G4YSS: G/NP-010, Penyghent,02-03-11

G4YSS Activation of G/NP-010 on 02-03-11.

PEN-Y-GHENT on 40m CW, 80m CW/SSB, 160m CW, 4m FM & 2m FM.
G4YSS using SSEG Club-call GX0OOO/P. All times UTC.
Accompanied by Hazel.

IC706-2G, adjustable dipole, 5m mast, 160m coils.
One 9.0 Ah Li-Po for HF & 2m FM.
IC E90 4-Band FM, 5W H/H with 4m-band HB half-wave vertical end-fed and 7.4V, 1.3 Ah Li-Ion detachable battery.
QRO pack: 11.5kg (25 pounds).

Intro:
Pen-Y-Ghent was my Daughter-in-Law Hazel’s very first 2000 footer and the first of nine SOTA’s that she has done with me in a 12 month period. Today was the penultimate day we had available if we were to make it ten in a year. Fortunately the weather forecast was good. I left the choosing to her and she deemed NP10 to be the best of the English ones she’d done so far. The craggy climb up the south end of the mountain is the main attraction for her; whereas many NP’s are just grassy and boggy. It’s not difficult to agree that NP10 is a good all round experience and one summit in the day and a shorter drive along an experimental route, in a car which was not my own, would prove to be a breath of fresh air to me.

Execution:
Three year-old Grandson Jack was woken up at 06:00, dressed, breakfasted and delivered to the childminder’s for 07:10. How’s that for getting your own back on noisy toddlers! My XYL Denise agreed to pick him up at 17:00. We were driving from Scarborough by 07:20 (in Hazel’s car – mine still doesn’t have the required paperwork) arriving at the honesty box (£1) near Dale Head Farm (SD 8426 7145) for 09:50. Though similar to our last SOTA; NP17 last year, the driving route was changed again as follows: Sutton Bank, a short section of A1 between exits 49 & 48, Minskip, Farnham, Pateley Bridge, Grassington, Arncliffe and Halton Gill. It’s 101 miles. We returned via the same route and it avoids York & Harrogate through two rush hours thereby saving 2 x 30 minutes. Traffic was moderate on the way and light on the way back.

We booted up & set off walking for Pen-Y-Ghent at 10:00 in hazy sunshine and a light breeze arriving at the summit by 11:06. There were just a handful of people at the trig point and again a quiet activating area was found down the wall and south from the trig. Hazel phoned Roy (G4SSH) a few minutes later relayed a conversation while I erected the mast & dipole. After intending to start on 10.118, we went for the more adventurous 7.032 when Roy told us that it was perfectly clear today. I had no desire to compete with the Russian Military; it was bad enough when someone started calling CQ over me on 7.032 but more of that later. Things didn’t go according to plan. I had told Roy, ‘40m CW in 15 minutes. It was fatal to do this then switch on the 4m FM rig just to check the antenna. There was a QSO on there which I QSK’d mainly because activity on 4m is still quite sparse and ‘a bird in the hand’…… This led to further QSO’s and a late start on 40m. (See below.)

PEN-Y-GHENT, G/NP-010, 694m (2,277ft), 4pts, 11:06 to 14:57. Zero C rising to 4C, less than 7 mph wind. Sunshine but with hazy viz. No lying snow. (LOC: IO84VD – WAB: SD87).

4m FM – 6 QSO’s:
I was not supposed to be on here at all yet but for reasons detailed above 4m got my attention. After working two stations in QSO, namely M0JRB & H4YLV - Robert & Bob in Ossett & Liversage respectively, I was called by a further 4 stations and logged G7RNX - Alex in Dalton, GW7AAV – Steve in Connah’s Quay, G4ZRP – Brian in West Kirby and G6TGO – Ian 4 miles from Manchester Airport. I used my home-brew half-wave and with a IC-E90 running 3.5 Watts. Most reports were 55 to 58 with 51 from Steve. There would be two more 4m FM QSO’s later on but I was now overdue for 40m CW by 15 minutes.

