2m FM SOTA activation, from SOTA summit, Gun G/SP-013 at 385 Metres or 1263 feet ASL, just outside of Leek in Staffordshire. IO83XD
At about 0800z I was messaged to say a lift was in full swing and I just couldn’t resist going out.
I was tempted to make my way to Shining Tor near Buxton, which is 559m or 1834 feet ASL, however, I was concerned about putting myself above the duct, as happened to me a few years ago…Very annoying…
At about 1000z, I had the X-300 colinear mounted on 15 feet of poles and bungeed into the hawthorn tree next to the trig point. The rig was an FT-857, running about 15-20 Watts, but did peak at 40 watts occasionally
At 1015, I put out a CQ and ran into quite a pile up, with stations coming in from all over the place. The South Coast and South Wales, was easy, Isle of Wight, Kent, Essex, Devon, Hampshire, EI, the list goes on. France was coming in nicely as was Belgium. The QRM from the French and German stations, was a real test of patience.
There was no end to the pile-up and I was still on the summit at 1530. This was a whole heap of fun and as lifts go it was extremely good.
Thanks to John MW0XOT, for a couple of s2s
The lithium battery took quite a hammering and I’m hoping I haven’t overdone it
155 contacts for the activation all 2m FM.
Notable DX…
9 x France
5 x Belgium.
ODX, F8CHM, 680 km into Tours…
Probably would have got a lot further with a beam, but I can’t be bothered to turn them, these days. Anyway a colinear is much more fun
Thanks to all the callers…
73 Mike
2E0YYY