The ones that got away

I’m currently on holiday in Ireby in the Lake District. A break in the weather gave me an opportunity to activate a summit. I did G/LD-033 Lords Seat from Whinlatter. A nice walk through mainly forest fire roads to the summit where the wind was strong resulted in me setting just below the summit for 2M FM. I did alert earlier today and despite spotting myself after several unanswered CQ calls all I could muster was a single contact. Thanks to Dave GM8UPI for the short QSO.
Although a failed activation resulting in no activator points it was a good day and the dogs certainly enjoyed the walk.

So, G/LD-033 Lords Seat joins G/NP-009 Buckden Pike (66 m.p.h winds on summit so could barely get antenna up) and G/SP-004 Shining Tor (flat batteries on summit depite overnight charge) in my failed activation list. That’s 10 activator points lost, no doubt others have suffered worse.

73 Chris M0RSF

PS: All is not lost, logged my activation as LDW-147 on the WOTA website. Plan to do G/LD-041 Binsey before end of week as its at the bottom of the road where I’m staying.

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The only failure is when you say “I give up!

Been there done that, still got the t-shirt! :wink:

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Thanks - that one is on my “To do” list when my son is cycling. Will pack the HF gear!

Paul

Hi Chris,

I saw your spot but could not hear you from work. Unfortunately i was on my own in the shop or i would have gone out in the car to work you.I can normally work Lords Seat from a position about 300 yards from my work QTH. It is not the best summit to get out on 2m.

73’s Geoff GM4WHA / G4WHA/A when at the shop in Penrith.

Hello Geoff, I expected my activation to be difficult due to it been a weekday. Really enjoyed the walk though.

73 Chris M0RSF

Hello Paul,

I was with my XYL today but this would be a great summit for the Mountain Bike. The car park is £2 an hour or £8 to park for the day. There are cameras that register your number plate as you arrive. Just put your registration plate of your car in when you leave and you can pay by card or cash.

73 Chris M0RSF

My activator log on the SOTA Database includes hundreds of activations where 1, 2 or 3 QSOs were made. On the vast majority of these though, the points weren’t available to me anyway as I’d already activated - and qualified earlier in that calendar year.

There was one year where my first few activations of The Cloud G/SP-015 had <4 QSOs - but I was not exactly concerned that this particular summit point would escape me!

Unless Jimmy M0HGY can recall any others, then I think I’m still just at two such fails, in real terms.

Here’s those tales of woe:

http://tomread.co.uk/kisdon2006.htm
http://tomread.co.uk/gr.htm

On one of my early activations I failed to make four contacts and referred to it as a failed activation. I was corrected - one contact makes an activation and logging it enters the summit in your Activator Uniques log. That is all that interests me these days as the next award for points needs another 2140 which will take at least another 6 years and I don’t have that many years of serious hillwalking left.

So log it, leave it, attend to deficiencies in your kit and seek out another summit in the hope of qualifying on that one. (This comment reminds me that my linked dipole is still not right and needs further investigation.)
Good luck, 73,
Rod

Failed on one a couple of weeks ago. But given the challenge of cycling up and down it from some distance away it felt much more like a success.

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Any contacts or none at all? I know you won’t log them anyway, despite the opportunity to claim a first activation of this new summit.

Zero contacts. There was a grouse shoot in progress that made me reluctant to try HF and I could get no takers on 2m despite a self-spot. It was one of the best days out that I have had on the bike. 15 miles 2,600 ft ascent - ouch.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1811888266

That’s not a failed activation then, as no activation took place.

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I am at a 23% failure rate for first time activation. Any time outdoors is
a WIN! :mountain_snow: :sunglasses:. - - . . . . . . - - !

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Hello Rod,

I wasn’t aware that if I logged my single contact it would still count as a Unique.

It was down to being surrounded by higher mountains or more likely lack of Chasers rather that kit. Having to get tucked in just lower than the summit due to strong winds didn’t help either.

Heading up G/LD-041 Binsey tomorrow morning and I expect that to be difficult too. Though I’m with family so it’s more about the walk.

73 Chris M0RSF

Yeah an activation is an activation, even if it doesn’t qualify for the activator points.

Think of it like this - you make a single contact. A chaser works you and claims the chaser points. Therefore a SOTA activation must have taken place!

Check out my own activator log on the Database for further “illustration”.

Hi, Chris.
Not needing to do that is one advantage of HF that I take a lot of advantage of, leaving Vicki, M6BWA, sitting by the trig point or cairn. We recently lengthened her co-ax so that she could gain a bit more shelter while I seek a hole to hide in.
Good luck with Binsey - I can not believe that it is only three years since we did it; conditions might have been better then but I still only made 4 QSOs on 60m :frowning_face:
No idea how Vicki did, but I expect she made four (or more) on 2m FM.
73,
Rod

Hi Chris

I also spotted your alert and checked the summit location - unfortunately I know that propagation from there has no chance of reaching me here in Windermere. On top of that my temporary antenna system doesn’t do well in high winds so it is doubtful I would have been able to get the antenna up anyway.

Bizarrely I did however work M0KPW/P on Gummer’s How on 40m using the Alexloop from my daughters bedroom (the attic is insulated with foil so that scuppered any plans to use it up here) - it wasn’t great copy either way but it worked. Gummer’s How is normally 59+ using 2m but I didn’t see a spot on anything other than HF. I thought he might need the contacts and fair play (to him and you) for being out in this weather!

Regards, Mark. M0NOM