G4OOE/P: G/NP-007, Wild Boar Fell - 14 Oct 11

G4OOE: G/NP-007, Wild Boar Fell, 14 October 2011

I have long been drawn to this fell probably due to its unusual name. I checked on Wikipedia and it says that wild boar used to roam here over 500 years ago.
Having postponed the activation for 24 hours due to a much better weather forecast, I left home at 0502. After riding up and down a few times near the start of the High Dolphinsty footpath, I settled for a small area on the Eastern side of the B6259 off the road at NY 78320 00495. After coffee and a breakfast sandwich I set off at 0838 reaching the start of the footpath (SD 78260 99730) opposite Little Ing Farm at 0850. The path goes under the famous Settle to Carlisle railway line and I did see a couple of trains, a small two carriage purple coloured passenger train that seemed out of place and a much longer goods train carrying logs. The path up just beyond Hazel Gill Farm was absolutely covered in thick mud - more of that later as they say! Progress was slow and the visibility getting worse as I approached High Dolpinsty. John G4YSS had told me this one wasn’t easy and I certainly soon began to realise that! Dense fog spoiled any chance of views as I progressed past the Nab religiously following the arrow on the GPS. After passing a few false summit trig points that turned out to be either piles of stones or just tufts of grass I arrived at the summit at 1040.
I began setting up, I had intended to use a 3 element 2m SOTA beam, 2m dipole and a 40m dipole. The BNC connector had broken off on my extension lead so I abandoned thoughts of using the beam. Visibility had dropped considerably down to around 30 yards or so and it was very cold and damp. A quick phone call to G4SSH who kindly spotted me and I was on the air for 1030 gmt. Short skip propagation on 7Mhz was very good and I quickly had seven G contacts all 599 and a few weaker longer skip contacts with HB9 and DL. At 1040 I switched to 145-fm and I worked a few G and GW stations including s2s contacts with Hazel M6YLH/P and John G4YSS using GX0OOO/P on G/NP-009 Buckden Pike. It was pleasing to work Derek 2E0MIX to earn him his Shack Sloth and Gary M6AUE to take him to 200 chaser points. I had another interesting long distance 2m qso with John GW4GRW/P on Foel Fras, a 2900 ft mountain but unfortunately not a Marilyn so no SOTA chasing points! I had one more go on 7Mhz-cw which brought in a strong Steve MW0BBU and a couple of weaker DLs. A couple more CQs with no takers, being cold and wet I went qrt.

The journey back was another navigation test for me, I had managed to get the reverse route on the GPS but when it pointed over the cliff edge I knew something was not right! After checking it I found that I had brought up the reverse route of another summit. Once the correct one was selected I was fine and I saw the standing stone cairns that looked a bit like the Nine Standards Rigg pictures that I had seen, completely missed on the ascent due to thick fog. Once past High Dolphinsty the visibility improved dramatically and I had good views across the valley. Coming back down the track, just above the farm through the mud, my feet went from under me and I did a great belly flop and I managed to get completely covered in the stuff! Fortunately there was nothing damaged and no one else around! I then realised that my walking poles could also be used as a walking aids as well as dipole supports! Shortly after this I spotted a spitfire or possibly a hurricane plane flying overhead. The farmer and his wife were watching it too so I knew that it was something unusual! Another long wood laden train on the railway and after a few words with the farmer’s wife, I returned to the car at 1443. The drive back was fine and on the outskirts of Pickering I spotted a man in a Biggles like outfit with a woman dressed in a wartime uniform. Later I saw another in an old GI uniform and the penny then dropped, it was the North Yorkshire Moors Railway War Weekend and I reckon the plane spotted earlier must have been from the Battle of Britain Flight, possibly also linked to this event. I arrived home at 1805 after the 196 miles round trip. As I sat down watching the local news, the weather man announced that tomorrow (Saturday) would be a great day for walking in the Pennines!

Equipment
HF - 7031-cw
FT-857D 20 watts,
40m half wave dipole configured as inverted vee 12 ft at apex on fibre glass pole with ends supported by two walking poles approximately 3 ft high.
7Ah SLAB
VHF - 145-fm
TH-79E 5 watts
2m SOTA dipole vertically polarised strapped to fibre glass pole

Activity
7031 - G4SSH, G0NUP/P, G4CMQ, G4OBK, G3VXJ, G4DDL, HB9CGA, G3XQE, DL1FU, HB9MKV, G0TDM, G4WSX, DJ4AV, DL3HXX & MW0BBU (15)

145-fm - G0TDM, G4WHA/M, 2E0MIX, M6YLH/P, GX0OOO/P, M6AUE, GW4GRW/P & 2E0NHM (8)

Thanks to G4SSH and DL3HXX for the spots and thanks everyone for making it a memorable day.
73
Nick G4OOE

I

In reply to G4OOE:
Hi Nick,
Nice write up and thanks for the points.

Steve… MW0BBU.

In reply to G4OOE
Thanks Nick, Glad you didn’t meet any wild boar. 73’s John.

In reply to G4OOE:

Thanks for a very interesting report Nick, some summits can have interesting names but can be quite un-interesting in reality. It looks like you did have an interesting day :slight_smile:

I did hear you calling Hazel on 145.500 before she was QRV, I did call you on my handheld but you must not have heard me. I did tip Hazel off that you were QRV on two metres when I worked her & you hapenned to be listening on the frequency & got the S2S with both Hazel & John.

I had to get back to work so didn’t actually work you but I’m sure we will work again soon :slight_smile:

Best 73,

Mark G0VOF

In reply to G0VOF:

Thanks Mark, sorry we didn’t make it on 2m. I hope to be out again next week doing another NP.

73
Nick

In reply to G4WSX:
Hi John
No thankfully no wild boars but I did see a very large bull in the field not too far from the track. Thankfully he seemed more interested in the cows!

Cheers
Nick

In reply to G4OOE:

Sorry to have missed you, Nick, I couldn’t get through some solid local QRM on 40m. I see you fell foul of the fragility of the BNC plug, they used to be the bane of my life on site so I would never use them for activations!

73

Brian G8ADD

In reply to G8ADD:
Thanks Brian, You are so right about those BNC plugs. I am hoping to go out again this week to do another NP if wx forecast is good.

All the best
Nick

In reply to G4OOE:

You are so right about those BNC plugs

I hear these disaster stories of people who pull off BNC plugs or have them fail etc. They fail because they weren’t fitted properly or the user has the deft manual dexterity of an agitated hippo. It makes me wonder how these people manage ever to go to the toilet without having to make an immediate trip to A&E due to manipulation failures! :slight_smile:

If you fit it properly it wont come off. Trust me. You can use additional heatshrink/strain relief methods for cables that will be frequently handled/connected etc.

OT: Thanks for the CW contact today. What antenna and power were you running as you were a collosal signal, significantly louder than everyone else by a huge margin.

Andy
MM0FMF

In reply to MM0FMF:

If you fit it properly it wont come off. Trust me. You can use
additional heatshrink/strain relief methods for cables that will be
frequently handled/connected etc.

Maybe so, Andy, but I was using a “PUNDIT” (“portable ultra-sonic non-destructive tester”) with beefy little transducers and long coax leads with a bnc each end (often up scaffolding or crawling under concrete beams) that were professionally made with heatshrink etc, and they were just not man enough for the job. When they failed they were re-made by a professional electronics technician - and they failed again. I came to loathe them with bitter enthusiasm! They didn’t fall apart, they went o/c, often in the middle of a long traverse that had to be done again…just the memory makes me growl!

73

Brian G8ADD

In reply to MM0FMF:

Hi Andy

Thanks very much for the comments. Well I suppose I have the dexterity of an agitated hippo which is why I purchased my ready made up lead from a well known Amateur Radio dealer! In fairness my manhandling of the equipment probably contributed to its downfall.

Your comment on my signal from my home qth is sumwhat surprising. On the Sunday 16 October from my home I was using an FT-897D at 100 watts to a G5RV antenna bent round my small garden about 20 feet high! I do seem to get out well but my reception is very poor being half way down a significant hill and close to a hospital and a couple of schools.

Cheers
Nick