Ideal for Tom, as it seems to come with a wearable soup bowl… 
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I can only click once and that deserves legions of clicks!
This talk of soup prompted me to check my supplies, which are held in the shack as security against family members helping themselves for a quick lunch in the house! They are in sets of three for my 1 litre flask, and if someone takes one, it destroys my system and annoys me greatly!
Anyway, I need to do some shopping, as only one proper activation remains in stock - 3 tins of Baxters Royal Game - a very fine soup. Not sure when this will get utilised as a North Pennines activation later this week will probably be a fairly quick one after a hearty breakfast and well before lunchtime. The next proper outing from home is highly likely to be the Ponderosa Pair - so another non-soup outing, courtesy of the excellent cafe between the two summits.
OK, re the new handie, I was umming and arring about going digital. I liked the look of the Yaesu FT-70DR, but thought that it might be a bit of a “vanity buy” - as indeed the VX7R was back when I got it! In the end I went for the safe and unexciting option of the FT65E.
Then I get an email this morning from the supplier, saying “not in stock”, but that they’ll deliver it to me when they do get them back in stock at the end of the month! So I promptly cancelled, and I’m considering the digital model again.
If I wanted a SOTA handheld I’d be looking for bullet proof front end, waterproof build and simple. Which removes all of the poncey digital handhelds.
Does it work on a site full of commercial transmitters? If there is any doubt then choose again.
I have had enough handies that are pish and mince on a hill to know that you need to (in the words of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade) “choose wisely”.
This could be a bargain that outshines all the other handhelds on sale. It could be awful. Sorry can’t help.
Digital speech… you’ll sound like an Aquaphibian!
I have tested the FT-70 portable including the Wrekin with local operators. Seems to hold up well with no noticeable breakthrough.
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It is a shame they discontinued the Yaesu FT-60 as that had good filtering and was a nice Di-Cast handheld, similar to the excellent VX-170 or FT-270
If it was just a 2m HH then it would be the FT-270.
That said, I do like my FT-1D as it has the APRS functionality built in. I suppose it is all just a matter of requirement and budget
73
Matt XYJ
An independant dealer in the People’s Republic of South Yorkshire is offering FT-60s for sale.
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And with a 3yr warranty to boot!
SOTA was supposed to be “on tour” tonight - I had a duo gig booked in with my son Liam, at the famous Tan Hill Inn. One of the things that pub is famous for, aside from being the highest pub in Britain, Everest double-glazing adverts with Ted Moult, having the Arctic Monkeys play there, being on the Pennine Way and the Waitrose Christmas TV advert (despite there not being a Waitrose within 50 miles of it), is that it is susceptible to getting snowed-in. And today it has done, meaning pub closed, and gig cancelled.
So we’re back in Macc, and Hoove G/NP-024 tomorrow is cancelled too. While still anticipating travelling up there, I nipped out to do an early activation of The Cloud this morning, Wednesday 14th February 2018. I spent ten minutes on an icy cold and windy summit, calling on 2m FM with my handheld, and making three QSOs.
Let’s hope the Earth gets a bit nearer to the sun over the next few days… 
It won’t.
Perihelion was on 3rd January. You will have to wait until 6th July for it to start getting closer again.
You could celebrate the occasion with a Sun On The Approach activation 
Martyn
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Ha ha, you know what I meant. Pity I didn’t type what I meant…
“Let’s hope our bit of the Earth gets a bit nearer to the Sun over the next few days”.
It still won’t!
You learn something new every day! Seems I’ve always understood this thing in a rather simplistic way - time to go away research it properly.
Right, time for Take Three:
“Let’s hope that the sun’s rays hit our part of the Earth at a steeper angle over the next few days, and while they’re at it, have longer daylight hours to warm up our part of the Earth a bit more”.
I’d honestly always believed that it was the tilt of the Earth’s axis that meant that the northern hemisphere went that bit closer to the sun in (our) summer, resulting in warmer temperatures! I am now disabused of that rubbish. Wonder what other fairy stories are lurking around in my 47 year old mind, masquerading as fact…?
…and so a “summer” at latitude x degrees south, will actually be a ‘better’ summer than one at x degrees north, right?
yes. the southern hemisphere gets hotter summers than the northern hemisphere. Due to space science and physicsy stuff lol.
Due to having their summers when also closer to the sun???
Spearings pies have no calories
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It must be a factor, but I rather suspect it is swamped by other influences such as ocean currents, wind patterns, and major surface topography. If you look at a climate map of the planet you see huge differences along lines of latitude. North West Europe looks absurdly warm if the only thing you’re looking at is latitude.
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I have it in my mind, that I was taught at school, that they in fact do, lots of them.
So that bit was correct.
But so I had it in my mind, a visual picture of the model of the tilting Earth rotating the sun to explain the seasons. That’s state education for you. I blame the teachers.