The year is almost over and I am thinking about it.
The SOTA year 2024 for me was determined by the 10m challenge. - And it was great fun!
Due to the sunspot maximum and the associated propagation conditions, this event was just right!
Of course, the 10m band is a fickle mistress… a diva that you can’t always rely on - and so not every activation resulted in a 10m QSO, especially since we had a phase with blackouts in early summer. Unfortunately, this was during the time I was on SOTA holiday and was travelling in DM/SR, LX, ON and in Northern F.
In general, traveling was a recipe for success in this challenge. Jürg @HB9BIN has shown that once again! His points haul is incredible… and I’m pretty sure if he had been more active in data modes… he could have broken the million point mark.
Modes:
It quickly became clear that data modes would be a big factor in this challenge… and when I see the successes of Jérôme @F4IVI, it confirms that for me.
Jan @OK2PDT, who got into the challenge very late, was also very successful quickly. I would have liked him to have continued like that.
I’m not a fan of data modes… it’s somehow too impersonal for me… and so I mainly use CW and SSB. Actually, I almost only do CW… but I soon learned that the number of chasers here is very limited and I absolutely have to do SSB to get more points.
Points:
Unique Contacts x Unique Summits = Points … was the formula!
In addition to as many summits as possible, it was also important to contact as many unique callsigns as possible.
The number of active SOTA chasers is limited. And there is significantly less going on on 10m in Europe than in North America, for example.
So you have to persuade other OMs to have a QSO with the activator.
I tried this in contests with little success… very late in the year I got the advise (thanks Stephan @HB9EAJ) to register with POTA and if the summit is in a POTA area, to offer it accordingly. This created another new group of chasers… and I was heard much more often.
To be heard:
10m shines with great propagation conditions … but there is also strong QSB. Many chasers have interference on 10m - and even if they tune to my spotted QRG, it is not certain that they will hear me.
Here, of course, power helps. In the spring I was able to buy a small PA, which I modified a little and added a low-pass filter. With around 70 watts, the success rate was significantly higher than with the 7 watts that my KX2 usually does on 10m. I used it for around 20% of my activations.
The success of Herbert @OE9HRV, who feeds his Hentenna with 100 watts, also shows what output power means. The antenna is the icing on the cake.
I also worked with an oblong on around 20 activations. That does help. Most of the time it was too complicated for me, especially because I often made several summits in one day.
The standard antenna (also with PA) was the 40/20/15/10m Endfed (good for EU QSOs) and sometimes also (without PA) 5.80m Random Wire with 1:9 Unun … On 5B/CY-XXX I only had this one with me… and with a 5B callsign you are quite popular.
Where to be:
If you look at the logs of the stations from North America, I think it’s a shame that they weren’t more active. Especially in connection with POTA, they could have had great success.
Herbert @OE9HRV made many great QSOs on his vacation in the USA and showed what is possible there!
A DL call is not the most popular thing in the world… It’s worth trying to attract new QSO partners with HB0/… for example.
So - now the data can be uploaded for another week and then you can see who was successful and how…
The SOTA year was a very special one and the 10m band is in good shape. Perhaps it was precisely because of the 10m challenge that there were great QSOs… DX S2S… and there were many loyal DX chasers for me, e.g. from North America, PY or JA.
Many thanks to those responsible and the participants.
73 Armin
