G4YSS: LAKES WEEK 2014. Four LD SOTA`s, Four days, 02 to 05-June-14
QRO from G/LD-004; G/LD-024 & G/LD-020. QRP from G/LD-001
SKIDDAW; PIKE of BLISCO; DALE HEAD & SCAFELL PIKE. (160m from LD4; LD24 & LD20).
8,632 feet of ascent, 23.5 miles walked, 32 SOTA points, 4 activating days (see table).
G4YSS using GX0OOO/P; solo except for the LD24 ascent.
All times BST (UTC plus 1 hr) unless otherwise stated.
EQUIPMENT:
HF QRP: FT817ND HF/VHF/UHF 5W Transceiver without internal batteries (LD1).
HF QRO: SAINSONIC MX-P50A, 50 Watt HF Linear Amplifier (LD4-LD24-LD20).
Unitone ‘D shape’ ear-cup headphones.
VHF QRP/ Reserve Rigs:
IC-E90 4-Band, 5W VHF H/H (Carried LD4-LD24-LD20). (Used on LD24 for 4m-FM.)
Jingtong JT208 2W, 2m-FM H/H converted to Li-Po battery (LD1 only - not used).
Antennas - HF:
Link dipole No1: 80-60-40-20m (LD20 & LD1)
Link dipole No2: 20-17-15-10m (LD4 & LD24).
Home-Brew tuneable loading coils for 160m.
Four section, 5m CFC mast with 1m end sticks.
Antennas - VHF:
Half-wave vertical J-Pole for 2m-FM QRP.
Extended set-top helical for 4m.
Batteries (excluding 4m-FM):
LD4; LD24 & LD20: 2 x 6 Ah Li-Po batteries in parallel & 1 x 2.2Ah reserve.
(Plus 2 x 4.4Ah Li-Po’s carried accidentally on above three summits! - not used).
LD:1: 1 x 2.2Ah Li-Po (plus 1 x 2.2Ah Li-Po in reserve - not used).
QRO Packweight:12 kg (approx. 26 pounds) including 0.5 litres of water.
QRP Packweight: 8 kg (approx. 18 pounds) including 1.0 litres of water (LD1 only).
INTRO:
This activation report relates to our annual five-night break in the Lake District with the usual walking group assembled from Worthing, Birmingham and Scarborough. I have walked with this group in June for the past 12 years and although she doesn’t fell-walk, for the last few years my XYL has come along too. As before, accommodation was at the Sandon B&B in Southey St, Keswick (now GBP40 pppn). We found evening meals in Keswick at the George or at Casa Bella - recommended but they do not come cheap. A little more than GBP20 pp for two courses including a drink and 10% tip was fairly typical.
Group leader David Barnes of Worthing devised the routes based on Lakeland Walker Magazine. Again this year the routes were toned down somewhat, not only due to mixed abilities of the half dozen or so walkers but also because the week’s weather forecasts were less than inspiring. This meant fewer high ground routes and fewer SOTAs. In fact David's route list took in no SOTAs at all apart from LD10 which I have already done.
There were just four walking days. Regrettably, I only walked with the group on one of those days (LD24 on 3rd June) and that was just for part of the ascent. Alerting was mostly done via email or telephone and Roy G4SSH did a great job for me in this respect.
Operations were limited by breakfast time (8am) at the Sandon B&B in Southey Street, Keswick and evening meals in the town at around 7pm. We would usually get away by 09:15 and return at 6pm. QRP was used on just one activation (LD1).
The WX was not quite as bad as forecast but waterproofs were needed on the 4th and 5th. Summit temperatures were typically 11 to 13C (apart from LD1 where they remained at a stubborn 6C). It was not particularly windy on the tops but it did reach 20mph on Skiddaw by late afternoon. Extensive low-cloud was present on LD4, LD20 and LD1, keeping the temperatures down and causing drizzle. Moderate to heavy rain started on LD20 at around 11am on the 4th and lasted the rest of the day.