40m CW – 27 QSO’s:
First up in response to a CQ on 7.032 were G4SSH and G4OBK. Good to know that 40m was carrying G traffic as well as European. Frid was next – DL1FU who I more often than not work on 80m these days. After that a significant pile-up developed putting my CW skills to the test. As I have explained before, in order to get through QSO’s as quickly as possible, I have to set my keyer to 22 WPM. The problem is I can’t read CW at that speed; only callsigns and reports. That aside, chasers from the following countries were worked: G, DL, HB9, EA, HE, OE, EC, ON, 9A, OK, HA & S51. Late in the proceedings someone sent, ‘F es F Nr?’ I explained that I didn’t know it and spelling out, ‘Yorkshire Dales National Park’ was just too much to cope with at the time.

I tried my best to keep the RF output to 30W or 50W but because of QSB and later some serious and possibly deliberate QRM, I was forced up to 100W for a few QSO’s. Things got really bad around 12:06 when a strong station PA1MAX commenced calling CQ on my QRG. There was no response to several applications of QRL – Pse QSY – Tnx. I laboured through another two difficult QSO’s and a confirmation to DL3HXX (after my confusion with DL9SXX) that our earlier QSO was good but worries about the power being wasted got the better of me. At 12:13 after sending ‘UP’ – ‘UP’ I slowly ‘dotted’ my way to a clear channel – 7.032.6 where I was immediately found by OK1ZE and a few more stations. It was unbelievable but true – here again at 13:23 was the same station once more right over me calling CQ but this time drifting up and down the band. It almost lost me a QSO with Kevin G0NUP but the band dried up just after that and I was off like a shot to 80m CW in the hope it might be more trouble free. Again Hazel was keen to get involved with the logging; something she couldn’t do with CW but she did look up some names for me.

80m CW – 13 QSO’s:
Phil G4OBK started off the 3.557 MHz session with his usual strong signals but unlike the 18th Feb, European stations were also loggable in the form of DJ5AV, F5SQA plus Mike EI2CL. The rest were G chasers who were probably unable to hear me on 40m. Conditions were improved from those of 2 weeks ago but still not good. There was QSB and the majority of QSOs required 100W with 30 to 50 for the rest. Scarborough stations G4SSH & G4OOE got through on here and there was a rare appearance from Gerald G4OIG. Also logged were: G4OWG, G0TDM, G0NES, G4UDU, a rare G4CPA & G3RDQ.

80m SSB – 16 QSO’s:
A move to 3.724 brought in 15 UK stations plus surprisingly, Andre ON4CAP. Brian G8ADD was guarding the frequency for me. As well as established chasers, it was good to be called by five Foundation Licence holders namely: M6AMO, M3XIE, M6NJB, M6HBS & M6LEP (aka M0LEP). The final Scarborough stations G0NUP Kevin and G3HKO Des got through. (Des called me in CW and was answered accordingly). Brian G0BFJ chased SD87. The others were MM1MPB, G0RQL, M0OYG, G7CDA, G6ODU & G4CPA to say hello. After Roy’s ‘heads-up’ Alan M6AMO posted me QRV on here and at the end Roger G4OWG who must have been listening in, helped by posting an impending QSY to 160m. It was at around this time that Hazel discovered sitting in the sun was far preferable to getting out of the wind in the shadow cast by the wall so I moved the station a few metres.

160m CW – 4 QSO’s:
With noon only 90 minutes behind us, there was only a small chance of QSO’s on 160m. Luckily Phil G4OBK was available today and he’s more or less a ‘banker’ unless I’m in GW, GM or have only QRP. So it proved as we exchanged 599 reports. However that was not until the end of the session. Rob G4RQJ opened it with quite a strong signal followed amazingly by Roy G4SSH who was ‘grass-hopper high’ at 229 but who correctly QSL’d nonetheless. Reg G3WPF usually puts in a good signal and so it was today - 599.

Frank G3RMD, Mike EI2CL and a couple of others were conspicuous by their absence but I know the 160 chasers will have tried hard to hear me. 100W was needed on 1832 but 160m is well worth the time & effort spent on it. Had this been a couple of hours later things would likely have been different. Leaving it until last (of the HF) was the best I could do.

4m FM (again) – 1 S2S:
While Hazel removed the 160m coils and rolled up the dipole, I happened to hear a signal on 70.450 FM. This turned out to be Barry MW6BDV/P on one of my favourites Y-Lliwedd GW/NW-008. Barry had already completed three or four S2S’s on 4m – an excellent day’s work! Signals were 57 both ways.

