Edward M6NSR celebrated his 19th birthday recently, and suggested it would be appropriate for amateur radio friends and family to join him for an activation and a curry to mark the occasion. Who were we to refuse?
Shining Tor G/SP-004 was the chosen summit, for its local proximity, and winter bonus points. It was Sunday 8th January 2012, and a bracing morning walk was in order to “detox” from the previous day’s alcohol intake that accompanied the Macclesfield Town v Bolton Wanderers FA Cup tie. The usual walk up was followed, from just short of the Cat & Fiddle pub between Macclesfield and Buxton.
It was breezy and cold on the summit, and I went for the bench in the wall corner. Jimmy and Edward went to the trig point, but decided to operate using 2m handhelds only, with no beam, as they didn’t feel like setting it up. They both qualified comfortably nonetheless.
On 10m CW, it was 17 QSOs for me, but all into just 3 DXCCs - RA, UR and G. On 10m SSB I worked another 8 - comprising G, GW and RA, while on 10m FM it was just another two G stations. Finishing on 2m FM, also handheld style, I worked two GWs, including Keith GW8HXE/P on Foel Fenlli GW/NW-051, completing a rather fun set of 29 QSOs for my activation.
Jimmy M3EYP and Ed M6NSR had long since departed the summit by the time I had finished, and sensibly so, as the weather had deteriorated sharply later on. They were waiting warm and dry in my car, but I had taken a bit of a soaking during packing up that had only partially dried out during the descent.
We drove up Charity Lane in Walker Barn to good old “Chaser Central” to do some chasing, but it seemed that the weather had beaten all the other activations off the UK summits as well. There was certainly a void of action on 2m FM.
After dropping Ed off home, we returned to our home QTH for a freshen up and a watch of the City-United FA Cup game on the box. Later, we reconvened at the Weston Balti Raj for Ed’s birthday meal, where it was one of those excellent occasions where the radio amateurs outnumber the rest! As well as Ed, Jimmy and myself, there was Ed’s mum and dad, Emily 2E1AEQ, Ray G0DMV, plus Richard G3CWI. We were joined by Marianne and Liam, plus Jimmy and Ed’s mates Craig and Hunter, and enjoyed the superb cuisine (and lager) on offer.
Tom M1EYP