Yes certainly was meant tongue in cheek!!
It was just nice to have a 2m SSB activation, they’re rare nowadays, where as in 2010 when i first came along to SOTA, 2m SSB was very common!
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This is one of those rare occasions when the Database data proves the point, rather than drives coach-and-horses though it!
2010: 2m SSB activations in G - 844
2019: 2m SSB activations in G - 77
My own number of 2m SSB activations in each year (2010 and 2019) was broadly similar, but in 2010, there were 14 G activators that did more 2m SSB activations than me. Whereas in 2019, no-one did! At least I can conclude that the decline isn’t my fault; it’s everyone else’s fault 
Maybe it is taking back off in 2020. We’ve had this flurry of activity yesterday, more projected today, and Alan M1FHM was at it when I met him on G/SP-004 last week. The RSGBCC not allowing contest entries to be coincidental with SOTA activations at the present time will curtail mine for the time being though.
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The stats do not lie! As we all know, it is more effort to lug an 817, a beam, a fishing pole, coax and guys/ground stakes, than it is to lug up a 2m FM HH with a RH770/Rubber Duck/slimjim and fishing pole!
Plus how many people have a radio sat on 145.500MHz FM at home with the squelch wound back, as opposed to 144.300 with the volume up and the background noise! Plus rigging a colinear vs a Horizontal rotatable beam is also easier and cheaper, combined with using an FM only mobile rig in the shack for 2m and 70cm. 80 watts of 2m power for £150 vs 6w of 2m SSB at £599
I myself am as guilty as other for neglecting SSB in favour of the far simpler and lighter FM. I will endeavour to give 2m SSB more of a chance.
Strictly spekaing no one (other than you) bothered to log that they did ! - I know at least one person that was on a SOTA summit for some 2m/70cm contests and at least two more (plus myself) that were on for some SHF ones that were never logged for SOTA either .
Those comparisons would have been equally valid in 2010 though Matt - so what’s changed?
There would have been incidence of non-logging in 2010 too Stewart. There can be no doubt that the amount of 2m SSB activating in G has plummeted in the decade.
Few indeed nowadays, but I used to monitor 144.300 (and its predecessor in the distant past), and I used the squelch to deal with the noise though it needed careful setting.
Two things deal with that. Firstly a decent rucksack that distributes the weight properly rather than feeling like a sack of spuds against your spine, and secondly, practise. I remember when I used to go winter ice climbing (alas, thirty-odd years in the past, now!) my rucksack weight was something like forty pounds or more. At the start of the season it was a real drag, by the spring it was hardly noticed.
Well that is the question!!! I have no idea why it has become less popular sadly!
I also realise the hypocrisy of my earlier comments, that I am planning an activation of G/WB-003 today using FM and no SSB, but that is an activation with the YL, so speed is a must!
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I’m as guilty as anyone, I only go to 2m when a tempting target appears on Spots! Its understandable - when SOTA began I was limited to three bands, when the morse test was dropped I suddenly had another nine to explore and a lot of new lore to learn.
The situation has come about because of a feedback loop, the activity drops (and it was already noticeably diminished in 2010) so people find more productive things to do than listen for it, then those trying to keep the activity going find the reward lessens so they reduce their activity, then more listeners cease listening, and so on. As to why the activity drops in the first place, it is IMO a predictable result of the merging of the B licenses with the full license. As I often say, V/UHF in its heyday was a case of haves and have nots. Only a small proportion of the V/UHF population had really good VHF locations on high ground with a good view, those in the worst locations had few people that they could contact. I remember one station only a few miles from me that I could only contact by aircraft reflection from the jets landing at Birmingham, he told me that he could only regularly contact a half dozen stations. Once the HF bands became available for exploration many of the B’s like this guy gradually abandoned their limited VHF options for the wider field that opened up. I doubt that they will come back, why should they? V/UHF is now a specialists game for people with good locations or who are prepared to operate /P, whereas twenty years ago it was the same specialist game plus a halfway house for those who had passed their RAE but not the morse test. There are some signs of revival now the shock is over, but the conditions that produced historical high activity will never return, so don’t hope for it!
Yes… This ^^^
I am fortunate enough to somehow still be married having made the ridiculous mistake of once having Marianne sit patiently through an HF CW and FT8 activation. If we do a walk together now that happens to pass over a SOTA summit, then it is definitely 2m FM handheld and rubber duck!
Give me upsetting the chasers over upsetting the wife every single time!
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A bit of thread drift here, but it is somewhat relevant…
During lockdown, like many other groups, the Salop Amateur Radio Society set up regular nets to keep in touch. Members are spread around Shropshire and into Wales with several not having line of sight paths to the rest - in fact with some big lumps of rock in the way.
