ATS Sprint- QSO Party.

The idea of this party was to get as many KD1JV rigs on the air at one time.
The starting time at 22 July 2012 0000z (0100L) was not ideal from an European point of view, but I was willing to give it a go anyway, even though it was a US centric event.
After my earlier activation of Dundry Down, I had some food , chilled out and then around 0000L made my way to my local SOTA summit of Cleeve Hill. The reasons for this were two fold.
1. There was an extra 500 points available for portable stations
2. The hill is a much quieter (RF) location than home.

I ran my old faithful EFHW, but this time as a vertical on 20metres, hoping to get some Stateside contacts.
These, because of the nature of the event, would all be QRP - QRP contacts.

In the pitch black I set up camp and was soon on the air waiting for the Party to begin.
This is what it looked like!

This was not going to be a 10 contacts a minute event!

Band conditions were extremely poor, but by careful searching and a few opportunist CQ's, I managed to winkle out and work 6 stations over a period of about 2 hours. At that time, now approaching dawn, I'd had enough and called it quits. I was ready for bed when I got home!
The results published show that I didn't do too badly, coming in 5th place out of 11 entries, and the only station outside of the USA.



Looking forward to the next event when hopefully conditions might be better.

Full details of the Sprint are here.

International SOTA Weekend - 5th/6th May 2012

Well it's my first year as a SOTAer so thought I'd better get out and do something rather than just chasing. Yesterday evening 20 metres was open late on into the States, so I decided that I'd make an assault on my local hill and maybe find some Stateside S2S. (G/CE-001)

I was QRV by 16:15z and started the batting on 15m. Third call in the log was Rich, N4EX, followed by N1EU, so at least we were making the trip. This was good news for me as only yesterday I realised that my ATS4 was completely deaf on 15m. I had the top off to do some drastic realignment last night so I was pleased to make 5 debut 15M contacts.

After that it was 23 QSOs on 20m, 14 on 30m and 11 on 40m.

Back on 20metres again after 2100L netted VE2 but no sign of any Stateside S2S.

By 2200 it was cold,dark and my fingers frozen so I called it quits and packed up.
Only when I got home and checked SOTAWATCH did I realise that W7CNL had been calling me. The QRM was pretty horrendous, but had I known I would have made more of an effort to pull him out.
Still a nice evening out.

60 contacts (cw)
22 DXCC

SOTA - Slemish - GI/AH-007

Slemish - 437m, 2 points

Association: Northern Ireland  Region: Antrim Hills  
Latitude: 54 52 53 N, Longitude: 6 5 54 W
Grid Reference: D 221053, QTH Locator: IO64WV

A lovely sunny day could not be missed, so my sister took me out to Co. Antrim's most distinctive summit, Slemish. We couldn't have asked for a better day, wall to wall sunshine which brought some pleasnt warmth to the otherwise cold wind. Slemish is an imposing sight when stood at the base, and requires a bit of hands on scrambling to make the ascent. It was fairly quiet with only a handful of other walkers out on the hill.

The contacts came quick and fast and in the end I ended up with 41 QSOs and 18 DXCC.
40 metres was not very productive, but when I got home I found I'd not been spotted there!

Definitely one to do again.

SOTA - Divis Mountain - GI/AH-004

Divis - 478m, 2 points

Association: Northern Ireland  Region: Antrim Hills  
Latitude: 54 36 38 N, Longitude: 6 1 10 W
Grid Reference: J 280754, QTH Locator: IO64XO

A visit to Northern Ireland to visit my family meant the possibility of a couple of GI SOTA activations.
On the 26th April after a wild wet morning the sun played tricks with me and popped it's head out enticing a quick afternoon activation of Divis.
My sister drove me to the car park and we togged up and started off for the summit.
Needless to say the sun decided to disappear and was replaced by cold blustery winds laden with moisture.

It was a wild barren walk to the summit, and once there seemed to have problems with 20 metres. I was convinced this was because of interference from the radio towers a few feet away.

I gave up with 20 and launched myself on 40 metres.
This brought a handful of contacts, but they quickly dried up, unlike us who were now huddling under waterproofs to keep dry.
I called it quits with only 10 QSOs and 5 DXCC, but overall a successful activation and there's always the next time!

 

Belfast Hill's Partnership newsletter article.

The above article featured in the Belfast Hill's Partnership Newsletter some weeks later. The fact that my sister works there may have had some bearing on this!

New Key.

The current key I take up the hill is just too big and heavy.

I looked at various portable keys, but  decided on The American Morse Equipment, Porta Paddle.

The kit was ordered and arrived quickly from California.

Kit of parts.

It didn't take long to put together and the result is a tiny, light, beautifully finished masterpiece.
I'm looking forward to giving it some serious use soon.

The finished key.

I've now got myself a plastic sandwich box, to which I've added foam, to hold all the components I take with me to the field.

Equipment box

SOTA - Bredon Hill G/CE-003

Bredon Hill -  G/CE-003 - 299m, 1 point

Association: England  Region: Central England  
Latitude: 52 3 36 N, Longitude: 2 3 45 W

Grid Reference: SO 957402, QTH Locator: IO82XB



After the first 2 succesful activations, today I went further afield to activate Bredon Hill.
There are several approaches to the Hill, however I took the route from the South.
Parking for 3 or 4 cars is available beyond the lane form Kemerton at SO954384.
The walk to the summit is easily graded and a round  trip of 3.5 miles.
The weather was mild but murky with low cloud and mist, but it remained dry.

A total of 45 QSOs and 21 DXX  were quickly rattled off.

Getting some QSOs in on the ATS4

On the Air

Well my ATS4 has had it's first outing on the air.
With a 12V supply I seem to be getting around 3 watts output,but I need to measure that more accurately once I get a few moments and complete the alignment.

I hooked the rig up to a length of wire in my attic (I'll not call it an antenna) and firstly put out a CQ on 20 metres. This allowed me to check on the Reverse Beacon Network to ascertain whether I'm actually producing a readable signal. It was pleasing to note I'd been heard in European Russia, Finland, Slovenia and Italy. A repeat on 17 metres got me spotted in Iceland but not before I had my first QSO with EW8DJ in Belarus.

This afternoon I had a few more QSO's and am really loving the little rig. I'm looking forward to some /MM operations later in the year when I'm off sailing in my boat!

72 HNY.