Alan MM0VPM had a bright idea that a number of us who frequent the Edinburgh area should go out for an evening 70cm S2S session.
So hopefully tomorrow (Monday) 1800Z myself, Alan MM0VPM, Andy MM7MOX, Ronan MM0IVR and Chris MM0UHR will be out on summits in the near of Edinburgh (West, Mid and East Lothian).
Most will be running handies and rubber ducks but Andy will have his FT818 and I will have my 705 so there are at least 2 who’ll have SSB as well as FM. There will probably be a bit of 2m as well.
Hi Barry, I thought that it may be best to avoid the comps so that folks could be sure go get down in the light. Also “the glorious 12th”, don’t want to end up perforated.
Happy to point north and give a few shouts today though
4x S2S, 3x chasers all FM and Barry GM4TOE in Banff at 209km on CW.
A bit of rain at the end was the excuse to pack up as well as a pair of neds (c.f. Still Game) who asked lots of question but didn’t listen to the answers and wanted to “have a go and swear down the mic.” I need a very large Whisky now
A gentle stroll up GM/SS-182 Spartelton Law as very pleasant, I followed part of"The Herring Road", an ancient right of way, it runs over the Lammermuirs and linked up the fishing villages on the coast with the central borders towns further in land. It goes up and down a lot, so they were tough people carrying big loads over that territory for a living. Nowadays it is wind farms, sheep and game birds usage.
Today (12th) is the start of the grouse shooting season. I suspect presence on the hill would be less peaceful today!
Once at the summit, radio on and there’s Andy MOX on North Berwick Law, a quick qso then over to 70cms and good signals both ways, would be odd otherwise, his location just above the trig point in pic below…
Andy FMF was next to appear as he was finalising his setup. He was next on 70cms, then a check on adjacent Freq caught Chris UHR in qso with third party I never heard. After a short listen, there was a break and Chris picked up Ronan, I managed to tail end that and then work Ronan whose signal jumped a lot when he stood up!
Ronan was my odx and also the longest walk in of the evening, so big thanks for that.
Switch over to ssb and wave my yagi in Barry’s direction but no joy.
Good fun was had and somehow I avoided the heavy rain that fell a couple of miles south,.
Thanks to all who indulged! Everyone on a hill managed to work everyone else, so all qualified on 70cms, which was the point of it all.
I listened on 70 cm for any of you who wanted to try, conditions were dire and not a single usable plane for AS the whole time I was on (1800 UTC to 1900 UTC)
The qso with Andy was really difficult - ok 350 watts LNA and 28 elements my end might have helped him a little - rapid qsb didn’t help but we managed the minimum SOTA exchange on CW.
Not a good night for 70 cm DX but it worked
I forgot to say I did some experiments when working people on 70cm FM. I was using the 705 into a 6 ele beam. It took a while to find all the beam parts as they were stashed about the shack. It used to have an SWR of about 1.5:1 but it was difficult to get it better than 2:1 last night, needs a coat of looking over. Anyway having some theoretical antenna gain I tried low power and was able to work all the FM QSOs with the 705 power set to 1% and with an external LiFePo connected that should be around 100mW
Alan MM0VPM was FM ODX at 67km and a horizon distance calculation says 77km for Spartleton’s height. Allowing for odd bits of raised ground but sound atmospheric refraction it was probably LOS, confirmed with not much power gaining me a 59 report.
The hardest part of copying Barry’s weak CW signal was the continuous 59+60 inane comments coming from the neds. I’m definitely of the opinion one of them had not taken his ADHD meds.
Good work Andy, too bad about the “interference”.
I fumbled about to reduce power on the 817 but it’s been a while since I used it so fingers and thumbs for a bit and then you’d reached some of the others.
@GM4TOE - thanks for your effort, seems the sky wasn’t playing for you. Ah well - at least you’ve all the bits set up for tonight. Good luck!
My problem is the interference from the nursing home next door - about S8 noise on 70 cm when beaming West so reasonably reduced when beaming 190 degrees.
I wonder what causes it, very broadband
Fortunately for me the Nursing Home 50m from my QTH doesn’t give me any grief Barry.
However, RAF Fylingdales is 10 miles up the road. As well as knocking out all the 420 MHz Smartmeters for tens of miles around it clicks right across the 70cms band for 10s of miles as well. You would notice in on G/TW-001/002/003 and possible TW-004.
My noise blanker helps a lot but not completely, and beaming in the direction of the phased array still densses the front end of the transceiver across the band.
I thought there was a restriction on using part of 70cm near Scarborough which I always assumed was something to do with Fylingdales. But the only restriction I can find is for 431-432MHz within 100km of Charing Cross. Did I make that up?
Slightly off topic (what’s new!):
Did anybody see/hear the interference on 70 cm this afternoon. Very unstable and hopping all over the place between 432.300 and 432.400; obviously a data signal and S9++ with me at 170 degrees.
Eventually went away when (BAD Barry) I sent my callsign in CW and chased it about the band.
You’re not making it up, I recall something similar but I can’t find reference to it anywhere apart from an old forum post about a VHF field day team who were approached by armed soldiers after taking the radar offline for a day
But there’s no mention in the Amateur radio section.
For 23cm, the RSGB band plan notes specific conditions at Bude and Harrogate (it doesn’t tell you what though, I think it’s no unattended beacons) but there’s no similar note for 70cm.
Bude is GCHQ Bude formerly CSOS Morwenstowe, a satellite and subsea cable monitoring station. Harrogate is RAF Menwith Hill were our boys in pale blue help Uncle Sam’s NSA spooks listen in to other people’s satellite links.
I too seem to remember restrictions in the near of RAF Flyingdales, it should be noted somewhere in the BR168 document older UK hams will remember. I kept a copy but can’t put my fingers on it just now.
Every cloud and all that!
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