At 00:01 reports of 59 were re-exchanged between Chris 2E0XLG and I for the first QSO of 2019; well at least on this frequency and in this area. Chris could now claim double points but I still needed three more QSO’s to secure my five extra points.
Waiting in the wings to deliver HNY messages and my double points were: G8VNW Nick; G0HRT Rob; G6XBF Walt and G4OBK Phil. Everybody was 59 to me. Walt and Phil gave my 2.5 Watts 57 with a 53 coming from Rob. Phil said, ‘See you on 160m.’
1.832 CW - 5 QSO’s from 00:30z:
As per the alerted time, Phil was first on the frequency for a 599/ 579 report swap. Next a weak signal but immediately recognizable as Roy who gave me 339 in response to 559 from Cracoe Fell. After G4SSH; G0HRT Rob 579/ 599; G0BPU Mike 589/ 339, G4WAB Jake (G1YFF) 589/ 579 and EI7CC Pete 559/ 339. Power was 30 Watts with 50W for the final QSO.
1.846 SSB - 2 QSO’s from 00:40z:
Now Karl had the chance to air his new callsign which had changed from M3FEH to 2E0FEH at midnight. He also got his first SOTA chase of 2019 at 55 both ways. Tying the ribbons before retiring to bed was Brian G8ADD with 55/ 44 from Birmingham.
Finishing at 00:55 this was the last item on the schedule for some hours. At long last the time for sleep had arrived but the 160m coils still needed removing in preparation for the next session 80m CW at 08:30.
01:00z: ‘You wouldn’t turn your dog out in this’
Well I didn’t. Sasha was left undisturbed in her sleeping bag while I went outside to remove the loading coils, zipping up the tent behind me and talking the whole time by way of reassurance. It was nothing short of foul; in fact it was despicable. The wind was blowing as hard as ever but as well as being as black as pitch, there was now thick fog too. As if that were not enough, we can add wind-borne drizzle to the mix. One really can feel out on a limb in this situation but at the same time reassured by the presence of the tent and its contents. A surrounding pool of reflected light which moves with you as you walk makes it all seem slightly dreamlike.
As usual in these circumstances it’s hard to know what direction is which and it’s a case of standing by the mast and looking up with the headlight for some guidance about which way the dipole is going. At least then you can walk in the right direction towards the end sticks until the wire is low enough to grab. The job was soon done but not without a wetting. I was equally surprised and grateful that the improperly secured coils hadn’t fallen out during any of the 160m sessions.
Sleep for a change:
On most of these summit overnighters, I end up with not much more than an hour of poor quality sleep. As far as I can tell, this one was better with 3 hours at least, albeit in short periods but I actually came close to sleeping through the 80m QRV time at 08:30. Was it the new sleeping bag? I was never cold but probably not. The wind had started to drop at around 3am, accompanied by a steady decrease in sound level. The alarm went off, the one in my head that is. It was 08:23. Lucky I’d alerted for 08:30 and not the usual 7:30am. The dog’s breakfast would have to wait, it was back to work. She wasn’t for getting up yet anyway.
3.557.6 CW – 9 QSO’s from 08:33z:
I started by calling Roy G4SSH and he came straight back with 339 in response to a 589 from me. Like a few of the other dedicated ops, Roy had probably squeezed in around 6 hours sleep.
Two minutes later, in came EI7CC Pete. Did this mean our difficult Top Band QSO of the early hours was a non QSO or was Pete just adding an extra band? I will assume 160m was good unless somebody tells me different. Pete and I exchanged at 589/ 539.
Then Europe made itself heard in the form of Frid DL1FU 599/ 559 and ON7QR - Donald with 599’s. Appropriately, mountaineer Declan EI6FR (Dublin) got the summit with a 599/ 579 exchange and G3RMD Frank followed with 599’s.
Alerted by the distinctive ‘XX,’ I realized that I hadn’t worked Lothar DL3HXX (599/ 559) for quite a while but after working David G3RDQ (579’s) there was another batch of ‘XX’s’ this time from OH9XX. I genuinely thought at first that Lothar was after a rework but then on hearing the full call, HNY’s were swapped with Finland. This of course was Marko (579/ 449).
