2009 on The Cloud G/SP-015

Old Reflector
41

Sent 579, received 559. I got a nice email from George LU1WI later last night as well.

Wednesday 1st April 2009

No cat conjury or feline fortune-finding from the Magic Moggy this morning. I was chasing the greyline, but never caught up with it. My 8 QSOs on 20m CW were therefore dominated as usual by Ukrainians, with three Russians and a Romanian thrown in for good measure.

Closing calls on the VX-7R and rubbish duck brought two contacts each on 2m FM and 70cm FM. A pleasant, mild and quiet morning, with a striking deep orange sunrise over the Staffordshire Moorlands.

I don’t know if I can bring myself to get up early enough to work in the morning greyline this summer; perhaps the night one will remain my target!

Tom M1EYP

42

With the poor weather forecast and the onset of a cold, I was thinking of operating from the comfort of my car, up at Merryton Low for the 2m contest. Anyway, old habits and all that, and as it turned out, 7.40pm on Tuesday 7th April 2009 saw me climbing to the summit of The Cloud G/SP-015 in drizzle and strong wind.

It was blowing a gale across the top, but the SOTA pole and SOTA Beam stayed up well, as I operated from inside the bothy bag. This was sometimes difficult against the racket being created by the wind bashing against it!

36 contacts on 2m SSB, plus a further 6 on 2m FM was my total. 2m CW produced zilch. As ever, it was nice to be called by some SOTA chasers in and amongst the contesters. The flask, for the first time, contained Lemsip, which was a good aid to survival.

73, Tom M1EYP

43

In reply to M1EYP:

I did hear you working some other stations on their frequencies earlier in the evening on SSB, & you were a good 57 with me, but although I listened around for you (even on CW) I didn’t find you.

Maybe next time.

And it was windy here too!

73,

Mark G0VOF

44

It is always a tricky call deciding between sitting and calling on your own frequency, and cruising the band answering others. ISTR Richard G3CWI has a complex mathematical formula that works out exactly what you should be doing at any given time.

I had two extended runs on my own QRG - 144.325 and 144.328 - where I worked down the pile-ups, so a shame you missed me on those. Thanks for the report.

It seems to be just the 6m contest where some people will drift off to the CW portion later on to squeeze out a few extra points. I have a check and a few CQ calls on the 2m and 70cm weeks on CW, but rarely get anything.

Tom M1EYP

45

Having looked forward to the 70cm activity contest all day, imagine my dismay when the calm mild weather suddenly turned to rain just as I parked up on Cloudside. I ascended in that, and my trousers were pretty wet by the time I was setting up on summit.

Up went the 6 element 70cm beam (SB270) on the SOTA Pole, and for the first time I used the four-guy ring as supplied with the SB270. (Not sure why I hadn’t used it before). Into the bothy bag, and QRV by 1907z, just a few minutes late.

I was able to establish my own QRG of 432.225MHz SSB, and managed to work as far as serial number 23 in the first 18 minutes. It was a good start, although multipliers were a little thin on the ground.

They did come eventually though, and some of my best contacts included GI6ATZ in IO74, G4DEZ in JO03, G0LGS/P in IO81, GD8EXI in IO74 and M1AVV in IO84. But it was nice to work all the friendly regulars in IO83 as well, and especially the Macclesfield club members who were out in force tonight - Roger M0GMG/P, Adie 2E0DOD and Jimmy M3EYP. Another Maxonian - Sean M0GIA - turned up out of the blue on summit to pay me a personal visit!

The weather was quite mild and mostly dry after the earlier shower, and I was warm and comfy inside the bothy bag, especially with the big flask of hot chocolate. I ended up with 44 contacts, which is not bad for 70cm. 43 on SSB and one on FM. I tried calling on 70cm CW later on, but was, as expected, ignored.

A pint of Hartley’s Dizzy Blonde and bag of Burt’s mixed root vegetable chips in the Harrington Arms, Gawsworth, made for a pleasant end to the evening.

