G4YSS: G/NP-006 with Finn, 24-04-26
Issue-1 pse rprt errors
G/NP-006 Gt.SHUNNER FELL 24th April 2026
QRO on 40m-SSB; 20m-CW-SSB, 15m-CW/ SSB & QRP on 2m-FM/ SSB
G4YSS/P accompanied by Finn (my Grandson’s Lurcher)
Times: BST (UTC+1hr)
EQUIPMENT:
FT817ND HF/VHF/UHF 5W Transceiver
MX-P50M HF 50 Watt Linear Amplifier 80m thru’ 10m
Home-brew link dipole for 40-(30)-20-(15) on reel
Home-brew 5m/ 4-section Ali/ CFC mast with 1m end sticks
One HRB 11.1V, 5 Ah Li-Po battery
VX-150, 2m-FM/ 5W Handheld with integral 2.2Ah Li-Po battery
J-Pole for 2m band
Reserves:
One Turnigy 11.1V, 2.2 Ah Li-Po battery (not used)
UV-3R 2W dual band VHF H/H in pocket
Pack-weight: 11.4kg (25 lbs) (using spring balance)
inc Dog coat (not used) & 1.75 ltr fluids/ ice
Other:
Garmin Geko 301 GPS
Thin down jacket in place of fleece (used only as a sun shade)
INTRODUCTION:
Since it’s my umpteenth repeat of NP6, this report reads much like any other. This was Finn’s 12th SOTA climb. Great Shunner Fell was his first and since then he has been a further twice - summit overnighters both times. He now lives in Chesterfield but it was agreed that he could come up to Scarborough for a 3-week holiday. We met at Goole which is roughly half way. I was granted permission to take him on another radio adventure.
After a dry period with cold winds, the weather was forecast to be warmer, fine and sunny with very light winds. MWIS also mentioned inverted temperatures in the morning. This was a weather opportunity not to be missed.
NP6 ROUTE (repeated):
Follow the quad track all the way. It loops round via Coal Pit, Grimy Gutter Hags, Grainy Gill Moss and Little Shunner Fell from SD 8688 9570 on Buttertubs Pass. Find the fence corner at SD 8694 9639. Turn left and follow the fence as it bends again at SD 8680 9653 at Grimy Gutter. Go left (WSW) at SD 8586 9707. Pass the end of a wall at SD 8542 9687 and after some steep sections SD 8503 9723. Continue up the right hand side of the fence, to the Pennine Way. Turn left onto the paved way and immediately pass through a gate to the combination trig point and summit shelter.
EXECUTION:
Leaving Scarborough at 7 o’ clock, Finn and I arrived at Buttertubs Pass by 09:30 (84 miles via A170, Thirsk and A684. The inversion was accompanied by tropo propagation so between Helmsley and Thirsk I chatted to G1OOT in Leicester on 2m-FM. I also heard two French stations on S22. The signals seemed to be running N-S.
The short road from Hawes to the start of Buttertubs Pass, which goes over the River Ure and past the MW-AM broadcast mast, was closed. It made necessary a detour via Apperset and doubling back through Hardraw. On the way up the pass a sign declared that the road would be closed from 05-05-26 for 2-weeks. (There’s far too much of this going on nowadays – much it unnecessary). There’s just enough space to park on the verge at the start of the quad track - SD 8688 9570.
Taking our time over breakfast from our improvised cool box, we got walking at 10:19, in sunshine but with almost no breeze. There were a few sheep high on the first section from the road but none further up or on the top. Sadly, because he can’t be fully trusted, Finn was on the lead all day. The climb in warm, humid conditions, took 69 minutes; the historic norm being a little under the hour. Finn had some water two or three times on the way up. For this I’d brought a small bottle in a shirt pocket and the lid off a plastic container.
Setting Up:
Once Finn was securely tied to the fence, I erected the 2m-FM vertical on the lower two sections of the mast, utilising the new the pig wire fence that I’d witnessed being erected on our previous visit.. To give him a little more freedom, Finn’s 5-metre lead was rigged to run along the top wire, limited by the posts either side. Unlike in 2020, when I took him up there as a puppy, he seemed content with his lot apart from being a bit overheated from the climb. In fact he settled down on the grass in the sun. Later I rigged a sunshade for him, checking him at every QSY. We had plenty of water and it was certainly needed. The sun was strong but the views were lovely, particularly over to Ingleborough.
