Great stuff. Yes let’s have another SSTV Saturday!
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I honestly can’t wait, guys, I’m excited to try this on simplex for the first time after my tests on GB3ED. My DIY data lead was honestly the first proper thing I’ve built that wasn’t a simple antenna or anything, so it’s a nice milestone for me.
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My summit has excellent take-off to the north. I have worked S2S from G/SP-015 into GM/SS summits many times in the past on 2m, so if you choose a summit with a decent take-off to the south, we may make the QSO.
I’m not going to bother with 20m - I’ll focus on 2m SSTV, but also do some FT8, CW, SSB and FM. Also possibly some AM, piggy-backing on what is hopefully a successful activation for Dom M6KIO tomorrow.
Even on FM? We can absolutely try. My voice record on 2M is to the summit of Helvellyn G/LD-003 with a way more shonky antenna that what I have now.
Yes. Here’s a list of all my VHF/UHF S2S between The Cloud and GM/SS, and a couple of them are 2m FM as you can see:
| My call | My SOTA | Date | UTC | Band | Mode | Worked call | Worked SOTA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M1EYP/P | G/SP-015 | 09/09/2014 | 19:28 | 433MHz | SSB | GM4GUF/P | GM/SS-049 |
| M1EYP/P | G/SP-015 | 09/06/2015 | 21:15 | 433MHz | SSB | GM4GUF/P | GM/SS-064 |
| M1EYP/P | G/SP-015 | 13/10/2015 | 20:17 | 433MHz | SSB | GM4GUF/P | GM/SS-064 |
| M1EYP/P | G/SP-015 | 27/12/2015 | 14:32 | 50MHz | SSB | GM4GUF/P | GM/SS-064 |
| M1EYP/P | G/SP-015 | 05/07/2016 | 19:55 | 144MHz | SSB | GM7PKT/P | GM/SS-130 |
| M1EYP/P | G/SP-015 | 29/12/2016 | 10:35 | 144MHz | SSB | GM4OIG/P | GM/SS-119 |
| M1EYP/P | G/SP-015 | 07/08/2018 | 18:52 | 144MHz | FM | GM7PKT/P | GM/SS-205 |
| M1EYP/P | G/SP-015 | 12/05/2019 | 14:27 | 144MHz | FM | MM6BWA/P | GM/SS-232 |
Yes please! I missed out!
73,
Tom, N2YTF
What time will you be QRV Tom? Looks like I will take 20m again after all!
Morning Tom (EYP)
I will be out in the morning 24th April from Skiddaw LD-004, hopefully QRV by 8am as last week. 2m SSB and the 3 ele again.
I have the radio and computer on test as I type, all files backed up, and a spare .ini file to drop in if things go belly up.
Mark - IIG, I can beam North if you want to try - can also go FM if that is easier for you?
Catch you all in the morning.
73
Tim
G4YTD
Man you people get up early!
I reckon I could get Skiddaw from the Pentlands, you know… How long are you thinking of staying up, Tom @g4ytd ? Are you FM-capable too?
Edit: Great minds 
Early starts are the only way to get parking here now that things have opened up again.
Should be on the summit for a couple of hours at least tomorrow, or until the masses start to arrive.
Its going to be hot, dont forget your sun cream!
I’ve alerted for 1030z but I’ll probably be QRV from 0830 to 1230+ something like that.
Thanks to Ian @GW8OGI, and successful tests last week, I now know that I’m SSB or FM-capable from the FT-817 for SSTV, using DIG or PKT radio modes respectively.
Great. I’m thinking Pen y Cloddiau, but any of the Clwydians should be doable. Will be interesting to try 2m FM as well this time if possible. I reproduced the strange splitting and colours you got from me last week Tom by accidentally knocking the VFO knob. I’m sure that’s what happened on the hill too, sorry. Must use the VFO lock button next time!
Hopefully see you tomorrow.
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Don’t laugh----I forgot this Saturday is my toddler twins birthday—so I am booked 
I will try to do a little shack slothing but it will be between balloons and cutting cake so unpredictable…
But the next one!
73,
Tom, N2YTF
I am laughing - sorry! I just hope that you remembered this yourself, as opposed to being reminded after mentioning your SSTV plans… 
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Due to an annoyingly low number of hours sleep I’m probably only doing the one summit today and will no doubt arrive later than planned, but we’ll see. Sorry if I miss all the S2S fun.
If I only get local chasers today it won’t be a total loss, and I have 2-3 lined up already which is obviously good overall for promoting the mode and getting some 2M data traffic going, as well as getting folk ready for a larger event (will mention this on voice to promote it a bit).
Everyone else make it out okay this morning?
I’m about to start calling on 144.525MHz SSTV in Martin 2 mode.
Ok folks: how did we all do today?
I had one full SSTV QSO from one summit today, but nobody else was around. Had to do the rest on FM voice but got a nice S2S to G/LD-005 out of it.
Still some work to do to get interest up, I think. At least up here…
Also I forgot to change the background image so it’s still my stupid radio dog. But here’s an image received by my contact 7 miles away.
I’m on the bus home as we speak… I’ve enjoyed myself
Edit: 17 QSOs, and here’s one of the captures from my pal on Braid Hills. No way is mine to him a 595… but his was clearer to me as I had a cable and he was holding his radio to his phone.
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As an aside, incidentally that is my first ever simplex SSTV QSO and I’m pretty chuffed with that. Has anyone else taken up SSTV for the first time to do SOTA today as part of the Multimode Saturdays? If we’re getting people using a mode they’ve never used before that’s gotta be a win. My chaser today certainly was new to it.
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I’ve got an FT818 and suitable USB interface, any recommendations on what I could use for SSTV / FT8 / Other data modes on the summit? Any particular tablet or laptop?
Personally, I’ve found it best to use a not-too-old Windows 10 tablet. On this I can run WSJT-X (FT8, FT4 etc), Fldigi (PSK, RTTY etc) and MMSSTV all smoothly. I know more technically adept folks than I have developed Android or Raspberry Pi systems to do various bits, but for me, a decent Windows 10 tablet is a user-friendly single item that does all the applications I want.
Mine is a Fusion 5 tablet and I’ve been more than pleased with it.