G4YSS Activation Report, G/LD-004 Skiddaw on 2m & 4m FM, 26-12-23
Issue-2 (Rig checks). Please report errors
G/LD-004 SKIDDAW on 2m-FM & 4m-FM QRP on Boxing Day
All times UTC
Unaccompanied
EQUIPMENT:
Moonraker MT270M 2m / 70cm 25W mobile rig
5Ah HRB Li-Po Battery
PYE Antenna Filter AT29908/AB, ‘132 to 174Mc/s’ adjusted for 2m-FM (600gm)
The above setup could not be used due to repeated shutdown after 1 sec of TX
IC-E90 4-Band, 5W, VHF-UHF H/H
Half-wave vertical J-Pole for 2m
2m set-top helical with extender for 4m
The above setup was used despite shutdown after 10 sec of TX
Reserve: UV-3R 2W dual band Handheld (not used).
Pack weight: Approx 9kg including 250ml of electrolytes & primaloft jacket
INTRODUCTION:
Based at the Derwentwater Hotel at Portinscale nr Keswick, this was part of a 6-night Christmas break. Cost for two people including all meals, Christmas lunch, Christmas evening buffet, and cream teas on two of the days, was £1,068 for two people - my XYL and me (£89 pppn).
Apart from Covid lock-down, we have been spending Christmas at this hotel since 2018 but we normally stay 4-nights. This was the first 6-nights break due to a special offer of booking a year ago for 20% off. The idea of 6-nights was to get more activating days but in fact it looks like it will be the opposite. The only half-reasonable weather window was Boxing Day (26th). The rest has been or is forecast to be pretty well horrific as far as SOTA is concerned. Rain and high winds with snow for later. OK, I’m getting soft in my old age. I admit it.
It seems like I was not the only one to identify the 26th as an only chance. The Underscar car park was full and when I arrived they were starting to line the sides of the narrow approach road. By the time I returned cars were scattered in passing places almost as far down as the buildings. I have never seen it so busy winter or summer. I was lucky however. Some ‘early bird’ vacated a space just as I arrived.
ROUTE:
The route up Skiddaw from Underscar is so obvious, it needs no description. However here are some waypoints marked today: Car Park (free) NY 2802 2534 (295m ASL), NY 2829 2551; NY 2817 2593; NY 2801 2625; NY 2787 2661; NY 2784 2689; NY 2709 2763; Summit Trig: NY 2604 2908. Today’s QTH Shelter: NY2603 2866 (a small shelter and the southernmost). This is a very well used path in mostly good condition and almost impossible to lose even in bad viz. Snow cover might make it harder to follow but there was no lying snow anywhere in the Lake District this Boxing Day.
EXECUTION:
Following a short drive from Portinscale, I left the car at 09:31. After a short while I realised that I’d forgotten to drink before setting off and I only had 250mls of water. I’d also forgotten my lower base layer and neither had I put the relevant log-sheet in the holder. When I switched on the GPS – no route for Skid. Great start but it got worse.
Injured Dog:
It was an almost windless ascent up until just after Little Man, then it got a lot colder. About a quarter of the way up a man was on his way down. It was an odd sight. His rucksack was on his front! As he got nearer I could see a pair of eyes looking out of it. It was a black spaniel and he’d cut his paw on one of those sharp bits of slate, of which Skiddaw is renowned. A short time later a couple arrived with their own dogs. After a barking reaction emanating from the rucksack, help was on hand. The lady of the couple turned out to be a vet! How timely. Out came her ‘dog repair kit’ and the patient was receiving his treatment as I watched.
Half-an-hour later and a lot further up where the Little Man path joins the main drag, there is a gate. Here in the fog, I caught up with what I first thought was a young lady. As I drew level I did a double take. ‘Hello, you look like a young ‘un to be here on your own. In fact he wasn’t totally alone but was accompanied by a similar breed of dog to the ones with the vet couple. The lad’s reply, ‘I’m nine and a quarter and my parents said I could go on ahead and we’d meet at the top.’
Putting two and two together I asked the question, ‘Is your Mum a vet?’ ‘Yes and my Dad’s in a blue coat.’ I filled the lad in about the injured black spaniel and walked up with him the rest of the way to the summit ridge. ‘They might be along in 20 or 30 minutes; you sit in this shelter and wait for them.’ ‘If you’ve got gloves, put them on.’ Don’t wander off, stay by the path’ ‘Any problem, ask a walker.’ I left him in the first shelter, knowing I’d be back there in fifteen minutes as it was my chosen operating point. There was a freezing cold wind and fog but there were plenty of people passing by so I wasn’t too concerned.
