SOTA NEWS - JULY 2014
EDITORIAL – by Roy G4SSH
Welcome to the July 2014 edition of SOTA News. My thanks go to the following contributors:- Barry GM4TOE, Skip K6GDW, Allen VK3HRA, Edward WA3WSJ, Paul HB9DST, Mikel EA2CW, Ignacio EA2BD, Mark G0VOF, Kevin G0NUP, Rob and Audrey G4RQJ, Phil G4OBK, Nick G4OOE.
SOTA AWARDS FOR JUNE 2014 by Barry GM4TOE - SOTA Awards Manager
Congratulations to two new Mountain Goats, K0MOS and K1JD, and to the Shack Sloths VK6MB, VK3ZPF, VK5BJE, 2E1HTG and VK2JNG. Don, G0RQL has reached the 50k Chaser level and is closely pursued by N4EX on the 45k level. Mikel, EA2CW has now achieved the Platinum Mountain Hunter level and Barry, M0IML, the Gold Summit to Summit award.
Well done to all these, and all the other, claimants for SOTA awards.
Trophies
Mountain Goat
K0MOS Matthias Schnizer
K1JD John G de Primo
Shack Sloth
VK6MB Mike Beall
VK3ZPF Peter Fraser
VK5BJE John Dawes
Certificates claimed
Activator
OE6KYG Klaus Koppendorfer 500 points
VK1NAM Andrew Moseley 500 points
ON6ZQ Christophe David 250 points
EA2CW Mikel Berrocal 100 points
DD5LP Ed Durrant 100 points
Chaser
G0RQL Don Roomes 50000 points
N4EX Rich Homolya 45000 points
PA0WLB William Dekker 30000 points
OZ4RT John Arnvig 30000 points
M0IML Barry Vile 15000 points
ON6ZQ Christophe David 10000 points
VK5PAS Paul Simmonds 5000 points
2E1HTG Steve Hall 1000 points
VK2JNG Gerard Elijzen 1000 points
VK6MB Mike Beall 1000 points
VK5BJE John Dawes 1000 points
VK3IL David Giddy 500 points
VK6MB Mike Beall 500 points
G1FOA Peter J. Franklin 250 points
K2TL James J. Matis 100 points
K6QCB Jeffrey B. Widen 100 points
Chaser Unique
OZ4RT John Arnvig 4000 summits
W0MNA Gary Auchard 2000 summits
ON6ZQ Christophe David 1500 summits
Mountain Hunter
EA2CW Mikel Berrocal Platinum
DD5LP Ed Durrant Silver
VK3ARR Andrew Ryan Bronze
K2TL James J. Matis Bronze
VK6MB Mike Beall Bronze
VK5NIG Nigel Freeston Bronze
KJ6MBW Sergey Shitov Bronze
ON6ZQ Christophe David Bronze
Mountain Explorer
VK3ARR Andrew Ryan Bronze
M1MAJ Martyn Johnson Bronze
M3ZCB Caroline Blackmun Bronze
ON6ZQ Christophe David Bronze
Summit to Summit
M0IML Barry Vile Gold
VK3ASC Mark Withers Bronze
DD5LP Ed Durrant Bronze
The stock situation for Mountain Goat trophies has now been resolved and, if you are waiting on delivery, they should be with you shortly as all current claims are now with the engraver.
Stocks of merchandise are quite good, with the exception of Large T shirts and Polo shirts, so if you find your chosen colour is not available my apologies. I will shortly re-stock but prefer to reach minimum order levels to ensure the best price for the purchase (which means the price to you is also kept competitive).
I had hoped to announce the start of the new microwave award in collaboration with the UK Microwave Group but I still need to finalise details with them. This award will be a change from other SOTA awards in that it will be distance based from and to SOTA summits rather than summit points based although any qualifying contacts will also be valid for normal SOTA awards. When this is finalised I will make an announcement on the reflector but the award will be valid from 1 July 2014 so you can go out and start making contacts on any band from 23cm upwards knowing that they will qualify for the award. Please note that, for distance measuring purposes, the locator reference for each end of the contact will be required (both activator and chaser will need this) and the award will be equally available to activators and chasers provided one end of the contact is on a SOTA summit.
Design of award certificates for the 12m Challenge is now underway. Andy will process the results once he returns from Friedrichshafen and we will proceed with making certificates available shortly after that. Details will be published on the reflector.
Finally, I have said this before but it appears that the message has not got through; when you place an order for awards or merchandise the website sends you an automatic email confirmation. Provided you receive this confirmation then your order has been received and will be processed. If you do not get a confirmation email then please contact me because an error may have occurred. Grump over!
I would like to get out and activate; Monday I have a window of opportunity, the weather man says the weather will be warm and sunny – so why is it 8 degrees Centigrade and pouring with rain?
73
Barry GM4TOE
SOTA Awards Manager
PUERTO RICO NEWS
I have been contacted by a ham in Puerto Rico and asked to assist them in starting a SOTA Puerto Rico Association. I’m the SOTA W3 Manager.
I’m in the process of creating a SOTA Association for Puerto Rico - KP4.
I’ve been working with SOTA England and all is coming together rather well.
KP4 might be ready by August/September sometime.
73,
Edward R. Breneiser, WA3WSJ
SOTA W3 Mgr.
What of the (SOTA) future? - 4. Roy G4SSH
Couples could soon get married on SOTA mountain tops under plans to legalise wedding venues in the UK.
There are presently two types of marriage in England and Wales; religious ceremonies in places of worship and civil ceremonies in register offices or other specially registered places such as hotels or hospitals. Now the Government is considering a third type.
Current law states that weddings must takes place in a building, however the Ministry of Justice said that all restrictions could soon be lifted. One proposal is to allow couples to be married “anywhere meaningful to the couple” including outdoors.
Male SOTA activators could soon be seen striding out in top hat and tails, but the ladies may need some assistance when attempting to cross Striding Edge in a wedding dress.
EA2 NEWS - June 2014 by Mikel EA2CW
The main activity of this month in our association was the first “SOTA EGUNA” (SOTA Day) celebrated on June 15th with a popular activation of Mt Saibi EA2/BI-014 followed by a lunch. If you know the Basque traditions, we cannot celebrate anything if we don’t eat properly, then later drinking, and perhaps some singing as well.
It was more a meeting of SOTA followers than a real activation. Although there were 5 stations on the air working on H,V and UHF, SSB, CW, FM, and PSK, 67 QSO’s were made in one hour, using the callsign EG2SOA (for Summits On Air").
We were lucky to have among us our three Mountain Goats Iratxe EA2DNO, Alberto EA2DCA and Javi EB2FDT, and of course some of our Shack Sloths, and also prolific activators, as Patricio EA2EX, Antonio EC2AG, Roberto EA2DXY, Marcial EA2BDS, etc.
