Storm Domingos frustrated our plans to go out and activate, it battered northern Portugal all day long with high winds and copious amounts of rain. Despite that, I had a ton of fun chasing from home, mostly on 10 and 15m CW and some SSB. Can’t wait for the next S2S event!
Paulo
CT2IWW
Well you could have warned me. I expected a reasonable amount of people, but… let’s just say I can see why you prefer Scald Law. 
I reckon at least 300 during my stay, maybe more… I could watch them coming up in droves from my operating position. No wonder there is so much erosion up there.
Fat finger syndrome! 
Thanks for the S2S. It was great to be working the western states as well as the east coast guys. Lots of new areas worked.
TU fer your S2S Gerald,
73
Sly
The Trans-Atlantic S2S Event exceeded my expectations!10m was the “money band”. What an awesome time!
Though I had previously activated Mount Lemmon (W7A/AW-001) just a few weeks earlier, I chose the summit for the event because of its elevation (9160 ft / 2792m), a relatively short drive (90 minutes) from home, a minimal (10-minute) hike slogging a heavy (33 lbs / 15kg) pack to my chosen operating location, and a 10-point score to reward chasers.
Unfortunately, I had no cell service at my operating location which deprived me of the ability to spot myself and to see other activators’ data. In addition, Garmin changed their messaging system to require downloading a new phone app, so I was unable to spot myself using my Garmin. Fortunately, I had posted an alert and RBN stations picked up my signals and posted spots for me, which saved the day.
Of 68 contacts made during a little more than 2 hours of operating time, 62 were on 10m and 6 were on 15m.
Total QSOs: 68
DX QSOs: 42 (40 EU + 2 S America)
S2S QSOs: 9 (5 EU + 4 USA)
Radio: Yaesu FT-891
Power: 50W
Battery: 20Ah LiFePo4 which died after a little more than 2 hours
Antenna: 133’ (40m) end fed inverted V with apex at 13.5’ (4m). Orientation: N-S
Many thanks to GM0GAV/P, G4OOE/P, OE5EEP/P, HB9DQM/P and GM4OIG/P for the Summit-to-Summit contacts!
Many thanks to GM3JW, DL6UHA, OH1MM, F4WBN, OE6STD, OE6GND, F6EAZ, S57S, ON7QR, HB9CEV, EA4R, G0TRT, F5JKK, DL2AKV/M, LW2DO, DK7ZB, OK2PDT, EA2DT, SV2OXS, SA4BLM, G3VXJ, DK1WI, G4OBK, DM4EA, G4GIR, EA2LU, G4YBU, LA5FHA, SM5LNE, SA0AQT, S52AU, HB9CBR, ON4ATK, OK2BVX, G3RDQ, ON3LMA and LU1MAW for the chases!
73 de K9PM Paul
Simply put, that was the most incredible activation I have experienced, thanks to excellent band conditions, awesome SOTA ops around the world, and an amazing pileup of chasers.
I set out after work Friday afternoon to the Anza Borrego Desert about a 1.5 hour drive East of San Diego, California. The dirt road became very rough so I stopped about 1/2 km from the end and began my hike in 30 deg C weather with no wind.
My destination was “Mine Benchmark,” W6/SD-396. Mine Benchmark - CalTopo
Not carrying just the usual mini CW rig, pack was heavy - about 20-25 kg - loaded down with an ICOM IC-7300, 28 Ah worth of LiFePO4 batteries, and three antennas. My intent was to primarily work the 10 and 15 m bands with a homebrew 7 element 10 m yagi and a 15 m moxon. I also had a 40-10 m linked dipole as a backup and nighttime antenna. All of that was stuffed in on top of overnight gear, as I would be camping on the summit.
The 2 km hike up 230 m of elevation took about an hour with the heavy pack, and I arrived 45 minutes before sunset. Immediately, I got to work setting up the 10 m yagi and hoisted it up on the 5 m pool cleaning pole mast with the antenna pointed West.
Hoping for some 10 m propagation to ZL, VK, and JA, I started calling on 10 m SSB. Within an hour, I had 19 in the log before stopping to set up the 15 m moxon and linked dipole to operate before going to sleep. 20 m CW netted a few more JA stations and some friends in the US.
For my evening operating, I finished with:
12 VK
5 JA
2 ZL
1 YB
8 US stations
YB2NDX was the stand-out, working me with 5 w on 10 m SSB. But still, the real goal was to get EU S2S.
I set the alarm for 6 am local time to try to catch as many EU opportunities on 10 m and 15 m as possible. I tuned around, listening for EU stations on summits from the spotting page, but could not yet hear many of them. So, I spotted myself on 15 m CW and began calling. About an hour of operating there logged about 30 QSOs with S2S.
I then switched to 10 m SSB for about 70 QSOs, then 10 m CW for about 30 more.
My final log included:
**170 total QSOs, 113 of which were DX! 26 different DX entities worked. **
I think many of my EU contacts were not even SOTA chasers - just operators hearing me and replying to my calls. I’m sure there were S2S stations buried in the pileup that I missed, and I know there were some who I just couldn’t quite hear well enough despite lots of patience and repeats from them. My apologies for not getting you in the log.