Tom M1EYP

46

Suitably enthused by the continuing glorious weather, and the desire to get to more than one DXCC worked on 6m CW this year, I took the 6m Delta Loop up The Cloud with me after worked on Monday 20th April 2009.

I needn’t have bothered! Despite my internet reseach revealing the possibility of some conditions on 6m, there weren’t any. Plus my paddle was really playing up, and not wanting to let me have any dots, although the dashes were going like hot cakes.

I managed just one QSO - with Mike G4BLH. Defeated, comprehensively on 6m, I set up the Magic Moggy for 20m. But now my paddle was refusing point blank to give me a dot, so eventually, I took the antenna down again unused.

A miserable one-QSO activation was not what I envisaged, but it is what happened. Ho hum.

Tom M1EYP

47

Hurray! Thursday 23rd April 2009, St George’s Day, and I was up early before work. Back in the old routine of bombing up The Cloud on the way to work and playing a bit of HF CW.

The 20m Magic Moggy antenna was still in favour, but I think I will start to give 40m another blast again soon. The dominance of Ukraine on 20m CW was back with a bang, with 7 out of 10 the QSOs. The other three went the way of Russia, Greece and Moldova respectively.

The Mini Palm Paddle was now back to full fitness - many thanks to Richard G3CWI for fixing it for me.

Tom M1EYP

48

I did have a few seconds of doubt as I looked out of the window after our evening meal on Tuesday 28th April 2009. It was lashing it down! It was only brief doubt though, and I left as usual at 7pm to drive down through North Rode to Cloudside.

Ascending the “Stairway to Heaven”, I was astonished to see the huge piles of freshly dropped hailstones! So astonished, it seemed, that I managed to forget the pole. Halfway up the stairs, I had to turn back and retrieve it from the car. The extra exercise will do me good I reasoned to myself.

I should have been set up with ten minutes to spare before the contest start time of 8pm, but a couple of stubborn tangles set me back. As it was, I was QRV bang on 8pm. The going was slow with only 4 QSOs in the first 25 minutes. Things then picked up with 24 QSOs rammed into the next 40 minutes.

Six locator squares were worked - JO03, IO82, IO83, IO91, IO92 and IO93, and the best DX was 199km to G0XDI in IO91RQ. Increasing availability of daylight made things easier, but the headtorch was necessary by 9pm. By 9.10pm, I had to pack up and return home. I normally work right through to 10.30pm local - the end of the contest window - these days, but Marianne had to go to work, meaning I had to be home by 9.50pm.

Which I was. Mission accomplished. Nice to work a few SOTA people; thanks for calling in.

Tom M1EYP

49

For the 2m Activity Contest and Club Championship on Tuesday 5th May 2009, the weather did not look promising. In fact it was worse, with high winds and constant drizzle, and this only deteriorated through the evening.

It was tricky getting the 2m SOTA Beam up on the pole in such conditions, but the new version of the SOTA Beams guying kit, with four guy strings, certainly helped.

There are various operating points on The Cloud from which to choose, according to the prevailing wind. For some reason, Tuesday nights always see me perched in a slight depression beween the trig point and the last few steps up to the summit to achieve optimum comfort.

By just after 8pm, I was cosily inside my bothy bag, and connecting battery, feeder and microphone to my FT-817. I commenced with the beam pointing south, and enjoyed a very promising run down to serial number 31 on my own QRG of 144.325MHz SSB. I then chased around other station’s frequencies pretty much until the end of the contest at 10.30pm, apart from a couple of brief runs on my own frequency.

I didn’t make it into six figures, but my score of 90,285 is probably my best yet. 13 multipliers were JO02, IO63, 74, 75, 80, 81, 82, 83, 85, 90, 91, 92, 93. 5 DXCCs were G, GW, GM, GD and EI. One S2S was with M6AXL/P on Rombalds Moor G/NP-028. Other contesters on Winter Hill and Long Mynd were not SOTA-qualifying expeditions.