G/NP-006 GT. SHUNNER FELL, 716m, 6 pts. 11:28 to 16:33. 9C at first, rising to the high teens later, wind less than 1mph but zero at times. Full sunshine throughout. LOC IO84VI, WAB SD89. Trig: TP-3468 (integral with shelter). Reliable Vodafone signal.
145.550 FM – 9 QSO’s:
With 5 watts selected on the VX-150 H/H and the J-pole plugged in, a self spot and CQ brought an immediate result. Nick G4OOE had just topped-out on G/LD-004 – Skiddaw when he heard me on the rig in his pocket. 59 both ways and a brief chat followed. What a great start for both of us. Next in was Richard G4TGJ/P with another S2S to G/NP-015 Gt Knoutberry, having got as close as possible to the start point by means of a train to Dent railway station. What a pleasant way to activate, though there’s a steep road-walk from the station before taking to the track..
Moving on I logged G7SXR, Mark in Leeds who I’d heard earlier while driving through Masham. G0MBV Ron called in from Stokesley using an indoor Slim Jim and G0PMJ Dave in Darlington telling me I was ‘10dB over the nine.’ We also discussed the morning tropo lift, which had by now almost gone away. We agreed that such conditions are not necessarily good for short-range SOTA on FM. An activation of LD20 comes to mind in bright sunshine above wall to wall white cloud. I could barely work the stations I would normally expect to work round and about. Neither did I have the power to work further away due to fleeting propagation changes and noise. Dave, who experienced this himself, came up with the description ‘reverse lift conditions’ or ‘anti-tropo’ for this. What we might wish for during a 2m-SSB contest for instance, is not always good for local FM working, especially with QRP.
Next in line was G0PON Gary also in Darlington and using 25W but when he QRX’d to increase power he disappeared never to return. Up until then he was 57 and giving me a 41. Later on, rumour had it that Gary was currently wielding a soldering iron.
The day’s third S2S was courtesy of G0VZM/P on G/NP-007 Wild Boar Fell. Ian had been thoroughly enjoying some CW on 20m – his very first experience of CW for SOTA. Apparently the chasers had been kind to him; something he sounded relieved about. He was using a ‘Slim Jim up at 4 or 5 metres coupled to a handheld running 10W.’
Calling from Houghton near Carlisle (I wrote it down as Howton), with 50 Watts was G1FVA Keith 59/ 55 from IO84MW. Keith mentioned he’d recently been up G/LD-010 St Sunday Crag, managing 13 QSO’s on 2m-FM but when he’d put on a Wainwright on the way down he’d got nil from Birks Fell. Having been there several times, I know that one is somewhat screened.
Finally in FM I worked G8KBH Dave 2 miles E of Blackpool. He was running 40W to a X5000 vertical - 55/ 52. Except for those mentioned above, all reports of my signal were 56 or above.
144.310/ 144.345 SSB – 5 QSO’s:
Following a hint received during the FM session, possibly from G1FVA, I tried some 2m-SSB which qualifies for this year’s challenge. There was no sign of whoever suggested it but they did say they’d be going out at some point. However a self spot for 144.345 brought in Mark G7SXR in Drighlington. Mark was having great difficulty with local interference on .345 so we moved briefly to complete the QSO on 144.310 at 57/ 55.
Returning to 144.345 and following a second self spot I logged G0MHF, John in Birkenhead in IO83LJ - 52/ 31 and M1DHA Alan at Barnoldswick IO83VW - 57/ 55. Richard G4TGJ/P came in again with 59 from NP15. We should maybe have tried CW too. I didn’t know it until later but Richard relearnt CW after becoming bored with FT8. It has subsequently become his preferred mode.
Dave G6AEK finished off the session for me with 53/ 51 from IO83MV in Poulton-le-Fylde. All stations were worked with 5W from the FT817ND to the vertical J-Pole.
