G4YSS: G/NP-009 Summit Camp & 4m Contest, 18 to 19-07-24
Issue-3 (Pse Rprt Errors)
OVERNIGHTER on BUCKDEN PIKE for the UKAC 70 MHz Contest Evening & 160m
QRP on 20m-CW, 4m-SSB, 2m-FM and 160m-CW/SSB
G4YSS Unaccompanied
Times:
Non-radio: BST (UTC plus 1)
Radio ops: UTC (‘z’)
EQUIPMENT:
FT817ND Transceiver with CW toggle switch in mic.
Ukrainian Transverter 28-70MHz, 10W output/ 2.5W input
‘Double size’ home-brew Sotabeam (3-ele) for 4m-band
Link dipole for 80-60-40-(30)-20m
Loading coils with slug tuning for 1.8 to 2.0 MHz at 40m link points
6m (5-section) home-brew CFC/ alloy mast with 1m end sticks
(Lower 3-sections used for 4m beam at 3.3m AGL)
UV-5R, 5W FM dual band handheld in reserve
Vertical J-Pole for 2m-FM on front tent pole
UV-3R, 2W FM dual band (&PMR-446) handheld ‘top pocket rig’
Batteries:
One Li-Po 11.1V, 5Ah (HRB-No7)
Other:
Garmin Geko 301 GPS No2
Lichfield Viper-2 Ridge tent (1988) - flysheet only with pre-attached pegs & poles
Clear poly groundsheet, 1m x 2m
Thin white poly ground mat 1.2m x 0.66m (60gm)
Mountain Equipment Nova-II, synthetic sleeping bag 1.2kg
Petzl Zipka Headlamp
Pack weight:
85 litre rucksack including 3.2kg of antennas, poles & flysheet on outside
15.3kg (33.7 pounds) inc. 0.25 ltr Ice; 0.25 ltr ENO; 0.5 ltr shandy & 0.5 ltr water
INTRODUCTION:
NP8 was my go-to summit for VHF-NFD on 7th July-24 so I decided on its twin NP9 for the 4m contest camp-over, with 160m added after dark. The original thought was Whernside NP4 – a much better location as it overlooks the midlands well. However that involves a three-hour drive from Scarborough as against just over two and I needed to be back early. NP9 was my choice for a 6m UKAC contest camp in July-2023. It is just on the 84 side of the 84/94 LOC square boundary, which runs north-south between NP8 and NP9.
To keep pack weight within reasonable bounds I went for an all QRP option. ‘Nesh’ is not quite the word but at C3/4 this month, surely I’m allowed to go a bit soft. Also the forecast was OK for a change so I could dispense with the inner tent.
Route (again):
From the quarry parking place in Bishopdale (SD 9455 7996/ 413m ASL) the way is initially north up the tarmac, right through a gate at SD 9454 8000 then through a second gate at SD 9475 7979. A level path across pasture land connects the two.
Follow a sheep path via: SD 9479 7975, SD 9486 7977 and SD 9507 7981 (at the latter point it is a quad track). Go up to a wall corner at SD 9516 7975 and then on to SD 9521 7966. Pass through a newly fitted steel gate in the wall at SD 9534 7954 and up steep ground to SD 9539 7951. Cross Cow Close Gill (usually dry) beside by the wall at SD 9546 7947, loosing a few metres in the process.
From the Gill crossing, swing right (south) to pick up the meager path again at SD 9547 7936 and SD 9551 7933 with the wall on your left. Less than 300m later this ill-defined wall-path joins the main path from Cray, at SD 9565 7921. Follow this path (some of it newly stone slabbed) via SD 9609 7885 to the trig point at SD 9608 7879.
EXECUTION:
I left Scarborough at 13:30 on Thursday 18th July, for the 85 mile drive to Bishopdale via the A170, A1, Bedale and the A684, arriving at the old quarry start point by 15:48. The breezy ascent started at 16:16 in light drizzle. Was this a sign of things to come I wondered but within a minute or two it had stopped for the duration.
As usual when camping out on a summit, the ascent was a sweaty toil and done potentially without distraction today. I was relying on the phone for entertainment via the England-WI cricket test match but there was no signal. Unlike the rain, this was a sign of things to come. Higher up, still with no luck, I found a radio station recording in the memory and played that.
