I’ve been away from SOTA for a while. I started of activating summits in the G/SE region as 2E0JJD a while back, but getting contacts could be a bit of a nightmare. SOTA just doesn’t seem to be a big thing in the South of England.
However, after a recent weekend away in North Wales turned into 2 of the most successful SOTA activations that I have ever done (resulting in a pile-up of approx 5-10 stations on 2m FM) I realise that SOTA seems to be much more popular further north. There didn’t seem to be any shortage of people to talk to.
This has re-ignited my interest in SOTA and I’m already planning a weekend SOTA expedition.
I can see from the website which summits are the most popular with activators, but I want to know which summits the chasers are lacking and which summits will draw the most interest from chasers.
I’m considering a possible trip to Scotland at some point, but at the moment I’m focusing on the North-Wales region, maybe extending to Mid-Wales, the Pennines and the Lake District if the interest is there.
So there you go, any summits that you are keen to get in your chasers log that just don’t seem to get activated very often (or ones that you keep missing when they are activated) I may just make a special trip of it, especially if there is interest from more than one person.
The answer is simple - hopefully everyone that you activate.
I never fail to be amazed at the enthusiasm and loyalty of the chasers that I work from the summits on 2m SSB. Maybe you will give the mode a try. Recent activations on 40m SSB have also been a real pleasure. Other than that, all I suggest is that you consider the nature of the summits that you intend to activate and take the appropriate kit - for example, 1W of 2m FM to a rubber duck would most likely be very hard going from GW/NW-074.
If you particularly want to activate the less frequently activated summits, the information is on the database. There is certainly no harm in providing summits for individuals, after all chasers need activators and activators need chasers.
I will chase anything I can hear but currently that is restricted to FM only on 2m,70cm & 10m most of the time.
Hopefully you will come to G-LD or failing that GD-GD, GM-SS, GI-MM, GW-NW (in roughly that order of priority) and don’t forget to work the WOTAs in between the SOTAs if you come to LD.
And like Gerald says:
73 and have a good time wherever you go,
That would be all of them, but if you want to be my best friend ever I need G/SE-007 Crowborough to complete the English summits. It was done today but only on VHF by the looks of it.
I would suggest you think about doing HF if you want to get big numbers in the log and please the maximum number of people. I have found that in the South of England 2M FM is very under used, but come a contest and the guys down there come out to play on 2SSB.
You should have no problems with just VHF in North Wales or the North of England in general. Scotland might prove a challenge if you don’t do HF. Most of the Lakes is fine for VHF but there are exceptions were smaller summits are surrounded. The Pennines gets harder the further North you go on VHF. Mid and South Wales I would not even bother on VHF, you might get lucky or you could spend 2-3 hours trying to get that forth contact.
To give you some idea: Someone on the reflector was moaning that conditions on all bands were bad on Wednesday. On that day my wife and I had 46 contacts from G/CE-005 on HF without really trying. I still had people calling when I went QRT due to a power fault (the fuses had come loose in the power lead).
If you or anyone else does SE-007 and I work them there is a beer or two in it. 325.5 km was too much for me to hear Peter GR1FOA/P on 2m SSB today :0(
Hopefully you will come to G-LD or failing that GD-GD, GM-SS, GI-MM,
GW-NW (in roughly that order of priority) and don’t forget to work the
WOTAs in between the SOTAs if you come to LD.
Thanks for the suggestion. This is something I hadn’t considered. I’ve never been to the Isle Of Man before and quite fancy a trip over there.
Now looking at ferry prices and campsites with the intention of doing a ‘smash & grab’ 2 day activation. This is likely to be a couple of months down the line though because I’ve just had a bit of a shock when I saw the price of the ferry!!!
I need G/SE-007 Crowborough to complete the English summits. It was done
today but only on VHF by the looks of it.
It’s quite hard to see where one could go to activate Crowborough on HF, at least while 60 and 40 metres are the bands of choice for intra-UK contact.
I’ll throw another chip into the HF hat, though. I think I might be able to contact a few summits on VHF from home with my current rig, but most summits are beyond it. I could stretch my VHF range a bit if I could install a suitable mast and rotator, but I don’t think that’ll happen any time soon.
