Probably the best spoonerism I ever heard! Courtesy of Mickey 2O0YYY/P as I was ascending Shining Tor G/SP-004 on Monday 3rd September 2012. Liam and I had some time to kill in the afternoon, and a beautiful warm sunny afternoon it was too. So I headed up the A537 Cat & Fiddle road and pulled in beside an already parked car at the usual parking spot.
Upon kitting up, I noticed a “Moorlands & DARS” sign in the adjacent car, and loads of poles, cables etc. It had to be Delilah - except that I thought he was on Gun G/SP-013, and he doesn’t normally make a habit of doing more than one summit in a day, as that tends to require spending less than 24 hours on each!
During the ascent, I found a net on 2m FM with Karen 2E0XYL, Bob G6ODU and Brian G4ZRP discussing SOTA matters. I tried to join, but I only really had comms with Karen, so I didn’t hang around too long. I started earwigging to the beginning of Mike’s activation, whereupon I heard him describe the summit as being “between Maxton and Bucclesfield”. That alone made the trip worthwhile!
Soon, Liam and I were nearing the summit, and could see Mickey’s vertical 2m antenna. We passed through the gate and along the field a bit, before setting up for 30m and 6m. These were bad choices! 2m was definitely the place to be playing radio today, as the activations by Mickey, and later Simon 2E0CHV/P on Long Mynd-Pole Bank G/WB-005 proved.
I managed one contact on 6m CW (G4KXW) and none on the Rockmite 30. Switching over to the FT-817 for 30m CW, I made six QSOs. All too soon it was time to vacate the summit and get Liam to a planned rendezvous with friends at the circus, which is in town. Mickey was pressing on as ever, and I worked him myself as I got back to the car.
As did Richard G3CWI, who I then met at the Park Tavern in Macclesfield after dropping Liam off, for a pleasant couple of Bollington Brewing Company ales.
Tom MO1EYP