I reached the trig point just before 11am and acting as cameraman for two parties of walkers while one of them did the same for me, I had very cold hands after only five minutes. Donning mittens and turning to leave for the activation point, I spied the young lad now in the big shelter by the trig point. There was a steady stream of people arriving and leaving the trig so after checking he was OK I made my way back along the ridge, setting up in the first (southernmost) shelter as planned. Skiddaw was now hit by a snow storm.
After a while I spotted the boy’s parents heading for the summit. They were well past me by the time I saw them so I couldn’t communicate in the strong wind. The lad had some mountain experience and this was their second attempt at Skiddaw.
SKIDDAW, G/LD-004, 931m (10 pts) 10:57 to 13:01. Minus 0.5C. W/ NW wind 25 mph. Overcast with low-cloud and moderate icing conditions. One snow shower. Hazy sunshine for a few seconds only. No lying snow. (IO84KP, WAB: NY22, Trig: TP6001 – not on offer today). Vodafone coverage.
145.550 FM - 12 QSO’s:
I fired up the 25W MT270M and J-Pole, coupled via the big PYE filter. I could hear people calling on S20 but the second I pressed the PTT it shutdown. After checking connections it was no better. The snow was stinging my face like needles and filling up the carrier bag containing the equipment. I had a choice of numb hands or numb gloves. After fiddling around far too long I was forced into the second option but soon gave up. The mobile rig wasn’t ‘coming to work’ today.
No worries, I’ll use the handheld; one of my IC-E90’s. Because of the mittens there followed a frustrating ten minutes and it was even more frustrating when I realised that this setup was doing almost as badly as the previous one despite it being completely independent. I could only get around ten seconds of transmit each time before the rig switched off.
Geoff GM4WHA, attentive as ever, must have heard the ‘goings on.’ He called me and we exchanged 59’s on S20 ASAP but I had to turn the rig back on several times to achieve even that. After a QSY to S22 (145.550) suggested by Geoff, I was able to explain in staccato fashion, the nature of my troubles. Geoff kindly put a spot on Sotawatch for me with an explanation and warning to potential chasers. This help was invaluable. This got me out of another hole but I seem to be making a habit of it recently.
By dropping carrier every time, before my ten second limit was up, I managed to carry on. Maybe it was the cold affecting everything or more likely condensing conditions inside the rigs wetting the circuitry? I broke out a couple of those handy hand warmers like the ones I was forced to use on WS1 in February 2006. One went into the left mitten and the other was rubber-banded to the rear of the handheld. Gradually the ten seconds increased until I was managing over thirty but by the end it was failing again. However I still managed to log the following stations on S22 after multiple returns to S20 and many PTT drops:
M0TRI Andrew – Clifton nr Penrith; GM1VLA Tony - 3mls from Gretna Green and G6AEK/M Dave in Lancaster. Relax John, you’re qualified!!
Continuing: M0KCP/M Rob on the A66 and on the way back up to Scotland; G0ORO Dennis now in Wigton; M0YMC Malc – west of Carlisle; M0UCB George Carlisle; 2E0IKM Mike - Cockermouth; GM6LJE Rob in Canonbie 20mls N of Carlisle; 2E0LDF Reg in Cockermouth and M0XUP Steve - Maryport.
I hope the above log extract is accurate. It wasn’t hearing the callsigns that was difficult but the writing of them with alternately freezing or gloved hands. The pencil looks as though it was working independently of me so I can barely read the log.
Everybody was 59 to me apart from two 57’s. Incoming reports were in the range 57 to 59 with a 52 from G6AEK/M and a 59 plus 60dB from 2E0LDF in nearby Cockermouth. It’s a while since I worked radio friend Dennis G0ORO who goes way back to the start of SOTA. Recently relocated from the Cumbria coast to Wigton, Dennis was one of my early supporters from when logging four QSO’s wasn’t a given. As a bonus an email was waiting for me when I got back. Thanks Dennis.
The QSO with M0KCP/M started on 145.475 after I answered Rob’s CQ on S20. The QSY frequency was clear down on the A66 but busy at my end. We found each other on 145.550 after a short while.
Steve was due to air his call M0XUP from G/LD-041 Binsey but wouldn’t be there until 2pm. He was after his first 4m QSO, something I was in a position to help him with but I would be nearly back to the car by then. Had it been a balmy summer afternoon it would have been different but after 2 hours of icing conditions in a brisk windchill and a session of horizontal snow, I’d had enough thank you. Sorry Steve. I hope you got someone on 4m. 2E0LDF Reg mentioned that he was going to put up his 4m vertical for you.