There has been plenty of hard work put into the Cray path since last year. The upper section now features big square stone blocks. Also I found out where the rolled up fibre, seen stacked in the field by the road, had been destined for. These were being placed on patches of bare soil and staked down, presumably to repair erosion.
It was a relief to top-out but talking to a Hull man with his dog near the trig soon had me chilling in the cool breeze. Time to find a place to camp, open the rucksack and put on a fleece.
QTH:
After a lot of walking around, the tent and radio station were set up about 40 metres north of the east-west running wall at SD 9606 7869 and about 100m south of the trig point. I have yet to find the ideal spot for camping because so many times in the past I’ve needed to be close to a wall for shelter. That was especially true for the new-year camp-out of 2019-20. This pitch was less lumpy than usual after quad bikes had rolled it somewhat. Almost everywhere was wet but at least here was a minor high spot, if only by a few cm. All around the summit is like a peat bog, especially after the amount of rain we’ve had lately.
After the tent and meager groundsheet, the dipole was next up with coils in place and resonated in between 1.832-CW to 1.846 MHz-SSB for later on. It would be taken down along with the top two mast sections and laid on the grass for the duration of the VHF contest but not before I’d opened the inner links and tried for some QSO’s on 20m. More of that later.
BUCKDEN PIKE, G/NP-009, 702m, 6pts, 17:01 on Thursday 18-July-24 to 07:47 on Friday 19-July-24: 18C. 10 mph SW wind decreasing to zero overnight Mainly overcast both days. No low-cloud or rain. Very poor Vodafone coverage – nil or delayed self spotting. LOC: IO84XE, WAB: SD97. Trig: TP-1744.
14.058 CW – 2 QSO’s:
Before even attempting a self-spot, I tried sending ‘safe arrival’ messages to the family but the phone was giving me a ‘no entry’ sign much of the time. I got one message off, asking for it to be forwarded. I was to have phone signal trouble from here-on in and that after perfect coverage on the neighbouring summit of NP8 just 11 days before. These two SOTA’s are only 6.4km apart. There was patchy coverage and sometimes 4G but it was my son Phil G0UUU who eventually spotted me on 14.058. It was the same a year before when I camped on NP9 for the 6m contest. Phil was destined to play a significant part in helping me through the activation but soon he’d be going portable for the contest himself.
At 17:36z I was called by SM5LNE Jan in Kungsor, who gave my 5 Watts a 579. A minute later Jukka (Jack) OH3GZ followed with 599 both ways from Toivakka. Something was working right but it wasn’t the phone. I settled down for a session but strangely there were no further callers. Oh well, maybe my QRP was just not cutting it but there was still time to try 2m-FM before the contest.
145.300 FM – 5 QSO’s:
After failing to get a spot through for this band, I reverted to the more traditional method of, ‘CQ SOTA, G4YSS/P listening down on 145.300.’ This has worked well for me over the years and it eliminates wasted time QSY’ing callers off S20 (145.500). Of course I thoroughly check the QSY channel beforehand, often telling the chasers that it’s been checked. Of course they are free to check it at their end too, which is good practice.
With the J-pole on the front tent pole, coming back in FM to my 5W from the 817 were: M0XLT Kevin in Gargrave - old SOTA friend from way back when 55/ 52; 2E0EIM Dave in Harlepool 59/ 55 and G6AEK another Dave, this time in Blackpool 59/ 51. He and I agreed that Blackpool rally was the best in the north of England. I’m biased of course – that’s where I get to meet all those wonderful SOTA and WAB people! I get so distracted I forget to buy anything.
Moving on: M6IBH Cliff in Middlesbrough 59/ 59 and M7MCG Mick in Barnoldswick – a place I seem to work quite often, also 59 both ways. Cliff and I chatted about Middlesbrough, I did 6-months industrial training there at British Steel in 1972. It was part of an Applied Physics sandwich course at Sheffield Poly. Student accommodation was a three-quid-a-week caravan at Warrenby, Redcar where in March we were daft enough to go swimming in the ‘freezing’ North Sea, even building an oil drum raft and anchoring it to sit on. Until the coastguard came and broke it up that is. That was another life and a good one. Oh to be young and daft again. Now just old and daft!