In reply to GW7AAV:
Nothing here from Les here on 40m either. Looks like today is not a good day for HF SOTA, critical frequency below 5MHz and a K index of 3. Can’t even here Jurg HB9BAB/P at the moment, who is usually very workable.
Hmmm, strange, that happened to me when I was on the G/SE-012 on 19th April. Obviously you had somewhat worse conditions than I did as you had to make 2 QSOs before partaking of liquid refreshment.
Before I left home I checked the ionosonde readings, and saw that foF2 was above 5.4 MHz, so I was confident of success.
Once set up in my “low visibility” mode, I called for ages on 40m without any reply. In fact the band seemed so quiet that I suspected an equipment problem. Then I moved to 5 MHz and called again many times. I could hear loud static crashes, but no human voice appeared. Then, just before giving up in desperation, I tried 40m again, and finally got a reply from PA0WDG. Over the next half-hour I managed a total of six QSOs, including an s2s with HB9BAB/P on SG-046.
I then gave a quick few calls on 10.1 MHz, and a last burst on 5 MHz before slinking out of my hidey-hole and returning home.
I encountered conditions well below average on 40m during my two activations on Sunday afternoon 1st May, but still managed to make 29 QSOs from the first location (G/WB-008) and 16 from the second (G/WB-011). Many thanks to Roy, G4SSH, for placing the spots! For some unknown reason, I couldn’t get the Sota-spot service to accept my GR3NYY callsign when I input it from my mobile phone. I called CQ for 15 minutes on 7.034 MHz before making my first QSO from G/WB-011.
After a near-disastrous RAOTA CW net this morning, with propagation almost non-existent on 80m, I abandoned plans to do any SOTA activations today. To judge from other people’s reports today, it looks like that was a wise decision.
Hope for better condx tomorrow!
In reply to G3NYY:
Hi Walt
Great to work you on Bradnor yesterday.
Sorry if my CW was a bit iffy.
Decided to use straight key (not used one for about 15 years) into Kenwood TS-530sp.
Key was a Chechz army key still not got it adjusted right (that’s my excuse).
Seems I did quite well with my QRPP on 30m in that case.
Indeed. I was running only 5 watts to a dipole, but I guess you were running milliwatts!
Curiously, GR0LGS/P was on Aconbury Hill yesterday afternoon running 40m SSB, and he reported extremely good conditions. Strange that our experiences were so different … although Stewart was running quite a lot more power.
Great to work you on Bradnor yesterday.
Sorry if my CW was a bit iffy.
Decided to use straight key (not used one for about 15 years) into
Kenwood TS-530sp.
Key was a Chechz army key still not got it adjusted right (that’s
my excuse).
Hi Roger!
Your CW was fine, and every contact was most welcome yesterday! In fact your signal was one of the strongest I heard on that activation.
There were not too many golf balls whizzing past! I think the strong, gusting wind had kept many of the golfers indoors at the 19th Hole.
If you or anyone else does SE-007 and I work them there is a beer or
two in it. 325.5 km was too much for me to hear Peter GR1FOA/P on 2m
SSB today :0(
Hi Steve, nice to work you today on 2m FM. It was just pile-up after pile up today. Did a lot of S2S, but not a sniff of G/SE-007 which I suspect was to much for even the 1840ft elevation of G/SP-004. There would have been an excellent chance on SSB, but it wasn’t to be. Both John GR1STQ and myself, were surprised to here Chris 2W0RGE and Simon MR0TTE, calling S2S from GW/SW-002 Waun Fach this afternoon, that was straight after working a S2S with Brian GR8ADD, with Dave M0TUB/P and Phill GR1OPV/P both calling S2S at the same time. Busiest day on 2m I’ve ever known.
Shame we didn’t stay longer, but the wind just became a nightmare and sadly, we left a pile-up. The X-300 collinear and 6 watts worked like a dream, even though the antenna was bent at nearly 90 degrees once or twice!
The effort was appreciated Les even though I was thinking “Oh no not again!” and crying in my orange juice. The last time I hoped to get it under similar conditions and I have been working every time it has been done on HF since. Oh well two activations of that summit in two days, maybe third time lucky?
still not got it adjusted right (that’s my excuse).
still not got it adjusted right (that’s