Hi Ron,
Just when you think you’ve got the 20m band licked, it bowls you another googly. My first spot appeared at 0541z, too early for VK over the last week or so. However, Rob VK3EK was more or less straight in with a good signal and he was immediately followed in by another 8 VK’s, including yourself at about 0600z with some who were not as strong as usual.
When things went a bit quite, I went looking for Andrew VK1NAM/P for our s2s sked. Unfortunately, not only was Andrew too weak to work, he was also being battered by QRM. As luck would have it, he QSY’d and we made any easy s2s at about 0735z. That, was more or less that, from VK, with the exception of an unexpected s2s call from PaulVK1ATP/P activating VK1/AC-042 Black Mountain, a unique for me… Thanks Paul.
I did take a look at the 17m band and up popped Matt VK2DAG, dunno how he does it…Cheers Matt, great stuff!
I’ve not done too much VHF over the last year or so and there’s a lot of negatives to consider with Billinge Hill, It’s only 179 Metres ASL and the radio masts are considered bad news for breakthough on VHF. Neverthess, I chucked up the 5/8 over 5/8 Colinear and put out a CQ. The filtering in the Ft-857 easily coped with pager QRM and even more surprising, the 2m take-off was something else. No problem working into Cumbria, Coventry and an excellent 120 mile contact with Allan GW4VPX at his home QTH just outside Camarthen.
While working the 2m band, I recieved two calls to say Gerrard F/VK2IO was looking for me for an s2s on the 20m band. The A-99 was on the ground, so I put it back up in the air, found Gerard on 14.285 for a s2s and a bit of a natter. FB, Gerard, thanks for the 10 points!
What can you say about G/SP-017 Billinge Hill, the smallest summit in the South Pennines? Well it certainly produced some nice HF DX for me and for the VHF junkies, a 2m vertical with some gain, will certainly bring a smile to your face.
Thanks to EU and VK for some great fun this morning.
36 HF contacts 13 VK.
26 2m FM contacts one /MM
5 s2s, two VK, F, EA2 and one Shining Tor on 2m!
73 Mike
2E0YYY