Amazing to see the “red” spots filling the screen today. At the latest time I looked, I saw we were up to "503 spots in the last 24 hours"
Jim G0CQK
In reply to G0CQK:
Amazing to see the “red” spots filling the screen today.
Must be measles.
In reply to G3CWI:
Must be measles.
Nah! Had the jab!
Jim
Yes, a record day of SOTA activity!!!
The S2S tally is going to be h-u-g-e.
73, Barry N1EU
In reply to N1EU:
The S2S tally is going to be h-u-g-e.
My total was 27 S2S QSOs with 12 unique summits for 65 S2S points. I heard you Barry, but I didn’t think you were strong enough to try a call. I was going to wait for conditions to improve, but… I couldn’t find you again later. Oh well, next time!
73,
Eric KU6J
===========================================
Free SOTA Spot Monitor Software + RBNGate FAQ:
http://www.ku6j.com
In reply to KU6J:
Spectacularly good fun! It wasn’t just the quantity but the range. Starting with VK’s, all the European calls I’m used to seeing, then Max UU4JDD from the Crimea was being spotted, then wall to wall US spots.
I set up on a side of SS-145 pointing NW where the ground drops off at 45degs some 200m. 1st QSO of the day was on 15m with W6UB in Tennessee for my ODX. Apart from CT1BQH, I only worked North American stations on 15m. Noticeably better than last week so I think the ground gain effect was well demonstrated. No US contacts on 20m, just shortish skip EU stations, OH,OM,LY,EA,OE,I. I finished off with 2x S2S with GM stations on 2m FM.
5x S2S, 28 points in 1hr50 operating. 20x QSO in total, I spent some time watching SOTAwatch and trying to copy some of the DX being spotted.
Andy
MM0FMF
I’ve just been in the loft and found a black disc with a hole in the centre.
Is this a record?
Chris M0RSF
In reply to KU6J:
My total was 27 S2S QSOs with 12 unique summits for 65 S2S points.
Congrats on the big S2S numbers Eric! Despite the activity, condx were not all that good. My 3G connection worked about half the time and I chased every W6 spot I saw (including you). I didn’t hear any of you guys well at all and didn’t work a single CA station all day. And I had quite a good antenna on my end, 44ft doublet supported by a firetower. I’m still tallying the log, but I believe my total is in the same neighborhood as you.
73, Barry N1EU
In reply to N1EU:
In reply to KU6J:
Despite the activity, condx
were not all that good.
Yes Barry, I agree, conditions were really poor. Just 4 NA S2S for me on 20m CW. Two UK S2S. Couple of photos and short report at:
73 Richard G3CWI
In reply to W4ZV
Good to work you on 15m Bill, from what I suspect may have been a unique for both of us.
40m was abysmal this side of the pond, 20m much better. This was a long activation and I wasted too much time on HF with my normally reliable fishing pole antenna, despite carrying the Antron-99 up this easy, but very windy hill.
My battery was quite low, but I finally relented and erected the Antron-99 to a fence post at about 1615z and tuned it to the 15m band. My efforts were immediately rewarded with a call taken by 8P6CH a s2s with Tom on G/SP-015, VE, K, AD in Texas, a s2s with you on W4C/EM-047 and a few more EU and Stateside chasers.
Sadly, the battery was too low to continue and to be honest, I just couldn’t be asked to walk back to the car to get another one 
Congratulations on a wonderful s2s haul.
73 Mike
2E0YYY
In reply to 2E0YYY:
Mike, I heard you on 15M and called several times but you weren’t hearing me at all. Your audio seemed slightly distorted but not too bad. Next time!
73, Barry N1EU
I just tallied the log. I ended with 27 S2S contacts and 19 unique summits for 69 points. We need more S2S events 
73, Barry N1EU
In reply to N1EU:
Thanks for the contact on 20m earlier, Barry. Sorry, I didn’t hear you on 15m but I suspect the battery was way past its best when you called me. I had spent a long time on 2m FM during the day and I guess this had taken its toll
Look forward to the next one…
73 Mike
2E0YYY
In reply to MM0FMF:
Yes … great fun on the summits. I also got UU4JDD and was caught out by his UU prefix, then realised i’d got it right first time.
I initially started on 21Mhz and had W4ZV S2S, followed by N1EU S2S. I then decided to self spot and see if anything happens …
First call was NS0TA (WG0AT) S2S … I had 6 S2S qso’s from the US on 15M… using the KX3 @ 5w into my 1/4 wave vertical antenna .
I then swapped rigs … and tried the MTR on 20m, and had 15 European stations… OM,DL,IZ,LY,SM,EA,OH,LA,UU.
I only had 1 qso with the US on 20m and that was N1EU S2S. The band wasn’t at it’s best from GSE-008.
I decided to pack up at about 20:00 UTC
In summary … 15m was the band of the evening that got the US QRPTTF results, whereas 20m was good for EU.
An excellent day out. When’s the next one ?