Many thanks to all who participated. This was an amazing event and one I’ll remember forever.
73
Adam
K6ARK
There are some amazing reports above. My daughter and I drove the four hours north Friday and camped in central Oklahoma, starting to hike Saturday about 6:15 am local and almost two hours before sunrise. Wind conditions on the summit were awful with gusting to at least 45 mph so we set up as best we could on the lee side of boulders, which likely was the reason we only had two contacts to the west.
Not spectacular numbers but a lot of fun and most importantly my daughter had fun operating ssb. S2S included SP9TKW, GM4JXP, LB8CG, VA2EO, NM3A with 15 meters being our work horse. We tried other EU stations but could not get through with louder stations. We heard 10 meters quite hot but by that time had enough of the wind. 32 in the log.
Thanks to other activators and the chasers.
This was one of the most incredible SOTA activations I’ve ever done, and there have been so many… Thanks to all who organized and participated to make this event what it became!
My day started well, with a short drive to a nearby peak W0C/FR-174, Bald Mountain. As I approached the trailhead, I saw all the trees absolutely dancing in the wind. The temperature was about 3 or 4 C, but the wind was going to be a problem on BALD MOUNTAIN! There were still piles of old snow in the shady spots. It all looked so grim, I almost went home. I put on several layers and started hiking the mile-long approach to the peak.
About halfway to the peak, I saw a large animal in the jeep road ahead - a juvenile moose - standing his ground and not moving. Wisely I decided to detour up and around through the forest, which cost some precious time. It was so windy that I didn’t care - in fact, I wanted to delay, so that the sun would warm Bald Mountain. Before long, I was climbing the steep social trail past abandoned mines, getting warmer, and almost at the summit!
Right ahead I saw a father and son dressed in bright orange outfits, carrying rifles, and obviously HUNTING in the dawn light! I spoke to them, asking gently if it was OK to go up to the summit and set up my radio gear - they were there first,and they have a right to be there…we agreed on where we would be, and they joked that I should send the deer down the east side of the hill where they were planning to go.
Gratefully I ascended to the windy top, finding only a few useful spots with bushes and/or trees, as well as the sun exposure that I needed prevent getting chilled by the wind. Quickly I got out my gear, tied the 6M carbon pole to my shelter tree, laid the 65 feet of #24 teflon wire out toward the old dead tree that would support the east end, found a rock and threw it over a dead branch, and had my end-fed inverted-L up - never mind running through some aspen branches, etc. It was going to happen after all…
I had 2 bars of 5G cel service - SOTAWatch came up on the I-phone - what a sight to see that screen!
I got the KX2 on real fast, and right away I found GM4OIG on 21.064…I know who he his - I called, and bam - he came right back at 1528Z, and that was a good start!! Scotland S2S - incredible…I must have been one of his last contacts, so Gerald, thank you for staying on so long.
Compared to the gear many of you used for this event, my activation was minimal. I used a KX2 at 10W, and I carried 2 sets of batteries - about 10 oz for the power. Antenna was a 65-foot wire, inverted-L, fed at the bottom of the pole, no feedline, no transformer, no links, no radials, no counterpoise. I used my most recent homebrew tiny tuner, which tunes all bands 60M through 10M. The summit was quiet, in the National Forest, about a mile from significant development. The antenna was oriented to that the best lobes on the higher frequencies were roughly northeast, toward EU. The site I picked was above a fairly steep slope, looking down about 1000 feet to the east, almost ideal for a low wave angle. I was at 2788M, 9147 feet, with an incredible view out far out to the east, way across the Great Plains, with the snowy Continental Divide much higher to the west.
A quick listen near 21.06 told me the band was hot - there was DX, people sending summit refs, CQ’s, close signals - WOW! My phone was running spots by faster than I could read them, but I saw that many were on 10M CW. I moved up there real fast and was pleased. I knew I was near the end of the EU S2S activity, so I stayed on 10M, called CQ, got spotted by the RBNHole, etc., and managed to snag a few more EU S2S operators.
I was getting across - and I was sure I could hear very well - 10M was really decent! So were 12M and 15M! The biggest problem I had was that lots of EU DX stations saw my spots, heard me, called me with 599 signals, and created pileups for me! Normally they would be fun DX, but they were QRM for this event. I made several EU S2S contacts by watching the spots and calling instead.
At 1700Z, G4OBK Phil called me on 21.0625, he was 599 - that was right after EA2LU got me, also 599.
After about 1700Z, the event was mostly a regular Saturday activation, with numerous NA S2S and tons of regular chasers. I called CQ on various bands, and I also chased other S2S people from band to band, mostly as fast as I could find them and then - sometimes - break through their chasers.
Eventually I managed to work all the bands from 40M through 10M, mostly CW, but also some nice SSB S2S’s as well. It was a busy Saturday for sure, and all these bands were very useful. There were many S2S’s on 40M CW and SSB, and some of them came with much better S2S points than many of the earlier peaks!