LD24 on the 3rd was in sunshine all day but cloud hung on the higher Crinkle Crags until mid afternoon. I walked with an MP3 player or DAB receiver on some days. The ear-cup headphones I use for entertainment, serve also for the activations.
MONDAY 02-Jun-14: SKIDDAW G/LD-004 - HF QRO/ VHF QRP.
Intro:
The set walk today was Crinkle Crags but after driving almost to Dungeon Gill in three cars, our leader David put the weather to the vote. Though clear when we left Keswick, the cloud was down to the road and it was already raining as we approached the Old Hotel. With no chance of a view for much of the day, everybody turned their cars around. The group was headed north for Clough Head and the Dodds but being of no interest from a SOTA viewpoint, I elected to go solo on Skiddaw which, though it had cloud on top didn’t otherwise look too bad.
Execution:
Commencing the walk at 10:52, my habit is to take the quickest route; in this case 72 minutes from the high car park to the SE of the summit at Underscar. A steady gradient and good surface enable a non-stop slog. This climb wasn’t made any easier because of unnecessary weight. I found that I had brought twice the battery power than was needed. 8.8 Amp hours of Li-Po had been added to the pack before leaving Scarborough but this fact had been overlooked. I then packed two 6 Ah Li-Po`s that morning making a total of 21Ah! It amounted to almost a kilo I need not have carried.
This wouldn’t have been so bad but for two things. Firstly I did precisely the same stupid trick on the same opening summit last year but more critically this time the error was not discovered until the morning of the final day when the rucksack was repacked for QRP! Lugging the extra dead weight was bad enough but having massive reserves of power without ever knowing it would have been heartbreaking had the two 6Ah Li-Po’s run out, resulting in an unnecessarily curtailed activation.
After two quick photos at the deserted trig point, I set up the station 4 minutes walk to the South at NY2606 2882, where there is a low but little used shelter.
SKIDDAW, G/LD-004, 931m (10 pts). 12:04 to 16:57. Low-cloud; 12C; wind 10 mph for the first 3 hours. Later overcast with two short bursts of sunshine - 13C and 20mph. (IO84KP, WAB: NY22) Orange phone coverage.
3.557 CW - 3 QSO`s:
80m produced QSO’s with just three UK stations starting with Roy G4SSH. Incoming reports were: G4SSH - 449; G3RMD - 339 rising to 559 and G4OBK - 589. The maximum available power of 50 Watts was used.
3.724 SSB - Nil:
50W of SSB did not attract any chasers despite a spot by G4SSH.
1.832 CW - 2 QSO’s:
G4OBK and G4RQJ reported my signals as 569 and 559 respectively. Thanks must go to both ops for these Top Band QSO’s.
1.843 SSB - 1 QSO:
Phil G4OBK took pity on me after failure to attract attention and we had a brief chat. The exchange was 57/ 54 and I think Phil was receiving on a Beverage which he had just terminated with a 400 Ohm resistor.
29.200 FM - 2 QSO’s:
After some success on this band and mode from La Palma Island (EA8 - Canaries) in April, it was offered here without much expectation. In fact I was rewarded with two QSO’s, namely Phil G4OBK 55/ 55 in Pickering and Geoff G4WHA/A 59/ 59 in Penrith.
50 Watts to the inverted-vee link dipole comprised the working conditions. I carried this particular dipole specially for the job. It was built in 1992 for a holiday in Madeira and has served in several countries since. It is not as easy or quick to deploy as the 80 thro’ 20 dipole because the higher band links tangle with the RG316 coax and one another during deployment. One thing that can be said of it however is that it’s very colourful, having red, green, blue and white 22 AWG wires for easy band identification. The trouble is I can’t see red wire on grassy summits which causes something of a trip hazard. Skiddaw’ top is mainly slate.
