Matt, thanks for the 10m CW QSO on Wednesday. Yeah, at this time of year there’s a small window in which the MUF is high enough here in the UK mid afternoon and also in the US early morning. Live MUF map at 1453utc today - courtesy prop kc2g com
I was lucky to get 3 west coast stations on Wednesday at about the same time of day (assuming W.C. MUFs were as low then as they were today) [See ‘radio paths’ map at Part 3 post 96]
It should get better in a few months as MUFs stay higher for longer, not to mention the warmer summit temperatures.
I’ve tended to leave 10m to the end of an activation so that the US and Canada will be awake but I really ought to start with 10m to get some different parts of the world. Of course I can end with 10m too. I usually start with 30m because I can be sure of lots of contacts although yesterday’s pileup was a bit overwhelming at times. As the days get longer (and hopefully warmer) the 10m start and end strategy will be worthwhile.
I’ve been going in first with 10m for the last year, when possible. Firstly to bring the band into use ( for SOTA and as a challenge for me) and secondly because there is generally an overlap with 15m/17m into Mediterranean Europe. The thought being, if I work chasers on 40, 20, 17 and 15m in that order then there won’t be any chasers left for 10m.
Of course, now that daily 10m dx is available, that’s not so relevant but may help get the QSO count up.
I did a traverse today and tried 10m on each summit:
10am sw05 : 4 QSO
13h sw07 : 0 QSO ( but I worked a pile up on 40 first )
15:30h sw06: 25+ QSO. A Few groundwave but most USA DX. I could have carried on, but it was very cold.
I don’t know if it’s the grey line or just lack of chasers early on in day ! But for time being I certainly will focus on 10m later in the day if poss.
Nice to see activity on 10m more often now, shame the winter blues is running on 10m at mo in SSB modes. Mainly collecting SV’s Sotas for the challenge this year as but only ones can hear roll on Es season
But did find a LZ Sota this morning and do hear Reg at mo this month lot of US chasers.
Looks like purchase of a 12m triple stage tilt mast is on cards soon and will one day get it installed hopefully by May. And latest and dismantle me old hand crank up telescopic 12m steel poles and set up the new tilt system and get it fully operational by May at latest.
Then interchanging of antennas will be lot simpler between the various beams i have for 2m 70cm 6m and current 10m Moxon. Hopefully be the FW quad spiral 3 El by summer.
Then save up for couple nice 12v winchs make life even better
I had my first go on 10m this afternoon. It was supposed to be a rest day after a long day yesterday seeing Monster Trucks in Leeds; a Christmas present from my wife. I decided that I could probably squeeze in an activation of White Hill G/SP-006 as it’s only about 15 minutes drive from my house. I’ve recently built a 10m RockMite and low pass filter but I’d not tried it on air.
I started first on 15m with my 9v PP3 powered home brew RockMite. It was a struggle but I eventually got 5 QSOs after about an hour of trying. Having got the 9V battery qualification out of the way, it was then time to try the 10m RockMite][.
I initially hooked up the RockMite][ 10m with my little home brew amp. The gain really falls off up at 28MHz so for 350mW in, I get around 1.7 watts out. I am intending to swap to an IRF510 and different biasing along with higher supply voltage for a future scheme. Within not much time at all, I had 7 QSOs in the log, including PY2VM! During the Transatlantic S2S party I’d used my amp throughout and was disappointed that I’d not tried a barefoot QSO, so I disconnected the amp and called CQ. I managed another 4 transatlantic QSOs, including one with @ND0C, at just under 4000 miles, thats about 11,000 miles per watt!
I’ve had a slow start to 2024 due to catching every virus followed by a throat infection …
Today the weather wasn’t great but I did my first 2 activations of the year on the Clee hills G/WB-002 and G/WB-004 on 10M SSB, with 5W from the FT-817 and the 10M flowerpot antenna that I made last year but never used.
Highlights were DX contacts to the USA and South Africa, and I qualified comfortably on both hills.
I also hit a record for accidentally bumping into other SOTA activators with 4 in the day : Mike @G7HEM, Dave @M0JKS and finally Gillian and Phil @M0OVW and @G4HQB
It was nice to meet you , Gilian and Phil on Tittertone Clee Hill today Rik. On Saturday I also met up with Peter (MW0PJE) to do a join activation of the Clywydian range - so it’s been a great weekend for putting faces to names and callsigns.
Hi Colin, at that time I happened to be on a small hill near my home which is about 18 miles NW of White Hill G/SP-006. I was doing a Rx-only 10m test with my 40/30/20 EFHW (and KX2) to see if it was as lively on the 10m band as the 40/20/10 EFHW I used on two recent 10m activations. Your signal was as strong (~559) as most of the EU stations (the N/A ones were mostly ~539).
I would have thought we were too far apart to hear you on ground wave and also inside your 10m skip zone. Strange. If I had taken my paddles, I probably could have worked you.
Interesting how the MUFs for 10m radio paths vary this time of year. The opening between UK and central & southern EU is most of the day but between UK and US (east coast) starts about 1400-1430utc which is when I’ve done 3 of 4 10m activations so far in 2024.
1315utc today - courtesy prop.kc2g.com
For my first 10m activation which was about 1245-1300utc, you can see why I didn’t get any N/A stations and ‘only’ got one to the Canary Islands.
Yes, I’ve recently make that URL the homepage on my PC browser. But it doesn’t auto-refresh, one has to do that manually (no hardship).
10m openings are much more often and predictable than 6m but it really pays to check the MUFs to the locations you hope to work rather than risk disappointment especially if you have gone activating.
I’ve been a KC2G. Com “addict” for a few years now. Like putting on my glasses in the morning, it’s one of the first things that gets my attention along with SpaceWeather.Com and SOTAwatch3.
Getting out of bed early enough to catch the sunrise is a challenge. Well worth it, though, as 10 may open right away with such high SFI. And I so enjoy the magic of knowing my 5 watts is radiating to Europe, and to Asia and Oceania in the afternoon.
Thank you, Chasers! 72, David N6AN
10 M challenges may be unexpected when you operate from public place like Temple Hill (W6/SC-369).
A lot of people asked “What are you doing?” One lady asked “Aliens?” Then rangers came and asked “Are you doing this for business or for leisure?” I asked him if he knows about HAM radio. He knew, but he still checked my setup and googled my callsign. When I received a strong phone signal from Louisiana, he was satisfied and left. Maybe Paul, W6PNG should show up more often on this summit to promote HAM radio and SOTA
Hi David, Was great to work you summit to summit on Sunday evening UK to California, and on 5w is incredible. I was using 10w, but still very impressive both ways. I planned to be on the hill approaching sunset to get early morning in the US for this reason !
For what it’s worth, I always use “amateur radio” and never lead with the descriptor “ham radio”.
Maybe incorrect but I suspect the term “ham radio” isn’t widely recognized in SoCal.
Amateur suggests non professional to some but that assumes a certain level of literacy.
The “ranger” is a new addition to our local police force as the Temple Hills area has become a big destination possibly courtesy of Instagram.
My favorite wooden picnic table has been used as a fire pit, one wooden slat disappeared and back in early 2023 someone destroyed the post that holds the sign I use to strap my mast to.
Hopefully the ranger was cool about your activities despite doing a Google search.
)
sign I use to strap my mast to.