G4YSS: G/NP-006 on 2m-FM 22-10-25
Issue-1. Pse Rprt Errors
G/NP-006 GREAT SHUNNER FELL on 2m-FM QRP
Unaccompanied on 22nd-October 2025
Times: BST (UTC+1hr) UOS as z
EQUIPMENT:
ICOM IC-E90, 4-Band VHF/ UHF Handheld with 1.3Ah battery
Vertex VX150 2m-FM Handheld modified with 2.2Ah Li-Po battery
UV-5R 5W VHF/ UHF (PMR) Handheld
UV-3R 2W VHF/ UHF (PMR) Handheld (top pocket)
2m Band Vertical J-Pole on a short mast
Pack-weight: Approx 8.3kg (18.3 lbs)
Garmin Geko 301 GPS
INTRODUCTION:
After an Achilles try-out on NP26 Kisdon the day before, I thought I might be able to manage Great Shunner Fell. The ascent required is much the same as Kisdon but it’s a 4.5 mile round trip as against around 3 miles. Having activated it 25 times I know it like the back of my hand and what’s involved. If I took it carefully this might be the ideal next stage of easing my way back into SOTA. The distance is not particularly short but the real issue is steep ground. There are a few steep places on the route from Buttertubs but none last for very long and there’s enough space to zig-zag or alternatively walk sideways.
I really prefer to have a day off between SOTA’s, not least to take my XYL out but also to catch up on the paperwork. Due to fickle weather and uncertainty; the product of inaccurate forecasting for most of this particular week, that wasn’t a prudent choice. It was a case of making hay.
NP6 ROUTE (again):
A quad track goes to the summit from SD 8688 9570 (200m N. of the cattle grid) on Buttertubs Pass via Coal Pit and the fence corner at SD 8694 9639. Turn left and follow the fence as it bends again at SD 8680 9653. Enter Grimy Gutter Hags where it becomes ill-defined. Still following the fence, swing left (WSW) at SD 8586 9707. Pass the end of a wall at SD 8542 9687 and after some short, steep sections, continue to the Pennine Way, turning left there and passing through a gate a short distance from the summit. There’s only 200m of ascent but it’s a longish slog of 2.2 miles over wet ground some of the way. Allow an hour but it’s quicker and easier than using the PW from either Hawes or Thwaite. There is a very well-built shelter combined with a stone-built trig point.
EXECUTION:
The ascent started at 10:27 in pleasant conditions, the steady climb taking 64 minutes which is 10 minutes longer than usual; just from being careful on the steep parts.
Setting Up:
Unless I’m staying a very short time or the weather’s so bad that no one is expected, I usually set up away from shelters using a flysheet, umbrella or more rarely, a windbreak. However, this Achilles problem has made me a little nervous of getting down to or up from the ground or shuffling through a tent door etc. I feel that bending my foot too far could put me back six months so I set up in the shelter, sticking the short mast and J-pole in the rucksack which was placed on the seat. Planning to stay as long as possible, I could QRT if people arrived but as it happened this was not a major problem. People stopping to use the shelter, like QSO’s logged, both proved to be fairly infrequent events.
After saying that I did have two visitors early on. The couple, who approached running up the Pennine Way from Thwaite, stopped in the shelter but only briefly. We had a quick chat as they were curious about the antenna. They had a chocolate bar and ran on towards Hawes after deeming it too cold to hang around.
Mending Fences:
I was almost ready to start the activation when I heard the sound of an engine. This, I assumed was being carried up on the breeze from some distant road to the south but rather than fading away, it got gradually louder. The nearest road in that direction was 4 or 5km away. It’s not that unusual to hear sounds from below; I’ve heard plenty before when on summits, especially when camping overnight after the wind drops but this was different. Then I saw it. About 400m away down the Pennine Way there appeared a large lumbering machine and three smaller ones. They were all weaving around presumably to avoid bogs and uneven ground.
The big vehicle, heavily laden with a stack of fence posts, was a JCB and the other three were quads. It soon became clear that they’d arrived to mend or replace the summit fences, which admittedly were getting a bit rusty. I’ve been on a summit or two in my life but seeing a JCB at over 2,000ft was a new one on me. It was pretty noisy as it passed the shelter. I hoped that they wouldn’t be working close enough to swamp the audio coming from my H/H!
