Hi everyone,
with the 20m LP coming back to life, I wonder whether people would be interested in a joint S2S event between the Pacific area and EU. Usually, the weeks around equinox offer good condx into the Pacific area.
Daylight saving is in place in VK from October 4th which makes it easier to stay on a summit for longer. The only more or less “contest free” time slot on a weekend is on Saturday, 17th October (the “Worked All Germany” contest starts at 15:00 z).
The 20m LP usually opens around 6:30 z. Sunrise in central EU will be around 05:45 z (first daylight about an hour earlier), last daylight in VK1 is 8:30 z, which should give activators enough time to avoid hiking in complete darkness.
So, may I suggest Saturday, 17th October, 06:30 UTC (roughly) as a date for the experiment?
I’d be curious to hear who is interested in it and what equipment they’d bring along.
On the spur of the moment… and since I bought a 14m Spiderbeam fiberglass mast in Friedrichshafen… and I’d been wanting to build a 20m Oblong anyway…
Well, I think I’m all set with the KX2, the small 35 W PA (MX-P50M), an HB9EAJ End-Fed ( 10m - 60m - without 12m) and the Oblong for my local summit, DM/BW-018.
This sounds interesting as I have finally tried my Chinese 5.4m telescopic antenna and it works! I should be trying it out again today with more radials (8x 2.5m).
Equipment expected to be:
Chinese 5.4m Telescopic antenna with 8x 2.5m radials effectively ground mounted.
Either KX2 + PA + re-engineered ATU-100 (if needed) or IC-705 + PA + ATU-100, say about 30-40W
FT857, 12Ah LifePO4, 20m 1/4 wave vertical with elevated radials 1.4m above ground, antenna switch, and separately an inverted V dipole broadside orientation for LP, mounted on a 9m telescopic pole.
KX2/KXPA100 and a 20m 1/2 Square favouring EU on a summit that allows carrying heavy batteries and departing safely in the dark! We had a ball last time!
It’s hard to say what will work on that day but from previous years I would say that 20m is the most reliable band. There might be a chance to work DX on 30m and 17m LP as well. 15m seems less likely to me but who knows? Further south (than DL) the MUF might support even that band.
Most of my dusk activations aimed at Europe and with success have been done with a setup very similar to yours. The only difference is that instead of using 8 radials I use 10 (I don’t think it makes a substantial difference), and the rigs are either an FT‑857 or an IC‑705.
Hello everyone.
I’m going to try and take part in the experiment.
I’m looking for a hilltop with a clear view of the sea and VK.
The idea is to take part using an inverted V wire antenna with a dipole and reflector pointing in the right direction.
FTX-1 & 10W.
I may be able to take the 891 up Billinge Hill with my chinese thingy + 5m telescopic other thingy.
Its my fathers birthday that day and have to drive upto to Carnforth for lunchtime so it would only be a short activation if I can work out the timings.
It will probably depend more on the weather, dry probably means easier setup and activation and thus more likely. Will know nearer the time.
I’m not sure why you are looking at 20m band. After checking VOACAP it looks like from Poland the 15m and 10m bands are the most likely band with 30-60% chance depending on location in VK Land.
On 20 most of VK is out of bound with 0% chance at 50W CW
Am I reading this data wrong,or you know something I dont.
)
