudside parking area. Walking up the hill we noted the rapidly re-emerging bracken on the large burnt off area, but no sign of any new heather yet. The summit was surprisingly quiet, and Richard moved along to his favourite perch for setting up his 2m MFD. I remained on a grassy area close to the trig point to erect the 12m Magic Moggy, which attracted a lot of attention from passing walkers - more so than other antennas I have used. Richard suggested it may be a result of the high feed point and long radial/guy combinations making the assembly appear larger.
Well my first SOTA activation on 12m CW turned out to be a good success, with 24 QSOs into 13 DXCCs: G, DL, HB, OK, GU, SP, HA, F, ON, OE, UA2, OM and I. Just before leaving I could hear a HB0 station working split, but I had to collect Liam at 4pm sharp. I reluctantly decided that I really didn’t have time to start slugging it out in a pile-up. But so far, this is proving to be an exciting band to play on, and I’m glad I chose to get an aerial for it.
Spitfire ale was then served at Richard’s QTH along with homemade scones (with jam and clotted cream) and spare ribs. A fine way to spend a hot sunny Friday afternoon.
Photos will be on my website in due course Tom. I’ve got a bit of a backlog to catch up with for the summit pages in my website, but I am working on it. In the meantime, Sean M0GIA has been taking plenty of pictures which he will probably put on Facebook sometime soon.
I have uploaded some pics on Facebook, Most of the Magic Moggy pics are on the S5 SOTA group which can be found on Facebook.
If you have a Facebook account you can add me ( Sean Amesbury ) and I can send you a link to the S5 group. Sean M0GIA
In reply to MM0FMF:
The pics are in reverse order, Should give the idea of how these are made and go up. Any more info needed just ask, Andy did you not make one yourself?
Ta muchly. I’ll have a butchers now. I made a 20m vertical which I used on the beach at Balnakiel when the wx was too bad for hillwalking when I was up in IO78 land last March.
Sunday 6th June 2010 was very much an amateur radio day. It began at midnight (2300z) with an hour in the operating chair at the G5O NFD contest station. After an hour’s break, snacks, coffee and mild spotting duties, I did another sting between 2am and 3am. After a drive down the road to home, and a short sleep, I was back up there for a morning of mainly spotting, and then an hour as operator from 11am to noon.
Had I had enough by then? No chance. Liam had another club meet in Congleton, so Jimmy and I diverted straight up The Cloud G/SP-015 after dropping him off. I set the MM12 up on summit and got straight down to some CW work. Curiosity got the better of me, and I discovered a workable VSWR on 10m. Results were:
12m CW: 13 QSOs, 6 DXCCs - OM, HB, DL, YO, G, OK
10m CW: 6 QSOs, 4 DXCCs - DL, I, 9A, HA
Jimmy meanwhile assumed the G3CWI 2m perch and worked 16 stations on 2m FM with a handheld and SOTA Beam. Thanks to all for the QSOs.
The half term break is over and I had enjoyed doing some activations over the holiday. But come Monday 7th June 2010, it was back to work, and doing some more activations!
I ascended from Cloudside at 0555z and was QRV by about 0615z on 24.897MHz CW. It was a quiet morning, with just four QSOs on 12m - OE, HA, SP and SV. Over on 10m CW (28.022MHz), it was two contacts - DL and HA. Many thanks to Laci HA7UG for the spots.
A very flat SLAB I acquired that was proving difficult to commence charging has now been nursed through the process and worked well for me. Not so the SOTA pole which has been soldiering on in a sorry state since sustaining multiple injuries on ISW - the wildest of wild camps! It collapsed soon after putting up the MM12, and while I managed to get it locked in an extended upright position again, it desparately needs another couple of sections.
Next one will be 70cm SSB activity contest tomorrow (Tuesday) night.
