In reply to G8ADD:Hi All My Delta loop for SOTA was based on the following design but modified for easy assembly.www.hamuniverse.com/kk5iddelta.html -All the best Geoff.
In reply to G0VOF:
I am not in the least put off by lack of activity on 6M. It was just so funny when I had called CQ, turned the volumn up to hear weak replies, and got an absolutly deafening response from 5 miles away. Seager Hill must be somewhat shielded, as it gives very good views through the trees to other hills, Malvern to NE, Black mountains to SW, Shropshire to N. Thanks for the info on the dipole, I will add that to my project list. Unfortunaly I miss the 6M activity this weekend due to other commitments, there is never enough weekend.
Thanks also to Brian for listening out for me.
Richard
G0IBE
It’s now almost 2am (Sunday 21st) some 2.5 hours after I finished my 6 hours in the 50MHz contest, but I have only been home 30 minutes. The ‘magic’ band is still open (like it has been almost continually since the contest started at 1500).
Currently there are at least 3 OE’s calling CQ on SSB, 9A4D and 9A5CW calling CQ on CW at 599. Yes it can still be the ‘magic’ band event at 2am.
Stewart G0LGS
Indeed, I just worked 9A5CW and 9A4D at 0040z and 0044z respectively! And then 9A6CM. With that, my CW DXCC on 6m in 2009 score increases from 1 to 2! Now, where’s all the others…?
Tom M1EYP
Found 'em - they’re trickling in, nice and steady. Band is still open, and I’ve added EA, HB and DL so far this morning. 24MHz / 12m is in good shape too, and my CW DXCC 2009 score has leapt from 1 to 7 in the past couple of hours. Norby LX1NO was a good signal on 10MHz doing LCA, and I still need LX on 30m - but he had a monster pile-up.
Busy busy busy - and I’ve not even worked a SOTA yet today! And back off out to the jazz festival shortly. Why are higher bands never this good when there aren’t higher bands playing live on the same day?
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
At 10AM this morning I still hadn’t decided what I was doing about this weekend’s 50MHz contests, but not having been active from home it still left me the option of entering part of the 3 Watt backpackers contest. A quick phonecall to Scott 2E0RCS, who very kindly lent me his FT817 for this contest & with the band in very good shape I set off to Jeffrey Hill, which is at one end of Longridge fell G/SP-014 but outside the activation zone.
I was on the air by 11:57z & over the next 2 hours managed 20 contacts, mostly into Italy, with a couple of “local” G/GM/GW stations. My best DX was UZ5DU in Ukraine KN18MD, which at 1,888 Km is not bad with 2.5 Watts of SSB & a dipole at 4M agl 
I rarely had to call more than a couple of times to get through & only failed to work 2 stations I called. Being used to using much more power I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how well I did.
I have just entered my contest log & I am in the lead up to now, although mine is the only entry so far, so that doesn’t really count 
After returning the FT817 I called in at McDonald’s & rewarded myself with some Burgers
Great fun!
I have uploaded a very short video to Youtube of my contest location today:
73,
Mark G0VOF
Nipping out now to try for a few more DXCCs on CW in the 6m contest. Calls from SOTA chasers will be especially welcome.
Jimmy is accompanying me, and giving 2m FM, and possibly 70cm FM an airing.
Tom M1EYP
Time was getting on. It had gone 7pm, and we were at home after a super Fathers’ Day outing. We had been at the Rainow Jazz Festival again for the jazz picnic event, watching the Mart Rodgers Manchester Jazz trad ensemble, and the awesomely brilliant Elliott Henshaw Band - definitely a magic band! You’d think that would have done it for the weekend, but back in the shack, indications were that there was life left in the Magic Band.
Jimmy and I set off to The Cloud G/SP-015 and ascended on this chilly and cloudy evening. Many others were on summit, some hoping to catch the sunset on this Summer Solstice day. There were to be disappointed - there was hardly a glimpse of the sun all the time we were there. While on summit I had a couple of people separately approach me and introduce themselves. They were M1VZZ and G6IIU. The latter had not been active for a while and was somewhat bemused with the ‘M’ callsign prefix being called by Jimmy!
