I was out walking yesterday but did no activating (walk across hills with XYL) so to make amends I decided on a trip up SP-004 today.
The weather was sunny in Macclesfield with just a slight breeze so it looked ideal for an activation. Unfortunately, as is often the case, weather across the moors was considerably more extreme. It was windy enough at my normal parking spot to make getting the rucksack out of the car quite hard work as the wind tried to blow the car door shut. I was buffeted along on the ascent. Six people passed by on the way up. At the top there was no-one so I bagged the prime position on the seat and set up on 70cm. I have done relatively little on this band and realising that just a single activation ensures enduring fame in the Summitsbase News I thought “why not?”.
The wind was very strong at the top but the windage of the 70cm beam is minimal so it was not too hard to get on the air. A call on 432.2 immediately snagged a contact with GW8ASD who monitors the activity frequency. Further calls went unanswered so I switched to CW and called CQ in various directions. Nothing happened for a while until David 2E0DAI called me on SSB off the back of the beam. A bit of beam and frequency alignment followed and we had a pleasant chat. After that the familiar voice of John GW4BVE called in using his 2m beam. Another 59 both ways.
Sadly no further contacts were forthcoming so I switched the beam to 2m SSB. With a contest in full flow, contacts there were easy to come by and I called a few friends. By this time I was getting a bit cold. A Park Ranger arrived and we had a long chat while he ate his lunch. He was quite knowledgeable about radio - but was not a radio amateur; pleasant chap.
After packing up I walked back down and tried to find the new Cat and Fiddle webcam but I was unable to spot where it is located. I had expected it to be easy to see.
It rained (hard) all morning in Buxton (6km away) & blew a gale all day. I was going to do GW/NW-042,43,44,51 but the wx put me off. It turned out to be a decent afternoon so I went out placing & finding geocaches. May do something tuesday if the sky tv man comes early enough & the wx is ok.
btw the ranger who looks after Derbyshire Bridge area incl Shining Tor is a G6 & used to live opposite me.
73
and set up on 70cm. I have done relatively little on this band and
realising that just a single activation ensures enduring fame in the
Summitsbase News I thought “why not?”.
An “accidental” omission can be arranged!
Pity you didn’t bag 4 on the band, but that’s how it often is. FM may have got you more contacts, but it seems like me you had a mental block! It’s surprising how many times I am on a descent when I remember that I could have tried FM - crazy when I’ve probably had a QSO on 23cms FM! I need to give myself a written prompt to ensure that I give 70cms FM a try.
Well done on the attempt - perhaps you’ll become a regular to the Summitsbase 70cms section.
I have done relatively little on this band and realising that just a single
activation ensures enduring fame in the Summitsbase News I thought
If you do several contrived activations you can really skew the results!
We (myself and Brian G4ZRP) didn’t realise the effect we’d have on the stats and only used 70cms because that’s the what his tiny Alinco handheld covers. If it did 2m, we’d use 2m instead!
70cms is much underused up North. There again, 2m can be hard enough without raising the barrier even higher trying 70cms!
The WX was similar to yours on Saturday, quite pleasant in Liverpool but cold and windy on the top of Foel Fenli. And it showered quite hard most of the time too. Still it was pleasant break to get out for a few hours.