7.032 CW - 24 QSO`s:
After a reply to my call to G4SSH, I worked the following limited selection of countries: DL; G; PA; ON; HB9 and GW. ‘Limited’ because signals from Europe were about two ‘S’ Points down on those from the UK. Because my CW reading is so bad, I struggled and was somewhat ‘fazed’ by one ‘G’ station sending passages which I had nowhere to write down followed by question marks. In the end I decided it might be the club’s FISTs number he was after but it held up proceedings for a short time.
Other than that the session was ‘easy copy’ in good conditions, especially while running 50 Watts. The only problems were the discomfort caused by drizzly low-cloud and a freshening breeze whilst simultaneously holding an umbrella, logging and sending.
7.138/ 7.139 SSB - 46 QSO`s:
This large number of stations took an hour and twenty minutes to get through and I was QRM’d off my spot half way through. A nudge up 1kHz sorted that however. More than 80% of stations that called in were in the UK with the following exceptions: EI; OM; OK; PA and DL. Power was reduced to around 30 Watts for the SSB and this was engineered by setting the FT817 down to 2.5 Watts into the linear. D-Day Special Event station - GB70DDL, manned by G8VPR and G7TCW called in from Stratford.
145.550 FM - 5 QSO`s:
On the subject of QSO count, Skiddaw, despite its stature, is always a disappointment on VHF and today was no exception. However with 5 Watts to a vertical half-wave, I did work Geoff G4WHA/A and G0TDM in Penrith; M6RNF in Workington; G1OHH Sue in Lancaster and G0MWE in Maryport.
After packing a 2kg slate slab for my XYL’s friend, the walk back to the car was completed by 17:49 and I was back to the B&B 15 minutes later. During the time I was getting damper and colder on Skiddaw, the others were enduring 2 hours of moderate rain just five miles to the southeast. However, Skid was now in the bag. No more worries about the weather at 3000 feet for the time being at least.
Total QSO`s for LD4 were 83.
TUESDAY 03-Jun-14: PIKE of BLISCO - HF QRO/ VHF QRP.
Intro:
After our failure the day prior, Crinkle Crags was back on the agenda and with it a chance for me to activate nearby LD24. The weather at Dungeon Gill Old Hotel was a lot different 24 hours on. It was bright with no rain and the only cloud was on Crinkle Crags and Bow Fell; neither of which I would be visiting. Blisco was clear and was destined to remain so all day. Not only that, one of the ladies in the group loaned me a National Trust card thus saving a small fortune in parking fees. We agreed that if I was quick enough and the group leisurely enough over their further distance, I could take some of them in my car to save a crush in David’s on the return.
Execution:
Our route today was via Stool End Farm and Brown Howe to the vicinity of Red Tarn. There we would part company with a left turn to LD24 for me whilst the remaining group of five would take a right to Cold Pike and Crinkle Crags. Later they would be descending via ‘The Band’ but my plan was to follow the path off the east side of LD24, returning via Wall End. With good timing we would meet later at the car park. The six of us set out together at 10:13 first passing meadows full of wild flowers which were a real pleasure to see after yesterday’s fog.
PIKE of BLISCO, G/LD-024, 705m (6 pts) 12:12 to 15:46. 13C. 10mph wind. Hazy then bright sunshine. (IO84KQ, WAB: NY20). Orange phone coverage.
7.032 CW - 22 QSO`s:
‘G’ stations were worked on here with 30 Watts. The remaining QSO’s were with F; DL; ON; PA; EA and OK. From 12:02z power was raised to 50W to complete the more difficult contacts. I worked what I thought at the time to be DL6AP/P on DL/??-045 with a 559/ 579 QSB exchange but I can find nothing in the spots to indicate that it was an S2S. Most good SOTA CW ops would have nailed this but my reading skills are not of the best.
