Hoping some excellent contacts are made today. Looking forward to your reports as and when.
73, Gerald
Hoping some excellent contacts are made today. Looking forward to your reports as and when.
73, Gerald
Slovakia Group OM1ZZ, OM1ARH, OM1ALT, will be ready for call. Arounf 12:00 UTC.
QTH OE/NO-180 Hundsheimer Berg
Wish to all, many DX Sota Contact
73 OM1ALT Michal
From G/NP-028 I managed just the one transatlantic S2S with @VA2EO on 15m cw. He was the only activator across the pond I could hear. I did also have QSOs with 2 US chasers.
10m brought me just England, Wales and Utah!
In total 31 QSOs including 10 S2S. A very pleasant way to spend the afternoon. It was the first time this year where I got too warm and had to strip off layers!
Weather was warm and sunny this morning after the early frost so headed up GW/NW-042 for the Ten on 10m thing. Got there an hour too early so jumped on 10m SSB for a bit first.
Tried working VK6ZCV around 1130z who was pretty clear calling CQ on 10m SSB but every time he called me out I was stomped on by other stations, and he pretty soon gave up calling.
Second battery went flat after 90 minutes, no transatlantic contacts but it was a bit early in the day.
Weather was mostly sunny but I was getting pretty cold due to the northerly breeze.
A beluga made an appearance ove GW/NW-043 as I was walking down. Several other walkers stopping and pointing in awe but I see them all the time around here, and can hear the roar of them taking off from the office 10 miles away
Headed back down to the car to get battery number 3 and a phat coat then head up GW/NW-043. Initially listened on 10m FM and put out a CQ call - nothing. The event seemed to work but everyone went back to what they were doing before.
Both NA contacts were very difficult contacts and very slow fading but persistence paid off and eventually the signal came up for long enough for make the contact.
Had a good run initially on 17m but then contacts were very few and far between, even on 2m from that summit.
I listened for everyone who spotted, even though it meant changing the links on the dipole every 4-5 minutes! Hardly heard anyone on any band, not even any contest QRM.
Disappointing conditions on the bands but at least I got across the pond this time.
It was plenty cold enough on GM/ES-059!
Hi
Warm and sunny on G/WB-014
No transatlantic contacts today unfortunately, but a good run of S2S
G/NW-042 on 10m FM
GW/SW-004 on 2m and 70cm FM
HB/AG-011, GW/SW-003, EA/BI-055, I/LO-286, OE/NO-180 on 20m SSB
G/SP-008, G/TW-004 on 40m SSB
10m was fairly quiet except for some Holy Land contest activity and the 10 FM
500 Activator points reached today
Best weather for a month !
Rick
Only 1 trans-Atlantic contact, but. It was a S2S! Thank you Joe @KC1SRI. I listened to the spot frequencies for SSB, but didn’t hear anyone. 51 contacts with 5 S2S.
A cold wind but my operating position was warm and sheltered. I even remembered to take pictures, so here you go:
Thanks all, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
1/2
So I guess it will be another 3 years for the 2nd half
Congratulations Rick. Onwards and upwards!
I used efhw antennas 17-15-12-10mt, in qrp and qro mode (kx3 and ft857d 25-50w)
I worked 15-12-10 cw and ssb, better conditions on 12mt and 10mt.
8 EU qsos ( 1 s2s )
10 NA qsos ( 4 s2s )
73 iw2obx
It was very rainy day in South SP today, I found just short WX window to effect half an hour activation of SP/BZ-066.
13 contacts logged, 3 of them S2S and 2 of them S2S DX
Many thanks to Joseph @KZ4DZ & David @K2CZH for Trans-Atlantic Day celebration together with me
73, Jarek
Much the same as other folk in the UK, it was a real struggle getting transatlantic S2S. Even EU contacts were slow. Following Andy @G8CPZ I was activating G/LD-050 Gummer’s How for the 2nd time today.
Starting around 1500 UTC I initially put up the 20m-80m linked dipole and had a few chase on 20m, and chased a few S2S. I then put up my other dipole that covers 10m-17m and had a few good contacts on 10m including PY1PDF.
