Yesterdays activation of G/SP-004 produced 103 2m FM contacts with many new callsigns entering the log book. A fine number for a midweek activation.
With the HF bands wallowing in the doldrums, perhaps the stations that had forsaken the VHF band are now taking advantage of the good conditions?
73 Mike
2E0YYY
In reply to 2E0YYY:
Possibly, Mike, but as I heavily reduced my VHF activity because of a serious problem with noise and birdies, including one right on the SSB calling channel, I expect that good conditions may only increase the problem by bringing in pollution from further afield!
73
Brian GV8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
I seem to be suffering the same as you Brian (but not as bad by the sound of things). I have been hearing a lot more stations on 2m over the last few days but the background noise has also been a lot higher making them unworkable 
73, Colin M0XSD.
In reply to G8ADD and M0XSD:
Well there’s only one thing for it, you’ll just have to close the shop, get your boots on and get out up them thar hills! 
73, Gerald G4OIG
Noise here on 40m currently a dull S8 roar…
In reply to G4OIG:
I could have done with a call from you yesterday Gerald, having worked both G4OWG and G4ONG
73 Mike
2E0YYY
In reply to G4OIG:
That sounds like a good idea Gerald.
I wasn’t going to mention 40m but a steady S9 of noise here last time I checked
73, Colin M0XSD
In reply to M0XSD:
Why do people put up with this and not do something?
If you were bladdering your neighbour’s TV do you think they would sit shtumm? No, so locate the house the noise is coming from and complain to OFCOM.
Whilst OFCOM contemplate your complaint make a noise pickup antenna and phasing unit and remove/reduce the noise at the antenna socket. This can be ever so effective and is much better than faffing about with DSP units which try to work after the noise has been picked up.
There are designs on the intarwebz and none of it is rocket science. Hell this IS a technical hobby and you should be capable of making trivial circuits like these. (Eyesight and dexterity issues accpeted especially for those with a few turns on the coil of life.)
Tacit acceptance is not the way to resolve these problems. Apply some Churchillian gumption and fight back.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
…so locate the house the noise is coming from and complain to OFCOM.
In my case for “house” also read factories, offices, car dealerships, retail stores, warehouses, burger bars, etc - and most are some miles away. Try complaining about all of that!
We live in an RF noisy society. Everything we use in modern society creates noise, even our own radio equipment! …and it’s not stationary either. On 144MHz I can hear the local buses approaching as their on-board lighting system can create several S points of noise as they pass.
For the absolute quiet life it would seem that the only option is move to an isolated house in the middle of the countryside or go out onto the hills. Even there we are not always immune, as I found up Roan Fell GM/SS-132 last Sunday. There were contractors up there extending the track up to the summit and their dumper trucks were putting out a load of hash across the bands. Working on a Sunday? - well that’s how busy as a society we have become! Whatever happened to the day of rest? I guess we have to look on the bright side - at least Richard G3CWI will soon be able to bike all the way to the summit!
73, Gerald G4OIG
In reply to G4OIG:
Try complaining about all of that
Defeatist attitude results in defeat!
Andy
MM0FMF
Sounds like a nice area Gerald and a murder to boot the other day 
david g6lkb
In reply to 2E0YYY:
It was a nice change to hear you on 2 m SSB recently but as we said even with a spot on for the band and mode there were very few chasers who bothered to give you a call so it�s understandable that you choose FM due to the lack of support from chasers on SSB maybe they think you need massive antennas where as if they can get you on FM there�s a good chance the same people would do it on SSB if they had multimode gear.
I was surprised that Gerald G4OIG managed to qualify one of the GM summits as a couple of chasers insisted on trying for a Gold medal in wind bagging and one did possibly qualify for the Rabbit award it�s always the same few on both HF and VHF and they are not M6 calls, these are people who should know better and forget that the activator has only limited power and time.
On 60m and 40m by the time they shut up the bands have changed so quick that others never get a chance to call it�s the I�m all right and the others can wait attitude, still on the upside a lot of chasers now have more knowledge than the English tourist board for places to eat and visit etc.
Some of the questions being asked sounds like they are checking up on the activator before they start shouting cheat so how long will it be when the activator has to have his gps tracking switched on so one of the doubters can follow every step to the summit then ask for a live link showing them dancing around the trig point . This may be one of the reasons a lot of activators have given up because of the red tape killjoy brigade asking for a photo of the activator standing at the trig point, a bit of an issue if there is no one about to take the photo but then they would say it�s been doctored by photoshop or similar the main reason would be the high costs involved now to get to a summit.
