A lunchtime meeting in Congleton was the catalyst for a short jaunt up The Cloud. Pausing for a few minutes along the road to change from suit to shorts I was soon at the parking spot. There I got into conversation with a woman about quiet hills. Recounting a few of my “you’re never alone on The Cloud” stories soon had her jumping into her car and heading for Gun - much quieter. It was wonderful at the summit. Hardly a breath of wind and brilliant sunshine. I didn’t have long so I had taken a minimal set-up; just a 2m dipole and the basic 817. Even so, my 2.5 Watts of 2m SSB reached Selby and Devon. 11 contacts in 30 minutes including the occasional chat - perfect.
Later in the day I had to take my daughter to a Guide event. This left me free for nearly two hours. How to kill the time? Read a book? Pub? Of course not! I dashed over to Shining Tor mentally calculating; 20mins to get there, 30 minutes ascend and set up, 30 minutes to activate, 25 minutes to pack and descend. It was just do-able in my time-slot and the added bonus was that I would be up there for the start of the Fun Evening period.
This time I had opted for a full-monty set-up with mast, beam and 35 Watts. Results were no better in terms of distance (Don G0RQL still the best DX) but the signals were much stronger. 12 contacts in 30 minutes. No s2s as time ran out despite being advised by Jordan M3TMX that Ian was on FM - thanks Jordan. A welcome breeze kept the midges at bay.
A dash back and I was still in time to hear the end of the Guide meeting, deep in Macclesfield Forest. Two very pleasant activations.
73
Richard
G3CWI