My phone indicated that Dene @G4ZOI was on G/LD-049 and remarkably (for me at least) my 15m dipole provided perfect SWR on 2m, and I was able to get a few local contacts in the log.
Right at the end I checked who was transatlantic on 15m and spotted @KR7RK Keith, but he was too weak to work. I tuned to @K6ARK Adam who was much stronger and was able to make the S2S. I tuned back to Keith and he was now stronger and I could work him.
Imagine my surprise when I got back home, put the contacts in my ADIF Processor and found that I will have been looking at both their mountains last October on a week long motorbike trip taking in Arizona, California and Nevada.
Adam on Palm View Peak W6/CT-068 - I had ridden the ‘Palms to Pines’ trail of which this is one of the overlooking summits.
Then Keith on W7A/AE-37 Woody Mountain
I had ridden to Flagstaff from the Grand Canyon and probably was looking at his mountain at some point!
So 6 EU S2S and two very special US S2S for me! Thanks guys for making my day.
Mark. M0NOM
TIME | CALLSIGN | BAND | MODE | RST | RSR | OPERATOR | SIG | REF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
15:02 | F4GPQ/P | 20m | SSB | 59 | 59 | Christian | SOTA | F/AM-657 |
15:04 | LA9XGA/P | 20m | CW | 579 | 599 | Tor-Atle | SOTA | LA/OL-170 |
15:07 | EA2DT | 20m | SSB | 59 | 55 | Manuel | ||
15:08 | HA7WA | 20m | SSB | 59 | 57 | Viktor | ||
15:08 | OK1SE | 20m | SSB | 59 | 59 | Jakub | ||
15:09 | SO9P | 20m | SSB | 59 | 33 | Mario | ||
15:09 | DD0KT | 20m | SSB | 59 | 47 | Christian | ||
15:10 | DG0JMB | 20m | SSB | 59 | 57 | Joerg | ||
15:17 | EA1AER/P | 20m | CW | 599 | 599 | Juan | SOTA | EA1/LE-158 |
15:25 | DL2AKV/M | 20m | CW | 579 | 599 | Mike | ||
15:39 | DK3RN/P | 20m | SSB | 59 | 59 | Peter | SOTA | DM/BW-851 |
16:04 | G4OOE/P | 10m | SSB | 51 | 55 | A.R.N. | SOTA | G/TW-004 |
16:05 | PY1PDF | 10m | SSB | 51 | 51 | FRANCISCO | ||
16:07 | UA9CAW | 10m | SSB | 55 | 55 | Boris | ||
16:54 | G4ZOI/P | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | Dene | SOTA | G/LD-049 |
17:09 | M5UK | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | David | ||
17:12 | GW4ZPL | 2m | FM | 59 | 57 | John | ||
17:13 | G7CDA | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | Douggie | ||
17:14 | G1OHH | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | Sue | ||
17:17 | SX100D | 15m | SSB | 59 | 59 | Anniversary | ||
17:24 | K6ARK | 15m | CW | 559 | 599 | Adam | SOTA | W6/CT-068 |
17:28 | KR7RK | 15m | CW | 559 | 339 | KEITH | SOTA | W7A/AE-037 |
My view today from G/LD-050:
Nice to have good weather for a change, mostly S&P yielded just 21 contacts but 16 of those were S2S. 6 of those were with North America.
Propagation was generally poor especially on 10m. 15m seemed to be the best band, with VA2EO a partially strong signal on 15m.
I was very pleased to get a summit complete with WN3F on W3/CR-003, thanks Roy!
I was using my trusty K2 with 10 watts to a 33’ doublet.
Many thanks for the contacts and S2S!
73
Roger MW0IDX GW/NW-051
S2S’s
M3ZCB/P
M1MAJ/P
G4TGJ/P
M0FMF/P
G4OOE/P
LZ1GJ/P
WN3F
WW4D
M/F5UBH
VA2EO
VA2YZX
K2CZH
MW0PJE/P
KC1SRI
M0KXN/P
Thanks for the S2S, it got me my 10m challenge multiplier
Thanks Roger for the contacts! You were actually my first caller today which I somehow missed when I called you later on 15m later. Conditions were much better the first time!