73
Robert
G0PEB
Shame on you Mickey for not taking a ten minute round trip to retrieve the other battery from the car! After operating for a while on 15m CW and SSB on The Cloud G/SP-015, on Saturday 27th April 2013, I realised that I had not brought a headtorch up with me. I was quietly fuming inside, before packing the more nickable stuff in my rucksack for a quick jaunt back down to the car. I left the 15m groundplane antenna set up, and the left weight of two 7Ah SLABs and a litre flask of soup on the summit, figuring that they were essentially unnickable by casual walkers and cyclists!
Things had started promisingly with three S2S contacts inside the first four made on 15m. There was Mickey 2W0YYY/P on Hope Mountain GW/NW-062 on 15m SSB, then Bill W4ZV on Rocky Knob W4C/EM-047 and Jurij S57X/P on Jelenk S5/TK-035, both on 15m CW.
A brief switch to 2m FM brought S2S #4 for the activation in the form of Richard G3CWI/P over on Shining Tor G/SP-004 before eight more contacts were added on 15m - one SSB and seven CW.
Now I was feeling more relaxed because (a) I had my headtorch with me for when necessary, and (b) all my stuff was as I’d left it on summit, and © I was pleased with myself because I had done the return trip down to Cloudside and back up in 12 minutes. As such, I didn’t really go chasing the QSO totals during the rest of the night, more monitoring the spots for S2S and listening round for any interesting DX.
As discussed with Richard over 2m FM, conditions had been dire, with high noise levels and mushy sounding signals. There was a notable improvement once Richard advised me that he was jacking it in for the night! (Thanks for this Richard, I appreciated it). Conditions still weren’t great, and never were, but more DX could be heard and with greater clarity. Some of it was even worked!
It was quickly getting cold on the summit after sunset, and the bothy bag was put to good use. So was the flask of soup, containing the delicious Baxters Lobster Bisque. It was delicious; it was as though I could actually taste the lobster, brandy and fresh cream in the recipe, and it was much enjoyed. I tried to space it out through the night, but it was polished off too quickly. I really missed it when it was gone!
20m was the best band of the night for me, giving me 18 QSOs into North America, plus other DX into EA9 Ceuta & Melila, UK Uzbekistan and YV Venezuela. This was actually a special callsign 4M5CW celebrating a Marconi anniversary, and was very loud. Several JAs were heard CQing at the top end of the CW portion after 10pm local, but I couldn’t raise any of them. Most of the North American SOTA activations, sadly, could not be heard, but Bill W4ZV was a superb signal all night from Rocky Knob W4C/EM-047, and I got him on 20m CW as well as the earlier 15m CW.
Other S2S worked on 20m CW were Richard G3CWI/P on Shining Tor G/SP-004, Pete G4ISJ/P on Cleeve Hill G/CE-001, Barry N1EU on Hunter Mountain W2/GC-002 and Klaus DF2GN/P on Hummelsberg DM/BW-228. A brief sorte onto 20m brought Jimmy M0HGY from the home QTH, regular SOTA chaser Charles AE4FZ over in North Carolina, and, remarkably, three Greek stations!
Finally, just after local midnight, I took down the 20m GP and put up the 40m halfwave dipole. I recalled an overnight activation with Sean M0GIA on Gun G/SP-013 for International SOTA Weekend in the past where 40m to the US was buzzing after midnight. Not so this time, and the band was dominated by a Swiss contest of some sorts. There was VU2MVX clearly heard, but he didn’t hear any of my responses to his CQ calls. Just ten QSOs were made before I decided I was too tired, cold and hungry to remain out any longer. Four of these were on the UTC day of Sunday 28th April 2013, and so will be entered as a separate activation.
Selecting several different antennas to use from the boot of my car, and the deployment, packaway and general organisation is now much easier with each packed in one of SOTAbeams’ new antenna bags. In each bag I have the correct pegs, cable ties etc for each, and it really speeds things up and removes most of the headaches.
The final totals were:
2m FM: 6 QSOs, 1 S2S, 1 SPC : G (but VHF/FM not counted for credit in TTF event)
15m SSB: 3 QSOs, 1 S2S, 1 SPC : G
15m CW: 9 QSOs, 3 S2S, 7 SPCs: G, S5, UR, W-GA, W-IN, W-NC, W-TN
20m SSB: 5 QSOs, 0 S2S, 3 SPCs: G, SV, W-NC
20m CW: 46 QSOs, 5 S2S, 25 SPCs: CU, DL, EA, EA9, G, HA, I, LA, OE, OH, OK, S5, SP, UK, UR, VE-QC, W-FL, W-MA, W-NC, W-NY, W-OH, W-PA, W-NY, YU, YV
40m CW: 10 QSOs, 0 S2S, 4 SPCs: E7, HB, OK, RA
Total (for QRPTTF): 73 QSOs, 9 S2S, 41 SPCs.
Total (for activation): 79 QSOs, 10 S2S, 23 DXCC, 10 US states.
The last contact was HB9RL/P on 40m CW at 0037z - 1:37am local. I was packed up, descended and in the car shortly after 2am, and home before 3am. The QRPTTF event still had an hour to run, but somehow I wasn’t tempted to fire up the rig and listen round! Instead, I had a cheese sandwich, my medication, and went to bed.