The Sunshade:
The sun was quite powerful and the meagre breeze kept dropping to zero. Since the dog had come up wearing his fur coat I thought it prudent to provide him with some shade. He had water on demand but at times he was still panting. There wasn’t any shade available except at the shelter which we weren’t going to use today.
The question was how to rig it? Threading the dipole end sticks through the sleeves of a thin down jacket I’d brought along for emergencies, I stuck them into the ground in the form of an ‘A’ frame with the hood over the top ends where they crossed. The sticks wouldn’t be needed today anyway – the fence posts could stand-in for tying off to. Now Finn had somewhere to hide and for the time we were there he made good use of it, alternating between full sun and deep shade. This arrangement got our food and drinks shaded too.
21.061 CW – 3 QSO’s:
This band seemed closed but a self spot and a few CQ’s proved that it wasn’t. What’s more DX was first up in the form of K4QS. Chuck’s QTH is King George Virginia and the reports were 579/ 319. Jose EA7GV, much closer but also hearing me in Granada at 579/ 519, was easily worked. Finally I heard a weaker signal but with equal success came W4JKC, Tom in Anderson SC. (This brings to mind Tom Anderson, a Radio Caroline presenter from the 1980’s). Power was 50W to the 40m dipole, inv-vee at 5m ctr.
21.320 SSB – 1 QSO:
It never occurred to me before but why not try 15m SSB? It was unlikely to succeed, or so I thought but you never know. God bless that spotting system once again. I soon had N4EX in the log. Richard’s QTH was Raleigh NC with reports 55/ 54 QSB. He commented that 15m was open to Europe whereas 20m was not. Power was the max available 50 Watts. Success.
7.160/ 7.140/ 7.173 SSB - 14 QSO’s:
No need to fiddle with the dipole links for this one, just a quick VSWR check. Power was set down to 30 Watts to save on current. I had a small spare battery with me but why use it if I could manage without?
7.160:
My first stop was the WAB freq of 7.160 but it was quiet. Maybe I could wake it up and sure enough a CQ brought in Ken G0FEX in Leicester. We had our usual brief chat during which Ken passed on his 73 to my lad Phil G0UUU. When I tried for further QSO’s without success, Ken commented that everyone was out sunbathing. After initially taking this with a pinch of salt I began to believe it. Why be in the shack on a day like this? After all, to my mind, it was the best sunny day of 2026 so far. There’d been plenty of sun but mostly accompanied by cold winds or was it just that I live beside the cold North Sea?
7.140:
I had no wish to hog the WAB channel today in case a mobile came up offering grid squares so on my travels up and down the band I came across a CQ on 7.140. It was G4POF John using 100W to a rotatable dipole from Fordingbridge, Hampshire ‘between Salisbury and Bournemouth’ (59/ 56). As John wasn’t a SOTA chaser I explained the reason for being up at 2,350 feet, the working conditions and my location within the Yorkshire Dales .
7.173:
This frequency was clear and good for a further 12 QSO’s as follows: G7SXR Mark in Leeds 59/ 55 and G0UON Jim 59/ 55 with 100W to a Doublet 9 miles NE of Penrith, were first up. There followed a small pileup but luckily I heard the word ‘mobile’ in amongst it. This was G4WHA/M Geoff ‘sneaking’ out of work in Carlisle city centre to log me (55/ 45). Thanks Geoff - yet more dedication. I asked Geoff to pass on my 73 to John G0TDM, who rarely has the opportunity to do radio nowadays.
Waiting patiently were MW9WJS John in Newport 59/ 54; M1TJM Tom in Darlington 59/ 51; M0MDA Mick in Leeds 59/ 57 and M0WWJ Tom in Ryde IOW chasing POTA – a P2P with 59/ 55.
Next in: A prolific op, G0HRT Rob now in Milton Keynes and always a great signal 59/ 57; M1AOB/M Richard putting out a creditable signal for a mobile 57/ 54; G4IAR Dave – Loughborough 59/ 57 (Dave and his XYL Judith help run WAB); G4FKA Geoff 8 miles E of Bristol at 59/ 57.