It was surprisingly raining when I left the house but the weather cleared for my activation. Even worse, I managed to leave behind my Hardrock 50W amp despite bringing the relatively heavy battery and other accoutrements. This wasn’t discovered until I put up the UL-404 OCF antenna on the treed summit, which always takes longer than I like, and I had no adapter to use the PL-259 from the antenna because as I expected to connect to the amp. I blame post-MG complacency. Fortunately I had a 9:1 transformer with 41’ wire and counterpoise that works pretty well with the KX2 ATU, so I connected that to the radio and cranked it up to full 10W.
Wound up with 16 contacts, 7 S2S including three across the pond. Longest DX was LZ1GJ with a surprisingly good signal and ears on 10m. I love these S2S events and look forward to the next.
73,
Roy WN3F
My alert said 1330 but my first QSO was 1513. The hike took longer than I expected, with lots of downed trees on the trail I chose.
On top of W1/CR-002, my 20m dipole worked against me but I finally got it in the air and on the air. QSOs came slowly, so I switched to an EFHW and went to 15m. Much better. Happily found @EI9KY, then @G4OOE found me, so it was officially a successful TransAtlantic S2S event.
Ended with 23 QSOs and 10 S2S. Heard @M0NOM (nice signal) and @EA3GNU but didn’t connect.
Next time I take the easy way up.
You had a big signal into Southern California! I was running 10 w on the KX2 with a 15 m portable moxon and a random wire for the other bands. Fortunately, the best action for SoCal to EU seemed to be on 15 m.
Full report post up next…
After such great success last November for the fall TA S2S event, I felt a compelling need to get out for this one as well. The G3 geomagnetic storming the day before didn’t bode well for band conditions, but at least the SFI is way up. So, I packed up my bags Thursday night so I could leave straight from work and head to the trailhead of my chosen peak - Palm View Peak, W6/CT-068 at 7,160ft/2,182m in the San Jacinto Mountains.
I have done Winter Field Day (youtube video) there, and worked other good DX with a crazy antenna from the summit which, depending on setup location, has good terrain for propagation East or West. Although it’s pretty remote, it overlooks Palm Springs almost 7,000 ft below, and RFI from the city still makes it up the hill (noticeable with a directional antenna).
I arrived at the trailhead around 4pm local time on Friday, loading up my 32 lb overnight pack and hiking up in nice, 70 F / 21 C temps. It’s about 4 miles / 6.5 km and 2,000 ft / 650 m of gain to the summit. It took a little under 2 hours to make the trek, so I had about 1.5 hours of daylight to set up antennas.
I rigged up the 25 ft mast and 15 m moxon with 12V DC rotator, and the 41 ft random wire, set up my bedding, and checked for spots on SOTA Watch.
My rig was the KX2 this time, running off of a Bienno LiFePO4 for a full 10 w output.
Pointing the Moxon West, I found BX8AAD on BV/PI-036 in Taiwan and heard him just above the noise. With some effort, we completed the contact - my first with Taiwan.
I rounded up a bunch of regular US chasers and friends on 20 and 40 m, and also nabbed JE1LHW/1 S2S on JA/KN-017 before shutting down around 8:45 pm local time and going to sleep.
I set the alarm for 5:30 am local time hoping the bands would warm up early and give some decent propagation to Europe. That was unfortunately not the case.
I’m not sure I’ve called CQ that much on a summit in quite a while without a lot of responses. But, I still managed to get plenty in the log.
I managed the following tally:
83 QSOs
22 total DX
15 EU stations
3 EU S2S
I’m pretty happy with that result considering the challenging band conditions. I felt like every time I tuned over to a US station’s spot that I should have been able to hear, they just weren’t there. But, I think this is proof that even when the ionospheric conditions are sub-optimal, it’s worth going out and putting in an effort. Sometimes the propagation gods will give you just enough.
Adam
K6ARK