Tuesday 27th February 2018 - The Cloud G/SP-015 - #1001 - (sorry Rob )
I had a very limited time window between a day of A Level maths coaching in a college in Crewe, and a two hour private GCSE tuition session in Wilmslow. Enough to nip up and down G/SP-015 and make a few QSOs on the handheld though.
Hoping for all Fusion contacts, I posted notes on the North West Fusion group on Facebook, and in a PM to a local Fusion operator. I self-spotted on SOTAwatch just prior to commencing my 8 minute ascent. It was a very pleasant walk up in freshly fallen snow, and nice views from the summit.
Out came the Yaesu FT-70DE, on which I began calling CQ on 144.6125MHz C4FM (Fusion). To my surprise - nothing. Nothing at all. Due to my needing to be back on the road for my next bout of earning money, I couldnāt carry on calling much longer, so went over to analogue FM and worked Pete 2E0LKC and Anne 2E0LMD. A couple more calls on Fusion, but still no takers.
I later found out that members of the North West Fusion group had been monitoring, but hadnāt heard me. The two obvious improvements I need to make to fare better are to (a) connect to a decent portable antenna, and (b) spend longer than 4 minutes on the summit. Another time though, neither option was feasible today.
Lovely afternoon. The QSO rate was very slow - zzz - as I persisted with 2m C4FM, but if ever there was a day for lounging around on a summit, this was it. Blue sky, sunshine, no rain, gentle breeze.
I was surprised that the combination of FT70D and MFD didnāt bring in greater volumes of Fusion contacts, but maybe I need to plan and promote it better - maybe a SOTA C4FM S2S / activity morning or something?
22 QSOs:
20m CW: 6
2m C4FM: 7
2m FM: 8
70cm FM: 1
S2S: Viki M6BWA/P on Caer Caradoc G/WB-006
Only six QSOs on 20m, which surprised me. Even more surprising was that the two US contacts were K6MW in Washington State, and AB6SO from California! Nothing from the East coast at all!
I had a choice. Either go and trudge up a hill in persistent drizzle and mist, or stay in to watch the Eurovision Song Contest on television. Tough decision. Now whereās my coat and bootsā¦?
I started the walk about 8.50pm local BST, and reached the summit about 9.25pm. I managed to set up the MFD on the SOTA Pole in the last embers of daylight, but then needed my headtorch while connecting the feeder to the FT70D.
I also then needed my bothy bag as the fine drizzle intensified. I connected into SOTA-LINK via WIRES-X on the Shrewsbury node MB6SY, but no-one else was there. This was not the case on C4FM simplex on 144.6125MHz, where my first four QSOs were all made using 2m Fusion.
This was supplemented by eleven contacts on 2m analogue FM, making 15 for the activation in total. The rain persisted throughout the packaway and descent - but it was still better than watching Eurovision!
I had hoped to do an interesting and relaxed activation on 20m FT8 after an uncharacteristically lengthy spell (for me) of five days without doing any SOTA. However, a schedule of taxi runs for Liam in both the morning and the evening, plus a private tutoring session to deliver in the afternoon, plus a football match to attend in the evening, meant that I was restricted to VHF handheld operating.
My morning walk was up Gun, and it was a pleasant surprise when Greg M0NZO came straight back to me on 144.6125MHz C4FM (Fusion). That turned out to be my one and only C4FM QSO of the day! Turning to analogue FM, I worked John MW0XOT/P for a S2S to Plynlimon GW/MW-001. I took the opportunity to ask John about my continuing ban from the SOTA āFree Expressionā Facebook group, as he is one of the admins there. He kindly promised to look into it for me. The activation concluded with two further 2m FM QSOs.
Tuesday 21st August 2018 - The Cloud G/SP-015
On the way back from the A-Level maths tutoring in Sandbach, I popped up to Cloud summit. At the top, a fellow walker introduced himself as G3ZAU, and stood by me throughout my activation, apparently fascinated by what I was doing! Five QSOs were made on 2m FM before I realised I had to make the pharmacy for my repeat prescription before closing time.
Thatās about it really. Nothing interesting or newsworthy to report. It was just about getting back out and doing few steps on the hills again; I had been in ālazy modeā since my 71km backpacking walk last week!
Marianne is getting into this SOTA malarky. Well, not really. Itās the walk she likes. Fortunately, one walk she has rather taken to is the circular from Weathercock Lane car park / Timbersbrook picnic area, taking in Bosley Cloud summit.
I help to maintain domestic bliss by taking just a VHF handheld. Marianne does her bit by taking a bag of cakes and drinks. Anyway, four QSOs made - 3 on 2m FM, and 1 on 2m C4FM (Fusion).
Of course, we needed to visit Homebase on the way home, but I guess thatās a small price to pay for the rare pleasure of activating with the XYL.
Nipping out up SOTA G/SP-015 this afternoon. Will be QRV on 144.6125MHz C4FM simplex - so QSOs will be valid for SOTA activator (me) and chaser (you) awards. Trying a potential new SOTABEAMS product which may hopefully boost my signal into the Lancashire / Wales / Midlands areas - so please listen out from about 2.15pm / 2.30pm BST.
As it turned out, the GM feature meant that David G7WDT and I knew each other was there before either of us transmitted any audio. When you have the GM channel set to 00, it is open to all channels and doesnāt filter any out.
Three other stations worked on 2m C4FM, plus one on analogue.