70.450 FM – 1 QSO:
Geoff GM4WHA (Annan) waited on the side until I managed to qualify on 2m. In a lull he suggested trying for a QSO on 4m-FM. My IC-E90 with extended 2m rubber duck and three Watts to his IC7300 which is capable of 50W on 70MHz. I had alerted for 4m back at the hotel and the subject rig was already in use for 2m. It was just a case of unscrewing the coax and fitting the 2m duck minus its tip. Add the 24cm length of stainless welding rod and Bob’s your Uncle. Geoff had some doubts about hearing my QRP and so did I but we exchanged 59’s. Easy! Thanks for my only 4m QSO of the day Geoff. My favourite VHF band.
Descent:
A simple setup but it took longer than usual to pack up due mainly to thick ice covering the antenna, coax and mast. Throwing the assembly onto rocks might sound brutal but most of the ice flew off. Getting the ‘R’ clip out to separate the two mast sections could have been tricky but I could have just stuck it on the back of the pack. There are other ways of dealing with ice of course. Warm ‘water’ but I haven’t been desperate enough to use that method for a long time and Skiddaw wasn’t exactly deserted at the time.
The car park was reached in 63 minutes at 14:04. I was back at the hotel for 14:30 to spread my wet gear evenly over the bedroom and bathroom before my XYL had her nap.
QSO’s:
2m FM: 13
4m FM: 1
Walk data:
09:31: Left Underscar (295m ASL)
10:57: Arr LD4 Trig Point
11:00 to 11:05: Walk back to shelter-1 for activation
13:01: Left shelter-1
14:04: Arr. Underscar
Summit time: 2hrs-4min
1hr-26min up/ 1hr-3min down
Ascent and Distance: 680m (2,231ft) & 10.6km (6.6 miles)
10 points plus 3 points winter bonus
Comments:
The path I use to climb Skiddaw is very boring but also the most efficient. I feel I can justify it; I’ve been many other ways over the years. I’d long forgotten until looking it up, that I was the first person to activate it but not via that path but using the Ullock Pike – Barkbethdale route. Another thing which came to light. Today was my 21st activation.
Boxing Day is often used to walk off Christmas excess. Mission accomplished!
Even in summer I have seldom seen so many people. Today, everyone and his dog literally! In warm weather they lie around sunbathing and eating picnics but today I saw nobody stop for more than two minutes. Just sufficient time for a few summit snaps. There was no one without a coat or head covering. The only people sitting in shelters apart from me was the young lad waiting for his Mum and Dad.
Half a dozen dogs made a stop at ‘my’ shelter but fortunately not all at once. They moved on when no food was detected. I don’t mind. I love dogs. They all got a stroke. In fact I forgot to eat anything. Neither did I think to drink. A pint of tea and two free cream teas back at the hotel put those things to rights.
The rigs:
After a charge over several hours in the hotel room, the IC-E90 handheld appeared to work perfectly. I tried it with it’s own antenna and also linked to the J-Pole as per the summit setup. Both these tests used 90 seconds transmit with the rig set to 5W. It didn’t cut out or shutdown. The same test on the mobile rig using the full setup including the j-pole revealed no fault.
Cold or damp then, or a combination of the two? By the middle of the activation I did notice that the inside of the display window on the IC-E90 had ‘steamed up’ somewhat but I’ve seen that before with no ill effects. It would seem that the rigs need to be kept warm before use and not stored in a rucksack in a car boot for three days prior to use in wintertime.
THANKS:
To ALL STATIONS Worked. Geoff GM4WHA merits a special mention. He helped me to get the QSO’s I needed even with a duff rig! An amateur who will help anybody out. Thanks for the vital spot. Dennis: Thank you for the email which will be answered in due course.
73, John G4YSS/P
Photos: 1-4-5-6-11-14-18-19-21-22-24-27-29-30-38
Above: Looking back at a full Underscar Car Park
Above: The view over Derwentwater, Keswick, Portinscale and Braithwaite
Above: Injured Spaniel in a rucksack. Vet in attendance
Above: Looking over at Blencathra (Saddle Back) G/LD-008
Above: Entering CLAG. The slopes of Little Man (a HEMA) left of photo
Above: Activation of LD4 on VHF from the southernmost shelter
Above: One of my canine visitors
Above: The problem of Icing conditions
Above: Looking along the ridge
Above: The activator frozen silly
Above: The nearest we came to sunshine
Above: On the way down. Dropping out of cloud at last