Jimmy set up the SB3 for use with his handheld, while I erected the 6m delta loop. Things were strange on 6m. I worked Mark G0VOF and Reg G3WPF on 6m CW, and then scanned around for some DX - and some new 6m CW DXCCs for 2009. I found SP7IUX, LA7DFA and GU4CSY, the former two with strong signals. However, try as I might, I couldn’t make myself heard. In the next hour, I worked G4EHT but no-one else, even though I had further cracks at calling the DX stations and plenty of calls of “CQ SOTA” on my spotted QRGs of 50.090 and 50.095MHz.
Jimmy M3EYP did much better, making 15 QSOs on 2m FM and 70cm FM. Packing up was a little fraught though, as a rubber end cap to the SOTA Beam boom disappeared. Our searches through our own coats, packs and all over the summit proved fruitless, and in fading light we reluctantly admitted defeat and descended. I will go and have another look in daylight later.
We returned home via the Harrington Arms at Gawsworth, for a pint of Dizzy Blonde ale and water respectively, a Spearing’s pork pie and mustard each, and bags of Burt’s parsnip crisps.
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
I got fed up of losing my bung, so I drilled a hole through it, fed a bit of knotted cord through it and secured the other end of the cord to the pole end with some tape and a cable tie (large heatshrink would be better).
73 and hope you find it.
Ian.
The bung is safe. It’s just a small rubber end cap to the SOTA Beam boom that we lost. I still reckon there’s more chance we will find it in a coat pocket or something, than up on the hill. Jimmy and I had a debate about this last night. He reckons it has dropped into the undergrowth.
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
It’s a shame that I don’t work at my old place any more, because the cap on the end of the SOTA beam boom looks very similar to an N-type connector dust cover. If you get really stuck - maybe I could source a few for you. I still have some contacts at that place!
73
Colin
M0CGH
In reply to G0VOF:
I had a very similar experience of the “magic band” here. After checking the weather forecast at 7am and discovering that 6m was already wide open to Europe I decided to try GM/CS-015 Meall nan Tarmachan.
Despite Sunday drivers doing their best to hold me back I was on the summit by 10:30z. I had a S2S with Ian from GM/CS-005 on 2m FM, then a few other 2m FM contacts before setting up the 6m kit. Like Mark, I was using a FT-817 into a dipole about 4m agl.
My success rate was just about the same as Mark. 39 stations and 14 countries in 3½ hours, my furthest DX being YO2KBE in KN15SI (2287 km). I heard several stations working Mark but apart from some GM/MM stations that were just about line of sight, I didn’t work anything in the UK.
I then returned to 2m but the mist descended and drizzle started about that time. A million biting insects also descended with the mist so it was time to call it a day.
73
Robin, GM7PKT
In reply to GM7PKT:
Despite Sunday drivers doing their best to hold me back
Nudge bars on the front of the car is the only answer I’m afraid to say. The problem is with drivers who wont let traffic that wants to travel faster to do so. It’s not that I want to speed, 60mph is more than fast enough but faced with lots of Gordon McIver-Sunday Driver all doing 40mph, leaving no overtaking gaps and refusing to yield it can take a long time to get anywhere now until the school holidays are over.
DX being YO2KBE in KN15SI (2287 km).
That’s just about the max distance for a single hop contact. 6m is wonderful when it’s open as strong as last weekend as it makes QRP SSB operation so easy.
I did call many times on 2m FM from home but I wasn’t sure if Tarmachan was workable without a better antenna at my end.
Andy
MM0FMF
Hi all,
I’ve found the cap, it was in my coat pocket all the time.
Jimmy M3EYP
That reminds me of the traditional north-east folk song “Geordie’s Lost His Penker”!
All this talk of ‘Magic Band’ led nicely in the RSGB 6m Activity Contest on Tuesday evening, 23rd June 2009. Except that there was STILL no magic on it!
The previous evening, Jimmy and I went along to club night at the Macclesfield & DRS, and watched a good presentation by our chairman Roger M0GMG. This was about his newly built 6m portable antenna, his exploits in Sunday’s 6m Backpackers Contest, and RSGB VHF contesting in general. Roger was particularly keen to draw attention to the MDRS’s favourable standings in the 70cm and 6m club championships.
