I rarely have a particularly heavy pack. However, I do have a particularly heavy upper body. And the top of my head (which was big enough anyway, but even more so since the insertion of a magnetic valve in 2013) is 1.9m above ground level. So yes, the poles keep the rhythm going on the ascents, and save my knees on the descents.
Like Tom I rarely have a heavy pack but I find that the poles help ease the pain in my lower back during the ascent and relieve the pressure on my knee joints during the descent. Like Brian I believe the use of poles has kept me active in the hills well past my use by date.
I addition they also serve as end supports or as a support for my SOTABeam mast and 2M beam (this is designed to work with an inverted and guyed Leki Pole).
73 Glyn
Been there, forgot that!
Itās that moment when reality and disbelief conflict.
Itās all part of the experience.
73ās
Hey Glyn, you have just betrayed that you are, like me, an owner of the āWASP Specialā alternative mast system for the original SOTA Beam. IIRC, these were in production for a ārelativelyā short amount of time, so I donāt know how many are out there. Possibly more than I imagine, but who knows? (Well, I can think of one chap who probably has an ideaā¦).
I really liked mine and it was the usual kit for quite a time. When I got into contesting though, I reverted to the original fishing pole idea though for the extra 2m of height AGL. Meanwhile Jimmy got into the āmaking lots of contacts without turning the beamā idea, so moved over to the MFD on top of a SOTA Pole idea. So our WASP is enjoying a very restful retirement these days.
Plenty of pictures of it on my website - http://tomread.co.uk - especially on the Pennine Way 2006 pages, on which it was carried for all the activations.
I was racking my brain trying to remember the name of the mast and beam combi - thanks for reminding me. I used to use the 2m beam on the fishing Pole mast but found it a pain when trying to use it at the same time as the HF. So I chose to use WASP instead and leave the fishing Pole for HF.
I havenāt done 2m SSB for a long time but always have the WASP Special in the boot of the car (I still carry the guying kit in my bits box on every activation). I also have the RSS (Ruck Sack Special) which is the same era. This goes with me every time I activate, I may one day upgrade this to the MFD but the RSS still works, albeit held together with a plethora of electricians tape.
I would have bought my WASP and RSS around 2006/7
I have one; it goes up every summit, and I probably ought to use it more! I tend to try 2m SSB after Iāve finished on 60m and Caroline has taken over the HF rig for 40m (meaning that the fishing pole is in use, usually a little distance away).
However since by this point Iāve already qualified (if not Iād be stealing contacts on 40m) Iām afraid Iām a bit lazy and usually just flip Carolineās MFD horizontal rather than bother with the beam, which has probably been up two orders of magnitude more summits than it has actually been used on!
Whether it would actually reap many contacts is another matter. Iāve often found 2m SSB a bit disappointing, even on the rare occasions that Iāve used the beam at full height.
Martyn M1MAJ