Yes, it takes courage to operate exclusively on VHF/UHF for SOTA 
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Best of luck tomorrow. The Ring of Kerry and the National Park areas are absolutely spectacular. I was there back in May to run in an ultramarathon. I summited Eagle’s Hill during the race which was absolutely epic. The National Park summits I did when I ran from Sneem to Killarney via Kenmare for the Kerry Way Ultra a few years ago, that was amazing too. Quite technical though near both summits.
I will stick your callsign in Ham Alert and hopefully catch you on HF. I’m too far away from you for VHF/UHF alas. If its any help though, my first ever SOTA attempt was on the Great Sugar Loaf using a Tidradio H8, a magnetic Bingfu antenna for 2m and a cake tin I robbed out the kitchen and I managed a QSO!
I’ve also used the same set up at home with the cake tin on the windowsill in my home office and done a good few SOTA chases last year with it no problem!
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Or you make enough noise on the reflector etc that you end up with a huge pileup that can be chaotic , especially on FM where picking out callsigns can be hard work.
In some way I hope Adam does get a pileup to show that VHF/UHF can work, but for a first time on VHF it could be overwhelming.
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@K0NR Bob thank you. That’s going to be my bedtime reading tonight!
@EI3LH Ian, climbing mountains is a lovely exercise and despite considering myself fit, sometimes I find it tiring (especially with all the gear in my backpack). But I just can’t imagine running up mountains. That’s a different league altogether.
Thanks Ian. Totally hypothetical in my case, but if it happens, how do I handle multiple chasers (“pileup”)?
If, for the first caller, I switched from 145.500 to say 145.525, do the chasers wait at 145.500 for me to finish my QSO and come back? Or do I call the next CQ at 144.525 and we continue there?
I realize how silly these questions may sound to you all, I appreciate the patience with the absolute newbie.
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From what I have experienced, and what I hear this is how I and others operate:-
Find a clear frequency , lets say 145.525. Ask a couple of times on that frequency “Is this frequency in use?”. If you get an affirmative answer then find another one. Unless your unlucky, it is rare there isn’t a clear frequency. So lets say 145.525 seems clear, that will be our go to frequency.
You can use the A and B VFO to switch between calling frequency and chosen if you wish but normally your only a couple of key presses away, and if all goes well, you may never have to go back to the calling frequency after calling once.
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Call CQ on 145.500 - so “CQ CQ CQ SOTA CQ 2M…. listening on 145.525”
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Change frequency to 145.525
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Ask “Is the frequency in use” just in case someone has moved to it in the short time you’ve been on the calling frequency.
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If still clear, just say “QRZ, this is EI8JEB listening”
4.5) If I wanted to use Sotawatch for spotting, this is when I would spot for operating on 145.525. Personally, I don’t use Sotawatch on 2m but I am lucky in the NW of England that generally its not needed (unless I want a pileup)
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Hopefully you’ll get a reply. You may need to repeat the qrz call on 145.525 if nothing heard, or go back to 145.500 and step one and call CQ on 145.500. This is dependent on whether you spotted and levels of activity in the area.
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Exchange whatever details you like, signal report, summit reference (at minimum) but after that like any qso or conversation you want (if it seems a pile up is around it might be wise to keep it short though)
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after that qso has finished, just called “QRZ SOTA” on the same frequency of 145.525. Just work them as you hear them. With FM, usually the strongest get through or you may only catch 1 or 2 letters. Just ask for what you have heard “something 1 something Z something go ahead”.
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Suppose you hear 2 callsigns clearly , I write them both down, and then say something like “G1ABC go ahead” then after that qso “M1XYZ" go ahead”. The only exception would be if I hear a “portable” or “summit to summit” call in there. I tend to work them first so they can then go off and find their own frequency without hanging around waiting for me to call them in.
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Once no one calls you back on 145.525, then go back to the calling frequency 145.500 and up to step 1 in this list. Or if you have finished, I just announce (usually to no-one) “G7ADF now QRT”
There is a flow to it, and I am in no way an expert, and you will get your own way of working. It all depends if you want to make VHF/UHF a primary operation of SOTA or just some extra activity along with HF.
Each qso can be as long or short as you want to make it. The main thing, is its supposed to be part of an enjoyable day out. If its not enjoyable, then don’t feel pressured to do it.
The above list makes it look more complex than it is, but it really isn’t. The only real difference is that you (and everyone else) calls CQ on one frequency (145.500) but conducts the qsos on a different one (145.525 for example).
Hopeully, this is written well enough to make sense as its hard to proof read instructions written by yourself. The following short (and funny) youtube video shows why good manual writers (of which there are few) should be praised. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KR25vZJEKeo
Have fun out there 
Ian
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@G7ADF Ian this is absolutely amazing! I did not expect this level of detail, and I wish I could print these instructions out for tomorrow but it’s too late and I don’t have a printer at home! I think at this point there’s no risk of me spreading peanut butter on bread foil, but then again I’ll be cold, wet and confused on that mountain (the weather is not supposed to be great) so you never know!
Thank you so much.
