I will be activating some summits in the Welsh borders.
I may not be able to alert but i will be active on 2M FM/SSB from Friday afternoon to Monday afternoon trying my new beam.
Timothy
2E0KEA/P
In reply to 2E0KEA:
Hi Timothy,
Hope to be out on a few WB’s myself Friday late afternoon/evening and Saturday - look forward to catching you!
Will try to post alerts when plans firmed up - will be Southerly ones on Friday, Northerly on Saturday.
By popular demand will be using 2m ssb!
73 de Paul G4MD
In reply to G4MD and 2E0KEA:
Will keep an ear out for you both from the MW’s.
73, Gerald
In reply to G4OIG:
Looking forward to a few s2s! I’ll try and be on my first (WB-006) 0630z, so we should both get 1 contact at least…
73 de Paul G4MD
In reply to G4MD:
I’ve called up the Breakfast Club. With 2 of us out there, they’ll be standing in line and to attention - I hope! I’m looking forward to giving away a few uniques as several of the summits have been little SOTA’d.
It could be fun trying to find a clear frequency later on with VHF NFD running. I’m tempted to take the 70cms 6el with me for 4 quickies… or maybe the 70cms linear / preamp instead and use the 2m beam… actually the HF dipole works quite well on 70cms as proven from Sighty Crag SB-005.
73, Gerald
In reply to G4OIG:
I’d best make sure I’m not late on parade then…I’ll be up earlier than a work day, and that’s saying something! Unfortunately my choice of summits is purely selfish - part of my master plan to complete the WB’s this year. (P’raps I need a few tips from Myke, I’ve been at them nearly three years and still not finished…)
Hopefully I’ll be back home with the family by the time chaos breaks out!
Hope to catch you tomorrow
73 de Paul G4MD
Hi Everyone
I had a bit of a hard time qualifying some of the summits on 2M FM/SSB but M0JDK and G4ERP made sure that I got four QSOs on two of them.
I ended up doing eight summits and I also went up View Edge but only got one QSO with G3RMD who spotted me.
And thanks to M0ECX/P on GW/MW-022, MW3SFN/P on GW/SW-002/SW-009 and M1EYP/P on
G/SP-015 for the Summit To Summits.
I was trying my new four element beam which I made from a design in Radcom.
73
Timothy
2E0KEA
In reply to 2E0KEA:
Hi Timothy,
Sorry to hear of your difficulties on the WB’s, especially not qualifying View Edge. I started doing the WB’s on an ad hoc basis, but found that results certainly improved when I planned when I would be on the summits and put the alerts on the website. I know this doesn’t suit everyone, but some guidance to chasers as to where and when you are likely to appear does help.
Using a beam certainly has benefits on these summits which are not in main area of SOTA activity. I use a small linear as well which improves matters where the summit is screened by surrounding hills. Unfortunately Marilyns are not always out in the clear.
All the best for your future activations and congratulations on the S2S contacts. A good number by any standards!
73, Gerald
In reply to G4OIG:
Hi Gerald
alerts defenetly help but I could not get internet acses until sunday.
I might get an FT-817 soon so I can use hf as well as 2M.
73
Timothy
2E0KEA
In reply to 2E0KEA:
Hi Timothy,
Fine on getting an 817 - cracking little rig. Having said that, my interest remains 2m SSB and that’s how I qualify summits, with FM as a fall-back mode. HF is used for the benefit of chasers that are out of VHF range or perhaps are “aerially-challenged” on 2m.
I look forward to working you soon on a summit.
73, Gerald
In reply to 2E0KEA:
Hi Timothy,
Yes, ad-hoc activations of WB’s can be a bit borderline, if you’ll forgive the pun, although there is a hard core of chasers who seem to be glued to their radios at all hours of the day or night who usually help you to get the qualification! (You know who you are, I won’t embarrass you by naming names but I am forever in your debt…!)
Worst I ever suffered was climbing WB-001 in sub-zero temperatures and a blizzard to make only one contact! Although that was in the early days…
I can recommend the '817, a wonderful bit of kit for SOTA.
Look forward to working you
73 de Paul G4MD
Rats - sadly I missed all your activations.
Visiting friends in Pembrokeshire.
Must have a look at Wales summit list - we’ll likely be back in Pembrokeshire in the not too distant future…
73
Graham G4FUJ