Initially 2m FM was tried, but copy was not possible between all participants. We then tried SSB, and that proved to be effective. Most of us are using vertical omnidirectional aerials, others are using vertically polarised Yagis, and some horizontal Yagis - but we can all communicate directly with each other, but for one notable exception who lives in a particularly challenging spot.
I know that before lockdown, experiments were taking place using vertically polarised SSB for SOTA, and our recent experience would seem to confirm that it is worth a go.
Having said that, let’s not forget that horizontal polarisation is the standard choice for weak signal DX working.
I even tried pedestrian mobile for one of the sessions, using FT817 with 30W linear and batteries in the rucksack, and wire Jpole on a fishing pole - encouraged by other threads on here! I really noticed the number of overhanging trees and power lines, though, so not exactly relaxing 
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40 years ago I first got my license. I passed the RAE a year earlier but waited to get a G4 call and spent my time on 80-10m and then 2m FM. I never had any kit for 160 apart from recieve or 2m SSB and other than a pair of very tired pocketphones nothing for 70. Some 30 years later when SOTA brought me back into amateur radio the first place I tried was 2m SSB and at home 160m. My efforts on 2m SSB have been a bit limited - probably due to homebrew antennas that electrically work but are mechanically somewhat limited. The first one was a moxon which works but has somewhat disappointing gain. I then built 144MHz 2m Portable Yagi VHF Beam Antenna – M0UKD – Amateur Radio Blog which works brilliantly electrically but the mechanics of keeping the elements in place in anything other than dead calm made the activation more like an exercise in extreme mechano. I am confident that I put out a good signal on 80 / 60 / 40 - but what are the suggestions for 2m horizontal polarisation antenna that will go some way up the pole in more than 1mph wind and stay there, pointing the same way and not changing polarisation? ( PS my lack of current interest in 2m is not helped by a QTH which is surrounded by bigger hills - I’ve only ever managed 1 VHF QSO from home! ). Might try 2m SSB again from Hoove (G/NP-024) as it is a fairly short walk with the mechano and I think has a reasonable take off southwards but would appreciate some antenna suggestions - anyone made a portable HB9CV? When would be a good time to try 2m SSB? Thanks Paul ( PS the same applies to 70cm but more so)
The HB9CV is not very gainy but it does have a very good front-to-back ratio. Makes an ideal fox-hunting antenna.
I’d make 5 ele DK7ZB and then use the bottom sections of an 8m telescopic pole, guy it at two levels, just beneath the antenna and about 1.5m or so. You should be able to get it mounted for typical wind levels with the antenna somewhere around 4m AGL.
You can buy an HB9CV from Moonraker for £34.98, it has about the same gain as a Moxon, but a really sharp null off the back of the beam which is great for nulling out QRM! Another one worth looking at is https://www.sandpiperaerials.com/product/3-element-delta-quad-so239-feed-point/
That’s not a problem for 99.9% percent of the time. An antenna optimised for gain is the best choice for 2m SOTA in my view.
I understand your reasoning, Richard, but I got brassed off at the way the wind controls the beam direction and use a dipole now. The HB9CV has such a wide lobe that it will still give some gain when well off the correct heading, but I used to use one pre-SOTA and got fed up with having to assemble it for use. I like qualifying an activation on 2m but my strategy now is to go equipped for as many bands as possible: I have clip-ons for the 2m dipole that resonate it on 6m, and wire antennas for six bands every time I get a chance to go out.
The key to a good design is to have a beam with as low wind resistance as possible.
A good portable VHF antenna will be fast to assemble too of course.
Indeed, but it is difficult to get past the fact that the windage is greater broadside on than end on. For a contest or field day one can largely control the resulting movement by rigid guying, a stiff pole and perhaps even a rotator but for an activation we need a quick in and out policy, the pole is more flimsy and the guying is more sketchy.
I was just reminded of how damn lucky I am. We need to get away for a bit. I at least get to work 4 days of every 12 days. Poor Moni (N5NHC) has pretty much just stayed home.
So she is planning this outing, we will be departing Friday afternoon, taking the JEEP out for the weekend. So I was asking her where she wanted to go, and she mentioned one of the more difficult 4X4 summits in the Lincoln National Forest. The one I did SOTA on once she says. So I show her on Google Earth, this one?
Her reply. Yes - that one. And remember to bring your SOTA radio along. I sure hit the jackpot the day we met. I am not certain I’ll activate. I might surprise her with a trip to a Ghost Town near there instead of playing radio. But maybe we can do both.
Vy73 – Mike – KD5KC – El Paso, TX.
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