The vintage spirit of sota

In reply to M3UUM:
Just to remind all that it is from 1300Hrs (Lancashire Time) as we are in the County Palantine

Preparations are now complete on mine, Jimmy’s and Liam’s “silly hats”. They are very very silly, and would be seriously challenged if the forecast thunderstorms hit that corner of Lancashire. Hopefully we will be missed, and the hats and cheese will remain dry.

Tom M1EYP

In reply to M1EYP:

May I take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all those who attended the Easington Fell activation. It was great to see many friends both and new, male and female.

Once again my sincere thanks

In reply to G6DDQ:

Well done for organising it Mike. Sorry that I was unable to attend (was attempting to find limit of kayak navigation in river - very muddy trip). How was the weather?

73

Richard
G3CWI

In reply to G6DDQ:
Sorry to miss it Myke - unexpected visitors :frowning:
Hope there are some pictures of the hats.

Roger G4OWG

In reply to G4OWG:
Richard, Roger

The weather, isolated showers, warm and still. It was not until the end that we began to get heavy showers. I have never in my life seen so many guys and gals in such a wide variety of totally silly hats. You will shortly see the photos when the various participants publish them.

Sorry you were unable to make it, however something equally crazy will be planned for Spring.

Finally is was very humbling to have so many people supporting the event. As said before thanks to all who attended and also to the Chasers and Activators worked. We must not forget the engineers of Lancashire County Highways who also entered into spirit of things - they thought we were mad.

MYKE AND ERMINTRUDE

In reply to G6DDQ:

Hi Myke,

Thanks for the good day, nice to meet some new and old faces.

I’ve upload a piccy to your SP FUN DAY folder.

Nick

In reply to G0HIK:
Great photo Nick :slight_smile:
Can you put it on Flikr Flickr: The SOTA Pool or Flickr: The Summits on the Air Photo Pool Pool or both as not many use the Yahoo site now?

Roger G4OWG

In reply to G4OWG:

Hi Roger,

I’ve not done this before, so I hope that the following link works.

Nick

Imgur

“The Vintage Spirit of SOTA” - the quaint working title to the latest of G6DDQ’s typically zany social events. I personally identified it as an opportunity to get myself and the kids out for some last-minute fresh air before the dreaded Back-to-School this next week. I also recognised a unique opportunity to motivate Liam, in particular, to get up and out into the hills. All I had to do was mention the genuine Hawes Wensleydale Cheese being supplied by Myke, and I knew there would be a respite from my youngest son’s usual stubborn resistance at the start of the day!

Well, it worked a treat. Jimmy was up with his alarm at 6am, and banging on mine and Liam’s bedroom doors. Marianne was still at work (night-shift), but I struggled to get out of the pit, having not retired until 1.15am the previous night. Liam however was straight up. “It’s the Wensleydale Cheese and scones cream tea on Easington Fell” he chattered excitedly to himself, as he routinely changed over the date on his bedroom calendar.

The soup was heated and the water bladders packed into the rucksacks. At 7am, Sean M0GIA with kids Natasha (Tash) and Daniel arrived as arranged. We would still need the two cars to transport the six of us, but the youngsters were invited to divide themselves up as they wished.

Little more than an hour later, we were pulling in at the McDonalds in Baxenden. Sean expressed his preference for the famous food product from here, the home of Hollands Steak & Kidney puddings, but sausage & egg mcmuffins it had to be!

Back on the road again, as Jimmy navigated the course through Clitheroe to Waddington, and up onto the road to Easington Fell. The car park was officially closed due to roadworks, but we spotted James M0ZZO and Matt 2E0XIS parked there. An enquiry with the engineers, and we were given permission to park there to.

On with the walking. The short plod to the summit was pretty soggy underfoot, but easy enough, and the kids made good time. Before too long, the 40m dipole and the SB270 were aloft and ready for use.

I kicked off on 40m CW, making 20 contacts in half-an-hour, into 8 DXCCs. Sean M0GIA used the 2m beam to activate on 2m FM. Jimmy M3EYP took over on 40m, using 7.118MHz SSB, but made only one QSO despite the spot. He then went to 70cm FM on the SB270 making a couple of contacts, before completing on 2m SSB.

By this time, the summit had become populated with the full crowd. Most were using 2m FM and SSB, either from handhelds or from bigger rigs and aerials, including a 13-el tonna. The man himself, Myke G6DDQ laid out the delicious selection of Wensleydale cheeses, biscuits, scones, jam and cream, and a very decent bottle of red wine. The feast was enthusiastically devoured by all participants as the event became more social and chatty, and less radio-orientated as activators qualified the hill, and near-enough exhausted the supply of chasers eager to work SP-012! For the Macc Lads, the picnic was augmented by the flask of very impressive Aldi Chilli Beef soup.

We adjourned to the Lower Buck pub in Waddington for a swift after-activation pint after descending. Here, we met again with Roy G0HDX and Phil G1OPV who had had the same idea!

A very satisfying day out. Grateful thanks to Myke G6DDQ for devising and organising the day, and generously supplying the delicious food and wine (The Vintage Claret of SOTA). And full credit to all participants for the superb display of silly hats. (Embarrassingly, my ‘silly’ hat was a bright cartoony shower cap, belonging to my wife Marianne. It was quite funny until the drizzle started, and people kept mentioning how ‘sensible’ my hat was… Not the idea at all!).

Roll-call: (please advise if I miss anyone out or don’t know names; I will edit them in accordingly)

Myke G6DDQ
Jimmy M3EYP
Tom M1EYP
Liam
Sean M0GIA
Tash
Daniel
James M0ZZO
Matt 2E0XIS
Roy G0HDX
Phil G1OPV
Colin M0CGH
Martin M3VQE
??? (non-ham)
??? (youngster)
Scott 2E0RCS
Janine M3VQB
Nick G0HIK
Dave G3VUS

In reply to M1EYP:

Hi,
Would just like to add that I’ve had a good day today, really enjoyed it. Thanks to Tom for writing the report and to Myke for sugesting the idea.

My pics are here (not particulary good!) -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24901892@N03/2814490823
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24901892@N03/2814468227

73 Colin

I have (at last) completed the new webpage for this year’s Easington Fell activation.

See http://tomread.co.uk

…and navigate via the ‘SOTA’ menu on the left.

There are lots of photos from last Sunday’s Cream Tea/Chess & Wine event. No-one escaped Jimmy’s camera!

Tom M1EYP

In reply to M1EYP:
I have now uploaded to clips of the activation and i apologise in advance for the poor quality but its in 3gp mobile phone video format.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqGhtlbHXuc Sean / M0GIA