Summit Operators Prepare for November 7 Transatlantic HF Contacts
Back to Radio in the NewsAmateur radio operators in North America and Europe are preparing to make transatlantic HF contacts from mountaintops on Nov. 7, 2026, during the 19th Trans-Atlantic Summit-to-Summit event. The coordinated operating period gives portable stations on both sides of the ocean a shared window to find one another, with participants planning stations ranging from low-power CW equipment to 100-watt voice setups.
Organizer Gerald, G4OIG/G8CXK, confirmed the event on Oct. 14. The core operating period is 1200–1700 UTC on Saturday, Nov. 7: 7 a.m.–noon Eastern Standard Time and 4–9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.
Transatlantic HF Contacts from Portable Stations
A summit-to-summit contact connects two operators transmitting from qualifying summits in the Summits on the Air program. Unlike a contact between a summit and a home station, both ends of the path rely on equipment brought to the operating site.
That makes the event a test of portable station capability as well as propagation. Operators must balance transmitter power, battery capacity and antenna performance against the weight they can carry. The five-hour window helps concentrate activity, but each station still needs a usable path across the Atlantic.
CW and Voice Stations Take Shape
Jared, N7MAW, plans to participate from Utah’s W7U association using CW, or Morse code, with a vertical antenna. His proposed equipment would provide 35 watts on 20 meters or 10 watts on other bands.
On the European side, Tom, M1TJM, reported plans for a 100-watt single-sideband station in England’s Lake District, using a quarter-wave vertical antenna. The plans illustrate different approaches to the same task: Establishing an ocean-crossing contact with a station that can be set up on a summit.
In a further participant update, Mike, WB2FUV, said he intended to use 8–10 watts. He also reminded operators to listen for North American stations calling “s2s,” alongside the “/p” portable identifiers commonly heard from European participants.
Autumn Event Follows a Poor Spring Showing
G4OIG said the April event produced only one transatlantic summit-to-summit contact, as far as he could establish. He described November events as historically more productive and said he was considering proposing a single annual event in early November.
That remains a proposal rather than an announced change to the schedule. For Nov. 7, the immediate goal is transatlantic HF contacts between portable summit stations operating during the same five-hour window. Weather, summit access and HF propagation will determine which planned stations operate and which paths support contacts.
Sources and Further Reading
- G4OIG and Participants: 2026 Event Announcement and Updates
- Summits on the Air
- SOTA Participants: Previous Autumn Event Preparations
- M1TJM: Lake District Voice Station Plans
- WB2FUV: Low-Power Plans and Summit-to-Summit Calls