I heard @K6ARK on 15m at about 14:40 and tried to call but he was very weak and my 5W couldn’t compete. Then he faded away. I worked a few more east coast stations but the CA and AZ stations never came strong enough to work after that.
Hi Adam, Thanks for the QSO. I am a Chaser and worked you from IO72RC my home QTH on the West Coast of Wales near Cardigan. The QSO was on the grey line here at 16:57 utc. Running 200w to a Vertical made up from scrap bits of antenna.
73’ Don GW0PLP
2 Likes
Well done on the activation and especially on the CW. Im on the same journey as you but was not brave enough to operate CW even though it would have got me further with my 5w. I saw a spot that mentioned slow speed. I’ll try that one day so anyone in a pile up knows to be extra kind.
I activated G/NP-029 on Saturday. My 4/5 reports from Germany told me I wasn’t going to be speaking to USA. I also assumed I would have to sit in the rain until late at night.
I did reach hundreds of miles on 2m with a handheld.
What was really great was hearing SOTA across the spectrum in a show of force like a popular contest.
73
I was over the hill on Flasby Fell NP-029.
I operated 20m voice only but exchanged summits with folk in EU. Lots of POTA around too. I loved being prioritised by strong SOTA stations by simply stating G0-s2s. I felt part of a club.
I had no tent so my rig and wires are in the airing cupboard. I was tempted to get in myself after an afternoon sat on a rock.
3 Likes
I definitely did hear the “HB” prefix and called “HB?” a couple of times. There were multiple EU S2S calling at the time combined with the QSB. Next time I’ll get you in the log!
That is the challenge of running 100w from the summit. If my signal is weak to you, the odds of me hearing you are fairly small. BUT, it is always worth a try. I’m glad you did.
Definitely not just you! Most of my S2S required numerous call sign repeats and a bit of patience. Fortunately, for each of those, chasers were patient and respectful and allowed us to complete the contact before calling. I hope a couple of bad actors don’t spoil it for all. The majority played well with others.
K6ARK
Adam
1 Like
For my first attempt, I didn’t spot myself on CW. I don’t think I can handle a pileup yet. I just chased a few activators from the summit, much easier for a beginner. 
2 Likes
Someone in W6 (I don’t think it was you) had spotted they were running 100W to a yagi and were aiming to EU but I couldn’t hear them so I knew I had no chance!
Definitely.
I worked @WB2FUV on 15m - we exchanged 339/439 reports. About an hour later he called me on 10m and we exchanged 559/579 reports. But I think we were lucky that at that moment the QSB was working in our favour. It’s quite possible that a QSO would have been possible between us if I had waited until the right moment. It’s the usual dilemma - keep calling with all the QRO chasers, find another station to try S2S with or find a clear frequency and call CQ. I had tried calling @AA3TZ with no luck but 2 hours later he called me so I often find calling CQ brings the chasers to me. It’s the luck of the game - it would get boring if there wasn’t any randomness. And less likely to lose money than the online casino.
5 Likes
It was great fun, even though the conditions were not as good as last year.
There was deep QSB at times and the signals were generally quite weak.
I sometimes get the feeling that there must be a hidden RF attenuator switch enabled somewhere, but I suppose this is because the noise floor of the FT-891 is so low. Please excuse me if I could not hear you.
Like last year, I activated from my nearby summit HB/SO-015 (see previous photos) at the exact same spot with the same equippment and the same antennas using SSB. Because like last year, I also spotted for POTA, I used the Ham2K Portable Logger, fortunately this time without surprises.
As I was spotting for both SOTA and POTA simultaneously, I got a constant flow of DX contacts after moving to the higher bands, mostly from the USA.
About 30 minutes after I started activating, another ham arrived at the summit. It was @F5HTR with whom I had several S2S in the past, but we have never met each other. He was activating on 30 m CW with a QCX and I could see his antenna next to the forest. I didn’t hear a beep from him, and I hope I didn’t disturb him when I later switched to QRO mode. I was so focused on my tasks that I completely lost track of him.