The ascent was chosen to be easy as there were many children with us, and we took about 45 min to reach the summit of 946 ASL with a hike of aprox 1,5 km.
The participants, in some cases accompanied by family members, were:
(Callsign, Name, City, Assoc)
EC2AG Antonio, Barakaldo, EA2/BI
EB1CU Andoni, Castro-Urdiales, EA1/CT
EA2DR Hipólito, Durango, EA2/BI
EA2EX Patricio, Getxo, EA2/BI
EA2BDS Marcial, Bilbao, EA2/BI
EA2DXY Roberto, Arrasate, EA2/SS
EA2DYS Alberto, Arrasate, EA2/SS
EA2CIA Iñaki, Vitoria-Gasteiz, EA2/VI
EA2EBX Cruz, Laguardia/Biasteri, EA2/VI
EA2CQ Iñigo, Vitoria/Gasteiz, EA2/VI
EA2EEB Juancar, Tolosa, EA2/SS
EA2EHK Tere, Tolosa, EA2/SS
EA2DCA Alberto, Durango, EA2/BI
EA2DNO Iratxe, Durango, EA2/BI
EB2FDT Javier, Mendaro, EA2/SS
EA2CW Mikel, Bilbao, EA2/BI
A brief report and some photos of the activation can be seen at:
It might be also emphasized the following activations made on this month:
On June 7th, Iratxe EA2DNO, Alberto EA2DCA, Alberto EA2DYS, Gotzon EA2CSC and Roberto EA2DXY, made Mt Moncayo EA2/ZG-001, 2316, the “roof” of EA2/ZG.
On June 21th Hiru Erregen Mahaia (The table of the Three Kings) EA2/NV-001, the highest summit of Euskal Herria was activated by Alberto EA2DYS. Perhaps this next weekend (at the moment of writing this) Guru EA2IF has also achieved it.
In summary, this month, 23 EA2 activators have made 79 activations and, no less important, 54 chasers of our association have carried out over 1500 “chases” all over the bands.
We all hope that this level of activity will continue in EA2, enjoying such a funny hobby as linking radio and mountain is.
73 de Mikel EA2CW
News from HB9SOTA: from Paul HB9DST
Cowbell Trophy and English-language resources
The HB9SOTA website has a new subsection in English (main menu, rightmost selection). With this, we are introducing two new items of interest to activators and chasers.
- Cowbell Trophy for HB9SOTA Edelweiss Award Winners
Many Associations give certificates to mark achievements, but we have gone a step further. In addition to a certificate, winners of the Edelweiss Award (activators and chasers) are qualified to purchase the HB9SOTA Cowbell. It is a truly authentic trophy that will make a handsome addition to any bookshelf (see a photo of the cowbell on the website). It is hand-made in Switzerland. The bell itself, cast in bronze, is 8 cm in diameter and has images of Switzerland’s most popular wildflowers. The leather red belt with the Swiss cross comes from the hide of cows in the local region. Overall height with the belt is 19 cm. The cost of the bell itself is CHF 50.00 plus shipping (which varies by country). The HB9SOTA Cowbell is ordered directly from the manufacturer (Glockengiesserei Berger in the town of Bärau in the Emmental region of Switzerland, which is also famous for Emmentaler cheese).
- Resources
To aid visitors to Switzerland, we have added several items that should be of interest to them. One is a list of “cable car summits” for summer activations that are within an easy hike of the summit station; besides cable cars and ski lifts, this also includes cog railways/funiculars.
Next, several of our members write reports of interesting activations in English, and we have collected links to such reports in the Resources section.
Finally, several members have collected information about possible places to park your car when activating a summit. Note: the approaches were done in part with a motorcycle, and there is no guarantee that the given starting points can always be reached or parked at with a car.
73 Paul
HB9DST
VK NEWS - from Allen VK3HRA
Winter is in full flight with rain and snow. Recent snow falls have been the best for years. Enthusiastic activators are braving the elements seeking opportunities to exploit the seasonal bonus.
Mark VK3ASC activated VK3/VE-129 with SSTV on 40m and 30m. Checkout what VK2YK (Adam) and VK2DAG (Matt) received from a summit.
Two new Shack Sloths this month with VK1MBE (Andrew) and VK5BJE (John).
VK1NAM (Andrew) crossed 500 activator points and Peter VK3PF crossed
8000 Chaser points.
MTR in VK
The MTR v2 builds are finishing in VK. There are a couple of devices that have been on the air and several in the alignment and testing stage. Whilst there are radios from Steve (KD1JV) currently in use, we are still waiting on the first SOTA activation using a MTR v2 device.
Whilst the build stage provided challenges, the greatest obstacle now appears to be the CW skills of the operators.
Upcoming VK1 Activation Day
Keep an ear out for the VK1 SOTA Party mass activations scheduled for Sunday 27 July 2014 with 12 summits currently scheduled for activation.
Contact Andrew VK1NAM for more info…
VK1 SOTA is planning a mass simultaneous activation of VK1 and nearby
VK2 summits on Sunday morning 27 July 2014, weather permitting.
Planned activations are as follows: (updated 28 June 2014) • Matt VK1MA, Black Mountain, VK1/AC-042 • Ian VK1DI, Mt Coree, VK1/AC-023 • Al VK1RX, Mt Tennent, VK1/AC-025 • Mark VK1EM, Mt Stromlo, VK1/AC-043 • Andrew VK2FAJG, Tuggeranong Hill, VK1/AC-038 • Andrew VK1DA & Andrew VK1NAM, Castle Hill (private property) VK1/AC-032 • Andrew VK1MBE, will join in from VK4 • Tony VK1VIC, Mt Taylor, VK1/AC-037 • Compton VK2HRX and XYL, Mt McDonald, VK1/AC-048 • Paul VK1PAW, Mt Ainslie, VK1/AC-040 • Phil VK2JDL, TBA (possibly Booroomba Rocks, VK1/AC-026) • Robert VK1RW, One Tree Hill, VK1/AC-035, 2m only
If you would like to join in on the SOTA Party contact Andrew, VK1NAM.
We have the potential to create a VK SOTA Party and will be welcoming DX chasers.
VK5 Activation Day.
VK5PAS (Paul), VK5BJE (John) with VK5NIG (Nigel) had organised and hosted an introduction day to operating portable. The day was targeting amateurs who have an interest in SOTA & parks activations, but for whatever reason had not previously attempted an activation, and those who wanted to pick up a few more operating tips.
