This year the dates for the Trans-Atlantic S2S events are Saturday 18th April 2026 and Saturday 7th November 2026. As usual I have aligned the April date with the QRPTTF event and the November date is the first Saturday as in previous years.
Last year we ran a second day on the Sunday to take advantage of the solar peak with some success, so if anyone is able to commit to two consecutive days, or indeed can only manage the Sunday, then certainly go for it.
Thanks for the reminder Gerald. A reminder that on this side of the pond we often call ās2s s2sā to get your attention, rather than the ā /p /pā used elsewhere. Looking forward to our s2s.
Iām hoping to participate from East Lomond hill GM/SS-198 this time. Itās not so far to lug the bigger lead acid battery to power the FT857 for the event.
It is dependent on the boat craning operation the week before not being delayed by weather.
Hard to predict just now, we had hail, snow and sunshine at the harbour today.
I will use a deltaloop single o douple. I will stay active after the grey zone. VOACAP shows good chances on 17ā15m EU ā East Coast, and 20ā17m to the Midwest, but less reliable, power 5 watt cw.
Even though VOACAP doesnāt favor it, Iāll give 10m a few minutes
Hi Gerald, Certainly a good date for portable operations.
April 18th is World Amateur Radio Day - the day that the IARU was formed in Paris; for this reason, WWFF have a special certificate for contacts made on this day. It is also a POTA āSupport your parksā weekend. So where a Summit is in a park (WWFF or POTA) expect to be chased a lot.
There is even the chance of PAE (Pre-Auroral Enhancement) of signals across the Atlantic on the 18th, as Sunday is going to be (according to the forecast) the day that the big solar storm hits. The GB2RS propagation predictions read as follows:
Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will start around 105, but will increase a little over the week to reach the low 120s. Geomagnetic conditions are forecast to be quiet, with a maximum Kp index of 3 once we get over this weekendās predicted disruption, which has a forecast Kp index of 5.
Then we are in for a rough ride next weekend, with a predicted Kp index of 6 on the 19thof April and disrupted conditions for three days. This is likely due to the return of active region 4392 which produced a coronal mass ejection that hit the Earth and caused the Kp index to rise to 7 on its last rotation.
Iām doing a dry run activation this afternoon for next weekendās SOTA T/A event. So far this year Iāve activated only on 2m and low-bands HF. My āfriendā (Google AI) says that propagation conditions between the UK and North America are currently excellent on the higher bands (20mā10m). Is he, er, is it right?
Hard to believe that I havenāt used my KX2 since early November - my 25yo FT817 is having an Indian summer with the 2026 Challenge. I even had to spend ages searching for the KX2ās DC cable.
I was on a POTA / WWFF last Saturday and there was very little to be heard on 15m, 12m or 10m. Conditions were very strange and I decided to concentrate on 20m where there was most action. Running 10W to a 40m EFHW, I did get called by K2UPD who was 59 and W1OW who was 55. I heard several others as I tuned around. Maybe not the best time for the 10m Moxonā¦ as if I had one!
Sadly, I didnāt get to test the conditions this afternoon. The activation was a āfailā due to an intermittent high SWR. So it was worth doing the dummy run today rather than discover the problem during the event this Saturday.
Iām planning to take part but donāt know which summit yet as that will depend on the weather. It looks like it could be quite windy so I am not sure if using the 10m mast for my 20m GP is a good idea. Iām hoping 17m will be the band as the GP for that is more manageable.
We will do a QRO Multi OP activation with the RCCW/TU-Graz Club Callsign OE6XUG/p again.
this time with new operators (@oe6hma and @oe6pnf) on a different and higher summit:
Today I activated W2/GC-062 in the western Catskills (elev 1076m ASL) of New York. Around the 1700Z hour on 20 Meters CW I could clearly hear OM1WS/p on OM/BA-004 and also EA3HIG/p on EA2/VI-014 calling CQ but ā unfortunately ā they did not hear me calling ās2s s2sā among their EU chasers. My modest antenna today was a 40M EFHW up about 6 meters running N-S. My European chasers today were all on 15M although I could hear some EU activity on 17M. Hopefully band conditions improve on Saturday for trans-Atlantic s2s. Local weather forecast is warm, cloudy and dry. Stay well & 73! Mike, WB2FUV