The day turned out fine, the wind dropped, the sun was warm, and all was good on Bald Mountain. Perhaps 10 hikers came up and enjoyed the view with their friends…
I stayed on until almost 2000Z, and there were lots more S2S’s still coming, but enough of the madness!
Some numbers:
91 contacts
45 S2S contacts
39 Unique Summit S2S contacts
7 DX S2S contacts, all EU
6 Unique Summit DX S2S contacts
Many DX contacts
167 S2S points
0 Activator points
Thanks to all of you!
73
KX0R
George/Carey
As I’ve said many times before George, the event organises itself. I had the original idea back in 2016 when I realised I’d been activating for 10 years and hadn’t got a single Trans-Atlantic S2S on any of my activations. Each year all it needs is a prompt on the reflector and the NA io group to get it into people’s diaries. It is pleasing that the event has kept going and now with this new sunspot cycle, we are reaping the rewards.
The “core” times for the event are 12:00 to 17:00z, but everyone is of course free to be on before and after these times. I was hoping to make it through to 17:00 as I usually do, but decided to call it a day half an hour early as I was sat out on the side of the hill without any shelter and was getting cold. My XYL was also waiting to be picked up after her Edinburgh shopping spree.
It was great to be your first contact of the day. The KX2 and inverted L did a brilliant job. Pleased you had a great time.
73, Gerald G4OIG
So, this event was a lot of fun. When is a next one? Spring you said?
My bag was 92 QSO all SSB, running 100W into EFHW as inv-L with apex at 9mtr high and transformer 2mtr off the ground. After 3 hours my 20Ah battery was empty so just before sundown I had to finish.
I crossed Atlantic 20 times: 18 times NA and twice SA. Managed 7 S2S into NA and 8 in Europe.
Longest QSO was Horacio LW2DO 12427km and longest S2S was with Adam @K6ARK 9857km which was just ahead of S2S with Paul @W6PNG.
Many thanks to all activators and chasers and I hope to catch you again soon.
73 Marek
Hi Adam, thanks for the S2S last Saturday!
I remember your signal being very strong and being surprised when I learnt that that was a S2S. Now I know why! 
I’m very curious about both antennas, specially the 7 el. I tried to zoom in the picture but I’m not sure I can see the wires and ropes clearly enough to understand how it holds mechanically… Would you mind sharing a schema?
Thanks!
Roger, EA3M
I will share a MMANA model when I have a chance, but for now, here are some more photos. https://photos.app.goo.gl/M3c7SyBfMPcC9nK3A
The elements are black 18 ga Poly Stealth wire.
Cords and guy lines are yellow kevlar.
Spreaders are “7.2 m” telescopic fiberglass poles.
The center hub is 3d printed.
Adam
K6ARK
AC1Z - Enjoyed the S2S Transatlantic Event! Made 47 contacts 27 DX including 32 Total S2S with 15 S2S DX! Lots of NA activity too with 17 USA/Canada S2S contacts! KX2 with 10 watts and trail friendly end fed antenna. Thanks to Gerald G4OIG/G8CCK for coordinating this event!
What’s that saying … “Make hay while the sun shines”.
I’ve seen different reports on when cycle 25 peaks and so maybe the ARRL 10m contest Dec 9/10 is worth considering as an impromptu “mass activation” opportunity.
Maybe morning US gets EU s2S and afternoon US gets JA s2S.
I know some think too much of a good thing undermines its perceived value but we have limited time to make “easy” long distance contacts on 10m.
Just a random thought……
Paul
Hi Miller,
Thanks for the QSO S2S.
73
Carlos
py2vm
Hello John,
Thank you for the QSO S2S with me PY2VM and Marcio PY2TTN.
PY2/SE-022
28mhz was very good, but with a lot of splatter from DX stations.
It improved a lot when it went from 28.343Mhz to 28.570Mhz.
73
Carlos
py2vm
Hi Alfonse,
Thank you for QSO S2S - PY2/SE-022
We thank PY2VM and Marcio PY2TTN for the QSOS and S2S.
S2s: @DG7AC, @in3jib, @m0wiv, @g4ooe, @oe9hrv, @oe9tkh, @hb9eaj, @hb3ynl, @hb9eko, @pu2oyt, py2gut, sp9jtr, sv9bij, va2eo, lu5mrr, lu6mfb
73
Carlos
py2vm
Is there a customary annual Trans-Pacific event?
If 10m was wide open there’s always the chance that there just wont be many SOTA people active when you go and activate. You’ll make some QSOs but it wont be like this weekend past. The reason why this worked so well was there were so many stations either side of the Atlantic taking part and the bands were in good shape. It was the numbers involved that made the real difference.
It’s an interesting idea because passing up possible good conditions seems terribly wasteful. Even if there are few SOTA stations there should be plenty of normal contest stations to work. The downside is the 10m SSB section was packed 28.3-28.5 on just a Saturday with good conditions so it could be pandemonium on contest weekend especially for QRP phone stations. Of course you can always work 12 and 15 as well as 10m.
Tempting idea…
