G4YSS: G/NP-008 Gt. Whernside on HF-VHF, 22-08-26
Issue-1 pse rprt errors
Here’s another one, just like the other one!
Activation of GREAT WHERNSIDE G/NP-008 on Saturday 22-August 2026
15m-CW; 40m-SSB; 20m-CW/SSB QRO & 2m-FM QRP
G4YSS/P with Finn (Saluki-Greyhound 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 (not used)
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 (not used)
Pack-weight: 12.8kg (28 lbs) (spring balance)
inc Dog coat & 1.5 ltr fluids comprising water, milk & ice
Fleece strapped to rucksack for ascent.
Umbrella used as a stick.
Other:
Garmin Geko 301 GPS (still works)
Thin down jacket (not used)
5m retractable dog lead
INTRODUCTION:
It’s been a long wait for conditions conducive to lugging heavy equipment up mountains. After five heat-waves this summer and a sixth in the offing, the weather was forecast to be cooler with light winds. MWIS had summit temps 9C rising to 14C, with wind-speeds 10 mph max, almost no low cloud and mainly sunny but the chance of a shower.
Finn is here to stay for July thru’ August and most welcome to keep me company. This was his 13th SOTA climb.
EXECUTION:
I (but not the dog) was up at 7am for a lot of last-minute prep including a short dog walk. Set-off time was 08:35. The 77 mile journey via Pickering, Northallerton, Leyburn & Horsehouse, to the parking spot at Tor Dike cattle grid, 2 miles N. of Kettlewell, took until 10:52.
There was no need to park south of the cattle grid on this occasion, because the usual herd of car-wrecking cattle was absent. It was still a minimal risk but someone else, with a much posher car than mine had either reached the same conclusion or was ignorant of the possible consequences.
While booting up, two 4-WD cars turned off the road to head up the track going NW. We exchanged pleasantries. A walker appeared after coming off Great Whernside. He was going back to Kettlewell via Buckden Pike. I warned him about the boggy path but commented that this was the best opportunity to tackle it.
The ascent started at 11:26 with Finn on the lead and in the lead. After such a long, dry summer, I expected the bog to be easier to cross. So it transpired but it was still wet with one area very soft. Finn led me up the two gullies. ‘Pull me up Finn’ but there wasn’t much help there. In fact a sudden jerk sideways broke the wooden handle clean-off the brolly I was employing as a stick. Gone was my insurance for the Achilles not to mention the forecast showers. Here we met a couple from Skipton who were doing the round from Kettlewell; a route with a lot more ascent than ours.
Though capable, Finn refused to jump the stile so I had to lift his 29 kg over the fence. The same was required in order to gain the eastern side of the summit fence. Stopping first at the trig and massive cairn for ‘triumphal photos’ a man, after spotting the kit tied to my rucksack, recognised my intentions, mentioning that he’d seen many radio enthusiasts there in the past. He even enquired, ‘How far can you get?’ so I explained the differences between HF and VHF. In these circumstances I find it often helps to refer to the former as ‘short-wave.’ The older minority who did CB back in the 80’s understand perfectly. As for the other’s, more explanation is needed but it’s nice when people engage and hill walkers are great at that.
Route in Brief:
Park south of the cattle grid on the verge at SD 9861 7567 but not blocking the gate. Today with no cattle in sight I parked on the pull-off north of it, hoping I wouldn’t later find my door mirrors hanging by their cables! From here, walk through the gate at SD 9891 7558 and cross a stile at SD 9963 7522. The 1st marker post (yellow top) is at SE 0005 7468 and the 4th at SE 0022 7414. The trig is beside the summit cairn at SE 00205 73905.
Note-1 The 100km grid letters change from SD to SE part way up.
Note-2: Buckden Pike G/NP-009 can also be accessed from this parking place.
GREAT WHERNSIDE, G/NP-008, 704m (2,310ft) 6 pts. 12:27 to 17:59. Temp: 16C. 5 to 8mph NW wind. Mostly sunny. No rain. WAB: SE07. LOC: IO94AD. Trig: TP-0703. Good EE phone coverage from summit; marginal at parking place.
Setting Up:
The inv-vee dipole was set up parallel with the fence on its east side and 140m NE of the summit cairn. Two fence posts were employed for tying off. I opened the broken brolly and fixed it in the fence as a windbreak should it decide to rain, which it didn’t. The fence made a half decent back rest.
Since there were no sheep on top as far as the eye could see, nor anywhere on the approach after the stile, I let Finn have some freedom. He didn’t let me down, staying within 30m or so throughout but partly because of the cool breeze and our immobility, I put his coat on. I donned my fleece. As is his want, he regarded all visitors to the summit as fair game for barking at so the fence did its job in separating the two. He only behaves like it after I’ve set up when he ‘takes ownership’ of the summit, so it’s territorial. He’s loud at a distance but friendly upon meeting people close up.
