Subj : Newsline Part 3
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Mar 17 2017 05:08 pm
BREAK HERE: Time to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the
W2GLD repeater in Pinckney, Michigan, on Saturdays at 8 p.m. local time.
**
THE PLACE TO BE FOR WEST VIRGINIA HAMS
SKEETER/ANCHOR: If you're anywhere in West Virginia, Charleston will be
the place to be on March 25, as we hear from Newsline's Jim Damron, N8TMW.
JIM'S REPORT: The 33rd Annual Charleston, West Virginia Hamfest is slated
for Saturday, March 25, 2017, from 9 AM to 2 PM, at the Charleston Civic
Center in downtown Charleston, WV. In addition to the dealers and flea
marketers, informative forums will be a part of the day, including ARRL
and ARES. VE testing will take place at noon. DXCC, Worked All States, and
VUCC card checkers will be on hand as well. Prizes include a $500 cash
first prize. The event is the first hamfest of the year in West Virginia,
and attendees come from all over the state, as well as bordering states of
Ohio, Kentucky, and Virginia. Hamfest president Randy Damron, N8XEA, talks
about a special attraction:
RANDY: We are excited about the advent of a new partner this year at the
upcoming Hamfest. It's the Radio Museum of Technology in Huntington,
better known locally as the Antique Radio Museum. They're going to be with
us this year in their own separate area inside the hamfest, and they're
bringing lots of antique radios, and antique ham gear for sale...along
with a soldering exhibition, particularly PL259's being soldered to coax
cable. Should be a lot of fun. Hope to see you there.
Jim: For more information on the Charleston, WV Hamfest, E mail
[email protected] For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Damron, N8TMW.
**
SOTA SCALES TO NEW HEIGHTS, NEW CHALLENGES
SKEETER/ANCHOR: Amateurs activating summits around the world climbed to a
new challenge recently as they worked with long-path propagation to make
those coveted contacts. Here's Newsline's Ed Durrant, DD5LP, with that
report.
ED's REPORT: In Summits on the Air (SOTA), one of the more difficult and
therefore challenging actions, is to communicate from one summit to
another, usually using low power, and a simple antenna at both ends. Add
to that distance and poor propagation, and the challenge is enormous.
This is the situation faced by the SOTA activators who climbed to summits
in Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, on Saturday,
the 11th of March. In two actions to correspond with long path propagation
times between Europe and Asia Pacific, and Asia Pacific and North America,
over 30 summits were activated across all the countries.
For the first of the two actions starting around 0700 UTC - the
Europe-Australia one - hopes were not high with predicted propagation and
the results of a test at the same time the previous day by the organizers
- Mike, 2E0YYY, and Andrew, VK1AD, when contacts were very difficult to
make, even between a summit station and a well-equipped home (chaser)
station.
But, despite these predictions, the Amateur Spirit kicked in, and early
morning in Europe and late afternoon in Asia Pacific, the stations were
out in force on the summits. A total of 25 summits were "activated" in
Europe, 8 in Australia, 5 in Japan, and 1 in New Zealand.
Luck was with us, the band conditions, while variable, were better than
the previous days, and inter-continental Summit to Summit contacts were
made. I myself managed five summit to summit contacts, two of those into
Australia from Germany, the other three were with Portugal, Germany, and
the UK. I heard a SOTA summit in Japan, although call as I may, he didn't
hear me. Others managed contacts from Europe into New Zealand, and Japan,
as well as Australia. So, all in all, a surprisingly successful event.
There are many comments on the SOTA reflector from those who took part,
saying how much they enjoyed the event, and when would the next one be.
For several activators, this was the first time they managed an
inter-continental summit to summit contact.
Then, while the Europeans went home, and had a nice restful evening, on
the other side of the world, activators in Australia were heading out
early on their Sunday morning, to try for summit to summit contacts into
North America. Three Australian activators camped overnight on their
summits, so that they could take part in both events.
Again, for the VK-to-North America path, predictions were not good, and
in this case, unfortunately, the predictions were mainly true.
Although inter-continental summit to home station contacts were made, and
several S2S contacts within each region, no inter-continental
summit-to-summit contacts were achieved. This might sound a little
disheartening, but in fact, it has increased the resolve of those taking
part to come back, and try again, when conditions are somewhat better,
and with improved antenna set-ups. I'm sure it won't be long before the
VK to North America path will be as successful as the European to VK one.
One similarity already exists, that those taking part thoroughly enjoyed
themselves, and are looking forward to another go.
Active during this event; the VK-to-North America event, were 5 summit
stations from Australia, 5 from the USA, and 1 from Japan. Going by the
enthusiasm of those taking part, I expect there will be many more next
time.
These events are organized by individuals within the SOTA community, so
it just shows how much fun can be had, based simply on an idea, a date,
and a loooong walk up a hill!
For Amateur Radio Newsline this is Ed Durrant, DD5LP.
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