I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Well done to all that got out, and to those who chased from home.
Rewinding to the start of the week, it seemed like this weekend was going to be a total write-off for summits across the North of England. Heavy rain and winds forecast apparently translates to me as “whatever, I’ll do a two summit weekend”! 
Saturday 21st February was a slightly smaller hill, Rogan’s Seat (G/NP-014). Walking up from Keld was lovely, but it soon got bleak once I got to the track at the top. A mostly featureless summit left a lot to be desired for. Exclusively activating on VHF and UHF FM, I was most pleased to descend with 13 QSOs ITL. Three S2S stations called in too, which was great. Notably M9OUD/P - my trusty S2S hero.
Great Whernside - Sunday 22nd February 2026
Now, this certainly isn’t a lovely summit to be stuck on during high winds - but we did it anyway!
Jake, M0PVC, and I ascended from Kettlewell - bagging free parking (almost as rare as a making a contact on 70cm 
). We arrived at the summit an hour before our alerted time, proving to ourselves that we are clearly getting a bit too good at hillwalking… or we’re just rubbish at estimating our arrival 
I thought it would be good to try 70cm first, given it was the day of 433 Alive. CQ CQ CQ… and I had my first contact ITL. Tony, M9OUD/P, from the summit of Helvellyn, G/LD-003. Mark, G7SXR, was quick to be #2 ITL.
We moved to 2m for a bit and our joint activating skills really started to perfect. We had such a great time speaking with so many operators for the first time - the bands were on fire today.
Jake lugged up his brilliant Yaesu FT-891 so we could play HF as well. His homebrew antenna worked wonders for us on 17m, working Spain, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Slovenia, and Italy. We’d decided 20W would be enough, as we were way too close to the antenna and didn’t want to be cooked alive. Those 20w’s did us proud for sure.
In total, I logged 35 QSOs in my logbook across the three bands. A truly action-packed activation:
70cm FM: 10 QSOs
2m FM: 18 QSOs
17m HF: 7 QSOs
M1TJM and M0PVC activating VHF, UHF, and HF on G/NP-008.
The Main Event: 433 Alive
A VHF pile-up from a well-activated summit is rare in itself… but today, we experienced something that hasn’t happened before - a pile-up on 70cm!! It felt glorious, and we were definitely rather smug when we checked the radio to double check we hadn’t accidentally switched back to 2m.
We achieved eight wonderful QSOs in around 20 minutes on 70cm. Jake was operating the Yaesu FTM-7250D with 25w using the slim-jim built for 2m, and I was operating a Yaesu FT3D handheld with the Diamond SRH-771 whip which boasts a 3 dB gain on 70cm.
It was truly amazing to see so much activity, and I’m glad that I and many other activators continue to give this band a chance - it more often than not surprises us. So… when shall we plan for the next 433 Alive day? Let’s just make it every day, hey 
Conditions
- Wind Speed: 35 mph WSW
- Temperature: 4°C (windchill of -3°C)
- Rain: None - surprisingly!
- Cold: Yes!!!
Future Mini Challenges
We got thinking - now that’s dangerous! We are hoping to bring a very rarely used mode and another under-used band into the mix. More on this to follow… it’ll be a surprise for now 
Summit to Summits
| Time (UTC) | Frequency (MHz) | Callsign | Summit Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:18 | 433.450 | M9OUD/P | G/LD-003 |
| 11:55 | 18.132 | HB9EVF/P | HB/TI-151 |
| 11:57 | 18.132 | HB9HXJ/P | HB/TI-151 |
| 12:02 | 145.350 | G0XDX/P | G/SP-001 |
| 12:12 | 145.350 | GW4TJC/P | GW/NW-048 |
| 12:28 | 433.450 | G1OXH/P | G/SP-004 |
A truly excellent day out in the hills. I do wonder what I did this time last year before I knew anything about Amateur Radio and SOTA! It was great activating with M0PVC for the first time, he’s clearly an excellent operator and lives and breathes SOTA just like me
All the best and 73,
Tom
M1TJM