7.136/ 7.140/ 7.144 SSB - 32 QSO`s:
Starting the chase on here was far from straightforward. First I checked my favoured spot of 7.132 which was occupied. Then I tried 7.136 which was clear after several ‘QRL’s?’ I relayed the QSY info to G4SSH on 7.032, nipping back to find a G station calling CQ on 7.136! Starting afresh, 7.140 was held for a while before I was chased off there too and had to move up a further 4kHz. All rather annoying to say nothing of the waste of time and power. At least the WX was completely unthreatening but walking up unhurriedly in a group had added an extra hour or so making time a factor.
26 out of the total worked with 50 Watts were inside the UK. Of the rest: EB; PA; ON and DL. I received quite a few reports of 59 plus 10dB from UK stations but European signals were noticeably down on that. Typically: ON - 44 to 55; EB - 54 etc.
1.832 CW - 1 QSO:
Thank goodness Phil was available because nobody else came back to CQ’s on here nor on 1.843 SSB either. The exchange was 599 to Phil with a 579 for my maximum available 50 Watts.
29.200 FM - 3 QSO’s:
Using the innermost links on the inverted vee; reducing power down to 30 Watts to save battery and heating up the linear, I worked Colin G4UXH in Milnethorpe at 59/ 59. Phil G4OBK in Pickering exchanges at 52/ 34 and Mike G4BLH near Nelson - 57/ 56. These certainly made it worthwhile. Unfortunately Mick in Leeds M0MDA was clearly too far away and I wasn’t high enough either.
145.400 FM - 7 QSO`s:
After relocating to the southern summit cairn and with 5 Watts to the vertical half-wave, I worked: G0TDM; G0UQC; G1OHH; G6ODU; G4BLH and G4UXH.
70.450 FM - 1 QSO:
This was prearranged on 2m FM but I had to be quick. Mike was due to go out. After equipping the IC-E90 with its 2m band rubber duck and an extender for 4m, I got Mike G4BLH in the log by standing on the flat summit rocks with the radio above my head. The exchange, with 5 Watts at my end, was 56/ 51. There were no further takers.
After minor difficulty locating the path off the summit, I arrived back at the car by 16:41 following a warm walk in sunshine on the sheltered side of the mountain. Twenty five minutes later the group arrived which enabled me to offer two of them a lift back to Keswick.
It wasn’t to last but once again it seemed I’d picked the best option, enjoying sunshine and moderate temperatures. The group had eaten their lunch on top of Crinkle Crags in damp, cold low-cloud which hadn’t lifted until after they left. One of the ladies, Leslie had found the walk difficult, particularly the undulating, rock-strewn ridge path. Having never been up there I have no idea what it’s like but Leslie took the following day off to recover.
Total QSO`s for LD24 were 66.
WEDNESDAY 04-Jun-14: DALE HEAD G/LD-020 - HF QRO/ VHF QRP.
Intro:
Memory fails me as to where the set walk was on this day but I think it was Castlerigg Fell or similar name. Nobody had any illusions about what would develop weather-wise; it was not forecast to be pleasant. Looking out of the B&B window at 7:30 in the morning, Skiddaw and Blencathra had very little cloud on them and there was no rain but that would all change by mid morning. In the hope of gaining a few points prior to an inevitable wetting, I chose something easy and close to Keswick. LD20 Dale Head is a ‘snip’ if approached from Honister.
I traditionally add Robinson LD21 but did not remotely consider it today. Since the walk was easy I would take the linear but I still hadn’t discovered the extra batteries which remained in my pack as dead weight.
Execution:
After a short drive to Honister Pass, parking in the NT car park, I paid my fee (6.50 GBP) and walked off at 09:50. The path is easy to follow and most of the way it follows a boundary fence. Initially it crosses a stile to take you from left to right of the fence. Later there are deviations to the right and away from the fence to cross rocky ground.
A light drizzle started just before the summit and taking this as a sign of the onset of the forecast bad weather, the first thing I did was to don full waterproofs. This was the first time they’d been out of the pack this holiday; my umbrella fending off most of the inclemency on Skiddaw. Following that, I was left with just 20 minutes to photograph the views and phone Roy before the cloud hemmed in for the day.
