I have thought about this as well Ed. In reality it would just be 17m and 12m for making Trans-Atlantic contacts, though I have occasionally worked across the ocean from a summit using 30m. Such contacts are rare. My main concern would be that we would have to share these bands with others avoiding the contests, so they could be crowded.
So we have (my suggestion)…
Saturday 19th October 2024, concentrating on 30m, 17m and 12m.
Saturday 2nd November 2024, using 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m and 10m.
I’ve always pointed out that too many special event weekends lowers the pressure on people to take part. Why bust a nut to get out for that special event if there is another in a few weeks and another one after that.
However… leveraging the fact that the bands are really starting to come very good it probably is worth doing two events this time. The last one was so good because we had lots of W6/W7 guys out early for us EU guys out late and coupled with good 10m etc. conditions it was a real blast. So yes, it probably is worth doing 2 events.
Can I request we do a Saturday and a Sunday so that those who have to work on a Saturday (or have fixed family commitments) get a shot on another day.
That is true of all contests of course Pom. The wide-band-noise (aka Contest Operating), drives amateurs off the usual bands onto the WARC bands in both the CW & SSB parts of the band (if their licence class allows it).
Being located in Germany I also think avoiding the WAG weekend makes a lot of sense, but having the event before the worst of the weather starts in November is also (IMHO) a good idea. How about at the start of October Gerald - the 5th has two contests in Region 3 that won’t affect us and the only US QSO party starts at 1600 UTC at which point most EU/UK activators will be heading off the summits before nightfall.
To play Devils Advocate - isn’t every weekend in 2024 Trans-Atlantic summit to summit weekend? We may not need a specific event, especially with all of the 10m challenge activity.
Indeed it is Fraser, given where we are at this point in the solar cycle. However, as Andy has pointed out, the success of this event over the years has been in setting a date which folks on both sides of the Atlantic have been able to focus on. Getting as many people as possible onto summits at the same time has been key to making some T/A S2S contacts when the conditions have been poor. I share his concern that having more than one date could be counter-productive.
I quite like Ed’s suggestion for an event on 5th October and note Andy’s comment that a Sunday event might be attractive to those with other commitments on a Saturday. So to progress the debate, what do people think about leaving the Trans-Atlantic S2S event on Saturday 2nd November 2024 and running a extra event (separate title?) on Sunday 6th October 2024? Maybe this would even attract a few new participants for the T/A event.
In principal I wouldn’t mind a Sunday event however on October 6th, you hit the California State QSO party that starts at 1600 on Saturday 5th October and runs through to 2200 UTC on the 6th.
We stick with the two planned dates for the Trans-Atlantic S2S event -
Spring - aligned with the QRPTTF event which this year will be Saturday 20th April 2024 Autumn - the first Saturday in November which will be Saturday 2nd November 2024
The lack of strong arguments for changing the Trans-Atlantic event dates speaks for itself, so I consider I have done my bit to respond appropriately to those that wanted a potential date change to be discussed.
We run a DX event, maybe over the weekend of 5th / 6th October 2024. I am thinking not just Trans-Atlantic here, but worldwide. We have the peak of a sun cycle coming up and it would be good for activators and chasers everywhere to have a go at working some DX. Suggestions for alternative dates are naturally welcome, but please treat this as something totally separate to the Trans-Atlantic event. That way we won’t get confused.
Just catching up on this thread after a long gig trip to the Isle of Wight and subsequent restoring of sleep patterns etc.
My initial instinct on reading through was simply swap one of them to a Sunday - ideally the November one - then I saw that FMF also said this (great minds and all that…)
Then I saw that this won’t happen, but an extra general DX weekend will be added in October. My fear is that this will be too general and not-specific enough to gain traction.
My constructive (hopefully - this is the intended spirit anyway!) suggestions are:
Change the November session to a Sunday - ie 3rd November 2024.
Add a Sunday session in November, so events happen on both weekend days, 24 hours apart.
Rather than a general weekend DX event in October, just run a Transatlantic DX event on the afternoon of Sunday 6th October 2024, to concentrate activity.
Any one of those would be an enhancement, hopefully for all concerned - and certainly for me personally.
Personally I am against Sunday for Trans-Atlantic event.
Then main activity of such event is in the late afternoon and evening in Europe. I am going to work on Monday early morning so Sunday evening I would prefere to relax rather than comming back in the car from SOTA expedition and then sorting out the gear etc…
As for dates I am easy and both November and October is fine with me.
When considering all of these dates, whether Saturday or Sunday, please make sure the events don’t clash with contests in the areas taking part as QRM from “wanna-be” contest stations can ruin an activation.
This is noted, but the Monday-to-Friday 9-to-5 working model is increasingly less common. I work most Saturdays for instance. Hence why I suggest having one of the events on a Saturday, and one on a Sunday. Having both on Saturdays, excludes some people (as would having both on Sundays).
We will retain the dates set out as they are pencilled into people’s diaries. The choice of dates has worked well for us in the past and the event has remained popular, despite the loss of the Spring events in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid… It is interesting that none of the people that contacted me requesting that I consider alternative dates has posted anything here. I can only assume they are happy to go with the majority view, which from where I am standing looks like the status quo.
The work on a Monday argument was raised in the past and recognised and I don’t want to go over that again. Whichever day is selected, someone won’t be able to do an activation.
So again… a separate thread for a DX event someone? If no-one is interested then so be it. I won’t be heading it up.
I am keen and will be looking forward to getting up a GM summit ( GM/SI-003 ???) on the 20th and (ideally) pointing a directional antenna at a summit in North America …
If someone is interested in taking the lead, a new thread needs to be opened up so that dates can be discussed. Whatever the majority decide, then those dates would be proposed.
As for times, well it would need to be held over a longer period than the Trans-Atlantic event in order to cater for the changing propagation. Activators might be on one summit for Asia / Oceania and another for the Americas. Don’t forget Africa of course. It could be just one day or a whole weekend. Whatever people want.
That would be great. I’m as yet undecided which summit I will be on, though it won’t be such a prominent one as your proposal. Wherever I end up I will be faced with a 200 mile journey south to Northumberland on the Saturday evening in readiness for a 250 mile journey further south on the Sunday. All good fun… but it’s what we do.
Might not need 2m, semaphore could be the order of the day.
One option for me is GM/CS-041 in the morning followed by GM/CS-010 during the event. Issue with that - everyone does this pairr the other way around and the route description would need to be carefully adjusted. Also, the summits are poorly served by phone/4G which is required to maximise S2S options. Likely to be boggy after this winter as well, especially the return to the car. Probably best left until midge season.
Another option might be GM/SS-010 in the morning, followed by GM/SS-008 for the event. Better walk out at the end of the day, but more Joe Public. I am looking at lesser pairings and single summits, as at my time of life I need a range of options to suit how I feel on the day.
I’m based in Perth on the Friday night, so at least I won’t have lots of travel to get to the summit(s) on the Saturday.
