It was 28c when I packed my rucksack and headed for “My” summit this evening, but the clouds on most horizons looked very threatening to say the least, but I had to give it a whirl anyway.
While I was /M to the summit I worked my old mate Steve G7AAV/M on his way to work and actually on the right route for a change and we made arrangements that I would call him on my handie from the summit prior to setting up the beam and HF antennas. I managed to get into the AZ before Steve arrived at work and give him a chaser point, with 59+ both ways.
I had just finished setting up the pole and sotabeam when the farmer, Alan, rolled up on his 1954 TVO tractor and popped over for a chat.
He is a very knowledgeable chap and I could have listened to his old stories all night but I was rather eager to start the activation. We settled for a short natter by his standards, just over 1 hour, hi.
My first cq went out at 18:54 and was met with a call from Peter 2E0VTS. We exchanged reports and just at that point the wind speed suddenly increased, giving my beam a mind of it’s own.
I decided to just keep calling no matter where the beam was heading, with very good results, especially into the Midlands where a flurry of 59++ reports flooded in, led as always by the massive signal of Graham G4JZF.
A total of 18 contacts were made on 2 metres.
It wasn’t until my qsy to 60m that I found out from Don G4RQL that I had made the trip to North Devon with 2.5 watts fm and the horizontal sotabeam, not bad by anyones standards.
I spent quite some time looking for Marc G0AZS/P on Wendover Woods, a unique for me, but the rascal escaped undetected again.
I decided to go over to 40m cw and asked for a spot for 7.032, then it hit me, I had left my Palm Paddle at home, thanks for the spot Mick 2E0HJD and apologies for my clanger, hi. My apologies to those who had waited for 7-cw.
Over to 60m and increased power to 5 watts but not quite sure what to expect because the band has been so unpredictable of late, but a further 17 contacts were made in quick succession led by Glyn GM4CFS and all stations with much better reports than of late.
While taking down the hf antenna I switched the handie on and was sure I heard Barry MW3PXW/P on GW/NW-044 calling on s20 but didn’t catch the qsy frequency, but a quick tune around found him and a 59++ s2s followed, thanks for the s2s and points Barry.
I had a quick look around for Ron GW4EVX/P on GW/NW-051 on 70cms but couldn’t find him for another s2s, apologies Ron.
A very enjoyable evening with not as many activators out but the wx had a big part to do with that. I managed just under 40 contacts in total, this figure would have been a lot higher had I packed my cw paddle.
A big thank you to the chasers/spotters for your fantastic support yet again and to all activators who turned out on a very cold and windy evening.
vy 73 Mike GW0DSP