Thanks for the nice comments everyone. Unfortunately Jimmy never did get the opportunity to work me on my 2000th SOTA activation - because I was forced to abandon it before he was home from work!
I had intended/hoped to continue making contacts into the evening, but as I was nearly finished changing antennas (from the HBIV linked dipole to the 20m vertical with groundplane), I noticed something. There was a loud clicking noise every half second. I trained my ears to locate it and found my head homing in on the BNC connector plug on the feeder from the 20m GP antenna I had just put up.
Looking to the west, I could see a swirling thick bank of grey clag advancing, thankfully slowly, in my direction. I put two and two together and decided it was end of activation; I didnāt want to hang around.
Problem was, I had an antenna set up (that was clearly attracting some electrical charge; I could now hear the wires fizzing a bit as well), and two others lying on the ground. Grasping the base of the SOTA Pole, I carefully lay the mast and antenna on the ground, taking care not to contact any of the wires or connector. I then put my gloves on and packed away the two antennas that were on the ground. I wanted to give the 20m GP plenty of time to discharge, so I then packed away the rest of the kit into the rucksack. I now noted that there was no clicking at all coming from the BNC, nor hissing coming from the wires. I figured it was safe to pack this antenna away, though I kept my gloves on!
The rain actually never got properly going, so that was a huge assistance, as the operation could have been much more tricky if everything (including my clothing) was wet! In fact nothing got going at all. As I type this I am almost suffocating in the oppressive humidity. No hint of a thunderstorm yet - though it is desperately needed. Nonetheless, there was evidence of its impending presence over seven hours ago, and I still think it was the best call to abandon Activation 2K!
It had all started with an alarm at 5am. My first contact on The Cloud G/SP-015 was timed at 0555 UTC (6.55am BST), and was the first of 104, distributed as follows:
60m CW: 3
60m SSB: 5
40m CW: 2
40m SSB: 2
30m CW: 11
30m JT65: 1
30m PSK31: 1
20m CW: 32
20m JT65: 8
20m PSK31: 5
20m PSK63: 2
20m SSB: 9
2m FM: 22
70cm FM: 1
It was fun making the JT65 happen after my trial run yesterday. There is considerable room for improvement with the app, but it is usable.
Many thanks to everyone who called. The soup in the flask was indeed Baxters Lobster Bisque.
