VK JA ZL - EU UK S2S 20 Oct 2018

Hi all

Just a reminder for our friends in the northern hemisphere, VK east coast sunset is at 08:22 UTC with last light at 08:50 UTC. Some VK east coast activators will go QRT between 08:30 and 08:50 UTC. Those camping overnight may continue to play radio.

South Australia (VK5) is 30 minutes behind while Western Australia (VK6) is 3 hours behind. Wellington (ZL) is two hours ahead of VK1 while Tokyo (JA) is 2 hours behind VK1.

73 Andrew VK1AD

I donā€™t pretend to be an expert on propagation, but looking at VOACAP for this date seems to be suggesting that 20m (SSB) would be best for my location to NZ, followed by 15m for UK-Aus. I donā€™t think anyone has alerted for 15m, is it worth a go?

(Corrections to my interpretation accepted if Iā€™ve got it wrong).

Propagation forecasts are like forecast in normal weather. I belive only what i see.
Fact i go to SV/AG-007 and will be ready for all circumstandes.

Listening out for beacons can be useful if you have the time. Otherwise I just start calling cq and see how it goes.
Think the lower bands might be the go with the way propagation has been lately. 30M will be my first DX band to try.

73ā€™s Wal VK2WP

Hi Andy,
Thatā€™ll depend upon the MUF (Maximum Usable Frequency) on the day. Of late itā€™s been rare that the MUF has got up to 21MHz. - It has in the last couple of days but thatā€™s an exception over the last two weeks.

Best chance for Long path into VK from EU/UK Iā€™d say is 20m followed by 40m. If the MUF is below 14MHz then only 40m for SSB as IARU R1 doesnā€™t allow SSB on 30m (it is completely legal to use SSB on 30m in VK as long as you have a full licence).

For the CW Ops - 30m could well be the best band next Saturday for VK/ZL contacts from EU/UK.

73 Ed.

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Hello,

this morning (Sunday) I took the chance to participate on the Oceania DX CW contest.

I thought this would be a good chance to evaluate what frequencies and paths could work for the coming S2S event next weekā€¦ I focused on 20 and 40m (it is a contest, and 30m is not allowed).

I ran my fixed station between 05:00 and 07:00 utc, logging with success these stations:

  • 40m (Ant: Delta Loop).
    logged 5 stations in ZL2 , ZL3 , ZL4 ,
    logged 3 stations in VK2 & VK3.
    Some of them with difficulties (very low signals)

  • 20m:(Ant: 2 ele beam pointing Long path).
    Just logged ZM4T, a powerfull contest station.
    Tried to listen more spots from the cluster but nothing heard!

With such results I thing I should try 30 & 40m best next week, and monitor 20m if possible on spots.

73 de Ignacio

Note: on the summit Iā€™m gonna miss my 400w here. Running low pwr is gonna be difficult next Saturday!

I think 400W and a beam trumps my SOTA setup Ignacio. :wink:
100W and a dipole and all contacts (especially S2S) welcome. Outside Europe will get me dancing a jig (within the limits of my headphone cable). :man_dancing:

Just posted an alert. Will be qrv from DM/RP-411. Using FT-891, 50W, 10m mast and a full size antenna. Will programm CQ VK CQ ZL CQ SOTA into my voice keyer. :slight_smile:

EDIT: Quick oberservation from this morning 20m FT-8 here in Germany.
At 0630h UTC the MUF was 13,5 MHz, no VK came through. Around 0700h UTC the MUF was 14,2 MHz and I saw VK2/VK3 coming in. They also heard me. VK5 came in, but did not hear me. At 0742h UTC I worked ZL1BD which was only visible until 0800h UTC. JA is still strong from 0600h UTC - 0900h UTC.

