Managed to get out for an activation at long last between moving QTH, a busy work schedule and the good old weather system. Setup for the morning ft817, EFHW antenna, mic and palm paddle(in case all else fails).
The plan was for a quick activation of Buckden Pike G/NP-009 being only 30miles from Richmond I was planning to be activating from the summit @ 0730hrs but due to a frost i got held up de-icing the car windows and cautious driving on un-treated roads.
The route to the summit was via the main track to grid ref 943785, taking advantage of the frozen ground I continued cross country using the trusty compass reaching the summit for 0815hrs.
I gave a call on SSB 14.285 and 7.115 , but no replies and a poor phone signal with EE I was unable to place a spot. Next up was the CW I wasn’t planning on operating on this mode as it has been a while since I had practised. After a few calls RBN gate must have picked me up and I managed to work a few calls. It was an interesting experience operating in the cold quite a few mistakes were made and I seemed to have a mental block on the letter B, couldn’t understand why some callsigns had two numbers a 0 & 6 till the penny dropped.
A few callsigns called but I was unable to get the full callsigns one was DL and I wasn’t quite sure if it was G0OBK or G4OBK also called. At that stage signals (brain) were fading and the feet were getting cold it was time for a few 2m FM and then home.
callsigns worked
DK1WI 7MHz CW
08:52z OH9XX 7MHz CW
08:55z G3RDQ 7MHz CW DAVID
08:56z DL6WT 7MHz CW HANS
09:01z EA2DT 7MHz CW
09:05z PA0RBA 7MHz CW
09:47z G8YDC 144MHz FM
09:51z G0FLI 144MHz FM
09:58z G4PSI 144MHz FM
09:59z G0IXE 144MHz FM
Thanks for your time and patience
Happy Chrismas
Graeme