I’ll try for the Sunday., Flu vaccine on Saturday. 
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I will be on a summit in Arizona for this event November 1st…should be fun as usual.
Pete
WA7JTM
W7A
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On Thursday from G/NP-028 I had two S2S QSOs with NA stations, one on 20m and one on 10m. The 20m QSO was weak but we completed, although he did fade considerably at the end. The 10m contact was much stronger. Both were with 5W CW.
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ARRL Sweepstakes CW contest same weekend.
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I wasn’t really trying for a Transatlantic qso this afternoon but I got half of one.
I was visiting my Aunt today and did a flyby activation of East Lomond GM/SS-198. I got 4 QSO’S on 2m then decided to try HF with the SPX loaded whip setup for 20m.
Scanning across the band I heard K8JSM/AM calling, I replied but sadly he only got half my csllsign and signal report despite being in a 757 at 36000 ft 381nautical miles Southwest of Greenland.
I was quite surprised and chuffed to even get half a qso with 5w and a compromised antenna.
Hopefully things work out on the 1st.
Andy
MM7MOX
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Outch!!!…that’s gonna hurt….
Doesn’t start until Saturday 2100Z so will only affect Sunday.
But a significant impact on Sunday - I might have to remember how to use a microphone, as the CW bands will be packed wall-to-wall with strong signals. (Good, I suppose, for those wanting to make lots of contacts from the other side, if you can figure out the contest exchange.)
Meanwhile, I’d just need to plan to be ready on a summit at 0400 local time Saturday morning…
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17m and 12m?
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60, 30, 17, & 12 contesting prohibited
So the perfect SOTA bands during a contest.
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I’ll be ignoring any CW contests [Saturday 1st]. I doubt contesters will identify as SOTA activators.
I worked USA (NC and MI) on 15m last week - albeit not S2Ss - so I’ll be alerting for 17, 15 and 12m. I’ll check 10m on the day but I don’t have much hope.
And I probably will lug the FT857, an ATU and bigger battery [leaving the KX2 at home] and up the power so N/A activators might hear me better.
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If only my CW was less rusty, I’d definitely be curious and a little crazy… even from here
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Yesterday I got the train down to Galashiels for the rally and took my SOTA gear as well for Meigle hill. GM/SS-212.
I got 5 QSO’s on 2m, mostly folk at or going to the rally and then tried some experiments on 6m with a colleague without success.
I switched to 17m and had 19 QSO’s in 20 mins including 5 s2s and 5 Transatlantic ones. This with the FT818 running 5w into a link inverted vee dipole. I was going to try 12m but was wet and cold by this time so descended to the rally and put some faces to other SOTA operators and chasers callsigns.
Hopefully the propagation is as good next weekend, but the weather forecast looks a bit wild though !
Andy
MM7MOX
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In the late afternoon yesterday, I drove a few minutes to a nearby POTA hill and experimented with my FT-891 and an ATAS-120A antenna in my car for the first time:
First, I tuned the ATAS to 10m SSB and hunted parks in the US and Canada. The signals weren’t the strongest, but it was still possible to conduct a longer P2P QSO with my 80W SSB and the screwdriver antenna.
After spotting on 10m for POTA, I made a total of 18 QSOs, all of them were DX (US, Canada, Argentina and Chile).
Then I switched to 15m, which brought me another eight contacts, six of which were also DX.
If the conditions remain as they are, I will mainly focus on the higher bands, as long as the SFI is high enough. In recent weeks, when I did SOTA with 10 W, there was usually at least one DX contact on 10 m.
Hear you on Saturday!
73 Stephan
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I haven’t picked a summit yet (I’ll post an alert when I do), but I hope to be on Saturday morning here.
The US switches daylight savings time overnight Saturday/Sunday: Saturday we’ll still be at UTC−04:00 on the east coast compared to UTC-05:00 the next day. So on Saturday it’ll feel like we are closer to the other side of the pond
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I will be hiking up a SoCal summit with an Elecraft K3 feeding a 10m moxon and 15m moxon. My operating time will be limited, but I’ll do my best to be set up by 1500 UTC. Look for my spots on CW and SSB.
Edit: Unfortunately I won’t have a mic for my K3 yet, so I’ll be CW only. Please work me at any speed you’re comfortable if you’re an S2S in EU. I’m happy to go slow, repeat, etc. It’s all good!
Edit #2: I found an interim mic solution! I will be SSB capable as well.
Adam
K6ARK
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I’m impressed Adam - starting point for the radio 8.5lbs. Plus 2 moxons, battery etc. Hope the mic isn’t the straw to break your back 
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Hi,
Last year I had lots of fun working only on 10m with a KX3 barefoot.
These days conditions are promising but I’ll try to be more flexible, in the range 17-15-12-10m.
This week I prepared a random up & outer antenna fed with ethernet cable plus tuner that allows me to change bands easily. Feed point detail :
The main concern is weather, with rain forecasted!
I’ll probably operate with another ham mate.
See you in Saturday, 73!
Ignacio EA2BD
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For anyone taking part in the Trans Atlantic S2S Event tomorrow (1st Nov). I will have my 2m SSTV kit with me. I will be on G/SP-004 (no surprise there). I will send an image of the summit at 13:00 and 14:00 UTC. Frequency 144.500.
Cheers Martin
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