There was an X1 flare around 0100Z and for those on the East side of the UK some tropo at the same time.
Beacon GB3EDN (Edinburgh 23cm) was being reported in LA and SM last night. Likewise new beacon GB3JIJ (Butt of Lewis 2m IO68) was being copied in Edinburgh. Reports also the tropo was well extended down in frequency with Edinburgh Airport and Schipol Airport (Amersterdam) were interfering with each other on ~120MHz. It’s very misty here now and there’s no wind. Of course I cannot get out to play till later today but may well still be enhance 2m/70cm conditions then.
If anyone is around in about 40 mins or so I’ve a couple minutes to try on 145.500 and 433.500 with the 65 and 770.
See if I can get over to the UK on FM with the aid of salt water. A fleeting tickle, but I’ll try calling if anyone wants to try a QSO. QRV just after 9 for a handful of minutes, back again around lunch.
Which LiFePO4 battery are you using with your FT857 ?
I took a lead acid battery with me last time I took the FT857. My present LiFePO4 cells have a discharge limit of 6A and 8A, and are fine for the FT818, but I’d be keen to find one that can deliver current for an FT857.
We’ll be listening today from North Edinburgh to see if we can catch you.
X2.5 according to my data. And high pressure to boot. That’ll get the ionosphere well and truly agitated. Not long ‘till the Es season gets under way either. Happy days!
I made the 1 QSO there. Tried 70cm too but nobody about. I hadn’t much time but I did catch @2I0WMN setting up his Marconi Day station in Newry. So about 120km away.
That was just me on the 65+770 combo at 5w. There were other stations in QSO but I couldn’t hear them or vice versa. I’ll go 40w later in the limited time available.
This morning, sat on the sea wall enjoying the sun before work:
14 QSO’s in 30 minutes. 12 on 2m, 2 on 70cm and included 5 SOTA chases and a Park 2 Park!
Ranks as one of my quickest POTA activations ever. Didn’t even need to crack open the KH1 case for HF CW. All QSO’s on VHF and UHF! My first all-VHF/UHF POTA activation.
Unlikely since it is becoming well known that enhanced conditions only take place during office hours and more recently on on Wednesdays and Fridays (the days I am actually in the office).
SInce a lot of places finished early on Fridays, it stands to reason that the “Tropo Switch” gets flicked to the off position around 2pm.
At least the E’s switch is controlled by a school teacher and thus gets turned on more during school holiodays. Aurora is more of a night owl but overdoe it on the alcohol and the words get slurred.
We were in the clouds this morning, until the Sun burned them off.
Traffic through my LoRa APRS iGate so far today has been rather higher than usual, which is a fair indication that 70cms has been at least a little enhanced.
Just realised it was you I had a P2P with from G/NP-015. I was just using the FT-65 handheld with a 40cm rubber duck. You were the only evidence of enhanced conditions although a few 2m chasers said I was a better signal than they normally get from Great Knoutberry Hill.
HF was ok with several S2S.
The weather was glorious. Now sat on the train home.
My experience, gathered over more decades than I like to remember, is that the major tropo openings are poorer during the day (probably due to convection disrupting the duct) but start to develope in the late afternoon and get into their stride after sunset.
i well remember one event about 50 years ago, late afternoon and most of EU was filling the band, as far as OH and OE, I finished by working a station in North Germany then had to leave to play in the band for a musical (I think it was “Stop the World, I Want to Get Off”) then there was a last night party, the survivors went for a walk in the dawn light, then home and switched on again, and there was the same guy, calling CQ on the same frequency, and sounding hoarse! An opening like that, you don’t stop unless you must! Anyway, anecdotes aside, if after dark it seems to have gone quiet, check the beacons (the DXers best friends) they will probably tell you the duct is still working, its the hams flaking out, so try waking some activity with CQs.
I was using PoLo in one hand and holding my 7m Wimo mast in the other so struggling to get the contacts in it was moving so quickly. I knew the name when it popped up there so great to get you in the log!
You were a cracking signal. Everyone was really. I had an MI7 station call in as I walked back to the car but I lost them before the full QSO could be made. 70cm has a lot of action on it but I couldn’t make enough out. 2 x 70cm contacts on the RH770 were great though, lovely and clear. The RH770 really is a top performer, as of course if the God-tier FT65. Glad I had the FT60 as backup though as I copped the battery level on the 65 before I left the gaf and felt it might go.
My FT-65 died halfway through as I was monitoring the repeater with it most of today to see if any action was going on. I had to switch to my FT-60 mid-QSO with someone over in Wales. Got it done though!
Indeed the weather was absolutely smashing. Heading out again shortly for a stroll on the coast. SOTA tomorrow from EI/IE-018 again with any luck. I’ll be QRV reasonably early tomorrow. Taking the KH1 for HF CW and the FT65. I’ve a training run to do though so it’ll be 4 and gone (if I can bag 4). If I get any QSO’s on HF CW they will be my first every SOTA HF QSO’s of any kind!
Great lunch break today and a lovely hive of activity. Really chuffed to hear 270 hoppin’. An all-VHF/UHF POTA Activation and in rapid time. I’ll remember that one for a long time to come.
Thanks again for the P2P, you’re in the POTA logs and uploaded!
Side note: Look out for EI0MAR special call for Marconi Day tomorrow. Tony @EI5EM said they should be QRV by 1100 (dunno if that is UTC or IST though, sorry). EI2WRC will also be active for Marconi Day too all weekend.
I might dig out EI0WAAAW tomorrow for a last hurrah as well. Look out for SSTV on Ham Alert too, I’ll broadcast the image if it isn’t too windy.
It was well and truly gone into hiding by the time I was clear of essential jobs and had climbed up the hill. Nothing enhanced at all though maybe I was too high. I should have been out first thing when the Haar was so thick you couldn’t see more than a few metres. Though I could see that giveaway dirty brown stripe on the far horizon 360 degs around me which always indicates some kind of inversion.
13x 2m FM
4x 2m SSB
3 x 70cm SSB
ODX FM: Denis MM0CBC on GM/SI-006 @ 121km on the old VX-170/rubberduck
Joint ODX SSB: Fraser MM0EFI on GM/ES-014 and Archie GM4KNU on GM/CS-060 at 128km IC-705/Flowerpot
