Good morning everyone, this last afternoon I should be able to do an activation. I’ll try to work mainly on the low bands, focusing on 160 CW and 80 CW/SSB, with an attempt also on 160 SSB. I don’t yet know which SOTA reference I’ll operate from, but it will definitely be close to my QTH. I should be QRV around 16:30 to 18:00 UTC. I will use a long wire antenna with the power of the KX3; updates will follow on SOTAwatch. I hope to work many of you.
Have a nice evening and Happy Easter!
73
Thanks for the activation and the QSOs on 80/160 CW, Roberto.
Your signal on 80m was very loud, well above my local noise level. On 160m it was deep in the noise initially but grew stronger over time and readability improved.
Have a safe trip back and hope to cu agn soon!
73, Roman
Thanks Roberto, I listened from home, but nothing heard on either band. Maybe next time…
Good evening guys, very enjoyable activation. I was a bit behind schedule.
I reached the summit mt Tesoro i/LO-222 while it was still light, laid out 80 meters of AWG26 wire as straight as possible on the ground, and secured the 4 fishing poles (two 5 m and two 10 m) to solid points identified along the terrain. I used a transformer 64:1.
I had two 40 m wires available to use as a counterpoise; I used them only for the 80 m band. On 160 m I joined them together to double the counterpoise length, but apparently the internal tuner of the KX3 preferred not having a counterpoise: 1.5 SWR with counterpoise versus 1.0 SWR without it.
@DL3TU Roman, your signal on 160 m was very strong, 599, while on 80 m it was 55–57. @SM5LNE Jan you were the DX right at the noise limit, both on 80 and 160 m.
Around 18:30 UTC I went QRT. Temperatures were acceptable; during the activation there was a bit of wind, and without gloves my hands got a bit cold. Once the sun set, the wind stopped blowing.
@G4AZS Adrian, I didn’t hear you. On 160 m I kept the preamplifier off because it seemed to worsen reception. I listened to the weaker signals using headphones.
Thanks everyone, I’ll be organizing another SOTA evening on the low bands soon—maybe with more nighttime operating hours
73
Iw2obx
Thanks for sharing your experience, Roberto, and congrats on a successful low-bands activation!
Do I understand this right: You used four poles to keep your antenna wire in the air?
Thanks. On 80m I was running 10 watts into an EFHW dipole, running in N/S direction. On 160m a bit more power (20 watts) into a half sloper.
Your signal was really strong on 80m. On 160m it was probably a bit early. When we had our QSO your signal was in the noise. I had to use diversity Rx using the Tx antenna and a MiniWhip at the same time. Only 15 minutes later readability had improved a lot.
Great views! Thanks for the photos and the QSOs.
73, Roman
Yes Roman, I used four fishing poles. The wire was fixed about 2 meters from the top, where the pole is rigid enough. Despite the light weight of the AWG26, the 80 meters of wire have a non-negligible wind resistance. I chose Monte Tesoro because the path to the summit is really easy, with less than 200 meters of elevation gain.
On the summit there is a large area without trees, as well as some poles and objects useful for fixing the fishing poles. To avoid losing more time installing the antenna, I fixed the poles to solid objects at a distance of about 20–30 meters, and I stretched the wire out in a straight line, keeping it close to the poles. I then adjusted the ends of the wire, and as a result the feed point of the EFHW was about 10 meters from where I decided to sit. In the end, I taped the wire to the telescopic poles and raised it to about 3–7 meters. It necessary have more free space around. Even a single bush can waste of time.
Hi Roberto.
Thanks for the low band activation and the QSO’s on the 160 and 80 m CW.The propagations was not so good, with high noise level but it works.
Happy Easter and all the best wishes.
73, Jan SM5LNE