Weather: unusual warm for the time of the year, reaching about 16C at first. Strong wind, then less wind but it started gradually to rain.
Activation time: 4:33h
Rig 1 and antenna: TX-500@10W with 4Ah LiFePO4, compact EFHW, used for 40m and 20m
Rig 2 and antenna: FT-891@80W with 18Ah LiFePO4, full-size ground-mounted vertical with 16 2.6m long radials, used for 17m, 15m, 12m and 10m.
Total contacts: 154, of which were 17 S2S and 9 P2P.
North America: 75 (USA: 70, Canada: 5)
Caribbean/South America: 4 (Puerto Rico: 1, Brasil: 1, Chile: 2)
Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, excluding the Canary Islands: 2 (Azores: 1, Cabo Verde: 1)
The rest was all Europe, incluing a bunch of EA8s.
In total, I made 6 transatlantic S2Ss with @K4RXL, @K2CPT, KC2WLR, @AJ2I, @VA2EO and @KF7NP.
At first, I had trouble understanding @AJ2I as he had HF on his mic, but all was fine once he had reduced the mic gain.
To please my chasers, I started first on 40m, then on 20m with the TX-500 and 10W. To my surprise, at 11:34z I had a contact with VE1SK in Nova Scotia on 20m (EFHW with 10W).
Then the wind picked up and I decided to dismantle the EFHW and only use the vertical with my QRO rig on 17-10m.
Most of the time I spent on 10m, then on 15m. 17m and especiall 12m brought me also a bunch of DX contacts.
Special contacts:
- A S2S with Rene @HB9PIM on 2m FM to HB/SZ-034 (QRB 110km) who had to walk back down in the snow.
- A S2S with Herbert @OE9HRV (QRB 163km) on 15m with his famous Hentenna antenna and the same rig as I was using. Due to the echos we both assumed that the propagation was probably via backscatter. I also heard other chasers on the higher bands, weak but with strong echo, especially @F4WBN, maybe his signal travelled partly around the world?
- A surprising contact with Fredi D4BHU/P (home call @HB9BHU) in Cabo Verde, which I met one week ago at the surplus party in Zofingen. Arm chair copy both ways.
- The last contact in the log was with VE3LOE who lives close to Ottawa. We were chatting a bit in German with very stable 59 both ways, until it started to pour down and I finally packed up.
Thanks a lot to all the activators and chasers, it was great fun!
73 Stephan
13 Likes
At least they weren’t shouting their callsign while I was trying SSTV…
4 transatlantic QSOs today including 1 S2S with @W1ETC (the only NA activator on SSB before 1500z?), all on 15m. PSKReporter showed I was heard along the east of NA/SA on 10m although I only managed 1 contact with FT8.
I kept missing @M8BIA on SSTV but received him at home no problem while I was out, and also my own transmissions.
12 Likes
Maybe they were wary because you didn’t use a G6 callsign with a /T suffix and transmitting on frequencies above 420 MHz. Or am I thinking of the November 1976 SOTA Transatlantic Weekend event?
3 Likes
/T for TV isn’t a bad idea…
But maybe not /TP for TV Portable
1 Like
I wonder what they were doing on 21064? Not one of their usual frequencies. I checked my copy of the 2025 WRTH too and nothing in there.
Probably just chancing their luck? Maybe their usual frequency was being jammed so they moved along? You hear that sometimes, stations trying to out-muscle each other.
Good luck with doing that with Châine 3 from Tipaza. That transmitter fires out more Jigawatts than an EMP. I believe they turn the power down during the night.
Probably because during the day its sucking up its power via a bendy novelty straw jammed in to the Earth’s core.
2 Likes
After a few months of abstinence, I couldn’t miss this event by activating Mount Tesoto I/LO-222. Saturday was cloudy and humid but it didn’t rain. When preparing my backpack, I thought about packing the KX3, FT857, a lipo battery, and two lead batteries. But due to weight I decided to leave the Yeasu Musen at home. So no QRO. I arrived at the parking lot at 12:30 UTC.