By 10pm, the storm was really whipping up and bashing the bothy bag around in deafening style. I concluded that I was mad, as did many of the fellow contesters that worked me! I finished with 64 QSOs - my best ever in a VHF activity contest - but, as ever, with the sense that there were still plenty that “got away”.

Tom M1EYP

50

I fancied a bit of fresh air and some CW after work on Wednesday 6th May 2009. Driving to Cloudside from Tunstall, I was for a while considering a 2m CW experiment. Instead, however, I set myself the challenge of an unspotted unalerted 20m CW activation. I wanted to see how easy, or otherwise it was to get contacts without SOTAwatch, and to have the flexibility of listening around the band to see what was there.

I think I called for about a minute on 14.015MHz CW before I was answered by YL2UZ. This was followed by UT7EX and IK5TSZ, but then silence. I now decided to have a listen round. Up on 14.041MHz CW, my attention was grabbed by a good clear signal from BD7NWF. I spent the next half-hour lying along the ground (sheltering from wind) and answering each CQ call from the Chinese station.

Most of the time, I was not heard, but occasionally I got a “?” or “AGN”. Anticipation rose when I got a “M1?”, a “/P?” and even a “M1Y/P?”. Anticipation dropped when I got a “NIL”! Alas, it didn’t happen. One day it will though, and chasing a DX station was a markedly different experience of activating.

As the time approached 5pm local, I called CQ again and got UA4ULW. But then it was high time I got home, so I packed away and went.

Tom M1EYP

51

I was back into the pre-work activation routine on Monday 11th May 2009. The object of the activity was to work the increasing band of Ukraine SOTA chasers on 20m CW. However, out of ten QSOs, only one was from UR. This is most unusual, as on 20m CW, UR normally accounts for more than half my contacts.

UT4FJ was heard calling me several times, but we never managed to complete the exchange, so that was a “gotaway”. Nonetheless, a pleasant early morning activation.

Tom M1EYP

52

The evening of Tuesday 12th May 2009 was extremely windy! Up on The Cloud G/SP-015, my 70cm six-element beam on fishing pole was blown over twice, and on several occasions I was sprinting towards Timbersbrook chasing my foam mat that was showing the many kite flyers on summit how it should be done.

I could have done without the delays. I only really had just over an hour of operating time available, for I needed to be home by 9.55pm, in time to allow Marianne to leave for work. It wasn’t bad though; in 71 minutes of operating, I made 36 QSOs, and the turn out from the Macclesfield & DRS was very good. Hopefully, the logs from Adie M0PAI, Greg 2E0RXX/P, Liam M3ZRY/P, Sean M0GIA/P, Jimmy M3EYP, Roger M0GMG/P and myself will further boost the current club standing of 6th on 70cm.

My favourite bit of the evening was being called by three consecutive known SOTA chasers, indicating that I had appeared on the spots. Jimmy was late working me. Turns out I had left the FT-897 on split (TX 3.548, RX 502.5) from my crossband CW contact with Richard G3CWI the previous night, and Jimmy did not know how to get out of it! We eventually made contact just after 9pm.

And not long after, I was packing away, mindful of my curfew. It was the first Tuesday night activation of 2009 that had required neither a bothy bag nor a torch. Summer is coming - if the wind ever dies down.

Tom M1EYP

53

In reply to M1EYP:

Very nice to work you on 70cms earlier Tom. I had heard you working several other stations, but when you turned the beam around you disappeared completely for me. I only run a Diamond X-50 3x5/8 vertical & 20 Watts on 70cms & I am virtually surrounded by hills, so as you can imagine, UHF is a little awkward :wink:

I deliberately avoid this site or any others while I am active in a contest, so I found you entirely via radio, & you were a very good signal up here in Blackburn. Very nice to hear Mike G4BLH work you just after me, as I know he has struggled to work you on 70cms from SP-015 in the past. You both definitely had a good valid QSO :slight_smile:

I’m not sure what your intentions are for the coming weekend but I am hoping to be active in the 6 hour section of the 144MHz May contest on Saturday, & for the full duration of the 144MHz backpackers contest on Sunday, although I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it to a SOTA summit, I may well be on high ground if you hear me as G0VOF/P.

