Fair Snape Fell G/SP-007 Dec 23rd

Last year we activated this summit on Christmas eve so this year Im a day early. I did it in April as well so todays exercise netted me the winter bonus points. I had posted an alert for 1030 on the summit, however, after leaving the M6 near Preston the last 10 miles on minor roads took about an hour due to the icy conditions. The parking spot near the gliding club was minus 2C in contrast to the summit which was plus 2C. Conditions were beautiful clear blue skies with a blanket of fog in the valleys. Pendle Hill and Longridge Fell were poking their heads through the fog. Once on the summit I had a look around for Lutz DL3SBA/P & heard nothing, so I assumed I was too late. I found a clear QRG on 40m and started calling, guess what? Lutz was my first contact for a s2s and his QRP was a real 5/9 with me. Some 10 mins later I found Klaus DF2GN/P for another s2s - things were going well. After working all who called on 40m I QSYd to 80m. Normally I would have called on 3.666 +/- but 2E0HJD tipped me off to a possible s2s with Guido HB9TNF/P in the alps. I tuned to his frequency and received him a very stable 5/7. Unfortunately I could not get through, although I did try for almost 30mins. Strange really as I was running 100w to a full size inv vee dipole.
After a foray on 60m (s2s GW0PEB/P GW/NW-043) I returned to 80m to finish up. By now the wind had got up and the odd cloud started to pass through so I thought it was time to go. A total of 43 contacts today - so not too much work on the database hi. A couple of pics on flikr and a short video with audio from HB9TNF will be on You tube soon, Ill post the link when its ready.

73s Steve G1INK.

In reply to G1INK:
Very good Steve, you were booming in SW France (IN93JN) though noisy frequency, I also listened to you calling DF2GN/P on S2S just before calling you, very good SSB conditions today on 40M, also many others SOTA activities contacted (thanks holidays ! HI), thank you guys for climbing in the cold !
Vy 73 de Chris F8DZY.

In reply to G1INK:
Thanks for another unique!
Hope you’ve now warmed up?

Seasons Greetings,
Graham G4FUJ