What, is it over? Well, no, but I have been thinking about what to do when it is. The answer appears to be that I should "do more of the things that I like doing". Such as ... working a ton of stuff on 432MHz.
I suspect that an HF operator might go lower in frequency bands, and I will probably go higher. No great breakthrough involved in that idea, but it would involve readjusting the direction of my efforts and maybe some equipment.
For a couple of weeks I have been dithering about what to do when (if?) the intercontinental DX fades away. Should I switch my emphasis away from 6m and 4m? To what ends? Go back to more EME (moonbounce)? What result am I striving for? What will I end up enjoying most?
And then, without bidding, up popped a tropo opening on 70cm. Wow! I was aware of a high pressure system approaching, but it did not look as if the timing was right for the two 70cm contests in August. The first contest is the RSGB UKAC on 12 August using SSB and CW and I do not often participate in that one. Usually I turn my beam East on the same evening and give away points in the Nordic contest going on at the same time. I usually do quite well across the North Sea, and I work a few stations quite easily. The second contest on 13 August is the 70cm FT8 UKAC.
On 12 August I managed to work PA3CWS at 08:36 but nothing further until DK6JU at 16:02 and DR0X at 17:25. DR0X was a huge signal calling CQ for quite a time but he got very few contacts, which indicated a duct forming over the North Sea. Once the contest started could only I allocate it about 45 minutes due to domestic duties. Between 19:15 and 19:57 I contacted 4 x PA, 4 x OZ and GM8JBJ. Total for the day was 12, not bad for a 70cm operating session.
13 August dawned bright with haze over the North Sea. The air was still and with high pressure it all looked great. Sadly I was to be out of the house for most of the day. Between 06:26 and 08:48 I worked 6 x PA, 4 x DL plus OZ1DGN, F5APQ and G4RQI - a good two hour spell. I was then QRT until 17:56. After that I was busy and could just look in for five minutes at a time. In a series of five separate five minutes spells, 6 x PA, 3 x GM, 5 x OZ, plus DL5EBS, EI3KD and LA6P
This contest work plus a few worked later produced this result:-
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| 432MHz contacts at GM4FVM on 12 and 13 August 2025 |
Total operating time was probably around 4 hours but this is hard to judge given that I was in and out of the shack. It brought a total of 38 QSOs in 8 DXCC including 16 squares. Best DX was to DG0KW in JO64 at 978km, there were nine QSOs over 700km, and nearly all the rest were between 600 and 700km.
After this I went on to 50MHz and worked PY5EW in GG46 at 9940km.
Now this made things very plain to me. I was much happier reaching 38 stations on 70cm than I was working the the far more distant one on 6m. Whether this PY contact will be possible outside this sunspot peak I am not sure because I worked PYs at the bottom of the cycle too (but not that far away). But if 6m DX declines I can still enjoy a blast on 70cm.
I also get some pleasure by doing things like this without a kilowatt linear and a vast stacked array of antennas. Just 150W and 16 elements - modest by 70cm standards.
Everybody will have their own place to go when the DX declines. Top band? Construction projects? Building ships in bottles? Anyway, for me, a good blast on the higher bands when conditions are good is hard to beat.
Conclusion: do what you enjoy and don't fret over what the sunspot cycle has given and then taken away.
I will now reflect on the fact that outside a contest I often struggle to work anyone on 70cm. Lack of activity is a big problem, and also the narrow antenna beamwidths can make life difficult. But being very busy during a contest brings its own joy so I think I will migrate back up the spectrum when there are poorer harvests on the lower bands.
73 Jim
GM4FVM
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