I hasten to add that this is about my personal record! I’m almost certain that 100+ S2S in a day/activation has been achieved by both US and European activators.
The Cloud G/SP-015, Sunday 9th October 2022
The original plan was to get up early and try to catch some VK/ZL/JA S2S/DX. However, I overslept, the effects of recent long overnight drives home from gigs taking their toll! In any case, few if any VK alerts were in place due to inclement weather in that part of the world. In any case, I don’t think the DX conditions were there, with no DX in my log all day - well, apart from EA8 which is technically DX, but never actually feels like it!
Nonetheless, it was a very satisfying activation. I didn’t achieve my personal record; not catching any early VK or late NA S2S put paid to that. 43 S2S is still a decent haul in a single day/activation though, and I think is my third best, after the 63 and 49 recorded on the two days of the HB9SOTA weekend in June 2021.
20m CW S2S
OM/SP6SUD/P on OM/BB-041
OE5EEP/P on OE/KT-215
HB9AFI/P on HB/FR-036
DL/LZ1WF/P on DM/BW-484
9A5YY on 9A/ZH-019
DL/HB9DBM/P on DM/BW-849
SP6F/P on SP/BS-023
SP3LRS/P on SP/SS-008
OM/SP6SUD/P on SP/BB-015
LZ1GJ/P on LZ/SG-010
F/M0DHY/P on F/PE-074
EB2GKK/P on EA2/VI-006
DK2RO/P on DM/BM-356
OK8JOE/P on OK/US-033
F/DH5ST/P on FL/VO-023
20m SSB S2S
CT7ABG/P on CT/MN-045
S56LXN/P on S5/BR-006
CT2GSN/P on CT/MN-045
SQ9MDF/P on SP/KA-002
DG9MDM/P on DL/CG-118
OE5JFE/P on OE/OO-360
IK5VYZ/P on I/TO-149
OE5VVM/P on OE/OO-106
HB9HBU/P on HB/BE-138
HB9HBV/P on HB/BE-138
9A6CW on 9A/DH-011
HA7NB/P on HA/EM-115
SP9LPK/P on SP/BZ-002
MW0PJE/P on GW/MW-026
OE6NOA/P on OE/ST-092
F4HJE/P on FL/VO-102
HB9FUE/P on HB/AG-003
DB7MM/P on DM/BM-296
DL2KL/P on DM/BM-271
LA9DSA/P on LA/MR-576
HB175RAIL on HB/SO-010
DM5TM/P on DM/BW-131
SO9P/P on SP/BZ-036
MW0PJE/P on GW/NW-061
20m FT8 S2S
MW0PJE/P on GW/MW-026
2m FM S2S
M7BIA/P on G/SP-013
MW0PJE/P on GW/NW-061
A good haul! Will you be uploading your logs to the SOTA database? I see you haven’t uploaded since August and I’d really like to look through your logs e.g. to see what times you have worked which parts of the world.
Yes! I am trying to catch up. I have a CSV file on the go at home, but every time I add some more activator logs to it, it seems I do more activations in the meantime, and it gets further behind! I need to get it done though as it appears that I have done 9 less activator uniques than Jimmy, and that I have lost considerable ground on John @g4tqe and Martin @2E0BIA in the G S2S Honour Roll! I need to urgently correct the record
It was interesting working on a summit next to you (G/SP-013). In this situation headphones are not advised LOL. Our logs on 20m are very similar. It is interesting to see only one FT8 S2S, is this a common occurrence? How many activators are using it?
Yesterday I was working with the 20m vertical you introduced me to, but with only one radial. As I mentioned I did away with the guys and was using a fishing rod holder. It worked really well, but I did miss not being able to swap bands when 20m went quiet. I normally use a linked dipole 20/40 or a SuperAntenna.
No, not at all common! The proportion of activators using using datamodes is tiny, in total contrast to AR overall, where FT8 alone enjoys more than 50% of all activity.
There is a handful of us using FT4/FT8 at present. The SOTA Database shows that just 13 activators worldwide have logged datamode S2S QSOs in the current year.
Ahh, good to see amateurs moving onto these more efficient modes. About time we stopped these waffling voice qso’s taking up activator’s valuable time and stopping chasers claiming their points
Before I get deluged, this is a tongue in cheek comment that refers to an activation of the cloud by Tom (Sat 8th) which consisted of one qso (with myself) that probably lasted about 20 minutes (maybe longer). After hearing Tom’s ‘QRZ’ after ending the qso, I’m sure I heard a
P.S It was a very interesting discussion.
P.P.S My record (I think) is 15 s-t-s which was an entire region (G/SP) except the summit was on.
What seems to missing from Tom’s reports nowadays is the soup information. I’m sure that the soup has some effect on Tom’s ability to stay QRV for longer. Though I was down in Derbyshireland this weekend and it was notably warmer than up here North of Moscow. It was positively balmy at 650ft ASL and was pleasant mooching about outside in a T-shirt.
Sorry Colin, I meant to but things are a bit upside down here and so I forgot. I’ll have a butcher’s later on and see what the scores on the doors are.
I have one. It’s traditionally known as “obesity”.
Quality, not quantity!
Most of my last 200 or so reports haven’t been written yet. By the time I get around to it I’ll have long forgotten the flavour of soup - or if indeed soup was involved at all. Though my M.O. has changed quite a lot. Because of the cost of living crisis, most of my activations are on the way to something else - work, football match or family visits - so tend to be not of the “day out” style. When out on full blown SOTA trips with @M0HGY , we tend to be prioritising adding multiple uniques each day - so easy to call by a shop between summits for something to eat.
My money is on @KT5X , @HB9DST or @HB9BIN , with the total being well into three figures.
As a specialist in s2s, I find it easier to comparatively look at points s2s in a day. Outside EU, my personal record is 328 points in a day, dwarfed by WA7JTM, who has dozens more in a day… but still short of 400. Can I assume that someone, somewhere has over 400 points s2s in a day?
In the process of doing so, I found that OK4KOP/P on OK/JM-145 was GMA, not SOTA. I’m sure it was spotted as a SOTA on SOTAwatch on the day (9/10/2022), so maybe others have been told a firm “NO!” from the Database, as I was a few moments ago!
But then FT8 lends itself to sessions of several hours at a time probably more than the legacy modes. I’m not sure what the unit measurement is in the assessment that FT8 accounts for more than 50% of all AR activity. Though personally, I expect it would hold true whether measured in time elapsed OR the number of individual QSOs.
Where it certainly doesn’t hold true, is within the sphere of SOTA, where all datamodes combined (FT4/FT8, RTTY, PSK, SSTV, JT65 et al) account for a miniscule (around 0.5%) proportion of activity.