73 Roger.
In reply to G0TRB
It was a nice change to hear you on 2 m SSB recently but as we said
even with a spot on for the band and mode there were very few chasers
who bothered to give you a call so it�s understandable that you choose
FM due to the lack of support from chasers on SSB maybe they think you
need massive antennas where as if they can get you on FM there�s a
good chance the same people would do it on SSB if they had multimode
gear.
My FT-857 has always been a bit deaf on 2m SSB and I’ve never been a big fan of beams, Roger.
A decent colinear in the VHF conditions we’re experiencing at the moment, works very well and for very little effort.
Activators who are prepared to turn a beam for hours on end have my full respect.
73 Mike
2E0YYY
In reply to G0TRB:
This may be one of the reasons a lot of activators have given up because of the red tape killjoy brigade asking for a photo of the activator standing at the trig point
Missing your meds today Roger?
3 activators have been asked to produce evidence by the MT that they were where they claimed. This was only after the MT received regular input that the claims were in some way dubious. We will not identify these people.
One activator went to very great lengths to produce significant numbers of photos of previous activations as well as new activations. The activator went to a large amount of effort to justify they had been on the summits and remove any doubt of not being in the AZ.
Another activator said they would do no more activations if they had to produce photographic evidence in future. It was not a case of not owning a camera or being reluctant to carry the camera to the summit but a downright refusal to prove they were where they had claimed to be. You can draw any conclusion you like from this action but I know what I think.
The third activator professes not to own a camera but has submitted GPS track logs of their activations instead.
Andy, MM0FMF
SOTA MT
In reply to MM0FMF:
Thanks for the reminder about the meds most welcome.
I had only heard comments made on one of the nets by someone who likes to stir things a bit and give people ideas I was not aware that it was fact.
Only fact I have is that a few years ago I was the target of a couple of chasers who checked every contact I made and cross examined each one then on air told me my errors in times etc. So I just stopped logging the contacts on the data base and continued to help activators to get the required contacts to qualify and on ocasions put a spot on to help others sometimes with a comment.
G0TRB
In reply to G8ADD:
Brian.
Just wait untill they change all the street lights with these led things and you wont even get chance to watch tv as all the neigbours will be knocking the door moaning about tvi saying the lighting company says its you not the new lights.
Still not long to wait untill the UK has no power then its fun time on the radio so get the spare car battery’s ready .
G0TRB
In reply to G0TRB:
No, Roger, they replaced all the mercury vapour street lighting in my area (except for the main roads which is sodium) with LED lighting last year, and to my pleased surprise, not only was the lighting better, but there was a definite reduction in noise levels.
Mike, my FT857 was also a little deaf on V/UHF but I was able to improve it quite a bit using the hidden menu, aka the engineering menu. The procedure for those that need it is:
You will know when you are successful because the radio will warble at you and the screen will show 1.800 CW and 01 HF1RXG and a number. This is the RF gain for 1.800, move the select a click for position 2 and it is the RF gain for 40 metres, position 3 is for 15 metres, position 4 is for 6 metres, 5 is for 2 metres and 6 is for 70 cm.
select position 5, make a note of the number following “VHFRXG” in case you want to undo your change, then turn the main tuning control clockwise. As you turn it you will hear the background noise increase, and you will see the number increasing. At some point the background noise no longer increases, this is full gain and I recommend that you back off slightly from this.
If desired repeat for 70 cm and 6 metres. There is nothing to be gained by making these adjustments for HF.
To retain the new values switch off. When you switch on again by the normal method you will find that the sensitivity has increased on V/UHF.
Incidentally, position 17 (marked VCC) adjusts the voltage readout, which is often a bit out!
I found this simple adjustment made a worthwhile improvement in V/UHF sensitivity on my 817 and 857.
73
Brian GV8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
Thanks for the info, Brian. I’ll give it a try.
73 Mike
2E0YYY
In reply to G8ADD:
- To retain the new values switch off. When you switch on again by
the normal method you will find that the sensitivity has increased on
V/UHF.
Brian GV8ADD
On my 857 the setting was not remembered unless I pressed and held the func button for a second or two before switching off
Roger GV4OWG
In reply to G8ADD:
Must be cowboys doing the ones around Tamworth there have been lots of coplaints this street due near end of year sometime.
Roger
In reply to G0TRB:
They may be a different unit, Roger: on ours the control unit is buried. If you get problems claim to the council that their lighting does not conform to harmonised standard EN55015 and watch the fun!
73
Brian GV8ADD