3.762/ 3.766 SSB – 15 QSO’s from 08:58z:
At last, after more than 19 hours on the summit, we’d come to the final item on the agenda and the relief to have got there without incident. 3.760 was the original target but it was kind of occupied. To be accurate there was a continental QSO going on on 3.759 so I moved up 3kHz to clear it. Roy heard ‘3762 SSB’ sent repeatedly on 3.557.6 and spotted both the initial QSY and the slight adjustment later. This was backed up by a text.
First to hear my CQ was MM0XPZ Steve in Greenock on the Clyde, with 58/ 57. Next to call was Paul MI1AIB in the guise of special event station GB50WAB – 58/ 55. It was quite obvious what this was for so I quickly arranged to QSY and leave Paul next to the WAB channel, ready to jump on there the moment it was clear. I went up 4kHz to 3 .766 and some time later I heard Paul working a pileup on 3.760.
With Roy’s 3.766 spot in operation, things quickly settled down into a steady stream of callers as follows: G4OBK Phil 59/ 58; G4OOE Nick with G3TQQ Dave S2S on Bishop Wilton Wold G/TW-004 (59’s/ 58’s); G4WSB Bill 59’s; ON4VT Danny 59/ 55; G0RQL Don 59’s.
Continuing: 2E0PCL Garry, ex SARS member living in Bridlington 57/ 58; GI1AZA Esther; MW6IUT Brian 59/ 54; 2E0FEH Karl (new prefix from today) - 56’s; ON5SWA Francois 57/ 47 and G4IPB/P Paul S2S on Burnhope Seat G/NP-003. Paul and I had a brief talk. If the wind speed had been below 10mph we would have been eyeballing right now rather than QSO’ing.
The final QSO of the day, at 09:40 was with Brian G8ADD in Birmingham, an easy copy this time at 59 both ways. Power for both modes on 80m was 30 Watts, apart from the initial call to Roy G4SSH, for which I used 50W.
Thoughts of finishing on 2m-FM were quickly put to bed. There was no time. Sasha finally got her breakfast at almost 10am. When we at last opened the tent door we were greeted by a sunny morning and a much reduced wind. After fighting the wind to set up in the first place, then being battered through the night, this was a relief. We nipped over to the obelisk war memorial to see it again, this time in good lighting. I checked the tent for damage but perhaps a little surprisingly, there was non that I could see.
Packing Up:
Because of the much reduced wind speed, breaking camp was a breeze (excuse the pun) compared to the battle on arrival and an even greater simplicity compared to New Year 2017 on Pen-y-Ghent where overnight snow had turned to ice and glued everything together.
Light wind it might have been and sunny too but it was still chilly. Despite that, once outside Sasha refused to go back into her prison of many hours, while I took the aerials down. Instead she found some long vegetation, scraped a hole into it and curled up in the resulting hollow. From start to finish it took just under an hour and not the usual 70+ minutes to get everything into and onto the rucksack. That said there was no finesse; just a desire to get down ASAP.
Descent:
The dog seemed more pleased to be off than I was and we made our way along the path then swung left to find the gullies we’d walked up on New Years Eve. This next section of the path is either indistinct or I’ve never managed to find it and mark it properly but the track-log on the GPS kept us on a course that relocated it lower down. I suspect the right-angle bend at SD 9935 5961 may have a lot to do with it. (The path turns sharp right there when you’re coming up – maybe I have been missing this and going straight on?).
I was very grateful to leave the steep part behind as I was feeling dizzy and light-headed. Also my legs felt uncharacteristically weak and wobbly, not a good thing when carrying what remained of our 41 pound load but I knew the cause. It happens on summit overnighters and is due to severe dehydration. Since leaving the car the day before I had only consumed 0.7 litres of fluids. In fact, in spite of multiple offerings, most of them thrust under her nose, Sasha had consumed none at all since before we left home. What a pair! After returning home, it took almost half a gallon of fluids, taken over a period, to restore me back to normal.
The descent took from 11:06 to 11:45 and with the valley wind at zero, it felt comparatively sultry back at the car. Once the latter was sighted 100m ahead, Sasha stopped walking and made to turn around. The look on her face said it all. ‘You lock me in a cloth box for hours on end then you won’t even take me for a decent walk!’
