A trip to Holmfirth to watch a family member perform in a production at Huddersfield on Saturday night meant we had time for a side trip to activate Black Hill G/SP-002 in the afternoon.
We parked up at Snoopy’s chuck wagon on the A635 at Wessenden Head leaving at 1323z and followed the Pennine way to the trig point on Black Hill. An unimpressive flat topped “summit” but it has to be said, with fantastic views in an 180 degree arc to the north. Conditions on the flagged path were icy in places and the partly frozen Dean Clough tested Judy’s (XYL) nerve to the full. We made it across however and continued following the flagged path. Where we took to the frozen snow drifts the frozen crust supported our weight without problem. It was slow progress but the trig was reached in exactly 1 hour. Temperature was 1c, it was bright and sunny and the trig afforded shelter from the wind. There were several fell runners about training and the odd walker crossing the top of the hill during our activation. A flask of Bovril was enjoyed before 6 contacts were made on 2m FM. With 5w from the VX-170 and rucksac special 3 feet off the ground I had QSOs over a 15 minute period with:
G4JNN Bradford
G1TAG Osmotherley
G4OWG Rawdon Leeds
2E0BMO Standish Wigan
M1CVL Heywood Manchester
M1AVV/P S2S LD-052 Hutton Roof Crags.
An easy 5 points (2+3) and we were back at the car at 1554z to find that the chuck wagon had gone QRT. I was pleased to get my first activator points of 2010.
Thank’s to Roy G4SSH for the advance notice to SOTAWatch via his dial-a-spot service.
Phil G4OBK
PS Distance walked 4 miles with 790 feet of ascent. Same route used each way, stuck to Pennine Way.