2m FM – 24 QSO’s
I wasn’t due up on here. It was merely an attempt to reach my friends in Scarborough. That was a failure but one thing led to another and oh bother, just to make life even more hectic – a lift! There were a lot of mixed signals & noise on 2m but most QSO’s were local. Half seemed to be SOTA chasers. However three ‘gems’ which got this session underway were S2S’s with Neil & Karen 2W0TDX and 2W0XYL on GW/NW-042. Signals were 60 over 9 both ways. I had forgotten to adjust the power setting after Top Band so was putting out 50W of FM. After that I called Barry on NW8 despite working him on 4m earlier.

MM1MPB who I’d worked earlier on 3.724 called but signals between us were far worse than on 80. Two Geoffs G4CPA & M6MZX plus Kevin M0XLT (MX0BCQ) put me in the running for the CRAG award. They were followed by Mick M0PVA who is still suffering with pain that sadly impedes his walking of the hills these days. Near the end there was a very difficult QSO with M6PEW/M owing to a QSO which had suddenly appeared over him but we exchanged in the end. Power was reduced to about 15W after the initial ‘battery blistering’ 50W.

4m FM (yet again) – 1 QSO:
The day would not have been complete without working Mike G4BLH on 4m FM now would it? We arranged it on 2m but I apologise for being pretty well tired out by this point after almost 4 hours on the summit. 59 both ways.

Descent:
The descent took 48 minutes as against just under an hour on snow last year and it was a sunny and still day by now. The car was gained by 15:45 and we were underway by 15:54 to arrive home in 2 hrs 22 minutes at 18:15.

The total distance driven was 202 miles and the picturesque 101 mile return was a reversal of the morning route.

Thanks to ALL STATIONS WORKED and to the valued spotters: G4SSH, G4OBK, M6AMO, G4OWG, G4RQJ & G4BLH. Thanks to G4SSH for telephone liaison and on-air QSY notification.

Total: 92 QSO’s, comprising:
27 on 7.032-CW.
13 on 3.557-CW.
16 on 3.724-SSB.
4 on 1.832-CW
8 on 70.450-FM
24 on 145.475-FM

Battery utilisation (IC706): 96% discharged 11V nom / 20C, 9.0 Ah Li-Po.

Walking:
NP-010: 270m (886ft) ascent, 5.5 km (3.4 miles). 66 min up, 48 min down.
Summit time: 3 hours - 51 minutes.
Walking time: 1 hour - 54 minutes.

In Conclusion:
This was once again a very pleasant day out. The WX was on its best behaviour for the time of year and the driving was lower pressure and the journey time via this new route, quicker than is often the case. Despite chilling at times and running out of things to do, i.e. Logging, Aerials, MP3, Texting, Sudoku etc, Hazel said she had enjoyed it again and was pleased that she’d achieved her aim of 10 summits in 12 months. She also got quite a few ‘Hi to Hazel’ passed to her over the air. We now need to work towards her Foundation Licence – much of the studying is now completed. That should energise her and help me out if she can put on 2m FM while I tackle Top Band and the like. The number of QSO’s was 92 as against 67 last year. Pity it wasn’t 100 but we ran out of time and probably bands.

73, John G4YSS,
(using GX0OOO/P; Scarborough Special Events Group Club Call)

In reply to G4YSS:
Well John you fooled me again.I came in from working outside to have my dinner and watch the 1 oclock news and a quick look at the laptop to see if you were on.When I saw that you were on I tuned to 3.724 dashed down stairs and put the 4 metre ant on the land Rover .I came back up and started to read one of the threads on the reflector the went back to sotawatch to find you had gone on to 145 fm.So you have eluded me again on 4 metres.Another good report 73 Geoff G6MZX

In reply to G4YSS:

Another excellent report John. Very pleased to catch you on 80m CW - the first QSO from home this year! I took a look for you later on 160m CW, but the band noise was running at 20 over 9 here and I couldn’t make out what you were sending. C’est la vie.

With 4 hours on the summit I must say that Hazel has grade A staying power. My good lady is usually ready to leave after half an hour. Presumably Hazel was reading a rivetting novel or maybe swatting for the licence exam?

73, Gerald G4OIG

In reply to G4YSS:

80m SSB – 16 QSO’s:
it was good to be called by five Foundation
Licence holders namely: M6AMO, M3XIE, M6NJB, M6HBS & M6LEP.