After loading the heavy rucksack into the front seat and putting the seat belt on for it, we were on our way letting an engine do the work for a change. The return route avoided Harrogate and the northern York bypass, both jammed up on the way. I just couldn’t face them. We went home via Threshfield, B6265 - Pateley Bridge; Ripon and some funny little ‘C’ roads, going I know not where (satnav) to A168 & A170 Sutton Bank, Pickering and Scarborough.
The journey of 77 miles took from 12:05 to 14:15. This was 5 miles shorter than going via York and Harrogate and 15 minutes faster too. Phil G4OBK was dead right!
QSO’s - 98 comprising…
31-12-18:
20m-CW: 6
20m-CW: 2
2m-FM: 16
80m-CW: 8
80m-SSB: 4
160m-CW: 14
160m-SSB:12
Subtotal: 62
01-01-19:
2m-FM: 5
160m-CW: 5
160m-SSB: 2
80m-CW: 9
80m-SSB:15
Subtotal: 36
Note:
The above tally makes no allowance for duplicated band and mode QSO’s of which there were several.
Battery Utilisation (Li-Po’s):
3 x 5 Ah and 10% of a fourth 5Ah
(from 4 x 5 Ah + 2.2Ah (22 Ah) available)
Ascent & Distance:
Cracoe, Fell Lane to Obelisk & back: 270m (886ft) ascent, 4.5 km (2.8 miles).
Walking Time: 1hr-25 min
(46 min up/ 39 min down)
Summit Time: 21hr-35 min
Distance driven: 159 miles
Activator points: 2 x 2 + 2 x 3 bonus = 10 (One Summit)
Chronology (z):
31-12-18:
10:00: Left Scarborough
12:15: Arrived Cracoe, Fell Lane.
12:45: Walked for G/NP-032
13:31: Arrived G/NP-032 Cracoe Fell
01-01-19:
00:00: Let in 2019 with 2E0XLG Chris on 2m-FM
11:06: Left G/NP-032
10:45: Arrived car
12:06: Drove for home
14:15: Arrived Scarborough
Sun times: 08:28 and 15:56
OBSERVATIONS:
This was my fourth New Year summit camp for SOTA and also the fourth summit camp of 2018. Summer is one thing but an overnight stay on a UK SOTA in winter is not without its potential hazards. However, good prep should minimize the risk. The choice of summit is very important, the main factor being high winds versus shelter. If the camp can be set up on the lee side of some solid summit feature such as a dry stone wall for instance, half the battle is won.
That is what was aimed for on this occasion but the plan went awry when we were defeated by a ladder stile, the price of taking along a four legged companion. Ironically, if a deer had jumped the wall in front of Sasha, she’d have found a way of following it. On further consideration, perhaps not; that particular dry-stone wall is bigger than most.
Other than the predicted wind speeds, the forecast was almost ideal, the main saving grace being the high temperatures of 4 to 6C but also the lack of significant precipitation. Once we were committed to pitching to windward, we had to make the best of it or retreat. Luckily for us, the wall wasn’t the only windbreak on the summit. There was the obelisk – not much use in itself as I couldn’t get the tent near enough but the raised ground it is built on added to a large rock did help to avoid the full furry of a moderate gale.
Once the accommodation is in place and made as secure as possible, mindful of the 15 hours of high winds and darkness ahead, the schedule can be worked through in relative comfort and safety. As far as comfort is concerned, ‘relative’ being the operative word. In fact the pain of confinement (no – not that sort) must be endured.
For a schedule, I merely re-wrote the one from New Year 2016-17. It was not too demanding, having sufficient gaps for chores, meals, rest and to give the dog a bit of attention.
The agenda’s centrepiece was Top Band again and what better chance to show off its capabilities, than hours and hours of night conditions. I was more than happy with the number of 160m QSO’s but slightly disappointed that it didn’t propagate a little further. I don’t mean DX, just a little deeper into Europe would have been good but even considering the special date, time zones are different to the UK, meaning fewer ops available.
Generally the total QSO count was well down on two years ago but I did drop one of the 2m-FM sessions.
80m was pretty awful in the late afternoon of New Year’s Eve whence it even failed to bring in Roy G4SSH but it was far better the morning after.
