I’m really sorry for the frustration that I caused many chasers earlier today while attempting to activate GW/SW-007
I spotted & enthusiastically launched into the activation without properly checking my radio settings. It only became obvious that I had a problem after the pile up hit.
I found myself trying to fix a problem while managing a pile up…those of you who were trying to call into the activation earlier today will know how well this went!!!
I was extremely confused by the fact that everyone sounded really thin & tinny. I seemed to be getting a lot of bleed over from a QSO on an adjacent channel. This made it extremely difficult for me to hear callers which I should have been able to pick out easily, requiring multiple repeats which was extraordinarily frustrating for everyone.
Added to this, I knew the radio had got wet on the last activation. I was thinking that I had an issue with the radio. I only realised that the filter knobs were in the wrong position after I had wrestled with it for around 10 minutes…well into the activation.
It turned out that the knobs to adjust my RX pass filter on the radio had been “inadvertently adjusted” while the radio was in my bag during the hike up & this put my radio filters way off where it should have been. I failed to realise this until after the pile up started.
Let’s call it “operator error induced by summit brain”. Next time I will check my radio settings before posting a spot & going on air. Basically I’m a blithering idiot!
Once again, sorry for the frustration which I caused all of you chasers…normal service will be resumed on the next activation.
Well I didn’t sense you had a problem at all James. Thanks for the QSO! Like many us have done, including me, we occasionally drop clangers when operating on summits. Usually down to finger trouble or forgetting something. You qualified quite a tough summit in bitter weather and overcame your problems, so well done you - full marks for crisis management!
Thanks for the QSO. You will be pleased to know that this complete idiot has managed a variety of summit brain errors… losing the pencil, knocking the vfo knob half way through a contact, finding that there is now a dog between my mouth and the microphone, or worse between my mouth and my sandwich, forgetting names and callsigns or knocking a guy line coming out of the shelter and watching the antenna and mast collapse. It is all part of the “fun”, I’d hate to be a a radio professional… 73. Paul
Thanks for sharing this experience. I suspect that every regular activator has a similar story. I activated Elidir Fawr last week and managed to keep my chasers waiting for ages while I searched through every setting on my X6100 to find out why I couldn’t hear anyone. Thankfully Robert @M0RWX and Don @G0RQL took the initiative and started a QSO to keep the frequency free and warm up a fantastic pile up for when I finally got myself sorted. The patience and understanding of the chasers never ceases to impress me.
One I have done, embarrassingly a few times, including recently is thus:
I want to activate on FT8. I take the FT-817, Windows 10 tablet running WSJT-Z and a G4ZLP MiniProSC interface.
I make very many CQ calls on a clear channel but no-one replies. I double check the audio settings and ensure the correct USB CODECs are selected and working. I try changing my offset frequency, and my transmit cycle from even to odd (or vice versa) - which also checks that I haven’t been unwittingly on someone else’s spot.
Finally after half-an-hour of nothingness, I notice that the mode on the FT-817 is set to USB and not DIG. Aargh!
Could be worse,i spent 45 minutes climbing up a hill,unpacked everything,finally realising i forgot my band jumpers for my vertical antenna. Welp,back to the starting point it is.
Ah, equipment Gremlins. Why do we let them get into our backpacks? Even after 400+ activations with a well-trusted 817, I had several issues last Sunday, so your rig adjusting itself is in good company. Where would we be without an additiinal challenge, after all is not getting to the summit, setting up and operating in poor weather conditions sufficient?
Well done on handling the situation without any fuss. I hope it didn’t spoil the enjoyment.
I had a similarly frustrating activation (for chasers) of The Hub - ZL3/FL-728 this week. I could not figure out how to guy the mast securely on the narrow knife-edge ridgeline. By the fourth mid-QSO interruption to restand the mast (with the optional rejoin the severed antenna cable) I found that I could also no longer stand up in the wind gusts, and pulled the pin with just 10 in the bag.
Wisely as it turned out - as a brilliant electrical storm hit 1hr later just as I got back to the research hut on the plateau below. The kind of storm you could almost read by!