Well Andy, I expect my mother will give me a bottle of de-icer for Christmas, the 12 year old variety. Maybe taking a small flask on an activation would be a useful safeguard against freezing pole joints, though perhaps enough of an ecological issue as to negate its use.
As for LiPo’s, it was minus 5C plus the added effect of significant wind chill on Arenig Fach at the beginning of the month and the LiPo’s performed brilliantly from within their Jiffy bags. Now all I need is a Gerald-size Jiffy bag to keep the operator from freezing!
1C today, 100% blue sky, 10cms snow still lying on the ground (of which 3cms fell last night).
Berghaus Manaslu, £80 Cotswolds Outdoors. Mine squashes into a 10L compression sack and gets to half that volume when you crank the straps up. Bargain. It looks good too but not as good as its namesake!
Now all I need is
a Gerald-size Jiffy bag to keep the operator from freezing!
Gerry
Do you not have a bothy bag? They were one of several topics of discussion in the pub this afternoon with the conclusion that they were amazingly effective. Mine was in serious use yesterday and was yet again found to provide incredible comfort for very little weight or bulk. Best of all it was free with a subscription to Trail some years ago.
Sure have Richard, a 2 person one - I carry it up every summit with me, accommpanied or not. Have done for the past 3 years and more. I regard it purely as an emergency shelter and having tried it out, I can see that it would be very good for that purpose.
With regards to its use when activating, it would undoubtedly make an excellent shelter when operating HF, but I can’t see that it would be much use in windy conditions where the pole has to be held steady in order to keep a VHF beam on heading.
With regards to its use when activating, it would undoubtedly make an
excellent shelter when operating HF, but I can’t see that it would be
much use in windy conditions where the pole has to be held steady in
order to keep a VHF beam on heading.
Gerry
My bothy bag has an air vent. I pass the pole through it so that it is on the inside of the bag. I have attached a loop to the bag that clips onto the pole at about 1m up. This holds the bag up and gives more space inside.
One the pole I have written the letters A-G at 45 degree intervals at a level low enough to be inside the bag. Once inside I get the alignment using a beacon and everything else is reasonably easy. Not as easy as being outside - but a lot more comfortable!
Luxury! We used to dream of an air-vent etc etc etc.
Thanks to the UK activity contests, I have now had lots of practice at operating from the inside of a bothy bag, but still able to control the direction of the beam. And I haven’t got one of these new-fangled air-vent jobbies. I don’t think so anyway!
With the aerial erected, I camp down in the bothy bag right beside the bottom of the pole, so I can reach my arm underneath the edge of the bothy bag and rotate the antenna if necessary. At the start of the evening I look at the position of the brand name printed at the bottom of the pole, and the beam heading of the antenna. I then memorise such that “OK, the writing is pointing towards my feet, so the antenna is pointing North” - or whatever it happens to be. From that I can work out - or select every beam heading simply from where the writing is on the pole.
Most techniques of operating in a bothy bag - this one and several others - are quite a flaff until you’ve got used to it with lots of practice and development of routines. Saying that, I couldn’t really be bothered going out portable tonight after the aforementioned afternoon pub session. Driving was definitely not an option, and although Richard tried to persuade me to walk up to Great Weston Fell, which is fairly close, I opted for the shack. I’m paying for it though, half past nine and up to the dizzy heights of 006 and just one multiplier so far!
Yes Richard, I had thought of doing that, but you know Paul and I… smash and grab merchants - up to 4 summits, possibly 20 contacts on each and we are away No time to put up a shelter if we only have a 45 minute operating window, besides I’d have to vacate it to work John MW1FGQ on 23cms - raising my arm is worth 3 S points! I think bubblewrap leggings would suit my style more.
Actually, I have no real issue with the cold except having to operate wearing gloves and my feet getting cold while I’m not moving around - I must be getting old!
In the middle of a full day’s schedule of taxiing people and presents around, visiting Nanna and shopping, I found a half-hour window to do something. Now I can’t even get SP-015 in on that timescale, but it was enough to drive up the A537 road towards Buxton, and see about retrieving my pole abandoned up there on Monday.
From the Cat & Fiddle car park, I walked through snow that was about a foot deeper than it was on Monday, and found my pole partly buried in the snow. It still would not telescope down, and indeed was probably frozen even harder now than when I abandoned it. I carried it back to the side of the car and got out my trusty flask - which on this rare occasion was filled with hot water rather than tasty soup.
I poured water on each of the joins, and sure enough, the pole then packed away with ease. So the SOTA pole is now safely home and completely unharmed!
No time to put up a shelter if we only have a 45 minute operating window, besides I’d have to vacate it to work John MW1FGQ on 23cms - raising my arm is worth 3 S points! I think bubblewrap leggings would suit my style more.