Thank you so much for your post and for trying an activation, Ron.
Yes I did have a great birthday yesterday and it looks like I’m still managing to keep myself Covid-free. My mother and kids seem to be moving forward in the right direction, so I hope they will all be clear by the end of the weekend. Me too, hopefully…
I wouldn’t have been able to even try to chase you because I was sleeping at those times (our winter local time is 1 hour ahead of utc) and also because my remote station in also sleeping at those times. My remote station has a programmable clock to be connected to the mains AC power at 7h30 (6h30 utc) and disconnected at 23h00 (22h00 utc) so it can have some well deserved resting time too.
Hi Guru,
Good. I think propagation would not have allowed more than ZL or VK6 at that time. The path to Europe seems to start opening around 1000 UTC and is good for several hours.
Well, as I promissed, here is to inform you that my 57th birthday celebration will take place tomorrow Sunday by activating the SOTA EA2/SS-057.
Ignacio EA2BD, Alain F5ODQ and André F5UKL will come too as well as my friend and SOTA companion JAP.
We will meet at the ascent start point at 10h45 CET (09h45 utc) with the idea of reaching the summit by about Noon CET (11h00 utc). Allowing for some photo stops, navigation errors and time to set-up, I’d expect being on air at about 12h30 (11h30 utc).
Conditions don’t seem to be great with a CME having hitted us recently, but I hope we’ll have a good activation and lots of QSOs.
I have sent my Alert twice but, for some reason, it’s not being received and displayed on SOTAwatch. [edit: problem found, it was my clumsiness. I was looking at the alerts of Saturday, instead of Sunday. I have now deleted one of the 2 Alerts I sent]
All being well this end, I shall be on the (small) summit of Brown Clee G/WB-002 with 5w and a dipole operating on 2m and 70cm fm at the right time - but with the wrong equipment I fear ! Hence I can only send you my very best wishes for a successful ‘birthday’ activation and my thanks for all the interesting posts I have read and enjoyed over the years. I can only wish that they will continue for some time to come. You are an inspiration to us all.
73 Viki M6BWA
Hi Guru,
All the best for your birthday activation on Sunday. 1200 UTC is 2300 local time where I live, and this weekend I have only my MTR3B with me. Depending on weather I could listen for your party on 20m. But yesterday’s attempt was underwhelming due to the atrocious band conditions caused by the recent CME. I heard EA1DFP at s2 which is sad given he was running ample power, about 23 db above my 5w MTR.
73 Andrew VK1DA/VK2UH
Great news Guru, keep it going and may you have a successful #57 summit activation.
I will try to be on air for a possible s2s from a local summit, hope that conditions will allow for it.
Guru, best wishes for good weather, scenic vistas, and many QSOs. I’ve been chasing today and have felt lucky to work some other North Americans, the DX conditions have not been great. I’ll give it a try tomorrow but the Europeans may have you to themselves!
73
Scott
Jimmy and I have the same alert time as you for tomorrow. Your alert doesn’t mention which bands you will be operating. I was going to use my 30m vertical, but now I think I will take the Alexloop, so I have the flexibility to be on the same band as you for the S2S attempt. Also having the other bands gives Jimmy the chance to catch you on SSB too, as I am sure he would want the S2S with you too.
