This was my second activation. I used FT-857D 20W on 40m SSB. As long as I am not able to use CW (yet) I stick with SSB. One big question for me is if it is possible to do SSB activation like this with only 5W from lets say…FT-817. I am scared that I would call out for a hour and get only few QSOs.
Nice video and excellent music. I think there are more trees in the video than there are in the UK!
I’ve done 5W SSB on 40m from Scotland. A few times it has been easy, especially when I had a special prefix to use, MA0FMF. But apart from that I found it very hard work to find a clear frequency and to get heard. Once you get spotted it was better. However, this was a few years back when 40m propagation was very long with no inter-G working and before it was easier to self spot from a summit.
So yes it can work and there are many who are successful on 40m SSB with 5W. But I didn’t like it so I learned enough CW to have SOTA QSOs. With 5W CW on 40m it is easy to make lots of QSOs. Same on 30m and 20m.
I think there are more trees in the video than there are in the UK!
Try pasting the name of the summit, Lesný, into Google translate, hi.
QRP SSB activation with a big pileup is possible, just ask Tomáš OK1JRA (he uses Icom 703 with 10W). You have to place an alert or self-spot, and check that there is no contest - that’s one of the advantages of CW: when 40m is full of big guns, you can retreat to the contest-free 30m band.
In preparation for SOTA activations I went to a local park in June 2011 during ARRL Field Day. This was done to check out the setup close to home and make sure everything works. I was able to make a number of contacts most of them relatively close on 40m using my FT-817ND.
I use 8 NiMH AA cells internally in the radio with the radio set to “high” power. I use a link dipole antenna, 6m - 40m. The middle of the dipole is about 8m above the ground.
I used the same setup this fall in Shenandoah National Park and it works quite well for “local” contacts. I generally got 58 and sometimes 59 reports. Of course for those stations farther away, more than about 600km, my signals were not as strong, so it took effort to make a contact.
thank you for the QSO on Saturday. You had a honest 5/9 report over the 100km to my city Kronach.
Unfortunately Youtube blocks your video for German users because of possible copyright problems with the music.
I have tried SSB on HF with the 5W of the FT-817 several times. Success depends very much on conditions and used antenna. Sometimes you are even heard with a mobile whip - sometimes it is hard to get any contact. If found the upper bands (10m, 15m, 20m) easier if the conditions allow it.