I don’t see any RBNHole spots since 20:12 yesterday although I’m seeing Activator spots posting at the RBN site.
If there’s a better way to report this, please let me know.
Thanks,
Paul - N1ZF
I kicked it before. Should be working now.
Paul,
Thank you for essentially saving my activation today! By following me on the RBN and issuing corresponding spots, you created piles of chasers on 30M, 20M, and 40M.
I really appreciate this kind of support, especially since today I was in the thick of the CQ WW contest, and my 10W presence was pretty small compared to most of the other stations on 20 and 40M CW!
I also called CQ on 14.095, since the area near 14.063 was full of agressive contesters. The RBN and you caught me on 14.095, and 20M came alive. I got my one S2S today when KI4SVM apparently saw your spot for me on 14.095, and he called me “S2S” from NC. EA2LU also found me up there.
I wasn’t sure that the RBN itself would work today, or work on 20M, because of the contest. With so many big signals, and so many stations, I had a feeling that I might not get spotted, especially on 20M. I actually started out calling CQ on that band, on three different frequencies near 14.100, for many precious minutes, and only KU4R found me and called, but he signed and disappeared before I could beg for a spot. I was quite amazed when you came back to me on 18.093! At that point I realized that the RBN itself was probably working, and then I got motivated to call CQ on several bands for long periods.
I spent more time calling CQ on various bands than working chasers. I went through my first battery and went to my second before I finally signed off. Amazingly I made 45 contacts on four bands, and most of them were because you spotted me! W5ESE also was helpful in offering to spot, but I think you had done it about the same time.
As I write this, however, the RBN itself is now completely dead - all that shows on the RBN page is the title. It may be working in some places, but not here. I cannot see my earlier spots or select any call to see spots. There is no menu, nothing useful. Maybe the servers got filled up during the contest, and the whole thing failed - I have no idea - I just know I wanted to see my spots, and there are no spots at all to see!
So if this affects other areas, the RBN Hole will not be working there either.
Andrew, thanks again for your support. The RBN Hole has worked so well, for so long, that I’ve run numerous activations using only the RBN Hole for spots.
We’ve got a big snowstorm coming in here tomorrow and Tuesday, with more cold weather afterwards, so I won’t be on any summits for a long time. Of course I’ll do a little chasing from home…
73
George
KX0R
2 Likes
Hi George,
I missed you yesterday because some neighbour had switched ON some faulty switching power supply which produced a permanent S9 QRM on my receiver. Some days this doesn’t happen, some days it does happen but just for a few minutes and some other times like yesterday, it happens for longer time (over an hour).
Unfortunately I don’t know which of my neighbours nor which piece of my neighbour’s equipment is making this QRM.
I managed to chase Pat KI4SVM on 17m yesterday and that was all. My multiband dipole seemed to pick up less QRM on 17m than my yagi on 20m…
Enjoy chasing while the cold and snow fronts pass by. Some times I’ve heard you chasing some NA activators I could not copy.
73,
Guru
Guru,
I also have local QRN at home, especially on 40M. It is not severe, but enough to hide many good SOTA stations.
The RBN is OK now, and even my spots from yesterday are still up! So now I see how it all went. I was spotted a lot despite the contest.
I just posted an alert for 1700Z - a close mountain, with a storm coming in later today. No worry - one last activation before much cold, snowy WX.
Andrew,
The RBN Hole is working perfectly as I write this at 1413Z! Lots of RBNHole spots! The RBN apparently has been restored. Thank you!
73
George
KX0R
Hello Andrew,
Thank you very much for your support of RBN Hole. I’m sure you know how invaluable this service is, but I need to tell you that your efforts in keeping it running are greatly appreciated.
If I could somehow be more effective or efficient in reporting something like this, please let me know.
Thank you and 73,
Paul - N1ZF
Hi George,
Happy to help, and I’m just trying to follow the good example set by others. I should mention that part of this was dumb luck - I had just finished updating my KX3 firmware, and when I powered up it was still set to 18.093 from the day before and there you were. I knew something was wrong when after our contact I heard you calling CQ repeatedly, and that led me to check RBN and then SOTAWATCH history.
I must commend those who activated this weekend, as it must have been extremely challenging trying to find and hold a clear frequency.
73,
Paul - N1ZF