Cold

I was unable to operate for more than 10 minutes on each of the three summits I visited today. It was COLD on OK/KA-003 Meluzína, OK/KA-001 Klínovec and DM/SX-001 Fichtelberg. Still a total of 45 QSO’s. My apologies to the callers I didn’t answer.


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Absolutely FB. 4 contacts on each summit would have done, so you gone “above and beyond”.

HNY,

Tom M1EYP

You did the right thing Hans.
I admire your resilience to operate without gloves.
That’s my biggest problem, I lose touch with the key when wearing gloves, but at least I can blame the shoddy morse on fat fingers :slight_smile:

Even with gloves, I need to be careful that I have enough in reserve to pack up before my fingers get too numb.
I always carry a Zippo hand warmer and some disposable hand warmers to put in my gloves.
Even then I’ve come close to having some dangerously cold hands.

Has anyone any tips for how to keep your hands warm and toasty, have the ability to operate, and pack up all your gear without becoming too encumbered?
HNY
Pete

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You can make just SSB (losing the fun of CW) or whistle as Ignacio did when his keyer died!
see Mouth morse; unexpected end for my double activation EA2/NV-71 & 101
:wink:
73 and good 2015!
Mikel

Give your hands periodic “warm-up” breaks. 5 minutes here and there in padded gloves - or even pockets - can work wonders.

Keep hands moving. I notice that in periods of busy CW operating, my right hand remains warm and my left hand gets cold. Sometimes in such situations, I wear just my left glove!

Have a hot drink in the flask. I have found putting some hot coffee into the inside can delay exposed skin getting cold on the outside.

Hold Liam’s hands. Liam is my son, now 17, but from being a little boy has been renowned for his body warmth. He is just always nice and warm! Yesterday on Kinder Scout, we walked and activated for a total of 6 hours, and not once did he put his gloves on. I had mine on nearly all the time. Yet he stayed warm as usual.

Use a bothy bag. When deployed, you are instantly in a new micro-environment with a significantly higher temperature than that of the outside air. Cold hands feel the benefit of this extremely quickly.

Hope some of this is of some use Pete.

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I activated GW/SW-001 & 002 a few days ago. On both hills it was around 0C plus windchill on the minus side. I used gloves but a lighter version than Hans shows on his first picture. When I arrived I was warm, I set up with gloves on and only took them off quickly if I have to install some small items. With my left hand (glove on) I held the Palm Mini Paddle. On GW/SW-002 I logged without mit right glove on and survived for 45’. Writing a readable log was the bigger issue compared to using the paddle.
On GW/SW-001 I tried to operate with both gloves on. Left hand again on the Mini Paddle and on the right hand a pencil between thumb and index finger and keying with thumb and middle finger. I “only” had to write in a bigger font :slight_smile:
The next upgrade might be the handwarmer my kids are using. Don’t know what brand they are. You have to “brake” them and the start to warm up. To reload the handwarmer you have to cook them in boiling water.

Pictures of GW/SW-001 and SW-002:
GW/SW-001 – Pen y Fan – 886m – 8 Points | HB9CZF news pictures at the very bottom
GW/SW-002 – Waun Fach – 811m – 8 Points | HB9CZF

73 es HNY de Dominik, MW/HB9CZF

I find fingerless gloves work well for me. Just enough cover to allow me to keep my hands warm and enough uncovered finger tip for operating the radio and writing.

I will use a both bag, but only if I have to - I like seeing the view!

Last year Father Christmas brought me these gloves, Pro Touch Dry-Plus. Not any cold finger problems any more. And what the best you can operate and write easily with these gloves. They are warm and soft. I can recommend these or corresponding products, and you can concentrate to operation in Winter time!

Operating

Writing

Gloves

Product info

73, Saku OH2NOS

Today the weather was much better. Sunshine on all five summits. No wind in the morning. Afternoon was colder, but we had a view today.
Thanks for all suggestions to keep my fingers warm.

Hej Hans…
Zelfde van de SP/GS-002 och /003 ook:((.
Sooo…succes Hans in het Nieuwjaar vanaf Robert med famillie.
Vy 73!