Today, Saturday 7th March 2026, I decided to venture out to Burnhope Seat (G/NP-003) for my first ever solo HF activation. Having purchased a marvellous Yaesu FT-891 recently from a talented operator, I was dying to try it out in the field.
Burnhope Seat (G/NP-003)
Having only started my SOTA journey 6 months ago, I am still fortunate to be activating lots of these summits for the first time in my life. Pre-SOTA, I don’t think I’d ever have found myself trekking up a random hill with no footpath… but SOTA really does change your sense of adventure.
I started my ascent from the lay-by on the B6277 road, following the route taken from SOTAmaps.org. It’s the type of route where you simply make your own path - a sign of what was to come almost three hours later… 
Arriving at the summit plateau was a bit of a hellscape. Deep bog patches did turn the ‘peaceful up until now’ hike into a bit of a parkour session! With my eye set on the trig point - a glorious one at that, might I add - I eventually made it and took in the views of the surrounding summits. Cross Fell and Great Dun Fell standing out instantly. Looking south, Cow Green Reservoir and Mickle Fell could be seen, reminding me that I still haven’t received any communication about my permit request 
This trig… it was absolutely marvellous. So high off the ground, and with a huge hole in the middle of it - perfect for a mast! I was using a 5.5m ‘carp fishing rod’ which I purchased from AliExpress for just over £5. I must say, it certainly worked well today.
Antenna: A SOTABEAMS linked halfwave dipole for 40m and 20m, with an SWR reading at this height of around 1.1:1. I’d like to look into making my own dipoles for additional bands. Of course, it’s not too difficult - I’d just need to find the time. Maybe I need a rainy day so I’m forced to stay away from the summits 
Radio: The Yaesu FT-891. I recently purchased this radio from a talented operator who also loves SOTA. This was the first true test, for the radio and myself!
Challenge: Today’s challenge was operating AM… a mode I have never used before on or off a summit. I had no idea how much excitement this would bring.
AM Operation
A couple of the folks at my local radio club joked that I’d be operating AM in the AM… they laughed way too much at this, but they were right. The first CQ call was made just after 11am, and with no surprise, it was my SOTA mate Jake, M0PVC/P.
A 40m NVIS S2S onto G/NP-007 was the first contact in the log. Running the full 40W of AM power certainly helped me be heard across the country, with mostly 59 reports and sometimes peaking up to +20dB over - far too much power for the contact of course.
I was able to make six AM contacts during the activation of Burnhope Seat. The highlight was a caller who said “As soon as AM was spotted on the waterfall, our radio WhatsApp chat became alive”. Who knew bringing AM back to life on 40m on a random Saturday would cause everyone to go so nuts!
Of course AM is not an everyday mode. It’s more for the vintage feel and the ‘because I can’ factor. I personally did really enjoy the seemingly better audio quality - but that could be all in my head. SSB is still definitely king, but I did thoroughly enjoy activating with AM today.
Hoove (G/NP-024)
I descended Burnhope Seat feeling rather giddy with myself. Qualifying a summit on just AM alone made me feel very proud of myself. The distance isn’t far, and I’d reached my car without even hitting my 10k steps for the day. Feeling a little deflated after realising that fact, I checked my watch and the time had only just hit 1PM. Stuff it, let’s do another summit! 
Not exactly close, but not exactly a million miles away was Hoove (G/NP-024). I’ve heard many not-so-good things about Hoove, but with already wet feet, I decided to be on my merry way. Arriving at the roadside at around 2PM, it became clear that I’d have to make my own path again… only, Hoove is a wild bog of its own.
Taking only 25 minutes to reach the summit, I was over the moon to see yet another one of my favourite trigs with the hole in the middle. I put out a few calls on 2m and was able to make only two contacts, with one of those being a S2S with M0PVC’s second summit of the day 
The trig once again supported the mast, and this time also the radio and battery. With very little wind and the beaming sunshine blessing the summit, it was an incredibly pleasant activation.
The Yaesu FT-891 with the EcoWorthy LiFePO4 8Ah battery. The radio was running 20w of power on SSB.
A must-have summit-selfie of M1TJM/P.
Hoove was one of those activations where I didn’t want to pack up and go home. 40m was ‘bouncing’ with so much activity, and even more operators excited to jump onto AM and give it a whirl. In total, I had seven AM contacts on Hoove.
SSB was a different story. The pileup kept going and I loved it. In total, 33 SSB contacts on Hoove. Unfortunately, I think my AM fun led to the demise of my SSB fun. My battery died mid-QSO with G7OCK 
This should’ve provided an instant reality check and made me pack up and return to my car… but I turned it back on, changed the power, and made a call under M1TJM/QRP. BOOM - 57 both ways into the Isle of Man with GD0BFN. Unfortunately, the QSO was cut very short as the battery finally decided it’d had enough of me and my AM mischief.
With a total of 42 QSOs on Hoove during an operating session lasting almost two hours, I can safely say this was one of my most enjoyable activations. Relaxing QSOs on a summit in the sun is my idea of a very nice day out. Hoove very much went from a message to my friend saying “I think I’m adding this to the ‘never again’ list”, to “I think this might be my favourite local summit”.
So, AM… will I bother again?
Yes. I’m sure there will be many reading my ramblings wondering why I seem so thrilled by such an inefficient and largely obsolete mode. I just really enjoyed doing something that felt vintage but also a little bit mischievous 
Taking up all of that bandwidth is just so selfish of me, right?! Yep, you’re right. I probably won’t activate with AM often, but it’ll definitely be making a return in the future - maybe on an 80m activation 
That’s it, folks. Thanks for reading my activation report. I thoroughly enjoyed the two summits today and am looking forward to the next one. As always, a big thank you to our chaser community and SWLs who make all of this possible 
73 for now, and happy SOTA’ing,
Tom - M1TJM