Many thanks for the QSO yesterday John.
I’d noted the spot coming up, but on tuning in I was suffering from horrendous S7-S9 noise at my QTH on 80 and couldn’t hear you at all. After a few minutes, I heard M6NJB calling, but still couldn’t hear you. I went back on to 2m FM, but after a while decided to try you again. Luckily I could now hear you, just, through the noise & QSB. A call in and surprised you came back with a 56! Sorry to only give you an R3 here, but my ears were in in full Dr. Spock mode to work you.

Best 73
Jonathan
M6HBS

In reply to G4YSS:

80m SSB – 16 QSO’s:
it was good to be called by five Foundation Licence holders namely: M6AMO,
M3XIE, M6NJB, M6HBS & M6LEP.

Ooops… Sounds like I’m still stumbling over that small callsign change. I just got my M0 call last Saturday (and I never used my 2E0 call on the air) and that M6 seems to be burned in at a subconscious level. Could have sworn I’d confirmed my call as M0LEP.

It was an interesting contact, mind, with signal levels varying in quite a challenging manner.

Thanks for the activation and the report.
73
Rick M6… err… M0LEP.

In reply to G4YSS:
Once again John a fantastic achievement and a great pleasure to work you again.
73
Nick G4OOE

Replies to ALL:

Geoff G6MZX: Landrover? It can’t have been a mag mount then? I had three separate QSY’s to 4m FM in and amongst HF but sorry that I missed you on there. It was a CRAGGY sort of day when eventually we QSO’d! 73, John.

Gerald G4OIG: Yes, my home log is lucky if it gets any QSO’s at all in a year. My radio has been mostly outdoors from the start. Good to get you in the log. Every time I have a moan about the distance I have to drive to the summits, I think about you and calm down a bit. Noise is a nause for too many people nowadays. I have all but given up from home apart from listening rarely. I saw Hazel doing Sudoku at one point but she did ask ‘when are we going?’ about 30 minutes before the end. 73, John.

Jonathan M6HBS: Again noise spoiling our hobby! Everything has RF coming out of it these days. I used full power for our QSO and you only just got the report. On the summit the noise is luxuriously low. In towns it’s terrible. Never mind you got your 4 points in the end. 73, John.

Rick M6 - M0LEP: You had me checking my log to see what I wrote down. . It was M6 but though it was a decent day, mistakes begin to creep in after several hours of operation especially under summit conditions so you might have said M0. Most of the bands seem to be suffering a fair bit of QSB lately but when it’s harder to make contact the satisfaction is all the greater. 73, John.

Nick G4OOE: Thanks Nick. I heard you took a couple of hours off work! That being keen! You really seem to enjoy this SOTA and it’s good to see raw enthusiasm. You can give some to me, I could do with a boost! 73, John.

(And finally a word to G4SSH. Thanks for your help throughout the day Roy.)

Thank you for all comments and QSO’s. Hope to be on again soon.
John (YSS).

In reply to G4YSS:

Rick M6 - M0LEP: You had me checking my log to see what I wrote down.
It was M6 but though it was a decent day, mistakes begin to creep in
after several hours of operation especially under summit conditions so
you might have said M0. Most of the bands seem to be suffering a fair
bit of QSB lately but when it’s harder to make contact the
satisfaction is all the greater. 73, John.

I suspect I made a muddle of callsigns, and M6 slipped out at some point; it has of course been what I’ve been using all the time up 'til last Saturday. I must also make a point of confirming details more positively when there’s QSB/QRM/N about. Hopefully I’ll get the zero burned into its place soon. Sorry for the confusion, and thanks for the contact.

73, Rick M0LEP

In reply to G4YSS:

A very interesting report as usual John & very nice to read that you were lucky enough to work Gerald G4OIG, without the more or less permanent /P at the end.

As mentioned a few times in your post & the responses, noise on HF from various sources is having a very serious effect on our, (both Radio Amateurs & SWL’s),enjoyment of Radio. When people have to abandon operating from home purely because of the unnecessary man-made QRM then things have gone too far.

I was very lucky, I found my source of 80m QRM very quickly, & the owners of the offending equipment were very co-operative once I finally made contact with them purely by chance while they were clearing Snow off their car. While the QRM was present 80m was unusable & the noise floor was S8 all day long with the radio’s pre-amp switched off & attenuation switched in.

Once that was resolved & after tracing & curing a few very minor sources of noise in my property I now run with no attenuation & during the day the noise floor is S1 to S2 which is what I would expect in my location.