UKAC 70MHz Contest 19:00z to 21:30 z – 25 QSO’s:
I didn’t log them as separate QSO’s but just before the contest a sked was arranged on 70.236-SSB. Sure enough son Phil G0UUU/P and XYL Bev had now reached their IO94SE portable location on the Yorkshire Wolds. With our respective Ukrainian 10W transverters and two 3-ele home-brew beams pointed directly at one another, we exchanged at 59 both ways. M0DCD/P Andy also called in (52/ 57) so we primed him for a contest exchange at the stroke of 19:00z.
The start time duly arrived and I worked Phil again, this time with a proper contest exchange of Phil’s IO94SE for my IO84XE and 001 serial numbers. At 19:01z as arranged, Andy M0DCD/P bagged both our squares. In the absence of a phone signal, Phil kindly posted me on Sotawatch so I stuck with 70.236 for a while and called CQ using my home-brew voice keyer. The trouble is, how many SOTA chasers have 4m SSB facilities and a horizontal beam? Very few I don’t doubt.
Even if I’d had the phone working, I can’t spot myself because, unlike VHF-NFD, I intended to put in an entry to help the sagging fortunes of 807 ARO. Phil and I are two of an ever decreasing number of members. The remainder have either given up or joined Northern Fells. Three years ago, led by an enthusiastic Robert G3BUN, 807 topped almost everything in VHF UKAC’s. Now Robert is not so well and has had to step back. Would anybody like to join 807 and help bring it back to glory days? Let me know!
The rest of the contest - still on 70.236 MHz:
G1ZAR/P Stuart - a seasoned SOTA activator with 93 summits to his name - in IO93EI; G1HLT Ian in IO93JD; G1EZF Mick in IO93FT; M0WBG Neil in IO93KJ. Phil turned up to say I was too close to G4CLA so I nudged up 1kHz in response. However I only worked two more on the new fixed frequency - G0EAK/P Steve in IO93NI and GW8ASD Tony in IO83LB.
For success in the remainder of the contest - a hunting we had to go:
G0HIK/P Nick in IO84JE Nick; GW1YBB/P Steve in IO81KW; MW0LKX/P Wayne in IO82KL and G3TBK Dave - LOC IO93RA. Now pointing north: GM4JTJ Jon in IO86RP and GM4CXM Ray in IO75TW.
Two more: G4CLA Pete - LOC IO92JL and G4NTY John in IO83TM. That used up 16 of my serial numbers but it had taken over an hour. Slow going but after all this was 4m and I only had QRP.
G4FZN/P Chris was booming in from nearby IO94JF at the top of Sutton Bank. He’d been appearing all over the band, always working someone else but I finally nailed him down on 70.206. G4OBK Phil gave an account at Scarborough Amateur Radio club about Chris and here it is:
Would-be thieves on Sutton Bank:
Early in the year on a dark contest evening, two shady looking characters were spotted by Chris’ XYL. They were engaged in an earnest attempt to steal his generator, which he places some distance from his motor-home with the wiring in between. Lucky for Chris but sadly for them it was chained to a gate post. He chased after them and they sped off in a car! During a QSO, I asked him about this event and his reply was, ‘Now I have two chains.’ How about modifying it to live chassis, Chris?
From 20:17z to 21:00z:
I worked G8REQ Frank - LOC IO83KI on 70.266. Phil G0JSB broke in. ‘G4YSS, pse QSY ten down to 70.256,’ which I duly did to collect IO83KJ, then it was the turn of Steve GW4SHF (nice callsign) in IO82HP.
GI4SNA Dave, who can be regularly heard on the VHF bands, gave me IO64XM and serial number 50 (262km). Moving on: G3TCT Graham in IO81QC; 2E0VCC/P Darrell in IO70SP; G0ODQ John - LOC IO91MR and lastly Dave G4ASR in IO81MX.
For the final half-hour of the contest I managed to work precisely nobody. It wasn’t for the want of trying but the band got quieter and there were fewer people left to hunt. Calling CQ on ‘my’ freq of 70.236, for ten minutes at the pre-alerted time of 20:30z, hadn’t added anything to the log and I tried it again at 20:50z, also without success. I did get three stations in my sights including G7LRQ/P and M7DQO, carefully lining up the beam on them one by one but none came back to my calls. That wasn’t down to a pile-up, they just didn’t hear me so I will now need to bench check the 4m transverter output.