The day started with SOTA activation of Mount Lofty, followed by a parks
activation at Belair National Park. The site chosen (Belair National
Park) qualified for both the VK5 National & Conservation Parks award, and the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program.
13 operators took the opportunity to be introduced to portable operations with Tony VK5FTVR, Mark VK5FMRK, Victor VK5KAB, Chris VK4FR/5, Graham VK5GW, David VK5NQP, Patrick VK5MPJ and his dad Bob VK5FO, Ray VK5RR, Steve VK5AIM, Keith VK5OQ, Nigel VK5NIG all having a go.
Most walked away from the day, amazed with what 5 watts and a simple little antenna can achieve.
VK3 Dinner.
Again VK3 hosted a SOTA dinner at the Leighoak in Oakleigh. This was well attended with new and older players. VK3IL (David) brought his recently completed MTR v2 radio. Active discussions were had around future plans and recent DX contacts. Attended by - VK3JBL (Andrew), VK3BQ (Andrew), VK3FOWL (Julie), VK3YSP (Joe), VK3WAM (Wayne), VK3AFW (Ron), VK3MRG (Marshall), VK3YY (Glenn), VK3IL (David) , VK3HRA (Allen)
73’s for now,
VK3HRA Allen
CANADA / U.S. REPORT by Skip K6DGW
Reporting live, from Canada and the US, it’s the North American SOTA report! OK, been watching too much World Cup, sorry Mexico lost, they’re us too, just no SOTA associations … yet.
EDITORIAL: I try not to express personal opinions here, I don’t think that’s my role, but I need to weigh in on the SOTAWatch website and database. I’ve seen a lot of websites [been around a long time], and I’ve interacted with a great number of them. I cannot name another website that is so packed with information, and yet so easy to understand and use, as SOTAWatch. The database just works, period. My hat is off to all who make this happen, not only is it a technical achievement, it’s an artistic design achievement too.
STATISTICS:
Summer makes activations more attractive in most of NA, then again it can get really hot in the south and southwest, and the mid-section of the continent has been getting some very violent weather. It’s also vacation season “holiday” for those across the Atlantic], so things are down some this month.
NORTH AMERICA TOTALS
Total Activations: 358 [408]
Nr Unique Activators: 112 [136]
Total Chaser QSOs: 1263 [5907]
Nr Unique Chasers: 135 [220]
Unique Summits: 481 [313]
2m: 23 (1%) [153]
6m: 0 (0%) [7]
10m: 3 (0%) [20]
12m: 10 (0%) [577]
15m: 36 (2%) [556]
17m: 64 (5%) [246]
20m: 874 (69%) [2869]
30m: 53 (4%) [322]
40m: 197 (15%) [1152]
60m: 1 (0%) [1]
80m: 0 (0%) [0]
160m: 0 (0%) [1]
Unk: 2
CW: 912 (72%) [4461]
SSB: 327 (25%) [1283]
FM: 21 (1%) [155]
AM: 0 (0%) [4]
Data: 2 (0%) [2]
Other: 1 (0%) [2]
Unk: 2
Ignore ther “Unk’s”, still haven’t fixed that.
AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS:
Frandy, N2FJ [signing NE1SJ] reports: “Congratulations to Jim/KK1W! Our S2S QSO this morning gave him his 10,000th chaser point and Super Sloth status. He was on Steerage Rock W1/CR-016 and I was on Quabbin Hill W1/CR-013. The weather was great, too.”
NEWS:
Elliott, K6EL, offers this history and some possible “Ionosphere Awards”:
“First NA goat, KT5X on 9-14-12. Almost first, W1DMH two days later.
The sequence, KT5X, W1DMH, KE6AKL, NM5S, NA6MG, WA2USA, KD5ZZK, WA7JTM, KI4SVM, N1EU, KØMOS, K1JD.”
“The first and last MG’s in NA are both FOC members. The highest climber at nearly 9.70 points per peak without bonus is K1JD. The fewest bonus points needed was WA2USA. The most overkill after reaching MG is KE5AKL, very close to 2,500 points activating. The farthest from home when reaching 1,000: KI4SVM and KØMOS, both in Germany. Slowest
start: K1JD with only 2 climbs his first year. Fastest finish: K1JD with four 10-pointers on the last day.”
“Tortoise and Hare: fastest to 1,000 is NA6MG at less than 9 months.
Also fast: WA7JTM at 10.8 months. Most casual: KØMOS at 35.5 months, only five days faster than K1JD.”
“Best videos: WGØAT. Best still photos: 5-way tie starting with KØMOS.”
And from Curtis, KC5CW:
“There are list of cars, lists of stars, and lists of the 50 most interesting people but in the SOTA world, we have the 50 Most Popular Summits and guess what? I’m sure you already knew but I wanted to bring it up to those of us who think we hike up a lot of summits…
you my friend have singlehandedly brought the little 1 pointer in the middle of San Francisco to international distinction.”
http://www.sotadata.org.uk/topsummits.aspx
“The only summit on that list that is in North American is in the #37 spot entirely because of a half years worth of daily up and down ‘Mt. Elliott’ (aka Mt Davidson). If anyone is confused by the K6ILM call that shows up… you can mark the calendar with when he got his new EL call sign by that log. Sometime between June 11, 2013 and June 14.”
“I can vouch that Elliott is in phenomenal shape because of it… On my last hike with him, I was breathing enough for both of us as we went up and he probably had a pulse of 55.”
Bob, K0NR, reminds us:
"June is flying by so time to get ready for the 2014 Colorado 14er Event on August 3rd. Remember that we are including operation from all Summits On The Air (SOTA) peaks that day. This really opens up the options for getting on the air from a high spot.
“Event information is here: http://www.ham14er.org”
“Colorado SOTA information is here: http://www.w0c-sota.org”
“Please list your intended operating plans here:
Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos”
And finally, Etienne, K7ATN, announced the Mt. Hood Summit-to-Summit party on 23 Aug. Details can be found on the web at
www.pnwsota.org/content/mount-hood-s2s-party-23-august
MOUNTAIN HUNTER AWARD: Crafting rules, like legislation, can be very hard. Andrew, KE5AKL, has uncovered a small problem in that W5M [Mississippi] has only one SOTA summit and thus cannot be used for the Mountain Hunter Award. W5M may be the only association in SOTA that has but one qualified p100 summit.
Mike, KD5KC, advises that the MT is aware, however making adjustments in the database that doesn’t foul up something else is tricky at best.
Mike also believes that there may be one or two more summits in W5M that could qualify, but it will require some in-depth research to determine.
Stay tuned.
That’s going to be it for July, I’m already late getting this to Roy.
Thanks to all of my contributors, everyone north of the equator have a safe and fun summer, Allen and all of his mates can look forward to their summer in six months.