I almost went portable tonight myself as it was such a pleasant evening, but I don’t really have a good portable 70cms antenna.

By the way, I listened on 21 MHz over the weekend when you spotted yourself from the lakes, but I couldn’t hear you at my location. HF was particularly poor last weekend though, hopefully it will be better the next time, I do relish the chance to give my extremely rusty CW a bit of an airing :wink:

Cheers!

73,

Mark G0VOF

54

In reply to M1EYP:

Having been reminded of the Tuesday night UHF contest the previous morning by Tom I had intended erecting my portable (ex-army) mast in the garden on returning from my activation of Mynydd Y Cwm, but time and the Devil conspired against me. With the activity due to start I noticed the clock with 1 minute to spare and hastily erected it with my Sandpiper seven element delta quad on top. I was feeding the antenna with some crappy RG58 but I figured the gain on the antenna would slightly compensate from the losses in the feeder. Erection was not straight forward as due to the maze of wires, beams and other antennas I was having trouble finding a free bit of sky. Half an hour in I was up and running. “Now to find Tom!” I thought.

Several times during the evening I worked a station and while I was still listening Tom called in, but could I find him on his own QRG? No. My beam was pointing due North and I so went out to turn a bit more towards SP-015 and that was when I realised the coax was not quite long enough to turn more than about 20 degrees from North, Duh! That kind of restricted what I could hear/work slightly but I got seven in the log including SOTA celebrity Ron GW4EVX. The best contact though was GD8EXI from totally the wrong direction for my beam heading. I eventually got called by Mike M1DAP on 2m about half an hour from the end and I gave up to go and have a rag chew. A fun evening but I must do better next time, maybe I should go mobile or even portable, now there is an idea!

I’ll get you next time Tom!

Regards Steve GW7AAV

55

In reply to M1EYP:
quote by M1EYP — My favourite bit of the evening was being called by three consecutive known SOTA chasers,

Hi Tom it was also great to work you on 430mhz, from my mobile truck on the A500, I had a look on the sotawatch spots and found you should have been somewhere else on the band. After tuning around i found you a bit further up the band, After your qso with the Macclesfield mafia, We made the qsy to 430-210, Where we made the good qso, I listened to you and G4BLH (Mick) & G0PZO (Charlie), But it took me a short while to get my phone signal up dated, And i could get the spot through, 3 known chasers in consecutive row was great without the spots, I did pass the information onto you about the station up in io74 square which i heard very strong, Nice to catch up with you again,
Regards Steve m0sgb

Tue 19:59 M1EYP/P on G/SP-015 - [edit] 430-210 ssb
here now (Posted by M0SGB)

56

Thanks for the spots Steve, that enabled chasers to get the point. There was a total of 14 SOTA chasers in my log overall, most participating in the contest themselves. Got the GD station half-an-hour before you told me about it (hi). M6AXL/P was a massive signal from Rombalds Moor G/NP-028, and there were no less than seven of us from the Macc & DRS in the contest last night.

Tom M1EYP

57

After the RSGB Activity Contest “week off” - the 13cm/23cm week - I was back out again for the 6m night on Tuesday 26th May 2009. Despite the grim prospects while driving through heavy rain and high winds, I arrived on a dry and bright summit with stunning clear views across Cheshire. I had made good time, the delta loop was up and all elements of the station ready to go by 1845z.

I made one or two mumbles about “testing” on my preferred 50.165MHz SSB in the hope of keeping that QRG for myself when the contest started at 8pm. When the contest did start, things went well with 35 QSOs in the first 38 minutes. There was an unusually high amount of activity from IO93, and even some from the lesser heard IO94. My best DX was SOTA chaser Don G0RQL in IO70 (295km).

After 9pm, things really thinned out, and I made only 11 contacts in the last 90 minutes of the contest. 51 QSOs and 9 multipliers was the final result, so not bad in terms of activity, but I managed to miss GD, GI, EI and GM, as well as JO01 and JO02.

