Thanks John. I hear a lot of people bemoaning the lack of 2m activity, saying it’s all gone downhill on VHF etc. I remember hearing exactly that when I first got licensed in 2001 too. In total contrast, I’m finding that I can activate a SOTA summit in most parts of G and GW, with just a QRP handheld VHF radio, with its rubber duck, and qualify without too much delay! I’m actually finding this easier than ever in 2018, comparing against the last 17 years.
So here we go again with the latest tour reports:
Saturday 29th September 2018 - Gun G/SP-013, The Cloud G/SP-015 & Rombalds Moor G/NP-028
Gig: Motown Gold
Venue: Larkfields, Pudsey, Leeds
Gun was visited first, late on the Saturday morning. Just three QSOs were made, all on 2m FM. The first one was MX0YHA located at Mount St Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire - not a bad contact. In spite of my comments above, it did seem quiet though!
Over on The Cloud, it couldn’t be more different. Still operating with just the handheld and helical whip antenna, there were even moments of pile-ups coming into me! Eight contacts, 7 on 2m FM and one on 2m C4FM went into the logbook, including S2S with Jordan MW3TMX/P on Glasgwm GW/NW-015.
Now it was time to return home, load up, and hit the road. It was an unusually early 3pm soundcheck for the wedding gig with Motown Gold in Pudsey, Leeds. I was clear of that by 4pm and face with four hours to kill. The agenda was obvious - check into the youth hostel at Haworth to make sure I had the night code to get back in after my gig, then activate Rombalds Moor G/NP-028.
The parking area is just about within the AZ, but I like my exercise, so I walked the half a mile or so, mainly flat flagged path to the trig point.
This actually is quite a tricky summit for 2m FM, especially with a handheld, so I was perfectly content with my haul of two contacts!
I tried calling a few more times on my return walk to the car. Tony G4DEE/M did call me as he drove past Huddersfield on the M62. We didn’t complete though, and I can only assume he was travelling westbound and had commenced the descent towards Manchester.
The gig was great - a big posh wedding at a big posh private residence. Good band, good musicians and great classic Motown tunes!
It was a bit of a drive back to Bronte country after the gig. My bottom bunk at the YHA was very comfortable and I had a great night’s sleep.
Sunday 30th September 2018 - Ingleborough G/NP-005, Whernside G/NP-004 & Winter Hill G/SP-010
Gig: Joe Longthorne
Venue: Viva Backpool
Originally I was going to route across to the Fylde coast via the Forest of Bowland and activate my two remaining G/SP summits for 2018 - Ward’s Stone G/SP-003 and White Hill G/SP-006. Activators who have done these two will understand why they get left to last, and why motivation was not particularly high! Ultimately, I thought I’d swallow the extra mileage and have a great day’s walking in the Dales.
The day started with a fabulous full breakfast at Haworth YHA - which has become a favourite accommodation of mine when gigging away from home! They start serving breakfast at 0730 too, so I could be away and on the road by 8am.
I parked above the Hill Inn at Chapel-le-Dale and commenced my walk along the bridleway. This starts as a nice easy walk on limestone and boardwalks until the steep pull up to the ridge. On the ridge I encountered hundreds of athletic looking guys and gals carrying mountain bikes up the hill. It turned out it was the day of the Three Peaks Cycle-cross event.
At the summit were several marshals, complete with mountain rescue radio kit. I made five QSOs on 2m FM, but made the mistake of announcing - and self-spotting - the reference as NP-006. I only realised this error when Jimmy M0HGY was on the phone later and asked me how I’d got on up Great Shunner Fell!
Next was the bit I wasn’t looking forward to - the steep drop off the summit plateau on the Chapel-le-Dale side - even though I’d done it without difficulty twice before. And I did so again, but I could tell that a lady ahead of me was most uncomfortable with it. She had actually turned back at that point such was her nervousness.
I’d said to myself that I would squeeze in Whernside G/NP-004 if I was back at the car by 1230 local. Well, it was 1245 - so I thought I’d go for it! I drove back down to Ingleton and then up the valley in between Whernside, and Great Coum G/NP-011. When I reached the recognisable byway that is the start of the approach for Great Coum, I realised I’d gone too far and turned back. I found the intended parking spot shortly before the start of the path.
I was now walking against the clock, needing to squeeze the ascent, activation and descent into a strict two hour timeframe. I was therefore pleased to be 15 minutes ahead of schedule when I reached the summit.
On Ingleborough earlier, I had taken the full pack with HF station back up, even though I’d hoped to activate on 2m FM only. This time, I took the gamble of walking light, with just the FT70D and no pack! This did mean I got a bit thirsty, but I would never be more than half-an-hour from the car!
Six minutes of activating brought in five QSOs on 2m FM on the handy. This was a welcome result, and I could crack on with the descent.
This side of the hill is rather interesting, with the faint paths meandering around to follow the natural grassy ridges between the numerous deep potholes. I was back at the car in time to hear the moment Europe won the Ryder Cup on BBC Radio 5 Live.
I was very hungry by the time I got to Blackpool. There was a big hole in my belly where a litre of posh soup might normally be residing! I managed to get through soundcheck, then sat down to a large and very welcome plate of carvery, at the venue. We sometimes go to the local Wetherspoons, or occasionally something different like the chippy or even Nandos for tea between soundcheck and gig, but the carvery at the venue itself is the best - especially with the band discount applied.
I did pop down to Wetherspoons after my meal though, with the other band members, and enjoyed a coffee, before giving in to a pint of chocolate stout! The MyFitnessPal app on my phone had synce with my Fitbit watch, and advised me I would still be a couple of thousand calories in the black - so my conscience was clear!
Back to the venue, do the show, quick pack up and back on the road once again. I quite like my new habit of activating Winter Hill G/SP-010 - twice - on the way home from my Sunday night Blackpool residency gig. I haven’t got round to doing a more interesting HF activation yet - the DX on 20m FT8 might be worthwhile at that time - and it is rapidly getting colder!
I left my car on the access road off Georges Lane, and had a wander with my handheld. Three QSOs were made, all 2m FM. I then walked back down to my car for a bit of a warm up before my next activation!
Monday 1st October 2018 - Winter Hill G/SP-010
The car was warm, and I’d reclined the seat. The killer was resting my head on the pillows. You can guess the rest…
The result was that my second activation of Winter Hill in a short space of time occured after 0015 UTC, rather than the intended 0000z. Still, the quarter-of-an-hour snooze had been most welcome!
It seemed I wasn’t the only radio amateur to go to sleep. Thankfully, Dave G7RYN in Winsford was still up, so I worked him for a single contact activation. I tried to add to that, but no joy. As soon as I got back to the car and turned on the FT8800 mobile rig, there was Dave in QSO with two other really strong stations - I must have just missed them. Still, too late now - it was time to drive home.