Damn! Going to have to miss this one, and just when conditions were perking up bit. Instead I will be at TEDx in Vienna, demonstrating the new Morserino32:

https://www.tedxvienna.at/simplexity/

http://www.morserino.info/morserino-32.html

Oh well, have a good one.
73 de OE6FEG / M0FEU
Matt

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Hi John,
Having just worked Mike 2E0YYY/P (on SSB) I was monitoring his frequency and at exactly 0700 UTC his signal shot up from 3-1 to 5-9 - it was like someone had thrown a switch. Perhaps it was the MUF just reaching 20m then.

Shame about the Solar winds that hit last night around 20:00 UTC as that definitely brought the background noise level up.

Hereā€™s hoping they clear in the next couple of days.

Ed.

Soā€¦ does a start on 40m followed by a move to 20m look like the best bet? (SSB)

Four or five of the top SOTA DX Chasers in the world tried to work me on Gun this morning ā€¦Sadly, without success. Donā€™t matter how good the summit is, without propagation, it ainā€™t gonna happen.

In conditions such as these, I suppose thereā€™s always the embarrassment that is FT8, but whereā€™s the challenge in that. An 8 year old with a Foundation Licence and an 817 could work 100 DXCCā€™s in under a weekā€¦

YYY

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Thereā€™s probably a way of using distance information in the Database to calculate this if Andy MM0FMF was so inclined - but otherwise how do you decided who they are? I guess the likes of Mike DJ5AV, Roy G4SSH, Rich N4EX etc - but how do you actually work it out?

Iā€™d suggest you demonstrate some experience of success with the mode before passing such a damning verdict as that Mike!

Thatā€™s quite a claim. But if true, one would imagine Intermediate licencees with 857s might be all over it.

Gives me a little idea for a little challenge to set myself though. I have an 817, and my working conditions from summits are always within Foundation licence power limits. If we could tweak the first bit to a 48 year oldā€¦?

Hi Andy,

Yes, from what I have been seeing over the last couple of weeks - start on 40m from 0600 or 0630 UTC and then switch to 20m around 0700 UTC - If the 3000km MUF is high enough between where you are and where you want to contact.

What I find a useful guide while on the summit, as to what conditions are doing is the Android WSPR World Watch app from Derek, G4SWY. As well as showing the WSPR connections per band (which you can filter by strength) it also displays the current SFI, sunspot and kp numbers.

73 Ed.

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The weather forecasts for the places I wished to go are not looking good. May have to go somewhere closer to home.

Would hate to miss out on this activity.

73ā€™s Wal VK2WP

Twisted my ankle while taking the dog out for her walk yesterday, so Iā€™ll most likely change to an easier summit than I had planned - but Iā€™m still taking part even if I have to hop to the summit!!

73 Ed.

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hi Mike,

40m has been extremely noisy here lately, s9 static, as it nearly always is at this time of year in the late afternoons (your mornings). At times the static has been almost as disruptive on 20m. It makes 80m a very uncomfortable band to listen to.

Rain of various strengths has been forecast in the VK1 area for Saturday so that could decrease participation.

However if the rain is not too bad I will be able to set up a basic antenna (the quarter wave vertical) for 20 and 30m and then operate from inside a tent. I will take the IC706 to boost the power a bit.

73
Andrew vk1da/2uh

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There are several Ops who have alerted only for 20m. I would recomend you take along an antenna and rig capable of use on 40m if possible as what we have been seeing of late is DX contacts on 40m but far less DX contacts on 20m.

It could all change of course but Iā€™d hate to hear of people with only 20m not getting any DX contacts while others on 40m were doing so.

73 Ed.

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Thanks for the hint, Ed. Alert is updated. I cut some wire at length for a 40m dipole which I will use instead of my 30m dipole. Having had QSOā€™S with W4 today with only 5W and a ridiculous 7m vertical with one radial on the ground, in the middle of forests, I am getting a tiny bit optimistic that condx will not altogether be that badā€¦
73 Jens

The DX is there on 20m Ed. Iā€™m working it most HF activations over the past couple of weeks. There is now a remote chance I could be involved on Saturday morning - unlikely, but not as impossible as I originally assumed. Whether I do or donā€™t, best of luck to all participants.