Last months 50MHz RSGB activity night, which coincides with the Tuesday SOTA fun nights, saw a number of activators on the hill tops and I worked three of them plus a number of none-SOTA contesters on 6m. Conditions were fairly flat and I was disappointed with the amount of activity. I put a lot of it down to the fact that I was on a vertical antenna and this month I put up my Delta Loop
( 50mhzdeltaloop - gw7aav2 ) which is horizontally polarised.
This Tuesday the band was open and even with my simple Delta loop I worked Netherlands, Finland, Latvia, Russia, Poland, Norway, Hungry, Italy, England, Wales and Scotland. I also heard but did not work Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Spain, France, Germany and Ukraine, however there appeared to be no SOTA activators and I only worked one UK contester.
To put it briefly you could have worked all of Europe on Tuesday night on six metres or in fact on ten metres. Twenty metres was buzzing too so where was everyone?
In reply to GW7AAV:
Tuesday 27th May - Where was everyone?
Ah, so I’m not the only one who doesn’t eat/drink/breath amateur radio. For the record, I was cleaning the caravan after a wet weekend in Brecon. Two activations only : GW/SW-001 and 003, and a pleasant if windy stroll along the Brecon Canal as far as Talybont, an excellent pint of ‘Cribyn’ at a canal-side pub in Pencelli, and spotted a couple of grass snakes swimming in the canal (after lunch, but Janis saw them as well).
Unfortunately playing taxi to five kids, one grandchild and her mother makes getting out on a Tuesday evening almost impossible even when I am not working but I will always try to support those that can get on the summits, even at the expense of my evening meal going cold ;0)
In reply to GW7AAV:
Tuesday night in Buxton we had galeforce wind, driving rain, 8 Celcius & very dark conditions, God knows what it was like on Shining Tor. Therefore to answer your question “Tuesday 27th May - Where was everyone?” - personally I was sat at home with the central heating on watching Emmerdale.
Unfortunately playing taxi to five kids, one grandchild and her mother
makes getting out on a Tuesday evening almost impossible even when I
am not working
73 Steve
But you found the time to work all those countries on 6 metres? Hmmmmm.
I guess that explains it, nothing like that here. Just a bit of drizzle at about 6pm. Emmerdale! Shhh! Think about yout street cred.
In reply to GW0DSP:
If I had left for a summit when I started on the air at home I wouldn’t have been set-up before the contest was over, it is a none starter I am afraid.
Had to check if the 6 m was authorized here. 5 W seems to be ok for Ain and Haute Savoie except close to Bourg en Bresse, which is not far away from here. So could probably try to be active also from F/AB and maybe from F/JU with FT817ND and tuned wire antenna. This is my understanding from http://www.ref-union.org/ Trafic->Plan des Bandes->Autorisations 50 MHz .
Although the French authorisation is for 50200 to 51200, and in certain départements only, I regularly hear French stations calling/working below that sub-band, and from départements without official authorisation according to http://accueil.ref-union.org/thf.ref-union.php
(like Corse, for which I have a DXCC credit!). I suspect that the authorities are rather laid-back when it comes to ensuring compliance.
I may have been mistaken but I seem to remember the station heard was on 50.210 and was one of a lot of call signs I jotted down when they appeared briefly only to disappear before I had chance to call them. It could have been either a misheard call or maybe I wrote 6m when it should have been a 10m as I was skipping between bands. If it was a true F station then it was a rare one on 6m by the sounds of it and I wish now I had got them, however I had great fun both working and failing to work so many stations.
On 27th May I was at my usual Hill-Top /P Location (approx 3/4 mile South of G/CE-001) working stations on 50MHz from approx 1530 until the end of the contest at 2230.
I was using my own constructed portable 4 Ele Yagi with the full 100W from the FT-847 powered from my Generator and a spare car battery (so wouldn’t count for SOTA even if I managed to drag all the kit to the summit).
I worked Poland, Bosnia, Latvia, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Bulgaria, Estonia, Denmark, England, Wales, Faroe Islands, Iceland and Croatia, (I did not find anyone in Scotland) including a total of 13 new squares and the one new Country (LZ).
I’ve managed to get 4 new Countries and 32 new squares this year (hopefully thats only the start of working the DX on 6m for 2008).
I was on holiday. I would have liked to have nipped out to Butser Hill G/SE-004 (Hampshire) for the 6m contest/SOTA Fun Evening, but doubt my marriage would have lasted the hour…