21.061 CW – 4 QSO’s:
15m was the opportunity for DX but none was to be had. However all was not lost; after a self spot I worked the following familiar EU callsigns: HB9BIN/P Juerg S2S on HB/BE-131 (a great start to the day); DL1FU Frid – Biedenkopf; DF1VB Jochen in Dortmund and OH3GZ Jukka who regularly chases me from Toivakka.
Power was 50W for these but with no further takers a QSY was in order. Signals sent out were all 579. Coming back 549 to 599. I was quite surprised that I could work western EU on 15 but it’s happened before. The 40m dipole was a three lambda by two on this band. VSWR around 2:1. FB - activation qualified.
7.132 SSB - 38 QSO’s:
No need to get up and adjust the dipole links for this one. Power was set down to 30 Watts to save on current. 7.160 had a QSO going on and it didn’t sound like WAB so I went down to my reserve, which considering this was a Saturday, was completely clear.
Stations worked following a self spot were: G0FEX Ken – Leicester (former WAB newsletter editor); M0KOV Steve in Wetherby; G4IAR Dave – Loughborough (WAB awards mgr.); ON7GB Hugo in Brussels; G0SLR Roy in Warrington and MM0MZB/P Matthew S2S on GM/SS-263.
Continuing on: G0FGI Tom S. Molton, Devon; M6KWB Kelly – nr Blackpool; 2E0LUN Mick in Bedford; M1AOB Richard at Holdsworthy (TNX for the QSL Card Richard); G0VIM Malcolm in Pluckley; M5RJC Rick - Harrogate; M7PLP Paul – Liverpool and M9SKA Bill in Doncaster.
Still they come: M7LLW Martin - Wrexham; M9MAA Ian in Darlington; 2E0GYW Thomas near the BRI, Fairweather Green, Bradford; G4FSX Graham nr Peterborough; 2E0BLN Danny at Osgodby, Scarborough 78m ASL (one of two Scarborough stations wkd. today); G0DEC/P Dave - Braintree; MM3PDM Peter in Peterhead; (chasing SE07 & the trig) M0MDA Mick in Leeds; 2E0ESY Mike – Kings Lynn; M9OTE Ian, Horwich (Bolton); G4OIG Gerald in Northampton; G0RQL Don - Holdsworthy; G8VNW Nick in Threshfield (sri Nick - no 160m) and HB9DIZ Marcus in Lucerne.
Turning the log sheet over: G1ZIM/M Simon at the foot of Hardknott Pass; MI/EI7KH/P Marek kayaking on an Irish loch; G0BFJ Brian in Hudds (WAB OV00 activation 1985); GM3ALZ Fred 40 miles west of Aberdeen (POTA GB-0835); G4NXL Malc in Belper; M7EKJ Nick in Farndale Nature Reserve on the NYMNP; G3SPX Ken at E. Ardsley nr Leeds; MM0XDG David - Edinburgh; M1DHA/P Alan on Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough (HEMA G/HTW-009) and MM0XNC Bob – 5 miles south of Ayr.
Bill M9SKA was using an old FT897, while Thomas 2E0GYW was on a TS2000. Dave G0DEC/P had a half-square antenna and 10W. Simon G1ZIM/M was sitting outside his car with an FT818 and a linear. GM3ALZ was offering POTA using 15W from a KX3. David MM0XDG had a K2 with 15W out and has several other Elecraft rigs.
M1DHA/P Alan was on holiday in Scarborough from Barnoldswick. Alan stewards for the camping weekends there. I had quite a long chat with him, not least that he was calling from my home town but also that he seemed a little lost. After years of holidays in Scarborough as a couple, he told me that his wife is now in a home and he was just there for the memories. His location on Oliver’s Mount was down by the changing rooms. It was a wise choice to minimise QRM from the commercial mast at the north end but was still getting nasty noises in his receiver. He hadn’t realised he was on a HEMA so I gave him its ref. which he wrote in his log for future QSO’s.
Outgoing reports were almost all good and in the range 57-59. Exceptions were a 52 when collecting GM/SS-263, a 33/ 44 for MM0XNC who was experimenting with a Chinese whip aerial but after switching to an alternative antenna, jumped to 58. Apart from half a dozen 55’s incoming reports were all in the range 57 to 59. Some were 59 plus and one or two gave me 59 plus 30dB! 40m was working exceptionally well inter-G but I still managed to dig out HB9DIG from the bottom of a five-call pileup (55/ 42). Thanks for your patience.
14.061 CW - 11 QSO’s:
Though it seemed like half an hour, the 40m SSB session lasted almost 100 minutes so getting up to change the dipole links caused a few groans. I had a walk around to ease the stiffness but also to see what Finn was up to. He was just out of my sight line; quietly lying in the grass about 30m away but looking intently around. Power remained at a battery friendly 30W.
