To avoid a thread hi-jack on the thread congratulating Phil G4OBK on the double completion of the G summits and in reply to Adrian G4AZS -
“Do you use a vertical beam? I wonder if the problem is the mode, or cross polarisation, or lack of antenna gain at the summit? All of the above, I guess!”
To answer the question Adrian, I can put the beam into either polarisation, but generally it is left horizontal as the best mode to get down here is SSB. However, very few people use 2m SSB and fewer still use anything more than a dipole. When Frank G3RMD and Richard G4ERP were active in SOTA, I worked them on many summits around G and GW, but they both ran more than the basic 5 watts and had reasonable antennas. The general trend now is for HF, but the Lakes seems to attract 2m FM users, probably because usually it doesn’t need anything more to qualify the summits and setting up HF antennas on popular summits can have its problems.
Perhaps we can have a few people running 40m SSB or CW from these summits.
I did a little research and got a count of all the activations logged on HF, VHF and the total and worked out what percentage of activations where HF from the regions in England. This is for all the time SOTA has been running. It would be interesting to see the figures on a year by year basis as I would expect more HF operation now than when SOTA started.
Gerald, need any of the following?
Red Screes G/LD-017
St. Sunday Crag G/LD-010
Fairfield G/LD-007
Seat Sandal G/LD-022
High Street G/LD-011
Tarn Crag G/LD-026
Place Fell G/LD-027
I suppose that one of the reasons for the greater number of vhf activations in the Lake District is because the activator has the opportunity to do many circular walks involving many summits that are great point scorers like the Helvellyn, Seat Sandal, Fairfield and St Sunday Crag round. (32 pts - 42 pts in Winter Bonus) and only the fittest like John G4YSS can complete this on HF in a reasonable time carrying all the gear necessary. Of course in the LD many activators are also adding WOTA (Wainwrights on the Air) summits to the list.
I am hoping to do more HF activations in LD this year using a vertical antenna with either an FT-817 or FT-857 but I know that on some of the longer walks I will using either qro or qrp (handheld) 2m.
By my reckoning Gerald has 28 G summits left to chase. Ironically we have activated 75% of these together, so he’d be a lot closer to double G completion if we’d operated a “bring a chaser” scheme…
But then that wouldn’t quite have been cricket, would it
I can confirm what Gerald says. From where I am FM from a handy just does not hack it for any distance. Titterstone Clee G/WB-004 is just 51.1 km from me, but many of the hand-held activations from this popular hill are at best borderline, and I am using a big colinear with several dB of gain. The same goes for Worcestershire Beacon at 48.3 km, I may or may not get a copy. Use a J-pole or a dipole into the handy and the signal is fully quieting. Yet I can usually copy an SSB activation from LD at over 200 km and even into Scotland with my 5 element long yagi. I’m not knocking the use of FM, its great for a quick lightweight activation in most parts of the country, but it explains why LD-019 has been on my wish list for so long, its more effort to get to than many LD summits - I’ve only ever been on it a couple of times in nearly 60 years of hill walking in the Lakes, and I’m sure its a favourite candidate for a light-weight activation!
Still, its the thrill of the chase - the day I get LD-019 I’m celebrating in the pub!
If you look you can see that the southern LD summits and eastern NW summits over look Merseyside/Cheshire/Gtr. Manchester and Lancashire which does have a very high population density and hence amateur population density. That makes it very easy to get worked when you have a handheld + simple antenna (such as a telescopic whip or J-pole or MFD) You would expect to see similar correlation with summits in the South East where again the population density is very high. But you don’t, G/SE has 78.8% HF activation count. It’s commonly reported that getting contacts on VHF can be a struggle.
Yes you are right but there are also a few low level LD summits that are surrounded by higher ones where qualification with 2m and an MFD is quite difficult. Last week I struggled to qualify Hallin Fell on 2m. Great Mell and Little Mell Fells can also be a problem as can the NP Dufton Pike.
Unfortunately Rob I won’t be around much as I am down in the DC’s on family business for part of next week. I might manage a S2H though if I can get out up a HuMP. I am always up for chasing 2m SSB as it is my favourite band and mode after 70cm SSB - that’s another story! I hope the regular 2m SSB chasers turn out to support you. They are a great bunch of guys!
I did listen for you when you were on Ros Hill last week Rob, but I couldn’t hear you. I was ready to fire some wattage at you. That’s the advantage of running off mains. ;-}
The table of percentages for each G region is very interesting. I accept that the Lakes do offer a number of circular walks where 2m FM is the easiest way to activate the summits, but that wasn’t how Paul and I did them. I just hope that others follow in our footsteps, not just for my benefit, but for others.
73, Gerald G4OIG
P.S.
Have been busy sorting out some software on my netbook, so I wasn’t online to answer, but Andy has all data at his fingertips, so his response was fine by me Mike.
I think Andy, you’re correct in wanting to see the figures by year. Or at least excluding the first few years of SOTA. From what I remember the early activators were primarily centered around the North of England and North Wales and you could almost guarantee a successful activation with VHF. With known calling frequencies and large populations even midweek activations would be “easy”.
Only activations outside the NP/SP/LD/NW maybe would require some thought. 40m and 60m activations being common. Only when other associations outside the UK took off did the other HF bands become popular and worth the effort of carrying the gear.
Obviously the above is a generalization but I would theorise that for the first 2 or 3 years of SOTA, that the percentage HF activations of a summit is proportional to the distance from Manchester, with exceptions for the major summits of the likes of Snowdon and Scafell (see below for reason).
Another reason for VHF being popular in the Lake District as that being a popular venue for walkers, amateurs are more likely to have non amateur companions who won’t want to hang around too long on summits and hence the 2m handy is probably the most basic equipment setup.
Possibly, Gerald, but one thing the figures make very clear - anybody going up High Raise with a forty metre dipole and a mic when the skip is short will be VERY popular!
When I started SOTA in 2003 and activated some Lake District summits. I was usually with a group of Explorer/Venture scouts and as such, they would put up with me for around 15 minutes or so to activate a summit on 2M FM and that was it. I also didn’t have any Portable HF kit to carry.
I hope to activate some LD summits on HF this Spring/Summer sometime.
I think you are spot on there Ian (and nice to see you online, not seen your call for sometime). If Gerald hadn’t mentioned LD activation bands I would not have expected to see such a difference between VHF and HF figures. I did expect VHF to be more popular but not 4:1.
Don’t forget that for the first 18 months of SOTA the “B” licence was still in existence, V/UHF activity was very high compared to today (though low compared to the 70’s and 80’s, the heyday of VHF) and when the "B"s got access to HF it was taken up relatively slowly. My first HF contacts were in September 2003 and over the next few years V/UHF activity almost plummeted, effectively pushing me into more HF activity almost against my will!
Thanks Andy,
I have been reading the reflector most days but unless I have something to contribute I tend to just be a lurker.
Of my own activations I counted 58 that were VHF and 1 purely H, although I would probably choose someone else if you wanted a more representative sample. In fact, if you picked out the qsos of Rob G4RQJ, I think that would show the progression of qso’s from VHF to HF over a long time period.
Brian: quite correct, I had forgotten about the old B licence.