Adam
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Well the 2m band didn’t work at all for me. Neither did I hear anyone nor (probably) anyone heard me. The 145.500 freq was totally quiet, not even background noise. I’m thinking I may be doing something wrong…
Mangerton was activated successfully on 20m though! Many callers, good reports! (I’ll report in a separate thread on this because the hike was fabulous!)
I’m not giving up on 2m! Let me try and research antennas. I need a good small antenna that will connect to the 5w Baofeng and give me hundreds km of range 
Joking of course. But I need something better than I have.
In any case thank you all for helping so far!
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Glad you managed to have a successful activation, even if it wasn’t on 2m! As others have said, activating on 2m can depend on how populous the area you’re in is, and of course whether anyone is around listening!
I’ve certainly had experiences of easily activating a summit on 2m one time, and really struggled on a subsequent occasion from the same summit.
Good luck on finding that miracle small antenna for your Baofeng! 
Looking forward to reading your full report in due course.
73, Matthew M0JSB
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EI8JEB:
I just bought (BAOFENG UV-5RM Plus)
EI8JEB:
I am able to mentally prepare myself before Saturday, I may attempt a QSO on VHF…
EI8JEB:
All I have for now is that little rubber antenna that came with the radio
EI8JEB:
Well the 2m band didn’t work at all for me. Neither did I hear anyone nor (probably) anyone heard me. The 145.500 freq was totally quiet, not even background noise. I’m thinking I may be doing something wrong…
You seem to be suggesting that you might have a problem with the 2m FM HT? It should work on 2m FM simplex frequencies straight out of the box.
Did you have have that pre-activation 2m FM QSO? Did you listen to 2m FM at home or elsewhere? Did you hear any activity, other QSOs, repeaters (even just their ID tx’s)? If any of the answers is Yes, I suspect there’s probably nothing wrong with the HT but no one was listening at the time of your activation who was in range (especially if using only the rubber-duck antenna).
Did you alert and spot for 2m FM?
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Good to hear! Don’t give up on 70cm too!
Well done today. I saw you pop up on my Ham Alert app but I wasn’t out and about this morning. Hope you took a few snaps!
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Do not give up and welcome to the VHF/UHF club Adam
Don’t mind no 2m contacts from that part of EI, it is perfectly normal.
My only attempt there few years back was a remarkable epic failure on both Mount Brandon and Carrauntoohil, where I managed to qualify NONE of them even having a Diamond RH-205 5/8 telescopic (a single QSO off Mount Brandon doesn’t count). Half eaten by swarms of flying midges and on site lead acid battery failure didn’t help either.
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Thank you all for comments! @G8CPZ Andy to answer the questions, no I did not use that Baofeng before – I bought it just a few days ago. So I don’t know what the “normal” is; the reason I’m suggesting I may have a problem with the device is because on HF I hear constant background hum even if there’s nobody transmitting while here on FM it was dead quiet, 0 sound. But maybe that’s how FM on VHF works? And yes, I did spot myself on 2m FM, which did not help.
@EI4JY Alex shame to hear about these fails a few years ago, but hey you made up for that and are now close to 1000 points – good luck getting there soon! You Mountain Goats inspire me.
I’ll keep trying VHF/UHF. I’ll get there.
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Check your squelsh level settings maybe? Perhaps it would be better to have the squelsh wide open?
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Yes, The squelch feature is necessary because the white noise from FM without a station present is so much more annoying than the usual atmospheric noise on SSB. I suggest you change the squelch to the lowest level setting that still mutes the white noise. That way you don’t risk losing weaker transmissions.
If you haven’t already got a better antenna than the supplied ‘rubber duck’, you’ll find it will make a big difference to your tx/rx range and chance of reaching some chasers.
Good luck for the next 2m activation.
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If your radio has any side buttons, it might be worth trying to see if any of them open the squelch whilst you hold the button down.
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Is the big rusty pole (free antenna support) still stuck in the trig marker?
You should have beebn able to reach the Mullaganish repeater from there. Did you try that?
The rusty pole is still there! My plan was to loop a rope over the top of it and pull my EFHW up, but the wind was so strong I was unable to do that. Neither by throwing nor by trying to use the taped-together sticks from my now defunct Buddistick antenna. So ultimately I did not use the metal pole at all, and ended up with an ugly contraption of a mast stuck into the trig benchmark’s hole. It worked.
I will post a more complete report from Mangerton activation here in a couple of days.
I was not aware of Mullaganish repeater, nor do I know much about working with repeaters in general… need to read about that.
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Repeater Book is a handy browser and app (I think it might be Android only, I’m unsure). Useful if you need repeater info in a pinch.
Some HT’S work almost out the box with repeaters, just they’re not saved and labelled as such. The Yaesu FT65 has this ability, for example.
There’s nets on them most days. I often call in to the IRTS net on a Tuesday. You can use Echolink, Zello, Peanut etc too if you wish to.
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Looks lovely !
I’ve often though that a threaded antenna mount would be a very handy option to screw into the top of the trig point. Lots of them have supposedly unscrewable brass? covers that would provide a handy mount. You’d be adding some mad spanner and a can of wd40 to your pack though.
It’s a good summit for a kite lifted antenna !
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Than you Ian. Yeah, I need to learn about repeaters and try using them before I climb summits, to get the feel for it. Looks like Repeater Book is there on App Store too, and regularly updated.
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