73,
Skip K6DGW
Canada/US SOTA Reporter Dude
INTERNATIONAL JOINT ACTIVATION EA2/NV-148 by Ignacio EA2BD
In a recent activation I had the joy of a S2S QSO with Franz, EA2/OE6WIG/P. What a surprise to have a OE SOTA friend in our land… I suggested that we do a joint activation and luckily he stayed near my town long enough to do it.
On June 11th we decided to give EA2/NV-148 a try. I called Santi EA2BSB who accepted the invitation to join us. We drove and met Franz at the entrance of a village close to this summit, early that afternoon.
It is a nice feeling to meet a guy who you haven’t met before, and find that you have a close link because of the SOTA interest. I don’t think it would work if we just had chatted by Internet; it works differently when you speak by the radio with an OM friend… That’s amateur radio fellowship!
After a short drive up the hill we left the car and continued the way up with a very interesting chat, interchanging anecdotes. We all have had funny stories, in good and bad situations or doh moments because of the silly lack of a component that put a scheduled activation in the bin.
We reached the summit and after a short photo session Franz deployed his SOTA rig. I put up a vertical VHF antenna and Santi assembled his VHF yagi too. The weather was a bit threatening and the HF bands were noisy with static crashes, but Franz started CQ’ing on 20m SSB and he soon grabbed the 4 QSO’s.
I had less luck on VHF with just a single QSO, so I erected a new antenna that I’m working on, a Delta loop for 40m. Tests were unsuccessful with a high SWR so I quit and dismantled it in order to check the system back home. It was the next day at home when I discovered I had a wrong setting in my FT817 by-passing the right outlet antenna connector, thus the high SWR…
Back on the summit, Franz offered me a turn in his rig, where I QSY’d to 20m CW and had no problems reaching the target and some more contacts; his IC-703 did the job well.
Meanwhile Santi was struggling to get an S2S QSO by trying to find the right beam angle towards a distant summit. He climbed up to the trig point and tried desperately, until finally the other OM heard him. We then jumped from our seat and joined him, ensuring that the trig point was momentarily converted into the famous movie scene of the Marx brothers (the crowded ship’s cabin, if you’re old enough you’ll recall it…).
It was late afternoon when we packed up. To celebrate the success of the triple activation we had some snacks and drank a toast with a Rioja wine. We did the last pictures and left the summit.
Franz gave us all a QSL card. It was such a pleasure to work with him and so nice to meet colleagues from other places. We agreed to meet again if he travelled close to us in the future.
You can see some photos in Ignacio | Flickr
They are entitled as EA2/NV-148
Thanks all chasers and I look forward to checking the Delta loop soon. CU in the summits,
Cheerio.
Ignacio EA2BD
10 DAY EU SOTA TOUR by Phil G4OBK and Nick G4OOE.
Phil and Nick embarked on a 10 day European SOTA Tour when they visited the Ham Radio Fair at Friedrichshafen.
As we went to press on the morning of the 30th June SOTA News received a phone call from Phil G4OBK and Nick G4OOE mobile, with the following statistics.
Total number of QSO’s made = 1502
Summits activated = 27
Worked all Continents, including VK
They are now on their way home, intending to activate two more ON summits and a final French summit on their way to Dunkirk/Dover.
I am sure that chasers really appreciated the expedition and the effort which went into ensuring that at least 3 bands and two modes were used on every activation.
SOTA ON TOP BAND - Mark G0VOF
Hello everyone & welcome to this month’s edition of SOTA on Top Band.
Three activators took to the band this month from five different summits. Despite long hours of daylight successful QSO’s took place.
At the beginning of the month John G4YSS embarked on a tour of summits in the English Lake District with some top band activity thrown in. On Monday 2nd June John activated G/LD-004 Skiddaw using the Scarborough Special Events Group callsign GX0OOO/P. After a few QSO’s on 80m he linked his tuneable loading coils & was rewarded with three QSO’s on 160m, two using CW & one using SSB. Following top band John went on to have QSO’s on 10m, 40m & 2m.
John’s second summit of this tour was activated on Tuesday 3rd June when he visited G/LD-024 Pike of Blisco. John made one CW top band QSO from this summit after a good run on 40m. After this he went on to have QSO’s on 10m, 2m & 4m.
The third summit on Wednesday 4th June was G/LD-020 Dale Head with again one CW QSO on top band between runs on 40m & 2m. John also activated G/LD-001 Scafell Pike on Thursday 5th June, but opted to leave out top band to save weight & make activating England’s highest peak a little easier in less than ideal weather.
John has provided a very comprehensive report on his tour which is well worth a read. It can be found here:
http://www.sotawatch.org/reflector.php?topic=9558#foot
The next top band activation took place on Saturday 7th June when Zoli HA2PP/P activated HA/KD-003 Középsö-Hajag. As with last months activation Zoli opted to activate after dark & he was rewarded with good conditions on the band. This activation also took place on the weekend of HF CW Field day & no fewer than five of his six CW QSO’s were with portable stations.
The final activation on 160m took place on Thursday 26th June when Heinz HB9BCB/P activated HB/AI-007 Kronberg. Heinz started off on top band & was rewarded with a CW QSO with HB9BYZ before further QSO’s on 15m, 20m, & 40m.
Thanks & well done to John, Zoli & Heinz.
At the time of writing, those were the only Top band activations during June that I am aware of, if I have missed any others please let me know.
On 2 June, John GX0OOO/P Activated G/LD-004 Skiddaw & made 3 QSO’s (2 CW / 1 SSB)
On 3 June, John GX0OOO/P Activated G/LD-024 Pike of Blisco & made 1 QSO’s (1 CW / 0 SSB)
On 4 June, John GX0OOO/P Activated G/LD-020 Dale Head & made 1 QSO’s (1 CW / 0 SSB)
On 7 June, Zoli HA2PP/P Activated HA/KD-003 Középsö-Hajag & made 6 QSO’s (6 CW / 0 SSB)
On 26 June, Heinz HB9BCB/P Activated HB/AI-007 Kronberg & made 1 QSO’s (1 CW / 0 SSB)
As always, If you do have any suggestions on things that you think should be included, or if you wish to contribute tips, ideas or anything else that you think may help others on the band please email them to me at mark@brownhill.demon.co.uk
Until next month,
Best 73,
Mark G0VOF
THE VIEW FROM THE NORTH - 67 - by Rob and Audrey G4RQJ
A fair forecast for the 1st so straight in and a walk up Great Knoutberry Hill which lies between Dent (not the Dent in the west of Cumbria) and Garsdale in the Yorkshire Dales.
The area was featured in a recent Time Team programme on TV and involved excavation of a former navvies camp high on the hillside used during the building of the railway track In the 1800’s this was a wild place where families lived, worked and died in often appalling conditions and weather. Everything moved on with the railhead and virtually nothing is left today except the tracks and tunnels, all still in action. Dent station is high on the hillside a good distance and climb from the village and arriving late at night would be a daunting prospect. The fell road from Garsdale to Dent is the access route of choice. It is, of course a steep single track road with passing places. Known as the Coal Road as there was much mining hereabout but no signs nowadays it passes through SD 779881 where a wide gated bridle path heads south. There is room here for several cars.
The Coal Road is a popular climb for road cyclists so care may be needed on the drive up. Take the bridle way to SD777874 then a couple of farm gates lead through small pens out onto the open fell side and a path loosely beside the fence to the summit. Loosely because in winter the path can be very boggy and requires quite a lot of deviation. Your progress will be watched by the stone men located on Pikes Edge. Old cairns, they dominate the landscape and one, a tall figure with folded arms appears to turn to follow your progress but when examined close up is just a pile of stones. There is a trig on the summit and a stone seat which may well double as a man trap, so precarious are the head high stones on the top of the back. Plenty of room and super views although the wind always seems to blow along the wall rather than into it, offering little shelter. Today a great activation, three hours in shirt sleeves for the first time in a long time!
See a lot of complaint about operating standards, we never seem to find much trouble in this direction, maybe the answer is to run QRP to a simple antenna in the rain and work everyone who wants a contact.
The forecast has thunder and lightening on offer for this weekend, the 8th so we decide on Muncaster Fell which proves to be a good choice with wall to wall sunshine all day. This little hill is a treasure, plenty of space and a free toilet at Muncaster Castle, a popular tourist attraction which would amuse any non-walkers in your party (the castle not the toilet). They used to have an honesty box for parking but it seems to have vanished but we have never been asked to pay. The Fool of Muncaster in ancient times was said to be the original Court Jester. Tom Fools party trick was to sit by the road and talk to passing lost travellers. Those he did not like he directed across the sands where they were taken by the tide or the quicksand which was considered great fun in those days so beware of advice from strangers in these parts.
On the walk do take a look at the pretty tarn which is bordered with water lilies at this time of year. The final bit of ascent is a mountain in miniature with a trig, no shelter but plenty of places to hide from the weather all round. The summit is not easy to qualify on VHF, particularly on weekdays and it is advisable to have HF as a fallback. Today as we were operating we were joined by a chap who introduced himself as a new license holder Mike M6MIG. Enthralled by SOTA, we chatted for quite a long time, so much so that his xyl who was with him when they arrived but had walked on phoned him to find out where he was. Welcome to SOTA Mike, it’s addictive.
This weekend the 15th we decided on Fair Snape Fell in a bid to avoid the cloud forecast for Lakeland. The popular start point for this one is Fell Foot in the neighbourhood of Chipping but this is the Chipping triangle where all is never where you think it is. Set your sat nav for Startifants Lane, not a misprint. The climb starts from the north east end of the lane with some parking space up the hill Today there was cloud on the hill and we did our usual contour to the right about two thirds of the way up Parlick, the outlying fell. This route contours Parlick and rejoins the main route at a stile at Wolf Fell saving a bit of effort
The summit was in cloud, but we set up and were operating happily for some time when a couple emerged from the gloom with that awful question “Is this the way down?†After some guesswork they decided they wanted Chipping and thought they were on Parlick rather than Fair Snape Fell, navigating by a scrap of paper torn from a magazine. We finally dispatched them to the wall that runs towards Parlick with instructions to turn right when they reached the wall and follow it and the later fence line to the summit and then apply the instructions on their piece of paper. It may be nice to follow magazine routes but why are they always circular, leading to this situation? As we packed the gear for our descent the mist thickened to drizzle, soon be clear of it, no need for waterproofs, how wrong can you be. Instant heavy rain soaked the whole show but at least as we squelched our way down we did not come across our lost friends so assume they survived.
Sunday 22nd and a great day forecast so off to Stony Cove Pike a great walk from the FREE car park at the summit of Kirkstone Pass. If you don’t like stone steps then at the first big break in the wall cross it and contour up on pleasant grass slopes. The route is not well defined and requires a bit of spotting, not for mist. On the summit the activation was a pleasure but must apologise for the awful CW on 20m. Nowadays I can run quite happily at speed for ages then suddenly my operating falls off a cliff, copy becomes difficult and sending rhythm is lost completely and constant mistakes have to be corrected resulting in even more errors. I’m no spring chicken of course and suspect it might be due to brain fade. Any of our CW experts encountered this? Is it like glass arm, glass brain maybe but sorry to the chasers on 20m, I had done 40m and 30m ok before the onset.
Next summits from us should be from GD. Time for our annual visit, so look out for us there in the first two weeks of July. We hope to do all five summits at least twice and as usual there will be a free certificate to all those who work us at least once from all five.
Activations may be any day, almost any time and alerts should be possible. HF bands 60m to 30m and 2m SSB and FM, all as conditions allow. Visits may be quite long as we will use our half tent on the larger ones.
All for now, hope to work lots of you from GD.
Take care out there
73
Rob and Audrey
G4RQJ
(Note from the Editor)
Amongst professional operators it is a well known fact that continuous use of one Morse key will eventually lead to mistakes. You can happily speed along at 20-25 wpm sending perfect characters; then one day your timing falls off a cliff edge and you make numerous mistakes. You feel as though the person at the other end will think they are communicating with the village idiot. The remedy is to change the key, where the different gap space and spring tension will breathe new life into your performance.
This cycle will repeat itself in a few months time when you can revert to the first key - Roy G4SSH
(Also be aware that certain types of paddle key have a reputation for inserting extra dots at random. It is not always your fault).
CW REPORT FOR JUNE 2014 - by Roy G4SSH
The mid-summer doldrums certainly lived up to their name during the month of June, with poor and variable propagation on most bands. The lower bands in particular suffered from a heavy background noise (QRN) which also included heavy fading (QSB). It was pretty common for a chaser to lose contact with an activator mid-QSO. Fortunately conditions did seems to be improving slightly during the last week in the month.
During the recent DL tour by Nick G4OOE and Phil G4OBK, I was acting as SOTA liaison station, receiving information about their next activation and placing a spot on SOTA Watch, alerting chasers to the fact that the next reference would be active in about 10 minutes; this ensured that Nick and Phil had chasers waiting and did not have to waste valuable battery power calling CQ.
The system worked well, but I was amazed at the number of chasers who saw my spot and immediately started sending their call on the frequency given. I realise that some chasers have a SOTA Watch display that does not show the “comments” line, but even so what is the point of calling blind when you have not even heard the activator? Strangely enough it was always the same few callsigns every time.
Lapland tour.
Marko OH9XX was active from OH/KU area at the start of the month, then from 3rd to 4th June from the OH/SL area. There was no (or very limited) GSM coverage in this area near the Russian border, so Marko was unable to spot himself. He was also very active in the OH/KI area towards the end of the month, with mainly 10 pointers.
John GX0OOO was active on a tour of LD summits.
Dave EI/G4ASA and EJ/G4ASA were in Ireland and on Great Blasket Island during their annual summer pilgrimage.
Robin continued to activated 9H1RA from Malta & Gozo.
Norby LX1NO was active on the 7th, 9th, 14th and 15th.
Stephan DM1LE active from many summits 12-14th.
Sake was very active during the last few days of the month as DL/PA0SKP
The start of mid-summer and the annual Friedrichshafen weekend saw very many cross-border activations during the month. Stations heard active outside their own country included:-
DL/HB9AGO, DL/ON5LK, DL/N6PG, DL/PA0SKP, DL/N6PG, DL/LX1NO, DL/OK1DDQ, DL/HB9IAB, DL/HB9BCB, DL/OE3CHC, DL/LZ1JE, DL/PB2T, DL/UY5AB, DL/LA7DHA, DL/HB9AFI, DL/HB9BIN, DL/AD5A, DL/OK1DAX DL/F5UBH.
EA1/HB9CMI, EA2/HB9CMI, EA/G4ASA. EA5/HB9CMI, EA5/M0HDF, EA3/HB9CMI,
EI/GI4ONL,
F/HB9IIO, F/HB9BIN. F/HB9AFI, F/M0HDF, F/M0HJV, F/M0IML, F/HB9CMI,
HB0/PC5A, HB0/OE5EEP,
HB9/DL1DVE, HB9/DL3VTA,
I/F6HBI
LA/DL4MFM,
LX/PB2T, LX/ON6ZQ, LX/S53X, LX/HB9IAB, LX/OE5EEP,
OE/DM1LE, OE/DF3MC, OE/DJ2FR, OE/F8CZI, OE/DL8DZL, OE/GW4OKT
ON/PA0SKP, OZ/DL6AP, ON/S53X, ON/HB9IAB, ON/UY5AB, ON/DF8KY,
OK/DL2DXA, OKDL8WJM,
S5/OE8GBK,
SP/OM3CUG
TK/F6FTB,
YO/DL2NGN
There were also many activations with two or more callsigns working simultaneously on different bands. This is always popular with chasers. Heard using this method were:-
HB9BCB and HB9AFI
DL/G4OBK and DL/G4OOE, also in G, ON/, LX/, F/
HB9BIN & HB9BQU
M0HDF and M0HJV in F and EA
DL3VTA, DL1DVE and HB9AFI
EA2CW and EA2BDS
OK2VWB and OK2HIJ
CW Field Day caused the usual confusion for chasers over the weekend of Saturday/Sunday 7-8th June, with the CW bands overflowing with stations signing /P. This year was even more complicated with the 70th Anniversary of D-Day falling on the same weekend, with even more /P stations adding to the general confusion.
My trusty old FT-1000 rig, purchased in 1994, finally started to show its age in the last few weeks. First problem was a total loss of reception which entailed a shipping to the repair yard and a replacement of a diode which was leaking a tiny current, so causing the transceiver to think it was in transmit mode and shutting down the RX. The cost of the replacement diode was a few coppers but the bill for shipping, labour and tax came to more than 100 GBP. It was returned within 48 hours, worked perfectly for one week, then the main tuning dial locked up solid. I now have a decision to make - do I continue to pay for repairs or purchase a new rig?
One the plus side I would look forward to a new rig; progress has marched on in 20 years and it would be helpful to be able to use such mysterious innovations as super sharp roofing filters, a variable CW audio peak filter and a floating point DSP in order to pull the weak activators out of the mud on 40m. On the minus side is the fact that I shall miss the trusty FT-1000 with the second receiver which was so useful for monitoring two SOTA spot frequencies and using dual reception to produce a stereo effect in order to read the tiny QRP signals from activators. I shall particularly miss the sheer size of the rig, which was manufactured before the dreaded Menu was invented and has controls of a size intended for adult fingers.
For the past 2 weeks I have been chasing from home using a spare FT-897, which may be great for portable use but is pretty poor for use as a base station. The search for a replacement rig continues. My main requirements are for large and plentiful amount of controls on the front panel, meaning that every important variable, such as CW speed and bandwidth has its own dedicated external control; also two receivers, an internal power supply, a minimum amount of menu’s and no essential extra’s to purchase.
I have started to research for rigs to meet these modest requirements, but the cost appears to be around three times the price that I paid for my first house in 1962.
73
Roy G4SSH
SOTA CW ACTIVATORS SUBMITTING ENTRIES TO THE DATA BASE ABOVE 7 MHZ DURING JUNE 2014 - from Kevin G0NUP
This file produced on 30th June 2014
Mode: SOTA CW on 1ØMHz: activity for June
AB7YL, DF2GN/P, DF3MC/P, DJ9MH/P, DK7FH/P, DK7MG/P, DL/HB9AGO/P, DL/HB9BAB/P, DL/HB9BIN/P, DL/HB9BQB/P, DL/HB9DST/P, DL/OE3CHC/P, DL/PAØSKP/P, DL/PB2T/P, DL2DXA/P, DL2ZBO/P, DL4FDM/P, DL4MFM/P, DL4MHA/P, DL4TO/P, DL6CGC/P, DL8DXL/P, DL8DZL/P, DL8RL/P, DM1LE/P, EA/OE6WIG/P, EA1/HB9CMI/P, EA2BD/P, EA2BDS/P, EA2CW/P, EA2IF/P, EA5/HB9CMI/P, EA5/MØHDF/P, EA5/MØHJV/P, EG2SOA, EG2SOA/P, EI/G4ASA/P, EI/GI4ONL/P, EJ/G4ASA/P, F/HB9AFI/P, F/HB9BIN/P, F/HB9IIO/P, F/MØHJV/P, F/OE6WIG/P, F/VK3CAT/P, F5LKW/P, F5MNO/P, F5UBH/P, F5UKL/P, F6HBI/P, G3RDQ/P, G4AZS/P, G4DDL/P, G4OBK/P, G4RQJ/P, G4SGX/P, GM4COX, GM4OIG/P, GWØHIO/P, GW4AZS/P, GW6DTN/P, GXØOOO/P, HA2PP/P, HB9AFH/P, HB9AFI/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9AXL/P, HB9BAB/P, HB9BCB/P, HB9BIN/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9BSH/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9CLT/P, HB9CMI/P, HB9CSA/P, HB9CZF/P, HB9DGV/P, HB9DST/P, HB9EWO/P, HB9IIO/P, HB9JOE/P, HB9TVK/P, HL2OLP/P, I/F6HBI/P, IV3RJH/P, K1JD, K6DGW, K6EL, K6HPX/P, K7JFD, K7SO, K9ZMD, KC5CW, KE5AKL, KF7PXT, KH2TJ, KXØR, LA1ENA/P, LA5XTA/P, LX/OE5EEP/P, LX/ON6ZQ/P, LX/PB2T/P, MØHJV/P, MØIML/P, M1EYP/P, MMØGYX/P, MMØROV/P, MM3BRR/P, NØOI, N1EU, N3RN, N4EX/P, N6JZT, NA6MG, NG7A, NM5TW, NS7P, OE/DF3MC/P, OE/DJ2FR, OE/DL8DZL/P, OE/DL9MDI/P, OE/F8CZI/P, OE/GW4OKT/P, OE3CHC/P, OE5EEP/P, OE6PKF/P, OE8GBK/P, OH3KRH/P, OH9XX/P, OK1CZ/P, OK1DIG/P, OK1DO/P, OK1DPX/P, OK1FFU/P, OK1MLP/P, OK2BDF/P, OK2BWB/P, OK2PYA/P, OK2SAM/P, OK2TRN/P, OK2VWB/P, OK3EQ/P, OM3CUG/P, ON/G4OOE/P, ON/S53X/P, ON6ZQ/P, OZ/OK1IEC/P, OZ/OK1IPS, OZ/OK1JAX, S5ØAAA/P, S53X/P, S57X/P, S58R/P, SP3LRS/P, SP9AMH/P, TK/F6FTB/P, VK/PB2T/P, VK2IB/3, VK3WAM/P, VK5CZ, W2CKL, W4TZM, W6UB, WA9STI, WH6LE, WSØTA, YO2BP/P
Mode: CW on 14MHz: activity for June
AB7YL, AC1Z, AD4IE, AD5A, AE4FZ, AE7AP, AG5S, CT1BWW/P, CT1DRB/P, DF3MC/P, DF8KY/P, DG5WU/P, DJ9MH/P, DK6YM/P, DK7MG/P, DK7MX/P, DL/AD5A, DL/HB9AGO/P, DL/HB9BAB/P, DL/HB9BCB/P, DL/HB9BIN/P, DL/HB9IAB/P, DL/PAØSKP/P, DL/PB2T/P, DL2DXA/P, DL4MFM/P, DL4MHA/P, DL4TO/P, DL6CGC/P, DL8DXL/P, DM1FS, DM1LE/P, EA/OE6WIG/P,
EA1/HB9CMI/P, EA1AER/P, EA2BD/P, EA2BDS/P, EA2CW/P, EA2IF/P, EA5/HB9CMI/P, EA5/MØHDF/P, EB3EPR/P, EI/G4ASA/P, EJ/G4ASA/P, F/HB9AFI/P, F/HB9BIN/P, F/MØHDF/P, F/OE6WIG/P, F5LKW/P, F5MNO/P, F5UKL/P, F5VGL/P, F6HBI/P, F8UFT/P, G3NYY/P, G3RDQ/P, G4CPA/P, G4DDL/P, G4OBK/P, G4RQJ/P, G4SGX/P, GM4COX, GM4OIG/P, GWØHIO/P, GW3RDQ/P, GW4TJC/P, GW6DTN/P, HA2PP/P, HA2VR/P, HA3HK/P, HB9/AD5A, HB9AFI/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9AXL/P, HB9BAB/P, HB9BCB/P, HB9BIN/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9CGL/P, HB9CKV/P, HB9CLT/P, HB9CMI/P, HB9CZF/P, HB9DGV/P, HB9DPR, HB9DPR/P, HB9DST/P, HB9HVK/P, HB9IIO/P, HB9JOE/P, HB9TVK/P, HL2OLP/P, I1YDT/P, I7/PAØHRM/P, IV3RJH/P, KØJQZ, K1JD, K1TNT, K6DGW, K6EL, K6HPX/P, K7JFD, K7NIT, K7SO, K9ZMD, KC7DM, KD7WPJ, KEØAGQ, KE5AKL, KF7PXT, KH2TJ, KK1W, KXØR, KX7L, LA/DL4MFM/P, LA1ENA/P, LA8BCA/P, LX/ON6ZQ/P, LX/PB2T/P, MØHDF/P, MØIML/P, M1BUU/P, M1EYP/P, MMØFMF/P, MMØROV/P, MM3BRR/P, MWØIML/P, MW6GWR/P, NØBN, NØOI, NØPCL, N1EU, N3RN, N4EX/P, N6JZT, N7KRN, NA6MG, ND7PA, NE1SJ, NE4TN/7, NF1R, NG7A, NM5S, NM5TW, NN5K, NSØTA, NS7P, OE/DF3MC/P, OE/DL9MDI/P, OE/DM1LE/P, OE1MVA/P, OE3CHC/P, OE5AUL/P, OE5EEP/P, OE5EIN/P, OE5FSM/P, OE6PKF/P, OE7PHI/P, OE8GBK/P, OH2NOS/P, OH3KRH/P, OH9XX/P, OK/DL2DXA/P, OK/DL8WJM/P, OK1CZ/P, OK1DIG/P, OK1DO/P, OK1FFU/P, OK1FRT/P, OK1MLP/P, OK2BWB/P, OK2PDT/P, OK2PYA/P, OK2QA/P, OK2SAM/P, OK4IT/P, OM2JU/P, OM3CUG/P, ON/HB9IAB/P, ON/UY5AB/P, ON6ZQ/P, S5/OE6PKF/P, S5ØAAA/P, S57X/P, S58R/P, SE4X/P, SP/OM3CUG/P, SP3LRS/P, SP9AMH/P, TK/F6FTB/P, VA2OTA, VA2VL, VA2VL/W1, VA2VL/W2, VA7VJ, VE2DDZ, VE3EMB, VK/PB2T/P, VK1DA, VK3WAM/P, VK5CZ, WØCCA, W1ZU, W2CKL, W4TZM, W4YFJ, W6AH, W6UB, W7JET, W7QQ, W7TAO, W7USA, WA6KYR, WA7JTM, WA9STI, WBØUSI, WB5USB, WH6LE, WSØTA, YO2BP, YO2BP/P
Mode: CW on 18MHz: activity for June
9H4RH/P, AE4FZ, DF3MC/P, DJ9MH/P, DK7MG/P, DL/HB9AGO/P, DL4MHA/P, DL6CGC/P, DM1LE/P, EA1/HB9CMI/P, EA2BDS/P, EA2CW/P, EA5/HB9CMI/P, EI/G4ASA/P, F/HB9BIN/P, F5MNO/P, F5UKL/P, F5VGL/P, F6HBI/P, GM4OIG/P, HB9BCB/P, HB9BIN/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9BSH/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9CLT/P, HB9CMI/P, HB9IIO/P, HL2OLP/P, K1JD, K6EL, K7SO, KE5AKL, KXØR, LX/OE5EEP/P, MØIML/P, MMØFMF/P, MMØGYX/P, NØOI, N4EX/P, N6JZT, NM5TW, OE/DF3MC/P, OE5EEP/P, OK1DIG/P, OK1FRT/P, OK1MLP/P, OK2BWB/P, OK2PYA/P, OM3CUG/P, OM4EX/P, S57X/P, VK1DA, VK5CZ, W2CKL, W6UB, W7TAO, WH6LE