Best distance was 2E0VCC/P in Cornwall at 427km and at 74, just an hour from the start, the highest serial number I was given came from Pete G4CLA. That’s quite normal and unsurprising. I’m told Pete has a 7-ele on 4m, 4 x 10-ele on 2m and 4 x 28-ele on 70cm. 10:30 arrived and the feverish activity on 4m stopped abruptly until next month. Plenty of time to replace its lost ether.
1.832 CW - 3 QSO’s & 1.846 SSB - 3 QSO’s 22:06z to 22:45z:
Now to other important matters – 160m. I had 30 minutes to dismantle the 4m beam and re-erect the loaded dipole using the same mast. It was dark of course but I have a good headlamp and reflective tape on everything to help me locate things. Even so it can still be difficult to find the dipole end sticks on foggy nights but thankfully tonight the weather was behaving nicely.
The dipole, with it’s 160m coils and top two mast sections, was lying ready on the grass from earlier. All I had to do was screw in the lower three sections and hoist it into the air. The assembly is quite heavy; the coils weighing 39 grams each so the operation was a little awkward, especially when the dipole got the wrong side of the tent and 2m vertical.
Despite alerting the night before, I wasn’t expecting much if anything on 160m, especially with only five Watts. In the past I’ve used 100 or at least 50W for Top Band but that means a heavier carry. With no reliable phone signal in my tent, Phil G0UUU/P had volunteered to spot for me but he wouldn’t be home from his own 4m contest until well past Top Band time of 11pm BST.
Just before the deadline, DK1VD was fast calling in CW but try as I may, he wasn’t getting me. I called CQ on 1.832-CW for 5 minutes from the alerted time but heard nothing. Swapping to 1.846-SSB I heard EI3GYB call in. Michael must have seen my alert but was he just dropping his call on the freq to say he was there or was he actually hearing my mouse power CQ’s?
I shouted ‘56’ into the mic several times and to my joy and astonishment, back came a 42 report! There was QSB and Michael (Co Mayo) was peaking 58 on the meter. We were even able to have a brief conversation so he must have a low-noise QTH and a decent aerial too. If I’d got nobody else I would have been satisfied with this one QSO on Top Band.
Phil G0UUU must have packed up his portable contest station really quickly because he’d then driven home and spotted me on 1.846-SSB at 22:15z, having first tuned me in on the HF Web SDR at Hack Green in Cheshire. (He has no HF setup at home). In fact Michael spotted me at the same time but I was flitting between the CW and SSB frequencies and maybe frustrating Phil’s efforts. However he managed several further spots up until 22:52z. It was a big help.
At 22:14z I logged G8VNW but only just. Nick, located in the upper Wharfedale village of Threshfield, was barely hearing me and I was a little crestfallen when he told me, ‘I don’t think this is going to be a valid contact.’ However I shouted his report of ‘58’ several times and success! Nick QSL’d it and suddenly he was in the log. Nick gave my 5 Watts a 27 report in a general noise level of S8. My noise level was varying S2 to S7 and I was miles from anywhere! The station closest to me, only 15.3km separated Nick from Buckden Pike but this was a difficult QSO, albeit with zero QSB.
A session on 1.832-CW from 22:23z to 22:34z succeeded with a further three in the log: GI4OSF John ’10 miles north of Belfast’ (Holestone, Co Antrim) 599+/ 559; GI4ONL Victor in Bushmills 599/ 559 and M1GEO George in Soham with 559 both ways (see ‘Observations’). This was brilliant. People were actually hearing my QRP on 160m. My excitement knew no bounds!
At 22:44 John GI4OSF rounded things off by coming back to my SSB CQ on 1.846. This gave him the chance to explain that he’d contacted Victor to direct him to 160m. Thank you John and Victor too. An extra QSO in my log.
At midnight local, there was the temptation to don my boots and remove the coils or change the links for further HF working but who would be around at Europe’s bed time? No, it would have to wait until morning.
Having been left in the rucksack for use as a seat or to lean on, the sleeping bag now needed unpacking. Despite it being well past midnight, I didn’t feel tired. Was that due to the Adrenalin rush of 160m, I wondered? Maybe there was enough left in the tank to try some 2m-FM before sleep time.
145.400 FM - 1 QSO from 23:20z to 00:12z:
After supper I tried a CQ on S20 and to my surprise G7SXR answered from Driglington (Leeds) and this at 00:20 local (BST)! With a few gaps on the overs to let in any other chasers (unsurprisingly, there were none), we chatted for over 50 minutes. Mark is a familiar voice who works me on SOTA’s but also during my walks around Scarborough when I visit Seamer Beacon, a local hump (HEMA).