G/NP-006 GT. SHUNNER FELL, 716m, 6 pts. 11:57 to 14:57. 7C, wind SW 15mph. LOC IO84VI, WAB SD89. Trig: TP-3468 (integral with shelter). Good EE phone coverage
145.400 FM – 11 QSO’s:
Following a self spot, eleven stations were logged with 5 watts feeding the J-pole, which I noticed later from the photos, was not quite vertical due to the sagging rucksack.
In the log:
G6LKB Dave in Ulverston 59/ 55; M0PVA Mick in Billington 59/ 57; G7SXR Mark in Drighlington (Leeds) an easy 59/ 57 today; G6AEK Dave – Blackpool 57/ 51; M9WRD/P Luke S2S on G/NP-004 Whernside 59/ 59; M7IFT/P Ian S2S on G/TW-001 Urra Moor 59/ 59; G1CLT/P Ray - dog walking on Eston Nab (Middlesborough) 52/ 52-55; G4DUZ Keith – Huddersfield 57/ 55; G3MAE Tony – Appleton Wiske 59/ 59; G1JSF/M Jon /M in Sedbergh 57/ 52 and M1DHA - Alan in Barnoldswick 59/ 59.
I opened with a CQ using IC-E90 (No2). Dave and Mick called back almost together. Putting Mick on standby, I went back to Dave but after one sentence I noticed that there was no display – the rig was dead. Although I’d charged the battery (BP217) a few days before and detached it from the rig until needed, the latter had just shut down. I had a spare battery but it was faster to reach for the Vertex VX150, plug in the BNC and apologize. The Vertex (Yaesu) VX150, a solidly built mono-bander, was modified with my addition of a Li-on 2.2 Ah battery. This combination did all the work required of it over the coming hours.
Next in was Mark in Leeds who told me that 145.500 was a difficult channel for him due to a permanent carrier in the locality but he’d seen the spot. As always, Mark was pleased to work a SOTA on his preferred chaser band which half made up from our failure to connect Kisdon with Leeds the day before.
I’ve worked Dave in Blackpool ten times in the past and as I remember, he once called me from Winter Hill. Luke, who came in with a massive signal from NP4, was only the third M9 I’ve worked. They tell me that M9 can take the place of a 2E0 and M8 is a swap from 2E1.
Ian on TW1 – the top of the North York Moors - had walked up from Chop Yat in Bilsdale. Ray, walking his two dogs on Eston Nab, was using a Radtel RT-880 handheld – a rig I’d never heard of until then. I looked it up – a nice looking radio. Wonder how it performs? We weren’t strong to one another but it sounded OK to me. He told me that he was recording our QSO which he’d be putting on YouTube at some point. I’ll try to remember to look that up.
Keith using 25W from Huddersfield gave his WAB square as SE21 and LOC as IO93EO. There seemed to be some noise with his signal but in the end it turned out to be a distant QSO underneath him. Sorry Keith, I regret alarming you for no good reason.
Tony G3MAE, now a member of Northallerton Radio Club, is an ex SARS (Scarborough Amateur Radio Society) member 1956 to 1960. We had a long conversation after discovered that we both knew some long-gone members such as Henry Wiggins G2CP (DXCC on 1-Watt HB!); Peter Tipper G3JBR (GCHQ technician, SARS Chairman and RAE teacher at Scarborough Technical College); Ernie Stankiste G4FCH (ex Matlow – his words) and probably a few others. Peter had taken Tony under his wing, pointing him in the direction of Jack G5VO for on-air Morse training sessions. Those were the days!
Tony was also a scout leader up in the NE but that folded due to a lack of scouts. On getting down to one scout and three leaders, they deemed it time to pack up. Normally it’s the other way round.
Activity on 2m-FM was rather slow but I kept trying. The above QSO’s were logged over a 2hr-40min period with lots of breaks in between.
As well as single walkers, an 8-strong walking group arrived. Having come from different parts of the country, they met up to walk Great Shunner Fell. They’d come up the PW from Thwaite but were planning to go down to Cotterdale. It was lunch time so I put the rig down to give them some peace and have a chat.
