Hello SOTA Activators.
Just a simple request from a Chaser.
When you select your frequency to activate summits in the 10m challenge in VK can you please avoid frequencies on 28. ?10 28.?05. You may not be able to hear on the .5 or .10 frequencies but from my home station it is full of Asian CB AM heterodyne and that makes it impossible to hear you on the summit. One example on Sunday was VK1RX who was on 28.460 all I could hear was CB AM heterodyne and very weak home station chasers but not the activator. Just a suggestion if you want to be heard by chasers.
Regards
Ian vk5cz ā¦
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Hey Ian,
Just to clarify are you saying āall multiples of 5kHzā on 28MHz are bad for QRM from CB?
Didnāt quite follow what you meant specifying ā28.#10 28.#05ā with 28.460 as an example.
I canāt hear them on 28MHz here to verify for myself - though listening lower down on 27MHz the normal CB bands are full of them. My recollection from the UK was the channel spacing was 10kHz but the offset for non-uk sets gave freqs ending in 5.
Happy to avoid them if I can work out what the offset and spacing it.
Matt - ZL4NVW
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Dunno if this is a problem just for SSB or also for other modes, Anyway ā¦
I believe that the frequency display on modern radios (e.g. SDR) is much more accurate than on radios back in my youth. So, thereās no real need on non-channelised sub-bands (for SSB and CW) to choose āwell-roundedā frequencies.
When activating on HF (CW) I self-spot and operate on odd-valued frequencies, e.g. 28.0633 or 28.0677 as they should
- avoid heterodynes,
- reduce chance of non-chaser stations āpopping upā on my frequency, and
- make it a bit easier for chasers to find me if my rxād signal is weak.
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I have no experience of the practice on CW, but on SSB people tend to tune with the knob marked āselectā on Yaesu rigs rather than the ābig knobā, so they will use steps of 1kHz or, less often, steps of 2.5kHz. For the FT-817/8 and its bigger brothers those steps apply to both CW and SSB so if they donāt use the VFO knob they will land on the carriers that you mention.
As an aside, 10m seems to be the happy home of atrocious signals! 
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Gday Matt today I was trying to chase VK1RX but all I could hear was AM heterodyne from Asian stations right on his frequency of choice. I donāt care what frequency people choose but if chasers like me canāt hear them because of above mentioned QRM we cant give or get a score. Donāt see the need to add to the noise problems most of us suffer from in suburbs. Yes during openings on 10 metres we get lots of Asian stations on AM FM in our allocation and they are probably not hams and it seems to be channelized radios they use by where they show up in the bands.
regards
Ian vk5cz ā¦
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I sent a 559 report to a station who sounded as though he was feeding his PA stage direct with ac mains! I did think imediately afterwards - should Iā¦? But I was in the middle of working a pile up, and too late to change it 
Back on topic-ish, I usually use the ābig knobā on my 817 to find a clear frequency (in band) without worrying about the exact frequency displayed.
I do use the āselectā knob to move from the cw end up to ssb land etc.
So do I on my FT857 shack rig and FT817 (occasional portable rig) if Iām already on the same band as the frequency spotted by the activator I want to chase. Then ā being within 1kHz (CW) or 2.5kHz (SSB) - I use the big knob to fine-tune until the Tx/Busy LED goes blue (CW) or the voice is correctly resolved (SSB). It makes little or no difference whether the activatorās frequency is āroundedā or not.
I have at least 5 frequencies per HF band (CW and SSB) programmed into the FT857/FT817. So, if Iām on the wrong band, I can use the Select knob to flick quickly through the frequency memories to the one nearest to the activatorās one, nudge the big knob (to go into VFO mode) and proceed as above. This is quicker than using the Band Up/Band Down buttons which often end up at the wrong part of the band and wrong mode.
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I learnt early on with HF that going on a multiple of 5kHz was bad if you were QRP as it was only when not if you got trodden on. I always go for somewhere in between on HF. We tend to do the same when contesting on 2m, avoid the 5kHz multiples though itās less likely to be wiped out on 2m SSB.
And as Andy says, with modern PLL synths, everyone is within a few Hz of the dial frequency and all end up on top of each other. This wont be a problem with my new (to me) radio as itās 10000% analog 
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Hi guys,
Why donāt we use 28,500 above. This way we avoid CB, noise, splatters and normal DX. This range is rarely used.
Today listen to DL7AC as FM sound. Clear, loud, perfect
73
Carlos
PY2VM
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Not all licence types get access above 28.500, certainly in the US which is a big āmarketā for Europeans to target. Probably some time operating above and below 28.500 would be worthwhile.
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There were eight spots above 28.500 today, and a lot more just below 28.500. The contesters were very even-handed today - they trod on everyone! 
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Hi Ian,
Does your rig not have a tone killer or notch you can use to eliminate the QRM? The only problem I have over here are spurious spots from mountain top equipment and obviously I will move frequency to find a clear spot.
73
Ron
VK3AFW
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Well Ron it makes no difference what filtering or how good my RX rig is my point is the Activators sets up on the Frequency that lines up with the AM CBERS on 10m from Asia and with that comes the QRM, and over rides the Activators signal. CW might be different here at my place as I have QSO with lots of my JA SOTA buddies on 10m. Hence my simple request re SSB set up frequency on 10m Challenge.
regards
Ian vk5cz ā¦
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