There have never been any openings on the ‘magic band’ during one of these contests for me; I should imagine the contest is enormous fun when such an event takes place!

After the clock ticked 10.30pm (2130z), I had a natter with Macc club chairman Roger M0GMG/P who had been operating from Pym Chair. I was able to pack away, just about, in the dregs of the sunset but then needed the wind-up torch for descent. Could next month’s 6m AC be torch-free?

73, Tom M1EYP

58

If you’d have blinked, you’d have missed it! The alert only went on courtesy of a SPOTlite from Jimmy as I ran him down to a Scouts Cheshire Challenge event in Congleton. This was at about 6pm local on Thursday 28th May 2009. After dropping him off, I had one hour at my disposal before picking him up again. Not enough time to bother going home. Not enough time to activate The Cloud. Pub then? No, it was a glorious warm and sunny evening, so a walk up you-know-where even if “Time Is Tight”.

Amazingly, for such a stunner of a late May evening, there was only one other car on Cloudside, and that made a sharp exit as soon as I pulled in (I often have that effect on people). No doubt off to watch the iconic Dustin Hoffman film “Mrs Robinson” showing on one of the cable channels.

Still recovering from a heavy duty stag weekend in Manchester a few days earlier, I was blowing embarrassingly on the first half of the steps as I commenced my ascent. I know the trick though, and that is to ignore the instinct to draw breath once on the first level bit, and maintain a brisk pace.

This paid dividends, and for the rest of the ascent I felt good and in fact really enjoyed stretching my legs. The hot evening sun made me dream of pina colada, leather on willow and exotic dancing - what else but “Soul Limbo”?
Ultimately I did give in to rest though, and I assumed a sitting operating position, on the stone built block, with my back leaning against the slope of the triangulation column. I called using only the Yaesu VX-7R and Rubbish Duck on 2m FM.

Just four contacts were made, and although all have appeared in my SOTA log before, none of the regular chasers appeared. Seems they must all have blinked!

All too soon it was a quarter to seven. Fifteen minutes to descend, drive to Congleton and collect Jimmy. I was five minutes late, but escaped a ticking-off. I was then required to run him to a different scout event back up in Macclesfield, before I could spend some time at home relaxing in front of the television. Where I began to feel a little confused and somewhat spooked - an advert for a new product, a sort of roast-in-the-bag fish - used a piece of music about onions (as opposed to fish) as its soundtrack. “Green Onions” was the track, and I detected that greater forces had been at work throughout my evening.

73, Tom M1EYP

59

In reply to M1EYP:

dream of pina colada, leather on willow and exotic dancing

Tom, this may come as a shock to you and I think I speak for the majority here but none of us want to think of you doing any kind of “exotic dancing” at all!

:wink:

Andy
MM0FMF

60

A combination of a good wx forecast & broken internet at home encouraged me to stay fairly local yesterday as I didnt want to spend hours driving in beautiful weather. I decided to activate G/SP-015 The Cloud as Ive not done it this year. Mindful of previous activators “run-ins” with over zealous National Trust wardens I decided to get there early.

Leaving home about 0515 utc, I was on summit operating an hour later. After passing around 20 “undesireables” who looked like they`d slept on the summit, I was the first car to park up at Cloudside. From here it is up 69 steps & a short walk to the summit - I did remember to run up the steps 3 times with a heavy pack on my back to get enough oxygen into my lungs.

I took 3 x 7AH SLABs & intended staying a fair while. The wx was red hot, not a cloud in the sky - and I was able to wear just shorts & vest. Having read other threads about the sky being "broken", I was pleased to log 108 contacts. Sporadic E was quite strong on 10m & 17m but unfortunately didnt get up to 4m, at least not whilst I was on summit. Thanks to John GW4BVE for giving Lutz DL3SBA/P the “heads up” which enabled us to have a s2s contact on 80m in broad daylight - signals were low but workable.

7 bands used :-
4m - 9
10m - 22
17m - 16
20m - 15
40m - 29
60m - 2
80m - 15

And back home to do some gardening :wink:
73