One or two were curious which prompted the usual potted explanation of SOTA but it wasn’t digested by all. After lunch, as they walked off from the shelter into a stiff breeze blowing my way, I heard one say, ‘What was he doing exactly?’ Another answered, ‘He’s a radio amateur’ and a third, ‘He’s broadcasting.’ (Don’t tell OFCOM)!
Later on two girls arrived, topping out with a triumphant, ‘YES’ - fist pumps, the works. They headed for the other leeward bay saying, ‘We don’t want to disturb you.’ My reply shouted over the wind, ‘It’s quite the other way around.’ I was in QSO but also feeling a little bit guilty about my inability to welcome and congratulate their efforts in the way they deserved.
After I’d rounded off the QSO I went ‘next door’ to apologize. If the walking group had been interested in my strange activity, these two were doubly so. They’d come up the boggy 3.5 miles of Pennine Way from Thwaite and here they were, one with a can of beer and one with a bottle of the same saying, ‘Look, we can only do this on alcohol!’ It is quite a climb but having got their breath back, they were soon asking loads of questions and offering me a KitKat - twice.
I hope I didn’t come over as rude or ungrateful but the latter I was reluctant to take. I have this principle that sustenance assumes a massive value when you’re out in wild or remote places I know this sounds like an exaggeration but one KitKat could extend a life in a dire emergency, especially in winter so I am reluctant to take something that can’t be replaced, though I would of course give it to someone in need without hesitation. I digress - again.
Anyway, it seemed that we had things in common. They came from London; in fact Hornsey and Harringay where respectively I lived and worked at Ever Ready Research Labs in 1970. They were audibly delighted when I started recalling roads and places that they knew. When I asked them for a photo ‘for my SOTA report’ they asked for my phone, telling me to line-up and smile.’
‘Have you been up here before?’ I mentioned that I sometimes camp on top of Great Shunner. What? ‘On your own?’ ‘No, sometimes with a dog.’ ‘Aren’t you scared up here at night?’ ‘What about serial killers?’ We quickly agreed that with a low probability of exceptions, serial killers don’t normally make good mountain walkers. They asked me my age. You know you’re ‘getting on a bit’ when young people ask you your age! They being 38, it turned out that my age was exactly the sum of theirs! They were all smiles and bubbly with it. The best description I could come up with at the time – and I told them - was ‘live wires.’ They seemed to agree.
Off they set down the PW path back to Thwaite, passing the time of day with the fence builders as they passed. They would certainly catch the shower which created a rainbow a short time later. I think they said they were staying in Gunnerside but I never saw them again. These were Hannah and Rosie and as they told me, one in ‘social care’ and the other in media.’ With a slow QSO rate and sitting still in a breezy 7 degrees C for the previous two hours, I was getting a bit chilled and slightly miserable before they turned up but they certainly turned that around. It’s a truism - you meet some great people on mountains.
70.450 FM – Nil:
Using my IC-E90 4-Band H/H with its battery duly swapped for a full one and a 2m-band rubber duck extended to resonate on 4m, I called for at least 10 minutes whilst standing up. The rig runs about 3-Watts on 4m. I tried but there was nothing on 4m for me today despite a self spot. To be fair even 2m was somewhat hard work, never mind with further reduced working conditions on 4. I have low expectations on 4fm these days and that’s in part my own fault. After an enthusiastic beginning, in recent years I didn’t activate on 4m often enough to keep interest up.
DESCENT:
Enjoying some full-on Autumn sunshine and stopping to collect some rock samples, the walk down was slower than the climb but it was a relief to sit down in the car at 16:05. The drive back to Thwaite should take around 5 minutes but I stopped at the Buttertubs to take some photos of them from the road. 50 years younger and I’d have brought some rope and taken the photos looking up!
When people started buying their first cars in the 1950’s/ 60’s these holes in the ground became a sensation, attracting visitors from far and wide. Back then the road was pure excitement too, if not for the driver, certainly for the children in the back seat. Now there’s a strong wire barrier to stop you driving over the edge in fog and what a drop it would be! Now hardly anybody even stops – screens have taken over from reality.
