So - 10m FM:
I understood that the calling channel is 29.600MHz, and the working channels to QSY to are 29.100, 110, 120, 130 …… 200.
However it looks like people are using - and advocating the use of the 10kHz channels adjacent to 29.600. Are these not repeater inputs?
You are correct Tom.
I scanned these channels on occasions over a few days before my 10m FM activation and couldn’t hear any activity.
Yes, at least on RSGB & ARRL band plans. But I suppose [frustrated] operators are voting with their feet. IMO, there are too many slots for FM repeaters (8 x 2 channels) plus 1 for simplex repeater and too few simplex channels (1) near the FM calling channel - hence the chaos.
If I were benign world dictator, I would have four pairs of FM repeater input/output channels and 8 simplex channels with the calling one near the middle.
A nice spread today on 10, 12 and 20m.
First time I can recall in a long when all of 40m was full… I honestly could not find anywhere to call CQ on SSB especially with the French contest happening.
I’ve been missing out on the 10m fun due to doing my personal challenge of trying to activate each summit during winter bonus with the same 9v battery. I built a special RockMite 15m with about 150mW output.
I kept seeing the 10m activity reports, so I put together a RockMite][ for 10m but modified for 9v operation. I finished the rig this weekend, along with a 10/12/15/17m linked dipole which I’ve been working on a while.
I had the rig on air today and my first QSO was an S2S with SV2RUJ/P on SV/TL-085.
My second and final QSO with the rig today was with KF9D in IL. I measured the RM][10 9V’s power output with the 9v battery this evening and I’m seeing 130mW out. A rough calculation puts the QSO with KF9D at about 29,000 miles per watt.
I was wondering if there’s some other activator using a delta loop antenna. With the recent propagation, I am most often using a triangled -shape monoband delta loop for 10 meters, with the upper side stretched between two trees (assuming you have them on the summit), trying to orientate it as best as I can toward the USA. I had a lot of chasers from the USA and 5 Transatlantic S2S during my last activations. Maybe it’s not the easiest antenna to set up but I think it is worth the effort, I really want to pull out the best from this solar cycle before it gets worse.
Thanks, Andy – and also the same day @MW0PJE – for my first SOTA contacts on 10 m FM. I think that that roughly doubled my lifetime total of 10 m FM contacts. I was chasing with 100 W to an 80 m off-center-fed dipole.
Agree with your observations; FM on HF is an interesting novelty, but not particularly effective with weak and/or fading skywave signals. At my end, the calling frequency was a jumble of signals coming out of EU around the time we worked; thanks for the QSY to a quieter channel.
BTW, Andy, apologies for the recent bad luck of calling you at the same time as W4ZO on CW and W4GA on phone! Just doing our part to promote accurate copy 
73,
Matt
W4GO
I use delta loops based on the design shown by DL3TU on Reflector and the 10m version works well, only beaten by my moxon. 73 Simon
I activated G/LD-049 five weeks ago but - after a long pile-up on 30m [thank you chasers!] - I was too cold to do 10m as I had planned & alerted. So, I’m revisiting Kirkby Moor again this afternoon (~1430utc) for 10m CW.
But 10m chasers be warned - as well as my perfectly well-behaved 12yo Cocker spaniel [who always sits quietly while I play radio] I’m also taking a highly-energetic and attention-seeking 2yo Beagle X, our new foster dog. If he howls during the QSOs it will probably be a failed activation [He was fine during a short (20 mins) 2m FM activation yesterday].
So, if my sending goes crazy or I don’t answer you, you’ll know why.
I had to be quick not to push the patience of my new foster dog (actually he was fine, which bodes well for a longer activation next time).
I got six 10m dx contacts in six mins - good enough for me.
2nd March 2024 (SOTA 22nd birthday) - The Cloud G/SP-015
17 QSOs:
10m FT4: 12
10m FT8: 1
10m CW: 4
3rd March 2024 - Gun G/SP-013
91 QSOs:
10m FT4: 11
10m FT8: 1
10m CW: 22
10m SSB: 53
10m FM: 1
2m FM: 3
S2S: G4AZS/P on G/WB-011, M0BLF/P on G/WB-002, MW0KAW/P on GW/SW-041, AA7OY on W5N/GF-035, M0BLF/P & M0WUT/P on G/WB-004.
4th March 2024 - The Cloud G/SP-015
8 QSOs:
10m CW: 5
10m SSB: 3
5th March 2024 - The Cloud G/SP-015
116 QSOs:
10m FT4: 10
2m FM: 29
2m SSB: 77
[No QSO map for this one - when I generated it, it didn’t seem to have my Argentina or Uruguay QSOs, nor some of my USA QSOs. But it did place one of my England 2m contacts - in the Indian Ocean!]
CX Uruguay: 1
G England: 93
GD IOM: 2
GI NI: 1
GM Scotland: 1
GW Wales: 9
LU Argentina: 1
PY Brazil: 2
W USA: 6
6th March 2024 - The Cloud G/SP-015
24 QSOs - all 2m FT8
Next plan is to be back on 10m (only) in the Commonwealth Contest this coming weekend, using G5D on behalf of the Tall Trees Contest Group.
Hah! I get that quite often (although not yet in the Indian Ocean).
Dunno how you generate your QSO maps but the problem for me [using www.adif.uk] is where the chaser has a faulty or no [lat, long] entry or grid locator entry in qrz.com. So, if I want a ‘clean’ QSO map, I have to fix it manually by adding a locator ref in my FLE log file.
Yesterday (8/3/24), for technical reasons, I was unable to activate 10m so on G/NP-019 I went on 15m and had a fantastic run of 14 US stations plus 4 European in just over 15 minutes.
Starting my 8th year activating SOTA, finally and thanks to the ¨10m Challenge¨ I was able to do my very first S2S to Europe and in SSB!
Thank you OE9HRV for your patience!
73 de JP3PPL
Now normally a contest is a real pain if you are not partaking. But on the 10m challenge it means lots of non-SOTA stations to add to your score.
The other week the band was all US stations which was nice. Today it was a Russian contest so plenty of Russian and Ukranian stations. Nice. But today I managed to add Kyrgyzstan and Georgia for new countries on 10m. I tried and tried but could not work BY0AC who was 59+40 at times or BI4XDT who was 58. Sadly they were 200-300Hz apart which just made the pileups of EU callers worse. I managed two Cypriot contest stations for West Asia on 10m. Oh and JH1MXV (who has a nice fist) on 15m for East Asia 
It’s the WPX contest not a Russian contest. Of course if you’re sticking to 10m then various times of the day tend to be dominated by certain zones. At present I am on G/SP-015 operating as G5D and the 10m band is pretty much all Brazilian stations running.
This time yesterday it was all USA but this evening there’s none to be heard. This morning it was mainly Japan and Middle East.
I’ve also tried hard to get BY0AC but failed! Lots of other juicy stuff in the log though!
I tried to work a few contest stations but none of them could hear me.
