Thanks. You could try a bit of chasing first if you haven’t already. I don’t bother in a pile-up, but if you wait to the end of a longer activation it can be pretty easy - and you have the advantage of knowing the callsign from the spot and hearing the pattern the operator uses responding to other people.
I was definitely helped through by the skill of the chasers, who clocked I wasn’t that great and made it easy for me. You should go for it!
I recognise many of those as regular chasers you’ll hear over and over again on activations.
Congratulation starting CW!
Nice job. And wellcome to CW / SOTA!
Really nice. I had also my first cw activation on the crowdy 40m yesterday and can’t wait for the next one.
It didn’t improve my skills, but it did improve my courage.
73 Chris
Congratulations Chris!
I disagree - I bet it did improve your skills more than you realise! It is the biggest step to go from never having done something before to having done it I think. It is much harder out on a hill than at home in the shack I find, even if it is nice conditions on the hill as I had.
Hopefully it won’t be long before we have a CW QSO!
When activating Sota, I had exactly one challenge so far.
Namely to throw my weight exactly over the best branch, so that the antenna cord does not hang too low, does not get tangled, or in the worst case remains irretrievably stuck in the tree.
Sometimes it works with the first throw, often with the fifth. But it has already happened that the throwing weight almost landed on my head, grrrh.
It’s like shooting a penalty.
Now there is a second challenge. Recognize a cw call and answer without errors. It’s all a matter of mental attitude.
73 Chris
Congratulations Tony, you achieved it earlier than expected!!
I’m glad to see me there in your log, at least I’m one correct, hi.
By hearing you, I soon noticed you were a newbie (extra space between letters), and it was a real pleasure to acomodate my speed and hear you got my callsign straighforward: there was a real pile up there going on!
I also remember my first CW activation, back some years ago, a truly special feeling that you will never forget, and believe me, your CW will soon improve and enjoy.
Thanks for a very nice post and keep on practicing.
VY 73 de Ignacio es CU SN
Welcome to CW activating.
I’ve been to Bredon Hill once or twice. It’s an nice walk up the hill, and a nice place to activate from - plenty of space, and plenty of places to shelter from the wind.
I even had a farmer stop and enquire what I was doing - he was genuinely interested.
73’s
David
Yes, it is the extra spacing I need at the moment. You adapting to that for me made it relatively easy for me to copy. I asked for big spacing on my alert, but no chance to do that on the auto-spot from the RBN. Which I have to say I really like - so convenient!
73
Tony
Thanks for the welcome! Yep, it’s a an easy activation with a short walk and as you say plenty of room and shelter options if needed. Not bad views either given the relatively easy walk up.
73
Tony
Very well done, Tony!
I slowed down (not too much) and increased the spacing a bit. You picked me up right away and it was great pleasure for me to make QSO.
I’ll be looking forward to making many more Cw QSOs with you.
73,
Guru
Congratulations Tony
Exactly the same here @M5OTA Tony, and although I’ve done a few I think relaxing is the key. I feel like there is sort of a natural selection for chasers which means those that are patient will wait and slow down and those that are in a hurry will move on or come back later.
I’ve done a fair bit of chasing too, still portable and that helps. Highly recommend Rufzxp specifically for training your brain to decode callsigns.
The other thing I do is deliberately try and work fast callsigns who are just interested in a rubber stamp and try not to rely on tools to decode their callsigns. Spending some time often being a little outside your comfort zone is great with this, as is with so many things.
My next challenge is to do an activation with just the Mountain topper.
Regards Mark
Well done, no looking back now. As long as you enjoyed it that’s all that counts.
Bredon hill used to be local to me, so know it well.
It’s possibly just as well you didn’t manage 10Mhz. It can be a zoo.
I always go on 40m first to try and reduce the size of the pile up that comes on 30m!
It’s by far usually the most challenging band to work.
73 Pete
GW4ISJ
Wow. In CW I haven’t used 30m so far; only 40m and 20m. Is it really the case that pileups are bigger on 30m? I though they would be bigger on 40m as I suspect there are more chasers with 40m and no 30m than the other way round?
Hi!
Throughout your activation I called you, but without success. My 5W was not enough. Maybe another time I won’t be covered by kilowatts …
vy 73 de Mariusz
Sorry to miss you Mariusz. When I was on 20m I thought I could hear a station calling - it was just enough to tell there was maybe someone there, but not loud enough for me to be able to understand. Even if I was good at CW I think it would’ve been too quiet.
On 40M, as per my original post, I went QRT with a few folks still waiting so will have disappointed even those with plenty of power!
Hope to catch you soon!
Thanks. Yep, I am already using Rufzxp as part of my CW ops course. Mostly been using it for words so far but am about to start using it for more callsign practice. The ‘gamification’ aspect helps keep it interesting / infuriating!
I have an MTR as well - maybe I will make activating with that my next goal too!
I also experience bigger pileups on 30m than on 40m CW. The reason is the skip is perfect for us in the peripheria of central Europe (DL).
The following map shows four pairs of 2 concentric coloured circles centered on Spain (EA2), England, Poland and Greece.
The typical skip on 30m at around Noon, according to my experience varies from 300-400Km up to 1500-2000Km,
From EA2 the areas between the 2 red rings.
From England the areas between the 2 navy blue rings.
From Poland the areas between the 2 green rings.
From Greece, the areas between the 2 sky blue rings.
73,
Guru
Thanks Guru; very interesting. How does it compare to the 40m skip in your opinion? I guess the top of the range is higher for 30m than it is for 40m, but by how much?
