I peered out of my classroom window as the last groups of pupils for the day were being dismissed from their exhilarating and motivational mathematical educational experience. A cloudless deep blue sky, illuminated by bright sunlight. An extra hour’s work on the desktop, or an hour on a felltop? No contest!
So half-an-hour’s drive from Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, to Gun G/SP-013 in the Staffordshire Moorlands. The weather was indeed dry, clear and sunny, but the wind was blasting in from the West, and as icy cold as ever. It certainly wasn’t as nice as it looked from the inside of my classroom.
The area extending to a couple of metres all around the stile at the start of the ascent was completely waterlogged, so I clambered over the gate instead. As I walked up to the summit, I realised it was a good deal colder than on my recent activations - including the early morning ones. I continued over the summit and someway down the other side to gain shelter from the prevailing wind while remaining within the activation zone.
I moved around a bit in the 7.030 to 7.033 MHz area, trying to find a clear frequency and trying to escape the stronger stations that landed on my frequency without hearing me. I only made four contacts in over 30 minutes operating. The first was Fritz DL4FDM, followed by HB9BYZ. As the skies began to darken, I worked OM1ADM, so I was getting exactly the same increased distance in exactly the same direction yet again as night came on. Surely the next contact had to be OK or HA? No, it was Cris GM4FAM, who I haven’t worked for a while, so that was a nice surprise.
With no further callers, and plenty of QRO stations jumping on me without hearing me - and more significantly, with my fingers turning to ice - I decided it was time to go home. I flicked on the headtorch for the first time, just to track the legs of the dipole for winding in and unpegging, then wandered down the shallow sloshy slope to the car. It should have been lovely in the middle of dusk with clear views across the illuminated towns of Leek, Biddulph, Mow Cop, Congleton and Macclesfield before me, but I was now walking head-on into the icy wind - not pleasant!
See you in the morning.
See double you in the morning.
Tom