As there has been some talk over another attempt at a Trans-Pacific S2S QSO Party (thanks JP3PPL for the idea), I suggest we have a go over the same weekend as 2020 i.e. 17 April 2100-2300z (hopefully without Covid rearing its ugly head this time). This is Saturday afternoon in North America and Sunday morning for Asia/Oceania.
Personally I have found 17m in particular and 20m good for JA/USA qsos over recent weeks while on activations so there should be every chance of a successful event.
Of course everyone can participate. It is not exclusive to S2S. But an important detail for NA activators, surely you will have many local calls, for this reason I recommend that at certain times you stop the pileup and ask for S2S
How about going beyond priority and focusing 100% on Asia and Oceania s2s with the Americas? I plan to search & pounce exclusively during those two hours. I have been doing only S & P since the virus lockdown a year ago, scoring about 5,200 s2s points during that year. If we all do that, then we need to designate CW frequencies on 17 and 20 well away from the digital folks, such as 18.089-90 and 14.050-51, and call “CQ Sota dx s2s”. The problem with going higher is the Feld Hell Sprint overlapping the first hour of the proposed trans-pac s2s. They are the only serious competition that day, and they recommend that their members stay above 14.070 and 18.095, with a limit of 100 watts and width of 500 cycles. On the occasions when I heard them below 14.070, they devastated nearby freq’s.
For s2s with VK/ZL, three element wire beam (inverted V with fabric web boom), and EFHW for JA… Got one telescopic pole at 43 feet, shopping for another. Also, praying for no wind, as that de-tunes the beam. Fifty watts.
