Just a quick report on todays activation of the Stiperstones in Shropshire G/WB-003.
Thanfully to a Landrover, I got there OK but the lane up from Bridges was extremely trecherous in places due to ice and a covering of snow too.
Very lonely this part of the world. I was the first car up there this morning. Great. Had been reading about this area in times gone by and I can see why it was rife with witches, black masses, etc.
Walk waas good despite a very strong and freezing wind - so sheltered next to the roacks under the Trig Point. How they managed to get it up there?
As the rocks were shielding me, I was pleased to work :-
G4JZF (Thanks for the spot), G6ODU, M0COP, G3XQE, G4OBK, 2E0NHM, M0JLA, G4XUV and M0IBC. All worked on 2m ssb until a battery problem (lack of volts) caused me to close down. Thanks to all stations worked - sorry if I missed anyone, but my working conditions not the best this morning.
At this end it sounded more like connection failure than voltage drop but perhaps one of the circuits shuts down suddenly when a threshold is reached. Very clear signal when at best.
Sorry to have missed you, but Monday = the weekly visit to the supermarket!
The first time I went to the Stiperstones it was in fog with blue sky glimpsed above, lit to a glowing yellow by the sun, every so often outcrops of rock seemed to coalesce out of the glowing mist and then vanish again, a magical experience! If there were witches in that place I would guess that they were honest wiccas rather than inverted christians, its too lovely a place for evil!
In reply to MM0FMF:
My original power-out was caused by me unplugging the slab by mistake, with my boot. Thought it had gone flat, so tried on internal batts, but these were flat as a kipper.
Realised the slab was unplugged and hay-presto - back in business. Both me and the battery were getting cold - but soldered on until no further ssb chasers heard.
Decided to give fm a miss mainly due to the wx.
My new baselayer did the trick. I bought a running baselayer and it was damn good value at £25, and this with a big fleece over everything did the trick today.
Lets hope this continues…