After turning the log page over calling in was G4OIG in Northampton 59/ 57. Gerald had listened out for me on 15m but understandably without success. It was sounding like the chasers had all chased by this stage and so it proved. With the pressure off, Gerald and I had a chat to nicely round off the 40m UK session.
14.061 CW - 4 QSO’s:
Following a link change: EC8ADS Alfredo in Las Palmas, Canaries 579/ 559; DL8DXL Fred Laussnitz 579/ 539; UW8SM Andrij – Ukraine 599/ 449 (your national flag adds colour to my front garden Andrij) and SA4BLM Lars in Siljansnas 599/ 579. Power remained at 30W (2.5W drive the FT817ND).
14.205 SSB - 5 QSO’s:
The final session: EA3EVL 59/ 57; S57ILF Franci – Jesenice 59/ 56; EA1DHB Ricardo in Burgos 57/ 55; 3Z9VI Tomasz in Wadowice, Polska and last QSO of the day EA5FPL.Francisco in Valencia with 59/ 57. 30W again and the 5Ah still not flat.
DESCENT:
First the packing up, then ensuring that water was easily reached for the walk back (one 250ml bottle still had some ice in it) we set off slowly down. Knowing there were sheep lower down, Finn continued on the lead. Due to only one drinks stop, we reached the car in 60 minutes, arriving at 17:33. I didn’t want to be too early. This way we missed rush hour.
The Drive Home:
Due to the closure of the little road across to Hawes and the A684, the back road to Leyburn via Askrigg came into its own, despite complaints from the satnav. There was almost no traffic and the spring colours made the views stunning even for a partially colour blind person. From there it was A684, A1M, A168 and A170 Sutton Bank – a retrace of the morning’s route but traffic was very sparse until Pickering. At 88 miles it’s a bit further but avoids Thirsk.
QSO’s - 41 comprising:
9 on 2m-FM
5 on 2m-SSB
3 on 15m-CW
1 on 15m-SSB
14 on 40m-SSB
4 on 20m-CW
5 on 20m-SSB
Battery Utilization: 5Ah Li-Po used from 12.6 down to 11.2 VOC
Ascent & Distance:
200m (656ft) ascent, 7.1 km (4.4 miles) walked
6 SOTA points
Walking Time: 2hr-9min.
(69 min up/ 60 min down)
Summit Time: 5hr-5 min
Distance driven: 172 miles
Chronology (BST):
07:00: Left Scarborough
09:30: Arrived Buttertubs Pass (A170/ Thirsk/ A684)
10:19: Walking
11:28 to 16:33: G/NP-006
17:33: Rtn’d to car
17:50: Drove for home
20:10: Arrived home (via Askrigg, Masham, A1M, A168 & Sutton Bank)
OBSERVATIONS:
What a gorgeous day weather wise; still only April but when you’re not used to it, the sun seemed relentless. It was perhaps a little too warm for the dog until he got his sunshade. There was barely a breeze and in fact Nick G4OOE reported that it was completely absent on LD4 Skiddaw until mid afternoon.
2m:
At one stage this was going to be a 2m-FM only activation. My indecisiveness had me taking HF out of the rucksack and substituting it with my FT1500, then swapping it all back again. A casualty was my Sotabeam so I had to make do with a vertical J-Pole. I haven’t quite got my head around using vertical polarization for SSB but that’s what had to happen today. Far from being frowned upon, I get the impression that it’s just about acceptable or dare I say it, advantageous for this year’s SOTA challenge. Of course for serious distance I would need power and my three or six ele. As for range; not very far but VHFM gives a better opportunity for conversation however brief.
Five stations worked me on SSB too despite my QRP and omni. I learnt from Mark in Leeds that to qualify for the VHF SSB/ CW challenge you must obtain the LOC from whoever you work. Richard on NP15 further enlightened me with the fact that it’s not needed by the database for S2S’s. Thanks to both.
15m:
Historically I have barely done SOTA above 14 MHz, except when abroad but since I shortened my dipole to make it lighter, losing 60m, 80m and 160m, I’ve been inclined to add 15m for which I use the 40m setting. What a pleasure it is too and a place where DX can be found. If my memory serves me well (unlikely nowadays),15m-SSB was completely new to me from UK at least and I was glad of the response from Richard N4EX.
