SOTA from South Africa 14 to 16 June 2014

Old Reflector
1

From Secunda comes the news that Gert, ZS6GC, Lucas, ZS6ACT, Sid, ZS5AYC, Adele, ZS5APT, Willie, ZS6WBT, Hoffie, ZS6BAB and Christo, ZR6LJK, will activate Wynberg, MP-005 on Saturday 14 June. On Sunday 15 June, they are planning to activate Kanonkop, MP-007 and there is a possibility of activating Ossewakop, MP-004 on Monday 16 June. They will be active on 7 090, 14 160 kHz and 145.525 MHz after 09:00 CAT on each day.

Sid, ZS6AYC, and Adele, ZS5APT, have indicated that they may activate a few summits later in the week. Sid mention Mount Anderson, MP-002 as a possibility.

Then Dennis, ZS4BS, plans to activate Mount Paul, FS-012 on Saturday 14 June with activity from about 09:30 CAT on 7 090, 14 160 kHz and 145,500 MHz. He is also thinking about activating Platberg, FS-004 on Sunday 15 June.

It is hoped to make the first summit to summit QSO in South Africa on Saturday 14 June.

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In reply to ZS4BS:

Hello Dennis,

Good luck with the S2S attempt and for Gert et.al for the weekend.

Will listen out on 20 and higher bands.

For me, in the SE UK, the bands have been in dreadful shape in the last few days with poor propagation and high noise levels so fingers crossed :wink:

Best wishes
Mike

Edit Update: Just checked my log. I have only two ZS summits - ZS/WC-043 & ZS/EC-012 both on 28Mhz.

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In reply to G6TUH:
Pierre, ZS6A, is going to activate GP-001 from about 07:30 UTC on 7,020 CW and 7,090 SSB. His first attempt at SOTA

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In reply to ZS4BS:
This morning the first Summit to Summit QSO took place in South Africa when Willie, ZS6WBT on ZS/MP-005 made contact with Dennis, ZS4BS on ZS/FS-012. The QSO was on 7 090 kHz SSB at 09:09 UTC.

At 10:13 UTC, Gert, ZS6GC on ZS/MP-005 and Dennis, ZS4BS on ZS/FS-012 made contact on via 437,900 MHz FM via the parrot repeater onboard the High Altitude Balloon Experiment or HABEX which was launched at 05:00 UTC from Klerksdorp airport and flew until about 11:40 UTC traveling about 350 km east of its launch and rising to 22 000 feet +

A great day out!!

5

In reply to ZS4BS:
Hello Dennis,
Good you got the S2S.
Propagation here was variable. 10M band opened up about 0945 for an hour or so - RST 59 - ZS stations here in the SE UK.
Best wishes
Mike