DALE HEAD, G/LD-020, 753m, 6pts, 10:29 to 13:00. Initially overcast, 2 mph wind, 12 deg.C, light drizzle. After 30 minutes, low-cloud and moderate to heavy rain. IO84JM - NY21. Intermittent Orange phone coverage.
7.033 CW - 20 QSO`s:
After setting up the dipole a short distance from the tall summit cairn near a lone rock with a dry ‘storage’ space beneath it, I worked G4SSH by phoned arrangement, followed by Phil G4OBK. With 50 Watts I was getting quite a lot of 559 reports which probably meant that conditions on 40m were down on the previous two days. Some European stations really struggled with my signal when it faded. Frid DL1FU was one of these and he gave me 229. In contrast Bert DF5WA had sent 599 a minute earlier. In fickle QSB I worked: G; DL; PA; ON; OM; F; and EB. Keen activator of unique SOTAs - Gerald G4OIG was one of the G’s who called in to gain a ‘complete.’
7.131.5 SSB - 3 QSO`s:
50 Watts only won me three stations in voice mode. They were G0RQL Don 59/ 57; G4OIG Gerald 59/ 57 and surprisingly Jose EB2CZF 57/ 52.
10.119 CW - Nil QSO’s:
10.118 was busy at the time which didn’t help the cause. After configuring the link dipole asymmetrically, 10.119 CW was inserted at short notice; the idea being to try to log more European chasers who seemed to be having problems hearing me in QSB on 40m. Unfortunately at the time, my phone coverage to G4SSH had dropped out so no alert was possible and even 10.118 is not always monitored to say nothing of 1kHz up from it. Unsurprisingly, ten minutes of CQ’ing brought nothing but I tried.
1.832 CW - 1 QSO:
With the coils fitted and adjusted I worked G4OBK only. The exchange was 389/ 539. Phil’s poor report from me was due to loud precipitation static - a constant S8 of static cracking as the electricity discharged through my rig and linear. Possible damage to the equipment was a real concern, as it has happened in the past. With less than three weeks to go to the summer solstice and this horrendous natural cacophony, if Phil was hard to hear, everybody else would be impossible. Since I found the same QRN from one end of HF to the other, I gave up HF altogether in favour of VHFM. Meanwhile the rain increased and started to wet everything.
145.400 FM - 9 QSO`s:
After shoving most things that mattered, such as the increasingly soggy log and my sit-mat into the convenient dry space under the flat rock beside which I had been sitting, I set up the 2m half-wave vertical. The HF dipole was by now rolled up in readiness for leaving.
With the maximum available 5 Watts of VHFM I worked the nine stations that were waiting: G4UXH; G0TDM; G1OHH; GW4ZPL/P; G0HRT; G4WHA/M; 2E0MIX; G4BLH and M3RDZ. The GW, who was probably the furthest away, wasn’t a SOTA activator but rather John in a caravan near Bangor. G4WHA had taken the trouble to go mobile near Penrith, presumably to have a better chance of working Dale Head. With a 59/ 59 exchange between Geoff and I, that strategy certainly seemed to work well.
M3RDZ - Roy enquired whether 4m-FM would follow but in the circumstances I wasn’t in a hurry to risk water damage to any more of my kit - namely the IC-E90 H/H - on the strength of one (possible?) QSO. In fact it may not have worked with just a set-top rubber antenna due to the exchange on 2m being just 54/ 54 and that with a decent aerial.
The rainy descent took 25 minutes to 13:25 and I was well down the hill before dropping out of cloud. At least it was only a short drive back to Keswick.
Keswick Mining Museum:
With lots of time left in the day after returning to the B&B, we set off in David’s car for the Mining Museum in Threlkeld old quarry which proved very interesting. Much of it was outside such as a line of old cranes but for me the best item was a 1951 series 1 Land Rover which belonged to the man who operates the miniature railway there.