Mark works the World on HF; exotic stuff I’ve never even heard but I think his favourite pastime is chatting on the 2m-FM band. A good thing too. It has a lot going for it and we need to make more use of the VHF bands in general or one day we might lose them.
We discussed places in the Yorkshire’s West Riding that we both knew; in my case from childhood, trig-pointing on Wrose (Idle) reservoir, where to park for Hayburn Wyke Bay, CAMRA and a host of other subjects. When midnight UTC arrived we swapped 59 reports once again so that Mark could claim double points. I went on the explain how activators could also ‘cheat’ or at least take advantage of the system, by camping out over new year.
It is quite unusual to be caling (as distinct from calling) on 2m at one in the morning so this was quite special. Thanks go to Mark for keeping me company. We often part with, ’73 and see you on Seamer Beacon.’ After saying goodnight, there were no further takers so I went QRT.
It eventually became still overnight with clear conditions outside. It wasn’t cold or damp either. Added up, I suppose I must have managed a decent couple of hours sleep, helped by the non-lumpy pitch I’d chosen but my night was by necessity, shorter than in the past. Aware that I must get home before lunch I was up for breakfast at half-five local. Having first got the dipole down, I was calling CQ on 2m well before 6am.
FRIDAY 19th July-2024:
145.400 FM - 3 QSO’s from 04:53z to 06:10z:
M0ALA – Andy, who mentioned that he was partially sighted, responded to my call on S20 from 5 miles north of Barnsley. It amazed me that anyone was listening this early but we exchanged at 59/ 54. We talked for several minutes during which the FT817 cut out. Quickly reestablishing comms on the UV-5R reserve rig, I apologized but I don’t think he missed much. Andy also upped my report from 54 to 55; evidence of a power reduction on the 817 before it packed in altogether. Despite the improved report, he also mentioned that my audio was weaker on the handheld. Since then I’ve changed it from 12.5 spacing to the good old fashioned 25kHz.
Andy then spotted me but there were no others forthcoming. While monitoring 145.500, I busied myself with ‘housework’ such as rolling up the sleeping bag, compressing it and getting it back into the rucksack. Everything was to fold up or put away in waterproof zip pouches.
A later CQ brought in fellow Scarborough Amateur Radio Society member on the form of G0ODS. Miles had just come back from his daughter’s graduation in Newcastle. QTH is at 80m ASL at Whitwell-on-the-Hill (SE76/ IO94NB) just off the A64 and he was running 100W to a vertical.
It was back to domestic chores for a while but yet another CQ saw the brief return of Andy M0ALA asking, ‘Do you need a fourth QSO?’ Yes please! He’d been talking to M7GDE and had brought him up to .400 to try and work me. This was another Andy located in Kippax near Leeds but he could barely hear me at first. After sending 59 multiple times, I managed to extract a 44 from him for the final QSO of the expedition. Since my QSO with Mark G7SXR had lasted until after midnight UTC, these three additional early morning QSO’s, were enough to qualify Friday for me. Not that I’ll get any points for the second day of course. Pity it wasn’t New Year! Thanks to Mark, Miles and both Andy’s!
Descent:
After pouring away nearly 500ml of excess water and drinking what remained, I walked off in shirt sleeves at 07:47, reaching the car by 08:22. The drive home, using the A684/ A1/ A168/ A170, took from 08:28 until 10:45, then Phil came with fish & chips for lunch.
Ascent & Distance: 297m (974ft) ascent / 4.8km (3.0 miles) up/down.
Activator Points: 6
Battery utilization:
One 11.1V, 5 Ah Li-Po 100% depleted.