40m:
Perfect for logging the Brits, signals were reasonable but maybe a bit down on last time I was out, albeit I was in the centre of England then. I half expected there’d be a WAB net running but as someone said, why sit by the radio on such a beautiful day?
20m:
Perhaps a bit disappointing with only 9 stations worked including both modes but I did manage Ukraine. There wasn’t time for a visit to 10 MHz which might have been better for some chasers.
Finn – an added worry:
What a great pleasure for me to have Finn along for another SOTA, his 12th including some overnighters, two of which have been on NP6. However it can be a worry. If given the chance, a Greyhound/ Saluki cross, will chase Deer, Hares, Rabbits, Rats and Squirrels but six years of serious verbal indoctrination against interfering with sheep has made him almost uninterested in that particular animal. Just like Sasha before him, that’s not how he started off but this long ‘course of treatment’ seems to have worked as it eventually did with her too.
The technique, my own invention, consists of lifting him up on his hind legs, pointing him directly at the sheep every time we see some and shouting loudly in his ear a dozen times ‘Sheep No!’ Despite great progress with Finn I’ve become overall more cautious as I’ve aged. You can never trust a Lurcher 100%. No matter what you do reliable recall on this type of dog seems to be almost impossible to achieve. If you have the right kind of high-value food like chicken for instance, you have half a chance much of the time but once he’s on his own agenda with furry beasties in mind, you can whistle and shout all you like. You might just as well be on Mars; he’ll only come back when he’s ready. In fact it’s best to run in the direction last seen and try to find him.
Lurchers are very fast. They cover ground in seconds and are quickly over the local horizon. I used to attach a VHF transmitter to Sasha (a Greyhound with a touch of Staffy) but it only gave me 250m range and Finn refuses to wear it. I know you can get trackers but they need a mobile network signal which is still not available everywhere. The bottom line is he’s not my dog! Such is my worry added to all the other concerns of doing SOTA in the wild places.
Finn’s SOTA History so far:
11 summits inc one aborted (G/SP1); 3 summit camps; 65 points inc 9 WB; 2,774m (9,101ft) ascent; 69km (43 miles).
It’s a year since my Achilles went ‘bang’ on Kinder Scout. Yes it has healed but there’s no knowing how well. Care is needed and the avoidance of very steep gradients but thankfully it would seem that I can still do SOTA at a reduced level at least.
THANKS:
Thanks to ALL STATIONS WORKED and for the SOTA phone-spotting service which worked very well so long as I remember to add back the ‘/P’ for each spot. Thanks to Finn for good behaviour, his companionship and to his owner for allowing me to take him. I’m truly grateful.
Photos: 5-7-6-10-15-21-25-112624p-30-115358p-135544p-135939p-33-135957p-40-41-47-50
Above: The end of a 2,5 hour drive and the path up NP6
Above: Easy parking in Buttertubs Pass
Above: What can’t be got in has to be got on
Above: First section to Coal Pit and past these sheep. He showed almost no interest. 6-years of indoctrination must be working?
Above: Turn left and follow the fence
Above: Pass two fences and a wall end
Above: The steepest part. A dodgy Achilles requires a zig-zag
Above: Hot Dog! The PW comes up from Thwaite. Join it here for the final approach on stone slabs
Above: J-Pole for 2m-FM & 2m-SSB QRP activation looking SW and NE respectively
Above: HF activation using 40m-20m inv-vee dipole
Above: Finn’s makeshift sunshade. It was needed
Above: Special treat for SOTA only - cool milk went well with chicken breast
Above: Ready to leave and a view of Birkdale Tarn 5km to the north.
Above: The path down. Sultry heat awaited
Above: Pausing in Grimy Gutter Hags for a selfie, ‘But Grandad - this is really boring!’
Above: After almost an hour, the car in sight. The former G/NP-030 - Lovely Seat is left of photo. Now deemed a metre too small; I really miss going there.
Above: Rest at last before driving home