Interesting event, which I enjoyed being involved in. I will certainly look to participate again in the future. Best DX was probably Venezuela, but it possibly could have been one of the US contacts. Uzbekistan might not be far off either. Pity I couldn’t get through to any of the several JAs heard. No sign whatsoever of the spotted VK activations.
73,
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
Shame on you Mickey for not taking a ten minute round trip to retrieve
the other battery from the car!
To be honest Tom, if I’d put the Antron up a couple of hours earlier, I certainly would have done. The other thing in the back of my mind, was leaving my car too long on the farmers property. That and the relentless wind.
Anyhow, 167 contacts was more than enough logging for one evening
Thanks for the 15m s2s, I couldn’t get over how amazing your signal was, absolutley end-stopping!
I think I finished up with an assorted bag of 25 s2s, including HuMPs and WOTAs.
The best of the day had to be with Bill W4ZV/P and my 2m FM s2s contact using the colinear with Jack GM4COX/P. Jack was up on GM/SS-030 White Coomb, working with his handie and what I think what may have been a home brew antenna… A distance of 160 miles! Thanks Jack.
73 Mike
2E0YYY
In reply to N1EU:
I just tallied the log. I ended with 26 S2S contacts and 18 unique
summits for 67 points. We need more S2S events73, Barry N1EU
The answer then is to have a dedicated S2S day or weekend?
Just a thought.
Sean M0GIA
Yes, good idea Sean.
In fact why not call it “International SOTA Weekend”?
In fact, let’s do it next weekend - May bank holiday.
What a brilliant idea of mine.
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M0GIA:
The answer then is to have a dedicated S2S day or weekend?
Just a thought.
A thought that has been expressed several times previously and didn’t get much traction. I’m all for it. In terms of ham radio fun, it doesn’t get any better than S2S.
73, Barry N1EU
I awoke at 1300z after 5 hours sleep (after a night shift)to find a fine sunny day. However looking out over the hills I could see some big black thundery clouds.
By the time I’d packed, got my stuff together and driven to “my hill” it was just coming up to 1500z. It was still sunny but there was a huge black cloud heading my way. I took my tent with me from the boot of the car as there was every indication that I may well be in for a soaking.
I set up the antenna and pitched the tent in one of my little secluded spots in the lee of gorse bushes and got tuned up a couple of minutes after 1500z just as the first hailstones hit my head. I retreated for cover as the hail came down with a vengeance. Sitting inside my tent listening to 15m, I noticed a strange tingling effect in my ears from my earbud phones. Touching my ATS4 caused me to jump as I took a belt of static. I quickly pulled the antenna from the rig (useful things those phono plugs!) and threw the feeder outside in the hail. I had to sit it out for over 30 minutes listening to the hailstorm outside.
A CQ on 15 immediately brought K4DY - Les in NC, followed by Barry N1EU on W2/GC-002 however I notice that Barry didn’t log this contact even though I thought we’d completed OK. Rich N4EX was next in the log but with only a report of 439 I knew either conditions weren’t good or my setup wasn’t as good as usual. I could hear plenty of weak TTF signals on the band but most of them had corresponding very weak pileups and I just couldn’t get through.
A switch to 20m brought a short flurry of SOTA chasers from SP,OH,DL,OM,OK,G,CT1 before drying up. A coffee and a bite to eat and then some S&P for S2Ss brought OK2BDF/P on OK/PA-009 and OZ/LA1KHA/P on OZ/OZ-008, both on 30metres.
Another foray on 20m added LY,UT,EA4 to the country list.
A break for more hail and then back to 15m for a UT, K2JT - Joe and at last Bill, W4ZV on W4C/EM-047 who I seemed to have been chasing around all afternoon.
An excursion onto 40m added LA, HA, DL and I in the shape of I/OE7PHI.
Conditions just seemed really poor with a high noise level, especially after last weekends good offerings so it was back to 20m to sweep up before I had to leave for work.
In the bag this time were Ric - G3CWI/P on G/SP-004, N1EU again, this time Barry logged me 
and the last contact of the night was Tom - M1EYP/P who I first read as N1?? for a final S2S on G/SP-015. I listened and called a bit more on 15m but I was cold, and I had to get packed up an get away.
It was unbelievably cold as I packed up, rolling up the tent in a covering of hailstones froze my fingers.
I was back to the car and drove straight into work for another 9 hour night shift at 2100z feeling a bit washed out 
I thought overall conditions were lousy but maybe it was just my setup.
A quick analyses on RBN between signals from G3CWI, M1EYP, G0PEB and myself show I was 6dB down on Richard most of the time. I really should have located to a better position on the west facing slope for a bit of “gain”.
An enjoyable event none the less:
32 QSOs
16 DXCC - CT,DL,EA,G,HA,I,LA,LY,OH,OK,OM,OZ,SM,SP,UR,W.
6 S2S for 24 points.
http://dadedaditdadadeda.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/qrp-ttf-27th-april.html
Pete