UV-5R battery 5% depleted
QSOs:
20m CW: 2
4m SSB Contest: 25
160m CW: 3
160m SSB: 3
2m FM: 9
TOTAL: 42
Chronology:
18-07-24:
13:30: Left Scarborough (A170-A168-A1-Bedale-A648-B6160)
15:48: Arrived Bishopdale old quarry (SD 9455 7996)
16:16: Walked for G/NP-009
17:01: Arrived G/NP-009 Buckden Pike
19-07-24:
07:47: Left G/NP-009
08:22: Returned Bishopdale old quarry
08:28: Drove for home (B6160-A684-A1-A168-A170)
10:45: Arrived Scarborough
Total distance driven: 168 miles
Times:
Car to Trig: 45 min
Trig to Car: 35 min
Walking Time: 1 hr-20 min
Summit Time: 14 hrs-46 min
OBSERVATIONS:
This was my 24th summit camp for SOTA purposes including five New Year ones, so by now the routine is well established. Apart from one night on SB1 The Cheviot, all have been on eleven different Northern Pennines (G/NP) summits. One reason for that is tent pegs and masts. Neither go in as easily on many of the LD summits for instance.
The UKAC 4m Contest:
I found the contest enjoyable because 4m is my favourite VHF band. Phil G0UUU and I were activating summits on the band long before SOTA came along. 10W to a 3-ele is never going to set the band on fire but added to the camping gear and HF, it’s all I can carry.
The voice keyer got quite a lot of use on the fixed frequencies but only a third of the contacts were gained in that way. Tuning up and down the band got most QSO’s. With this modest setup, it has proved very difficult to work outside the UK on 4m. In fact I don’t think I’ve managed it yet. Best distance was 2E0VCC/P in Cornwall at 427km. Next best was GI4SNA at 262km.
Since my son G0UUU got interested in VHF contests a few years ago, I have gradually warmed to them too. It’s not that either of us are mad about contests or winning them; we primarily see them as a vehicle to promote activity on the VHF bands along with the byproduct of gaining a few points for 807 ARO.
Even 2m is pretty well dead in Scarborough and has been for years, so getting up high is a partial solution. If you can coincide that with a contest then you can multiply your luck several fold. So for us, contests are a means to an end which is the enjoyment of VHF communication and VHF gives you a reason to climb higher.
160m:
Considering my measly 5 Watts when in the past I’ve carried 50 or 100, this was a resounding success. I don’t know whether the contacts came as a result of 24 hours notice on the alerts page or much more likely, the spots kindly put on for me by Phil G0UUU/P and Michael EI3GYB.
I later discovered that 160m newcomer George M1GEO called me more in hope than expectation and he was surprised to receive a response. This is what George had to say in his email:
‘I was attracted to the spot because it was 160m and I figured “that isn’t the easy way” so I made the effort to give you a shout. I have a loading coil for a vertical antenna here in the garden, but I first (out of laziness) hit the ATU button and called you and you came right back! So I never had to go outside the shack!! The miracle on my side was that I was on a 20m EFHW antenna at about 7m AGL (I live in a small bungalow) and so I wasn’t expecting to be heard at all! I was socked when you called me back!’
Thanks George; it’s sometimes surprising what can be made to work! By far the majority of stations who have chased 160m SOTA since the early days of 2004, haven’t had an aerial for the band but have used whatever was available. Not quite the classic ‘tuning up the bed springs’ but often not that far removed from it. I added the above to my report in the hope that ops like George might be encouraged to have a go when they see a Top Band spot or alert.
I don’t know what it is about Top Band SOTA and maybe I get a bit over excited but after twenty years of 160m activations my attachment to it is undiminished. It also seems to attract the interest of chasers, no doubt due to its rarity. Logging six QSO’s from five chasers on my favourite HF band put a long term smile on my face so thanks to all who turned up so late in the evening.
20m-CW:
I was somewhat disappointed to log only two stations on here following a spot. I suppose it would have been early evening in Europe and 5 Watts is a long shot for working across the pond. Thanks to Jan and Jukka it didn’t end up as ‘nil. QSO’s’ One thing I can say about OH3GZ Jukka. Looking at one of my old reports from 2019, it seems that he was a collector of WAB square OV as well as chasing SOTA’s.
2m-FM:
2m provided the ‘leisure’ side of things. Chatty, relaxed and mostly familiar, 9 QSO’s were logged on here. To be still talking to Mark G7SXR at 01:10 local seemed somewhat surreal. By logging this QSO as a Friday one (it started on Thursday) I was able to qualify the second day by adding three more after sunrise.
Broadcast:
After the 1am QSO with Mark G7SXR, flicking through the FT817’s memories, I came across a Dutch station with a strong signal on 1395kHz and playing music that I liked. Further down I suddenly caught the strains of Led Zeppelin. This on the UK station Radio Caroline coming in from Suffolk, its 4kW transmitter pushing S8 on my meter with QSB down to S1.