Once again 20m turned out to be well worth doing. As well as UK and EU, I was fortunate enough to work a handful of USA stations and one Canadian. A self spot brought them in without delay and propagation was good. I think the time of 15:30z before dusk, was pretty well spot on, especially for North America.
A schedule over the date change without 2m-FM included would have been a poor one indeed but there didn’t seem to be as many stations on 2m this time. That said, I was only using 2.5 Watts to a half-wave, albeit NP32 is close to population centres in the West Riding. Chris 2E0XLG had the distinction of working right across midnight this time.
After the last time, I left a reminder note to myself about drinking more. Once again this wasn’t heeded with the result - dehydration. The reasons are clear but time has to be made for such things.
I bought a snazzy new sleeping mat for this expedition. As usual, it was purchased for its light weight rather than performance but the latter is not at all bad by all accounts. This was an Exped Synmat Hyperlite with a weight of 365gm and cost of £131 (GBP). It is made of 20 denier nylon and comes with its own inflation bag and stuff-sack. This is not a mere airbed but has synthetic insulation inside it as well as air. A ‘Winterlite’ version, with more insulation, is available but it’s a bit heavier. Sad to say that I left the Exped at home and took a cheapo foam mat instead. The reason? Sasha has very sharp claws!
The new sleeping bag; a Mtn. Eqpt. Nova II synthetic (regular) gave good account of itself. Considering that this is not four season rated and weighs only 1.2kg (my example) it had good loft and was certainly warm enough. In fact after the wind started to drop in the early hours, it was possibly too warm. There was noticeable wind-chill inside the tent up to about 5am because the sides were moving in and out, pumping air around.
Yet again I took more food than we could eat but having a safely margin allows more options should anything not go to plan. Besides, I had an ever open door with me. Speaking of Sasha, she was really good, careful not to trample anything and particularly in that situation, provided really good company. For my part I looked after her, ensuring she was well fed, properly covered up and warm enough during the long night.
Just a footnote:
The correct WAB square was SD95 and not SD09 as was given out. Apologies for this.
THANKS!
Thanks to ALL STATIONS WORKED, especially when you consider some of their QSO times. Not only that, a few will have sneaked away from family get togethers or the pub for however long it took to bag the SOTA.
Thanks also to spotters: G4SSH; G4OBK, G0UUU, G0HRT and Andy’s ‘SOTA Spotter’ phone ap. To Roy G4SSH for SMS text liaison,
Finally, thanks for all the kind comments on the air. They make a big difference when you’re feeling isolated.
Thanks to Sasha for the company and shared experience.
73 and best wishes to all for 2019.
John G4YSS (Using SSEG Club station GX0OOO/P).
Photos: 4-5-8-13-22-25-24-32-42-45-46-49-54-65-71-78-85-87-93-96-99
Above: The top end of Fell Lane, Cracoe with NP32 behind
Above: 41 pounds of equipment (18.7kg)
Above: Cracoe - Fell Lane track
Above: The summit in sight but lacking a sense of scale
Above: NP32 summit. Looking from the obelisk towards the wall stile
Above: Ladder to relative calm but we were defeated!
Above: Hole in the wall a few metres from the ladder stile
Above: Ridge tent with storm guys and antennas.
Above: Snug as a bug in a rug. Sasha
Above: Out at 1am to remove the 160m coils. Tent and 2m-FM vertical. High winds, fog and drizzle.
Above: 00:10. Out to remove the 160m coils - BRIEFLY.
Above: Untidy tent. 5am - wind dropping
Above: Sunshine on New Year’s Day
Above: Cracoe Fell’s obelisk and war memorial plaque
Above: Breakfast time at long last!
Above: G/NP-032 - Cracoe Fell’s obelisk
Above: On the way down
Above: On the way down and looking back. A couple out for their New Year climb
Above: Reed bed lower down with typical boggy path
Above: At the sheep pen, looking back where we came from.
Above: Back on Fell Lane, Cracoe. Not far to go now.
……
Previous New-Year summit camps – links:
2004-05: G/NP-018 Nine Standards Rigg:
2007-08: G/NP-004 Whernside:
2016-17: G/NP-010 Pen-y-Ghent: