Congratulations to Mike G0HIO/P who is activating the relocated Muncaster Fell this morning on 40m CW as I write this. I can hear the vestiges of a signal - faintly preceptible.
Oddly enough I wrote about the new summit in my blog last night. There is a picture from Geograph showing the new top in the distance.
I’ll keep listening in case the skip shortens and gives me a chance of a QSO!
73 Phil
Hi Phil,
I just posted that the Summit name is missing on the Tool-tip for the spot. Just me?
73,
Rod
Yes Rod, well spotted the - tool tip is missing.
73 Phil
It’s part of the cost of dealing with Brexit.
I’ll just add it to the cost of activating in Europe later this year…
Hi Phil, sorry I missed you today the bands were rubbish for me with just 40m working into Europe. I did work one UK station G0GYY after several attempts by me to get his call sign. I called for 15 minutes on 2 meters FM with just one welsh station giving 59 each way.
A really easy summit to activate, a path goes across from the foot of the old summit I was expecting it to be wet but no problem today. I didn’t look for a path further on, just clambered up the side. I am sure lots more will be activating this one.
At the foot of the old summit looking across to LD059 on the right, you can just about make out the path.
View from the summit of LD059 looking across towards the trig point on Hooker Crag LD055 in the distance.
.
Nice pictures Micheal.
HF is a bit broken really in that you cannot depend on it at present. I find having 60/40/30 on the same antenna useful. You can normally find enough contacts on those bands. 60m is well worth investigating if you don’t use it at the moment. 2m looks like it might be hard work from there… you are screened from a huge number of potential chasers in the NW of England by Black Combe, Whitfell and Old Man of Coniston. I’d have expected a bit better from North Wales. Possibly there was a bit of marine ducting causing your signal to either dive into the Irish Sea or fly over the heads of many people.
Still it looks like you had some grand weather.
Thanks for your report Michael. I wouldn’t have expected to have made it on 40m in a morning, signals were too faint to try a call but I heard the DL stations working you. I checked up and G0GYY is in Essex so that must have been the limit of the skip zone.
Well done on being the first activator of a summit that is likely to get plenty of attention over the next few months. It was a lovely morning in Cumbria by the look of it and I enjoyed seeing your pictures.
73 Phil
Many thanks for the information on the new summit Michael and congratulations on the first to carry out an activation. I am looking forward to activating it sometime later in the year.
From the comments made in respect of VHF operation, I decided to check my log for LD-055 and look who I worked on 70cm! 
It does look somewhat lob-sided when you analyse the locations of the stations worked, but it is not a no-go location by any means. I will certainly be doing 2m again from LD-059.
73, Gerald
Thanks Gerald, I have 30 years of HF CW experience but know very little about VHF. Maybe just pointing out to others like me who think a j-pole antenna and a hand held will do the job. It probably will if you know what you are doing!
Its a good feeling to finally get a first on a summit after all this time, I can recommend it.
Yes, I caught the “first activation” bug back in October 2007 with Black Craig of Dee GM/SS-170, but the number available in the UK are diminishing rapidly.
With regards to VHF / UHF operation, I was just interested to find that the results that I had achieved (25W SSB to a 5 element on 2m, 20W to an 6el on 70cm BTW) reflected what Andy had commented on. The summit is by no means an RF black hole and worth a punt on 2m at least. From the old summit page for LD-055 I note that 596 QSOs had been made on 2m (54% of the total) over 102 activations. 70cm didn’t fair anywhere near as well, with just 3 QSOs… hmm, I wonder who made the other one.
It was not M0JLA or M6BWA as we have not been there.
73,
Rod
I’ve been advised someone is planning to camp out so they can get first status for the new Hensbarrow as the chance to get one in G is a bit difficult nowadays.
Wasn’t me.
Well, that is up to them. I’ve a reasonable amount of “firsts” to my name including the majority on my beloved Islay (courtesy of Paul who kindly waited for me to make the first contact). If DC-008 does materialise, then I will enjoy a comfortable bed at my daughter’s house near St Austell beforehand and maybe walk the 5km to the summit for a bit of extra VFM. 
Ah, so that is something you can’t extract from the database. I thought it might be Alan M1EYO… maybe a trawl will find who it is.
73, Gerald
Postscript - the summit page data gave the answer: Richard G3CWI 29/Oct/2007