Noise problems can be resolved, although some will be more difficult than others & will require more than a brief conversation in the street,but don’t give up on HF just because of them.

Sorry for moving OT a little John.

It is very nice to see Mick M0PVA in your log as I know he has not been well, although he had certainly not lost his sense of humour when I met up with him a few nights ago :slight_smile:

And congratulations to Rick M0LEP (Formerly M6LEP) on gaining your full licence! It was a real pleasure to work you on 40m at the end of a pileup on 40m when I last activated G/SP-012 Easington Fell in September. I did comment on another thread that you had patience, that must be correct as the temptation to go on air with an intermediate callsign must have been tremendous.

Well done Rick, & when are you applying for your 5MHz NOV?

I have climbed Pen-y-ghent in pre-sota days and took the route from Horton via the Pennine way before deviating off towards the summit. Having looked at G/NP-10 from a SOTA perspective I think the route you chose is the most sensible. Still classing myself as “learner” activator, I gauge the difficulty of a summit in how much vertical ascent is involved compared to G/SP-005 Pendle Hill or G/SP-007 Fair Snape Fell, both of which involve around 220 Metres vertical ascent from my usual parking spots. G/NP-010 Pen-y-ghent also appears to involve a similar amount of vertical ascent when tackled from the honesty box at Dalehead, much less than taking the route from Horton in Ribblesdale.

When,not if, I get around to activating Pen-y-ghent I will be taking the route from Dalehead.

And finally, after taking my 4 metre radio to work in preparation, guess who got called into a meeting at just the wrong time!

I did check the spots once I had escaped & listened on both 2m & 4m from the car park but I must have just missed your final calls.

That’s the way it happens sometimes, but I am glad you found 4 Metres to be very productive at a time when you weren’t even intending to be on the band.

Incidentally, I do have an 11 metre carbon fibre fishing pole in my office at work that I bought for the bargain price of £30 from a workmate. I bought this purely to be able to activate on 160m, which I will do eventually. I made the extension pieces to attach to the end of my 80m dipole to make it into a full size 160m half-wave dipole several months ago, but the bargain price 11m pole only became available a few weeks ago. I am aiming for a full size half-wave dipole fed with Coax purely to be different. Of course I would need a summit with a pretty flat top, but there are a few around here that would be perfect. I could trim it to resonance in situ, but then it would only be any good for that particular summit. I may build or purchase a suitable portable ATU or possibly make the antenna overlong & add some variable capacitance at both ends. Of course, it is a fair distance to walk from one end to the other so it wouldn’t be any good for a quick smash & grab activation. HI!

And of course, I have yet to have a successful CW activation. I have solved the problem of not being able to write on wet log sheets which prevented my first serious attempt at CW from G/SP-008 in January. So, as along with waterproof logging, both myself & my radio are pretty easy to keep out of the elements, I really have no excuse for not giving CW a try on my next activation. I am somewhat similar to yourself in that I do have my keyer set a bit faster than I could read 100% at, but I can usually pick out the parts of the exchange that I need. 7.032 MHz will still be a while off for me yet though, especially with the particular QRM you mention. There are plenty of 40m CW SOTA chasers, do any of them have directional antennas for 40m? Surely a bit of DF’ing would at least narrow down PA1MAX’s location. I know that station has been discussed here on another thread, but surely we could do more to help ourselves here.

Once again, my apologies for deviating a little from the report John.

Until next time,

Best 73,

Mark G0VOF

In reply to G0VOF:
Hi Mark From Dale head is certainly the best way up Np10 and another few hundred yards up the road to the next cattle grid and you are at the parking spot for Fountains Fell.73 Geoff G6MZX

In reply to G0VOF:

And congratulations to Rick M0LEP (Formerly M6LEP) on gaining your
full licence!

Thanks.

It was a real pleasure to work you on 40m at the end of a pileup on 40m when
I last activated G/SP-012 Easington Fell in September.

I remember it well; you hung around just long enough to hear me. :wink:

the temptation to go on air with an intermediate callsign must have been tremendous.

Half of my not using 2E0LEP was because I went overseas on holiday shortly after getting it, so I was off the air for nearly a month, and when I got back I just stuck with the shorter more familiar M6 just felt more comfortable. However, my FT-817 now has an FT-450 (the old model, going cheap) beside it, and the 450 has been turned up above the 10W line now, so the callsign must change. Just have to remember to get my tongue re-programmed… :wink:

Well done Rick, & when are you applying for your 5MHz NOV?