Pulling the spare battery from the rucksack pocket in case it was needed quickly (it wasn’t), I put on a self spot and got down to work. Stations logged: SP9PND Milosz – Rycerca Dolna; OH3GZ Jukka - Toivakka; IK1LBL Mario - Vallecrosia; S52AU Burut - Ljublijana; EA7GV Jose - Ogijares; DF1VB Jochen - Dortmund; OK1KT Vrata - Kralove; TF3DC Oskar in Reykjavik (FB!); M0BKV Damian in Week St Mary; ON3MK Mor in Zele and HB9BAB/P S2S on HB/ZH-015.
Reports given out were 579 or 599. Coming back 539 to 599 and there was QSB again.
14.277 SSB - 5 QSO’s:
After a quick spot: EA1DHB Ricardo - Burgos; EA2DT/P Manuel - Pamplona; OK2KG Jiri – Kotvrdovice; CT7ALW/P S2S on CT/MN-054 and OH/OZ5DM David ‘suffering serious contest QRM’ in Copenhagen).
145.400 FM – 8 QSO’s:
I went to spot myself on 21 MHz for another try at DX but then I looked at my watch. Seems the afternoon had been spent in a time warp so here we were, the final session on 2m-FM.
The intention was to use the VX150 for 2m-FM but with little time available the risk of a flat battery on the 817 was taken. Callsigns logged: G7SXR Mark in Leeds; M0KOV Steve – Wetherby (a SOTA activator with his eye on NP31/ NP9 in the coming days); G4LWG Ian in Barnoldswick; G0PMJ Dave in Darlington; G8YDC John 5 mls S of M’Bro (Nunthorpe).
The final three: G7COD Andy near Gargrave (1W to a tri-band collinear, 59/ 59); G4BLH Mike – Clitheroe (worked quickly on 145.500, the only channel he could hear me on). The last QSO of the day was with G0PON Gary using an IC9700 to an X510 at 50ft located in the high part of Darlington (‘but not quite as high as Dave G0PMJ’).
Power was 2.5W except the final two QSO’s - 5W. After driving the HF linear with 2.5W input, I initially omitted to switch the FT817ND up to full power. Mike reminded me when he said, ‘John, I know you’re there but I can’t copy you. Can put a bit more coal on?’
DESCENT:
The summit had been quite busy throughout the day but by this time it was deserted. Neither did we meet anyone on the way down. Before leaving, Finn finished off the last of the milk and a can of sardines while I drunk most of the water. All designed to get the weight down. The broken brolly, now useless as a stick, was strapped to the rucksack. In its place, section-2 of the mast served as a walking aid and was very useful going down the gullies.
Two stops were needed to get the lanky-legged dog over the stiles but we reached the car in 47 minutes by 18:46. Overrunning on the activation meant less traffic on the roads – great! Rabbits rule the area closest to the road. There were 8 or 10 playing around 50m away which certainly grabbed Finn’s attention. Bad luck for him – the lead was attached due to sheep also in this lower area.
The Drive Home:
Just for a change I routed via Grassington, Pateley Bridge, Ripon, A168 and up Sutton Bank on the A170. Driving cross-country in this part of England is tedious so despite very light traffic the 83 mile journey took from 19:00 to 21:14.
COMMENTS:
Like last year this wasn’t the historic target of VHF-NFD but at least it meant the activation series since 2002 wasn’t broken. It also got the dog on an adventure before he goes back to his owner on 2nd September. As well as the fresh air and exercise, the main point of SOTA for me since it started, interacting with people past and present gave a real boost to my day. Therapy all round.
15m:
The USA stations I worked on 15m the last few times were absent. However, thanks to the EU chasers who called in, the activation was qualified in the first session. As there were only four who heard me in CW, I didn’t bother to do SSB. This was the only band I used the full 50W for. QSB was the deepest of any band worked which left me wondering whether we were propagating via E’s? Maybe not but as well as deep and sudden fading, skip was quite short for 21MHz. It could explain why I heard no F layer prop.
40m:
The band was in amazing condition for working G’s with mainly excellent signal reports. I could have done 90% of it with QRP today. Skip was short with just one station logged outside the UK. There were 38 QSO’s spanning an hour and 37 minutes and I totally lost track of time. Old friends kept calling in so there were quite a few chatty QSO’s. In case the SSB pileup was replicated in CW and with two more bands planned, it was deemed likely there’d be insufficient time to try a mode change. TF3DC Oskar in Godaland, Reykjavik is worth a mention for only TF’s relative rarity. Thanks for calling.
20m:
This was the place to pull in the continent. CW speeds are greater on here than I remember when working CW into the EU on 7.032 way back in the day and pileups are nearly as deep. In one such, S52AU called but QRM kept happening half way through the QSO. This occurred three times but with dogged determination we logged one another in the end. Thanks.
