After the clear and amazing success of the 12m challenge (by the way Andy, whoever owns 12m should be paying you some commission for turning that dead dog around ;)))
I wondered what you’re going to think of next?
Could we have a 2m SSB challenge next? Oh - please - can we, can we???
Or maybe something even more challenging…
All the best,
Rob G7LAS
In reply to G7LAS:
With someone as vain as myself, flattery will get you everywhere!
With hindsight it looks an inspired idea but that’s more to do with people going out and having a bash. It’s been more successful than I could have possibly hoped for and we’re only a few months into the challenge.
Perhaps it was inspired to start it at a solar maximum when Es was starting. Maybe it was just a fluke. We’re getting the benefit of the autumn DX window now as well. What it will be like by December, who knows? There’ll still be contacts to be made but I don’t think I’ll be hearing VK8’s in Alice Springs at 59+60 with a bit of damp string for an antenna. The other thing is the difference to the scoring, it’s unlike Mountain Goat/Shack Sloth in that you can gain points for summits which you’ve been up before. But it doesn’t preclude activating uniques. You have to thank Tom for the ideas behind the scoring.
The next challenge will have to be inclusive and have something that makes it fun on top of the fun which is SOTA and getting into the mountains. We’ll start the real discussions just before Easter 2014.
Why did I pick 12m not 10m. Well one reason was it was an underused band. It does offer the same kind of QRP success that 10m can do. There are no contests so if we had a good opening one weekend it wouldn’t be wiped out by contest operation. Finally, a 12m 1/4wave GP antenna is the largest 1/4wave you can fit on a 5m fishing rod. I have 3x 5m poles and so wanted a challenge that didn’t involve me spending any money!
Conditions were no so hot today and the WX was dire but I managed Russia (Black Sea), Crimea, Canada, Greece, North Carolina, Virginia. Also 1 obvious ground wave QSO to Jack GM4COX about 60km away. And another bizarre one to Phil G4OBK down in Pickering, some 270km away.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
It may not be THE challenge after 12m but the UKuW Group have suggested an award for Microwave operations from summits and equipment may be available on loan for anybody who wants to give it a bash.
Discussions are ongoing about the format for this (possibly joint) award so keep an eye on the reflector for an announcement later this year
73
Barry GM4TOE
In reply to MM0FMF:
Naturally I second Rob’s request, but I think it wouldn’t be as successful as the 12m challenge on account of the added complexity of carrying a multi-element antenna to the summit and then having to assemble it… and then, horror of horrors, having to rotate it! (Mike YYY please note that we Phillistines still do the rotational thing!). The beauty of the 12m challenge is the simplicity of adding a vertical or dipole to existing kit. Unfortunately it didn’t quite float my boat - that’s still sitting at the head of the slipway!
One idea for a new challenge might be based around inter-continental contacts, with significant bonus points for S2S contacts - like 10x the summit to fixed station rate. Not limiting the challenge to a specific band would get activators (and to some extent chasers) thinking about which band they should be on at a particular time in order to maximise the chance of them making the contacts, how they could use the grey line effect, etc.
As to whether my boat would stay on the slipway, well that remains to be seen…
73, Gerald G4OIG
In reply to MM0FMF:Hi Andy, as you will have most likely seen on the SOTA_Australia yahoo group list. There is interest in having an Australian 30m challenge. Unfortunately as most other countries aren’t allowed to run phone modes on 10Mhz this can’t be an international one. We have some reservations as only Advanced calls are allowed on the WARC bands (but that’s the same whether 30m or 12m).
Running such a scheme requires a lot of organisational effort and I suspect would have to be run outside of the existing SOTA web based infrasrructure. What do you think Andy?
In reply to MM0FMF:
Also 1 obvious ground wave QSO to Jack GM4COX about 60km away. And another bizarre one to Phil G4OBK down in Pickering, some 270km away<
Yes I heard Phil working you after me. Interestingly noticed a touch of Aurora warble on his signal so think it might have been some form of ‘back scatter’ type propogation?, whereas ours was more-or-less groundwave me thinks??
Anyway another good one on 12M using my 80M doublet.
Cheers
Jack (;>J
GM4COX
In reply to GM4COX:
That must have “completed” Bishop Hill for you then as you were up there earlier this year. Or was that you completing it back then?
Phil was really loud though. 57 on the meter on the 817! It did sound different to other QSOs from Russia and USA so back scatter could be the mode. There again Phil does have plenty of aluminium up top and I’m sure he’s got plenty of tetrodes pushing away down at the bottom and that makes a difference.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
That must have “completed” Bishop Hill for you then as you were up there earlier this year. Or was that you completing it back then?<
No 'Completed’with Caroline M(M)3ZCB in September last year. Your my second contact on dat-der-summit - ta very much (;>)
Cheers again!
(:>J
In reply to VK2JI:
Unfortunately as most other countries aren’t allowed to run phone modes on 10Mhz
The note in the UK band plan says “The IARU has agreed that only CW and other narrow bandwidth modes are to be used on this band” but adds an emergencies exception.
We have some reservations as only Advanced calls are allowed on the WARC bands
There are similar restrictions in the US as well. It might, I guess, be interesting to work out where the most generally available band space is…
73, Rick M0LEP
Andy said:
I’m sure he’s got plenty of tetrodes pushing away down at the bottom and that makes a difference.
In reply to MM0FMF:
No Andy, not the case, no tetrodes here now, I have gone QRP. You may be thinking about the big gun Finnish DXer and Contester who used to operate his station(s?) in various parts of the world into seperate amplifiers feeding seperate antennae!
No thermionics in my shack nowadays apart from my much older than me Cossor Melody Maker 500 AC wireless, MW/LW and SW of course! A lovely old domestic wireless from 1950. Still in fine business original order and perfect working condition. I just hope the lights stay on as long as mine do…
73 Phil