Around 13:00 utc I reached the summit. I started on 12 meters with an EFHW, only making contact with ik2ley who was on a summit about 25km away.
I switched to the EFHW for 15 meters; the band was open. Most of the 27 QSOs I made were on this band, with a few on 10 meters without changing the antenna but tuning the EFHW of 15 meters.
I noticed the signals increasing during sunset and then decreasing after about 20-30 minutes. The 10 meters were closed, while the 15 meters were still open according to RBN’s feedback, but they were no longer allowing QSOS.
At this point, I decided to pass in QRT and begin the descent in the dark. I was very satisfied after months of inactivity. I managed to log 16 North American stations, including 6 Transatlantic s2s qsos.
Thanks at All
73
Roberto iw2obx
18 Likes
Second ever activation with two trans-Atlantic S2S!
Left home at 04:30 local and drove to the trailhead for Tunk Mtn. W1/EM-009. Got there at about 6 am local, one hour before the S2S main hours. The temperature was 1C.
Very nice trail past some ponds.
Then up and up.
Required pic of the 3-rung ladder on the trail up Tunk Mtn. Many pics make it look vertical but it has run as well as rise.
Selfie:
The medication that’s supposed to keep meat on my bones causes wicked cramps so I have carried a 455g chair on both activations. But I sat on the granite today and it was a MUCH better operating position.
I strung up two 13-meter wires as an antenna. Inverted W or wide M or some such shape. The pic below barely shows the yellow insulation going to the left of the pic and another behind my arm.
Had two Trans-Atlantic S2S, one with @GM4JXP in Scotland and one with @MW0PJE in Wales. THANKS TO BOTH OF YOU! Five contacts total. May not be competitive but I’m very happy with the day.
After an hour, I started to get cool enough to move. I’ll switch the chair for a bit of foam next time. I can get up and down from the ground but really expected that sitting for an hour would leave me with crippling cramps. Not so!
The sun was higher on the way down and I was facing the right way for great views many places. That bright line at the horizon is the Atlantic.
Did I say my second ever activation? Did I say I’m very happy? Thanks for this awesome program.
73
Dave
W1ETC
23 Likes
Thanks for going out early and for the summit to summit contact.
You were very difficult to copy initially but started getting stronger so I’m glad we persisted to make the contact.
2 Likes
Glad to work you Dave. You were my only Transatlantic S2S for the day,
73 Simon GM4JXP
2 Likes
I heard that on a couple of EU chasers including @DL2DXA. I was wondering if I was hearing SP and LP.
3 Likes
I had a great time for this Transatlantic S2S event!
I chose an easy and convenient summit where I could afford to be for a longer than usual time. I started at around 1300h local time chasing EU S2S stations and as the time passed I did my best to try and catch as many NA S2S stations as possible. The result was this:
78 QSO with 27 S2S
10 EU S2S: EA3HIG, DF1ARK, DL8FMA, HB9HBV/HB9HBU, EA1AER, 9A10SOTA, G4TGJ, MW0PJE, M8BIA, OE/OM1ALT
17 NA S2S: KI9POT, VA2EO, N1ZF, WN3F, WB2FUV, W4GO, N4EX, AA3TZ, N3HXZ, KD8EQA, N6ARK, WA7JTM, NJ7V, N0QLR, KX0R, K6CPR, KD2YEW
And an additional 15 DX QSO with NA.
That was a 4h 45min long activation!! I have to say, it felt like a 20min activation… I was hooked to the radio!
I used a Xiegu G90, 6Ah lifepo4 battery and an EFHW for 40/20/15/10m with a 7m fiberglass pole.
Also, I tried two specific W6 S2S where it was absolutely impossible to fight against the QRO stations. It was hard to let go after so many tries and so much time dedicated to make the QSO but the pileup was huge! Specially with N6ARA, who I could hear loud and clear but I could not make my S2S S2S get to him.
Thanks all for this fun S2S event!
14 Likes
It was so exciting to make the QSO with you Adam! Thanks for all the effort you put on this event. I could hear you quite loud!
3 Likes