After a couple of weeks of inactivity due to a combination of bad weather & a bad leg, I was getting a bit stir crazy & needed to get out. Last nights wx forecast seemed to be ok for the G/NP region with the main rough weather down to the South West, so I decided to activate G/NP-025 Thorpe Fell then got to the Outdoor shop in Whalley to buy myself some Christmas presents.
I had alerted for 1100 but did say I may be late. I parked up in the Village of Thorpe about 11am so I was indeed going to be late. Once on the summit & set up I went straight on to 40m to try & beat the B/C station QRM, also I saw there was an ON activation on as well. After checking the spots on SOTA watch I thought Id missed the s2s chance but as I was getting changed a voice boomed out of the rig & my first contact was s2s with Luc ON6DSL/P on ON-005 5/9 both ways. I then QSYd to my own frequency & worked 28 stations on 40m ssb. A qsy to 80m brought another 20 contacts (mainly UK), then almost as an afterthought I tried 60m & only worked 4 stations, I reckon most of the regulars got me on other bands.
The wx on the summit was really quite pleasant. Around 2.5C with hardly any wind. I was in cloud to start with but this disolved to leave a sunny day. I tried to make a bit of a video but only managed about 2 mins before the camera battery ran out. Also at the end of the activation I worked the rest of the ON party - ON3DSN/P ON6AW/P ON4EDM/P ON3IWB/P I appologise for making hard work of it - the reason was towards the end my SLAB was only giving 7.2v.
I cant believe I was on the Craven Amateur Radio Groups blue ribband summit & I never worked a single CRAG member. And whilst Im moaning, when are you CRAG members going to beat a path from the shooting lodge to the summit - Im sick of heather hopping the last bit. Anyone noticed how the shooting lodge resembles the “Local shop for local people” off the League of Gentlemen.
Many thanks to all stations who called & the “spots” on sotawatch.
Short video on Thorpe Fell G/NP-025 - YouTube
A couple of pics on Flikr.
In reply to G1INK:
Hello Steve,
thank you for your interesting report about your activation. I saw your call on sotawatch, but at my QTH with only a 14 m long end fed antenna and strong local QRM in the city of my hone town Remscheid I can’t copy you. So I could not give you a call, I am sorry. Thank you for calling me at my activations a day before!
73 de Lutz DL3SBA
In reply to G1INK:
Hi Steve,I was just descending Ros Hill G/SB-009,whils’t you were struggling through the deep drifts of heather and tussocks,too bad i missed you Steve,
By the way ,Its CRAVEN RADIO AMATEUR GROUP not CARG,we will have a meeting about constructing a path for you leading to the summit after sipping port,and eating our pheasant sarnis in the shooting lodge.
73 de Geoff G4CPA, Merry Christmas from the CRAGGIES,
It was great working my first summit to summit with you on Thorpe Fell. The conditions on our side were really bad, heavy QRM all day due to the “UBA Low Band Winter Contest”. The WX on ON-005 was not as bad as the forecast predicted, we saw only a few small showers, but they disappeared very fast.
I hope to hear from you again, maybe next saterday 15-12-2007, when we will activate ON-002 Baraque Michel
Just discovered your report and video, both of which were of interest. I remember this one and it’s not the easiest of 2-pointers. I agree about the last bit of heather-bashing and I remember my 1st time. It was my mistake to leave the path at a very early stage and have to bash far too much of the stuff. On my second time, I followed footprints in the snow all the way up. These were made by Clive M1YAM, the day before. Very thoughtful of him.
For the first year or more, I took a video on most of my SOTAs. It was an analogue one which weighed 1kg. I noticed the Lion battery didn’t like going out in the cold much, reducing its performance.
You prompted me to look at my photo of the shootists hut but it’s from far away. I do remember having the impression that I was on the wrong top. The other one looks quite a lot higher. The only other time I have had such an illusion was on Mellbreak in partial mist. The lower summit seemed to be towering a couple of hundred feet above me.
One thing that came over in your video was your operating speed. Much slicker than mine yet all the information is there. It would have to be good of course, for an op who broke all QSO records at a very early stage in SOTA when there were far fewer chasers. I will try to learn something.
Shearings did us proud again for some GW/NW tops. This time the Llandudno Marine. Good and cheap and I am beginning to blend into the ‘sea of grey’ better now. It’s also rather worrying when you attend the entertainment and actually enjoy it! I know the Loch Lomond one stood you in good stead.
Take care this winter and I promise no ‘slides’ if you do!!! MC & HNY-2008.
Thanks for the comments John. Myself, 2E0HJD & GW0DSP are doing the Shearings thing at the end of January, in the Caledonian, Fort William. I`m not quite up for a blue rinse - but I will be taking my “lucky pen” for the bingo hi. Johan, I will try to get on a summit on Saturday wx permittind to try for another s2s.
Steve G1INK.