Roger had worked Romania (YO) with 2.5 watts on the Sunday, but I was not to emulate that achievement. Like my recent evening 6m activation, it seemed the band “died” about an hour before I was QRV. At least with it being the RSGB AC, there would be inter-G activity even if there was no DX.
As it was, I started off quite well, but became more relaxed in my operating. I made six QSOs in CW, but found I needed to reduce keyer speed and overall QSO rate to ‘nail’ these.
By 10.30pm, the end of the contest, I had made 41 QSOs with 11 multipliers: IO70, IO74, IO82, IO83, IO84, IO86, IO91, IO92, IO93, IO94, JO03. I was disappointed not to get IO81 (especially as I had heard Stewart G0LGS on in the contest) and not more from GM and EI.
Thanks to all the SOTA chasers that worked me, especially those on 50.090 CW - I noticed later that Reg G3WPF had put a spot on for that one.
I hadn’t had any tea, so the usual stop at the Harrington Arms featured a pint of Dizzy Blonde Ale, a bag of Burts’ parsnip crisps and a Spearing’s pork pie. They ought to do a ‘meal deal’ for that tasty combo!
Tom M1EYP
No time to read this thread but CQ calls from HB-AI-011 yesterday only produced one QSO with a Spanish station on 6m SSB. The Es was not right for anything more at around my lunchtime.
Phil
In reply to MM0FMF:
DX being YO2KBE in KN15SI (2287 km).
That’s just about the max distance for a single hop contact. 6m is
wonderful when it’s open as strong as last weekend as it makes QRP SSB
operation so easy.
Great conditions on Wednesday from SS-002. Worked SV9CVY on 50 MHz - 3245 Km.
When it is working it is “magic”.
Car radio was full of southern European stations while I was returning home.
Pity there has been zilch on 6m since then.
73 Robin
In reply to M1EYP:
By 10.30pm, the end of the contest, I had made 41 QSOs with 11 multipliers:
IO70, IO74, IO82, IO83, IO84, IO86, IO91, IO92, IO93, IO94, JO03. I was
disappointed not to get IO81 (especially as I had heard Stewart G0LGS on
in the contest) and not more from GM and EI.
Tom, I just never found you, when I checked the spots page you had been on 50.170 but I found Trist 2E0VXX/P very close to that frequency and couldn’t here anything else.
I spent most of the last 20 minutes with the beam towards you calling, but by then most of the calls had come to an end.
Last night the band truly did become ‘magic’ once again.
I guess it started around 1900 UTC with several stations in the Caribbean being heard on CW. V29 was quite strong on 50.104 with several strong stations calling him around 50.104.7.
Around 2100 UTC the band started to open into the states, my first of six contacts was at 2135 and my last at 2240 with best DX being K9HMB in EN52 at approx 6200Km, netting me 5 new squares as well as a new 6m DXCC for 2009.
This was the best opening I’ve heard to the west in the last 3 years, perhaps even the best I’ve ever heard (but as I had a gap of 16 years on 6m I cannot remember much about my previous period on the band other than the paper logs show the stations worked between 1988 and 1990).
Stewart G0LGS
In reply to G0LGS:
It is the best opening I have heard to the USA since I got on to 6m in 2004.
I also got 5 new ones and missed about another 3 or 4. Best was EM63
73 Graham G4JZF
In reply to G0LGS:
Around 2100 UTC the band started to open into the states, my first of
six contacts was at 2135 and my last at 2240 with best DX being K9HMB
in EN52 at approx 6200Km, netting me 5 new squares as well as a new 6m
DXCC for 2009.
6 Metres was dead while I was on WS-336 in the afternoon.
In the evening I had to prepare for a Raynet event then an early night to be up at 4 am. I guess I missed a good evening but about 22:30 I had a quick scan of the band and found a YV station calling CQ from FK50. 7240km shatters my previous best so I was happy.
Once the Raynet activities had become less busy this afternoon I tried 6m from the middle of the Cairngorms but once again the band was absolutely dead.
73s Robin, GM7PKT