Mode: CW on 21MHz: activity for June
AC1Z, DJ9MH/P, DL1ASA/P, EA1/HB9CMI/P, EA2BDS/P, EA2CW/P, EA5/HB9CMI/P, EI/G4ASA/P, EI7KH/P, EJ/G4ASA/P, F5UKL/P, F5VGL/P, GWØHIO/P, HB9AFH/P, HB9AGO/P, HB9BCB/P, HB9BQB/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9CGA/P, HB9CMI/P, HB9IIO/P, HB9JOE/P, HB9TVK/P, K6EL, K7JFD, K9ZMD, KXØR, MØIML/P, MMØFMF/P, NØOI, N4EX/P, NM5TW, NN5K, NSØTA, OK1DIG/P, OK1FFU/P, OK1MLP/P, OK2BWB/P, S57X/P, S58R/P, SP9AMH/P, VK5CZ, W2CKL
Mode: CW on 24MHz: activity for June
CT1DRB/P, DL/HB9AGO/P, DL8DXL/P, DL8DZL/P, DL8RL/P, DM1LE/P, EA2BDS/P, EA2IF/P, F/HB9IIO/P, F5UKL/P, F6HBI/P, HA2PP/P, HB9AFI/P, HB9BCB/P, HB9BQB/P, HB9BQU/P, HB9BSH/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9IIO/P, HB9TVK/P, I/F6HBI/P, K9ZMD, N4EX/P, NE1SJ, OH3KRH/P, OK1DIG/P, OK2BDF/P, OK2BWB/P, OM4EX/P, SP9AMH/P,
Mode: CW on 28MHz: activity for June
DF2GN/P, DL/PB2T/P, EA2BDS/P, F5UKL/P, HB9BCB/P, HB9CBR/P, HB9IIO/P, OK1DIG/P, OK1FFU/P, OK2BDF/P, OK2BWB/P, SP9AMH/P,
Regards
Kevin G0NUP
SOTA News is normally published around noon UTC on the last day of each month but there will be occasions when the Editor is not available at this time, in which case it will be published as soon as possible afterwards. It can only be as interesting as the items submitted, so if you think your particular field of interest is not being covered then please submit an article by the 25th of the month. Have you a favourite SOTA? favourite mode? favourite rig, antenna, or favourite band? How did you find your first day / month / year as an activator or chaser? Your comments and experiences will be read by SOTA enthusiasts all across Europe, the USA, Australia and beyond, in a total of 24 different countries. Your input will be most welcome.
I receive many e-mails during the month containing details of activations, milestones reached and general SOTA news. Unless advised otherwise I will use this information in the next edition of SOTA News. It is important therefore that you advise me if any information is not intended for publication.
73
Roy G4SSH
SOTA News Editor
g4ssh@tiscali.co.uk
U.S. and Canadian reports to:-
Fred K6DGW [aka “Skip” on the radio]
Canada/US SOTA Reporter Dude
Auburn CA
k6dgw@foothill.net
Australian input to:-
Allen VK3HRA
VK Reporter
arharvie@gmail.com
NEWS FROM SOUTH AFRICA by Dennis ZS4BS
There has been quite a bit of SOTA activity from South Africa during the month of June, it looks like the winter weather is getting the guys and gals out of the house and climbing summits! The long weekend of 14 to 16 June saw the most activity with 5 summits being activated.
In the Free State, Dennis, ZS4BS, activated Mount Paul ZS/FS-012 (HF, 2 m and 70 cm) on Saturday 14 June and Surrender Hill, ZS/FS-013 (HF) on Monday 16 June. Surrender Hill is the site where a large Boer force surrendered to the British forces during the Anglo-Boer War.
Then Mpumalanga had 3 summits activated. The team of Sid, ZS5AYC, Adele, ZS5APT, Willie, ZS6WDT, Christo, ZR6LJK, Gert, ZS6GC, Elna, ZS6EB, Detlev, ZS6BAB, Lucas, ZS6ACT, and Magda, ZS6MMS, activated Wynberg, ZS/MP-005 (HF, 2 m and 70 cm) on Saturday 14 June. On Sunday 15 June they activated Kanonkop, ZS/MP-007 and on Monday 16 June, they activated Ossewakop, ZS/MP-004.
This weekend also saw the first HF summit to summit QSO in South Africa between Willie, ZS6WBT on Wynberg and Dennis, ZS4BS on Mount Paul. A UHF summit to summit QSO took place between Gert, ZS6GC on Wynberg and Dennis, ZS4BS on Mount Paul - thanks to the HABEX balloon.
Pierre, ZS6A, had plans to activate Perdekop, ZS/GP-001 on Saturday 14 June, but got foiled by power cables!
Later in the month, Eddie, ZS6BNE, had a look at two summits in the Swartruggens area, but could not reach the summits as the farmers would not allow him access.
Sid, ZS5AYC, and Adele, ZS5APT, while visiting family in Nelspruit, activated Stanleybushkop, ZS/MP-018 on Wednesday 25 June.
Then on Sunday 29 June, Dave, ZS2DH, activated Lady’s Slipper, ZS/EC-016 using 2 metres. Mandy, ZS2AV, activated Cockscomb, ZS/EC-006, also on 2 metres. Andrew, ZS2G, accompanied her.
Dennis, HB9/ZS4BS, together with Andy, HB9JOE, and Eva, HB9FPM/OK3QE, activated Backtel Kulm, HB/ZH-004 on Thursday 26 June before driving through to Ham Radio in Friedrichshafen. Dennis worked a S2S with Austria and Germany.
Greetings
Dennis, ZS4BS / 7P8DG
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