Camping:
Possibly due to a flatter base for the groundsheet, life didn’t seem quite so painful this time. Leaving the sleeping bag rolled inside the rucksack for use as a seat while operating helped for short periods. The rest of the time it was something to lean on. I tried a three-legged folding stool out for NFD on NP8 recently but it was too tiny to be remotely useful.
There is this constant conflict between comfort for long activations - notably overnighters - versus pack weight. I have tried a few things over the years and one of the best was a folding plastic stool from Dunelm. However at 1.1kg, I only used it a couple of times. I have tried carbon poles stuck in the ground as back rests and a rope loop tied to a carbon pole in front of the rig to lean back into. All had limited success and most were still painful to some degree. However, none are quite as agonizing as leaning on one elbow for hours on end, after which you feel like your collar bone is broken.
Not being able to afford to lug the inner tent also has its price and that’s a lack of bug protection. Grass surrounds the groundsheet inside the flysheet and there’s also a gap under the latter’s brailings. Anything can crawl or fly in and while I’ve rarely been bitten as such, it can be irritating. This arrangement certainly wouldn’t suit Scotland where the midges can be vicious at this time of year. In that country you need to be almost hermetically sealed! On NP9 this time it didn’t get any worse than a few small white moths and long thin flies attracted to my head lamp. Those were nothing more than mildly annoying.
Phone signal:
This continues to be an issue on certain summits such as NP9 and NP31. It was the same on NP9 last July. I use Vodafone but EE might be better, they having been tasked with full coverage of the country. Thankfully the phone did work sufficiently well to get messages in and out but most of my spots and photos didn’t get through. It was reassuring that my son Phil was out doing the same contest and could be in touch from time to time using 4m-ssb. Other than that if required, GB3HG was coming in strongly.
THANKS!
Thanks to ALL STATIONS WORKED, especially considering the unsocial hours. Thanks to Phil - G0UUU/P for spotting and messaging home. Also to EI3GYB and M0ALA for spots and finally to the RSGB for creating the VHF contests and to those who administer them.
73 John G4YSS
Photos: 1-3-52-5-6-9-13-15-18-16-249P-642P-23-27-726aP-050p-34-37-51-55-57-58-59-Contest Log & Map
Above: Parking in the old quarry, Bishopdale B6160 at SD 9455 7996
Above: In the field just off the road. Fibre bundles destined for the upper fell
Above: A new gate has appeared at SD 9534 7954. Until this year you just went through a gap in the wall
Above: Cow Close Gill crossing point. Dry as a bone as usual despite all the rain.
Above: A path of sorts follows the wall up to join the main path from Cray village
Above: The fibre rolls staked in place
Above: New slabs - much work since last year
Above: Topping out on Buckden Pike
Above: One of only two people I saw the entire time I was up there. Man from Hull with inquisitive dog Lucy
Above: My home for the night. Summit of Buckden Pike G/NP-009
Above: The best ‘Hotel’ available tonight with 70MHz Yagi and dipole laid on the grass for later
Above: Activating NP9 in the 70MHz SSB UKAC contest
Above: Activation on Top Band 160m-SSB and later CW QRP
Above: After the final QRT on amateur radio, listening to music
Above: Ugly mug emerging to a new day. Going out to drop the 160m dipole left up overnight
Above: The 80m dipole configured for 160m operation just before taking it down. One of the home-brew loading coils at the 40m break points.
Above: Ready for the descent. The 85 ltr rucksack, thankfully not quite so heavy as the day before
Above: Heading back down
Above: A glance back. Cow Close Gill with Buckden Pike behind.
Above: The final gate back onto the B6160. Left through the gate then just 100m to the car but will it still be there? Always a worry.
Above: Yes!!! The old lady faithfully awaits
Above: August activators of NP9 and nearby SOTA’s take note: This sign on the B6160 Wensleydale to Wharfedale road, about 1km north of the old quarry parking place at approx SD947808. Buckden Pike in the background. It’ll be a long detour!
Above: The 4m contest log kindly entered for me by Phil G0UUU/P.
Above: 4m contest map also courtesy of Phil. Many thanks.
Thanks for reading,
John G4YSS
I’m more surprised my end-fed wet string worked on 160m! Thanks for the QSO John! The report & photos are excellent!