I gather there’s a mod that can be done to an FT-817 to open up 5MHz, so an appropriate NoV is on my to-do list.

73, Rick M0LEP

In reply to M0LEP:

When you mod your 817 for 5MHz turn it back down to 5W.

Andy
MM0FMF

In reply to MM0FMF:

When you mod your 817 for 5MHz turn it back down to 5W.

I expect it’d let the magic smoke out if I don’t, yes? :wink:

73, Rick M0LEP

In reply to M0LEP:

Well…

5W to 10W is 3db or 1/2 an S-point. Barely noticeable. I don’t know if you work in the electronics industry but consumer grade gear is made to a price to achieve the stated performance. That means real money can be saved by using the thinest cables, the thinest tracks on PCBs and lowest rated components.

Maybe when the 817 was designed the aim was 10W. But when Yaesu found the batteries only lasted 10minutes they reset the AGC to limit the output to 5W and thus achieved nearly 40mins on the batteries :wink: The early sets may well be built to stand the electrical and thermal rigour of 10W operating. But successive revamps and design changes will have taken place that will have replaced those components. No point spending for 10W when you only run 5W.

So you are pushing the set to beyond what it’s probably now designed for. All for a negligible gain in strength at the far end of your QSO. It’s not worth the shorter battery life and greater risk of seeing something off prematurely. If you want more power, make a small PA and pump it with 1/2watt from the 817.

Andy
MM0FMF

In reply to MM0FMF:

So you are pushing the set to beyond what it’s probably now designed

Oh, it’s not the 817 I have turned up beyond 10 watts, it’s the FT-450 sitting beside it. That’s rated to 100 watts.

I was concerned, not having found the fine details of the 817 mod for 5MHz, and possibly reading a bit too much between the lines, that a side effect of the mod might have been that a limit on its maximum power was altered. A friend at the Bromley club recently had fun with an FT-817 that blew one of its PA FETs, and I have no desire to follow in his footsteps in that particular adventure. :wink:

…and yes, the 817 doesn’t exactly hang on for long on internal power, even at its default (for that particular situation) of 2.5W…

In reply to M0LEP:

Ah, I must upgrade my glasses! The 5MHz mod is not hard. The old 817 CPU read a few links when the set was reset which defined if it was USA or EU or custom. It stays in this mode till next reset. You can also use software to twiddle the values so the links say EU but the software now thinks custom. Later models had the internal software changed so the read the links on every power up. You can still set it to custom with software but it reverts back on the next power up. For these models you need to change the links.

Not hard really. If you have never soldered on SMD components, by some junk PCBs at the next rally you go to and practice on them. When you have honed your skills you can whiz the front off the 817 and whip out the link. 10 minute job including making a drinking a cup of tea and waiting for the soldering iron to heat up :wink:

Andy
MM0FMF

In reply to MM0FMF:

Not hard really. If you have never soldered on SMD components,

Thanks for the encouragement. My SMD soldering experience is limited to one chip in a RockMite (and I really must work some more on morse, or it’s going to remain an interesting construction project that never gets used…). My 817 was new last year, so I’m guessing it’ll be one of the more recent models. Time to find those details…

73, Rick M0LEP

In reply to M0LEP:

I was concerned, not having found the fine details of the 817 mod for
5MHz, and possibly reading a bit too much between the lines, that a
side effect of the mod might have been that a limit on its maximum
power was altered.

You’re not the only one who was confused. I also wondered what Andy was alluding to!

73

Richard
G3CWI

In reply to G4YSS:

Somewhat late I know but nevertheless thank you for the interesting report on your latest trip to Pen-Y-Ghent, G/NP-010. Your comprehensive and easy-to-read activity accounts, in this case provided somehow within a few hours of return to base, are always welcome and always amaze. Conditions on 80m were “fair” but bearing in mind the time of day the chance of a 160m QSO looked pretty slim. And so it was; zilch signals from GX0OOO/P or from those who called you.

73 de Mike, EI2CL

In reply to EI2CL:

Nice to hear you get through to John on Top band from G/NP-016 this afternoon Mike :slight_smile:

And a huge thank you to John for activating all three summits today on 160m, despite missing him on that band from G/NP-015 as I had been out.

Another very long day!

I look forward to John’s activation report on toaday’s activity (6th March)

Best 73,

Mark G0VOF