A very different Claife Heights G/LD-053

[M0NOM]

Claife Heights

|SOTA ID:| G/LD-053|
| — | — |–|
|Height: |270 m (886 ft)|
|Grid ref:| SD382973|
|QTH Locator:| IO84MI|
|Lat: 54.367315 |Long: -2.951298|

Claife Heights is a very different summit this year following Storm Arwen! The forest around the summit is now all felled and there are only a few lone trees left. It’s really quite depressing as the woods were lovely there. The view from the summit, which used to be a sneeky peak at the Howgills and not much else, is now almost 360 degress.

The bands were in excellent condition today, especially 10m which was wide open. I could hear a Turkish station on 10m FM for example. I had limited time as the weather was due to come in. Today I was using the IC-705 with Chameleon MPAS2.0. It was showing high SWR on 40m, so apologies for me moving on quickly. I need to check everything as I had the same issue on High Street recently.

I timed the ferry just right both on the way across Lake Windermere and back again. It is £2 each way on a motorbike, bargain!

Regards, Mark.

TIME	CALLSIGN	BAND	MODE	RST	RSR	OPERATOR	SIG	REF
12:50	2E0XLG/P	2m	FM	57	57	Chris
12:56	OH3GZ	20m	SSB	59	59	JUKKA
12:57	OE6RCD	20m	SSB	59	55	ROLAND
12:57	M7MCG/M	20m	SSB	55	55	Micah
12:58	EA2DT	20m	SSB	53	42	Manuel
12:59	DM1DF/P	20m	SSB	55	55	Daniel	SOTA	DM/BM-352
12:59	DJ5AV	20m	SSB	59	57	Michael
13:00	F4FTJ	20m	SSB	59	59	Thomas
13:01	EA3EVL	20m	SSB	55	51	PABLO
13:02	HB9CGA	20m	SSB	59	57	ULRICH
13:04	HB175RAIL	20m	SSB	57	57	c/o	SOTA	HB/SO-010
13:08	IT9GSZ	10m	SSB	59	56	Nunziato
13:11	LZ1WR	10m	SSB	59	59	Todor
13:18	EA3EVL	17m	SSB	59	59	PABLO
13:19	OE5REO	17m	SSB	55	33	Martin
13:21	HB9HOR	17m	SSB	59	55	Roger
13:22	HB9MKV	17m	SSB	59	52	RUDOLF
13:26	S57ILF	17m	SSB	59	55	FRANCI
13:26	EA3EVL	17m	SSB	55	55	PABLO
13:31	S58WW	20m	SSB	59	59	Primoz
13:37	SV3FUP	10m	SSB	59	55	ARIS

For comparison, this is what the view from the summit used to be like in 2018:

and the woods on the approach:

[G4OIG]

Oh dear, that is depressing. Unfortunately you have experienced the summit at its most bleak with all that brash lying around. My OCD side wants it cleared up into neat piles. Thankfully nsture has a way to deal with it. I’m sure I will see similar up in Northumberland when I next get out. The Forestry Commision were suggesting some routes would be cloeed until 2024.

Well done on the activation. It’s good seeing the higher bands coming back into use.

73, Gerald

[MM7MOX]

Sad to see the place after the felling. Sutherland is seeing similar over the last year or so with all the “Timber Extraction” going on.
On a lighter note, that’s a nice R1. It’s good to see someone else traveling to their SOTA activity by motorcycle. Here’s a pic of my ST955i parked up for activating Cairnpapple hill (GM/SS-254) a couple of weeks ago.
73 Andy MM7MOX