CW:
Generally speaking, because my CW skills are barely up to the job, I don’t always get callsigns immediately and have to ask for repeats but not literally. I just send back the one or two characters copied followed by a jug handle. It’s usually fast and effective. Strange as it may seem, I still enjoy CW SOTA. In fact according to the database over the years, it’s been my majority mode.
To my mind, CW is still the pinnacle of amateur radio operating. When I was young, I never questioned that people who could do Morse were less than superhuman. If someone had told me at the time that I would one day use it, I’d have replied, ‘Don’t be stupid!’ That said, it took an awful lot of learning – 6 months in fact and the Hull Coast Station op who took me for the test booked for ‘09:00 prompt – don’t be late,’ on a Monday morning, was less than sympathetic. When I nervously walked in his booming comment was, ‘What have you come for?’ ‘Sit down; is that loud enough?’ Ripping off the headphones I placed them at the back of the table. ‘Yes, that’s plenty loud enough for me thanks.’ This was my first experience of tinnitus and I’ll never know how on earth I passed.
2m-FM:
After a long hard day at the ‘office’ this always seems like coming home. No pressure apart from minor time pressure if it’s the final session of the day. FM is perfect for a 2-minute chat with each chaser. Next time I activate it’ll probably be exclusively on 2-FM just to keep the weight down for a while.
The weather was close to perfect but the slog up was still hard. Maybe my pack was too heavy but I never got out of the ‘just in case’ habit. There are items in my rucksack that really shouldn’t be there. Stuff, from a bygone era when I would visit remote places in the depths of winter, that’s barely seen the light of day for twenty years. Maybe it’s time to let go a little? I really must order that QSX that I promised myself but the website is somewhat daunting if you are to get precisely what you want – built and tested.
Not POTA:
I was called by three different POTA ops but since my location was approximately 30m outside the Yorkshire Dales National Park, I was reluctantly forced to disappoint them. The summit proper is inside the park but I was off to one side. A technicality but what can one do?
A short piece of 15mm copper water pipe and some epoxy reattached the broken-off umbrella handle but now it won’t fully furl, leaving a choice of further work or a trip down to Mountain Warehouse? I do like to keep my kit up and running rather than buy new. It’s the Yorkshireman in me and it already has four home-brew spokes replacing broken ones.
ASCENT & DISTANCE:
217m (712ft)/ 5.5km (3.4 miles up & down)
Walking times etc:
Ascent: 61 min
Descent: 47 min
Summit time: 5hr-32 min
Car to Car: 7hr-19 min
Home to home: 12hr-39 min
QSO’s - 66 comprising:
4 on 15m-CW
38 on 40m-SSB
11 on 20m-CW
5 on 20m-SSB
8 on 2m-FM
Battery Utilization:
HRB 5Ah Li-Po No10 - used from 12.6 down to 10.9 VOC
Turnigy 2.2Ah Li-Po spare – not used
Chronology (BST):
08:35: Left Scarborough
10:52: Arr. Tor Dike cattle grid (A170, Northallerton, Leyburn, A684, Horsehouse)
11:26: Walking
12:27 to 17:59: G/NP-008
18:46: Rtn’d to Tor Dike
19:00: Drove for home
21:14: Arrived home (via Grassington, Pateley Bridge, Ripon, A168 & Sutton Bank)
Miles driven: 160 (77 + 83)
SOTA Points: 6
THANKS:
To ALL STATIONS worked and the SOTA spotting service. To 2E0BLN and G7COD for our QSO’s and your spots which brought in further stations. Thank you to M1AOB, who sent me a QSL card via email the same day. Finally to Finn for keeping me company.
73, John G4YSS/P
(ex GX0OOO/P 2002 to 2020)
Photos: 1-2-4-7-9-10-11-17-175519p-19-125709p-153119p-152627p-153753p-173549p-42-46-48-49-50
Above: Two 4WD’s were headed in the Buckden Pike direction
Above: NP8 Great Whernside from the parking place
Above: Finn impatient for the off
Above: Down the dip and up through the gate
Above: Pull as much as you want Finn
Above: The steep part up to the stile
Above: The stile but he refused to jump it (4-points penalty)
Above: Summit cairn on arrival and trig TP-0703 just before leaving
Above: View from the cairn to the south
Above: The QTH with Finn & the broken brolly
Above: 40m-20m dipole on 4-section/ 5m mast
Above: A late lunch. Sharing my sandwich
Above: J-pole vertical for 2m-FM
Above: On the return - looking back
Above: Careful here. Negotiating the steep gully
Above: G/NP-008 - a parting shot
Above: Heading down Park Rash towards Kettlewell. (Satnav & DAB antenna)