QSO’s:
11 on 2m-FM
0 on 4m-FM
Ascent & Distance:
200m (656ft) ascent, 7.1 km (4.4 miles)
6 SOTA points
Walking Times:
64 min up
68 min down
Summit Time: 3hr-30 min
COMMENTS:
Another activation appreciated and enjoyed though this one was simple FM. Despite some apprehension with the help of a slow pace I managed the steep bits which got me wondering if I could advance further to say NP15 or NP16. Maybe not just yet.
As mentioned, you make some great friendships on mountains but they’re only too brief. I can’t remember ever meeting the same person twice. Today was no exception and for me this aspect provides a significant proportion of the enjoyment. Add fresh air, exercise and radio and you’re very close to perfection – if the weather behaves that is!
It was slow going on the radio. The self-spots no doubt helped get it going but there was a long time between some of the later QSO’s. No worries; rain was infrequent and when it did arrive it was only light drizzle. After a time, with the added breeze, 7C starts to be in the shivery zone but it wasn’t too cold, given the shelter.
4m-FM was a disappointment but I can’t complain too much. You try these things more in hope than expectation but it’s still a bit down heartening with just ‘CQ’ written in the log. A pre-alert might have helped? As I’ve said before, I share a little of the blame for not being consistent but I think there has been a general decline in 4m-FM activity after it promised to be quite the opposite. The IC7300 has it built in as do a few other rigs nowadays. Maybe we could do with a 70 MHz event, a bit like 145-Alive which has been a real success.
The rock samples were for my XYL’s friend. After years of this, her rockery is spectacular in its variety and the summits are getting a little bit easier to climb as time goes by. To be fair these particular rocks were from a little way down; there are none on the summit proper. A friend in the village, who related a tale of getting lost in a fog up Great Shunner in 1958 - ending up in Cotterdale, accepted a small stone which put a smile on his face. He honoured Great Shunner when he told me that it was going in the cabinet with his wife’s porcelain.
My original IC-E90, bought new from ML&S in 2008, has given me much pleasure and SOTA success in the past but it no longer transmits on all four bands - 2m is RX only unless you’re less than 50m away. Today I was using a replacement rig which cost £82 from ebay. It’s in great condition and does all four bands but now we find it has a duff battery. Since this activation, I bought a new battery for it on ebay costing £26.66. It looks identical and fits perfectly but it purports to be 1,900 mAh whereas the originals are all 1,300 mAh.
Tests on receipt showed that it would run the IC-E90 in TX mode for 34 minutes made up of 17 x 2-minute transmissions plus a bit of squelched receive thrown in. Since I don’t have results for the original, I can’t do a comparison but it seems acceptable to me. The radio’s spec says the transmitter takes 2A at 8V on the 5W setting, so I suspect the 1,900 mAh is fantasy or it may have been wrongly labelled?
By contrast the battery that failed on the first QSO tested out at only 8 minutes on transmit. That’s just 25% of spec but it can’t have had a recent charge either.
THANKS:
Thanks to ALL STATIONS WORKED and for the SOTA phone-spotting service.
73 John G4YSS
Photos: 2-3-5-9-15-759p-18-27-30-36-38-39-943p-038p-434p-53-54-59-60-63-65-66-70-72
Above: Buttertubs pass. Follow the grassy track
Above: Pass the end of a wall at SD 8542 9687
Above: Steep but only short. Room to zig-zag
Above: The last part is via the Pennine Way
Above: Shelter from the four winds
Above: Trig TP-3468 posing as a wall
Above: The approaching ‘monster’
Above: The advance party
Above: He smiled and waved back
Above: This was a specialist fencing company who are immune to cold
Above: The two runners
Above: ‘Live wires’ - Hannah & Rosie from North London
Above. Our ages: 1+3=2
Above: A short shower
Above: Wonder if he’s left the keys in?
Above: Final view of the summit. I never want to leave
Above: Beverage with choke balun?
Above: ‘Here’s one we did earlier.’ New fencing as far as the eye can see
Above: Paused here for rock samples
Above: That wall again
Above: We borrow it - they own it
Above: Road in sight