After witnessing a few photographs from me, the owner came out into the drizzle to tell us all about it. A dedicated LR man, he had owned it for 40 years and still used it every day. It had a modern Perkins Diesel engine in it which enabled 45 mpg economy. My experience was 17 to 21 mpg from an LR petrol with overdrive and around 28 max with a Diesel. On the strength of that I think he was doing very well indeed.
Total QSO`s for LD20 were 33.
THURSDAY 05-Jun-14 (Final Day): SCAFELL PIKE G/LD-001.
Intro:
The group were planning a low-level version of the Newlands Round today. That was a shame. I could have activated Dale Head and possibly Robinson by deviating from their route but I had already put Dale Head on the day before.
For a couple of years now I have been dropping subtle hints to walk leader David about doing LD1 but it wasn’t happening because of the mix of personnel in the group.
The weather in Keswick was fine early on but that would change because of the choice I made, which was LD1 from Seathwaite. It is a well known fact that the area around this tiny hamlet ‘enjoys’ the highest rainfall in the England, so combined with a rather shaky weather forecast, prospects were not great for me today.
My announcement at the breakfast table was met with little comment which I took to mean, ‘You must be crazy.’ Nevertheless, after a three year absence, I was determined to do England’s biggest whatever the weather and had gradually set my heart on it over the previous 24 hours.
That said, I would not be ‘dragging’ a beefy pack the five or so miles up there, so while I was repacking the rucksack I came across the extra batteries that were not supposed to be in it but sadly had been all week! Priding myself in lightweight SOTA even with QRO, I was furious with myself for carrying this dead weight for the last three days. Out went all four big batteries along with the linear but the FT817ND was retained. I still wanted to do HF even if it was to be QRP.
The umbrella was going with me but I got rid of some other gear that would not be needed - like the dipole test and repair kit. The IC-E90 6-4-2-70 Handheld was ejected and replaced by a simple 2m only Jingtong JT208 with its lightweight Li-Po battery mod. The 80 thro’ 10m dipole was replaced by the standard 80-60-40-20 version and the Top Band loading coils were dumped. This way, I would have fewer tangles and would not be tempted onto 10-FM, 160m which were both likely to be futile with 5 Watts.
With 5 degree C summit temperatures forecast and a stiff breeze, I put in the North Face Microball Hoodie that I had recently bought. This is intended to provide minimalist synthetic insulation against a weight of less than 400 grams (L-size) but it would only be used if I was desperate. I didn’t want it to get soaked or snagged on the sharp summit rocks. Besides, it is a rather ‘girlie’ colour and I am already conspicuous enough on the summit with 40 metres of pink PTFE wire on a red and white mast.
Another reason for lightening the pack was speed. I thought (wrongly as it turned out) that HF band conditions would be good making necessary an extended summit stay so the less time wasted walking the better. Though compared with the alternative Esk Hause route there’s not a lot in it, I chose Corridor up Corridor down. That way I could ‘bail out short’ and go to Great Gable if the WX got really bad.
Execution:
Spirits were high when I left a dry Keswick at 9am but the mood changed rapidly on driving into the Jaws of Borrowdale. The sky was dark grey, the clouds were down on surrounding fells and it was already raining quite freely. After spending some time wriggling into waterproofs (garb that I abhor) I set off walking under my black umbrella at precisely 10:00 with the intention of trying to post a decent time. The MP3 player kept me amused via Stockley Bridge and through the rock field beside the beck to the footbridge. From there I followed the standard route entering cloud at Sty Head Tarn.
‘Knowing’ I couldn’t go wrong after umpteen ascents this way even in clag, I still managed to overshot the left turn at the rescue box by more than 100m which made necessary a maddening back-track across boggy mire to access the Corridor. Next I fell for the ‘right fork to nowhere’ and had to take a steep left to get back on the path, which here resembles a rake. It must be my fourth time on this particular time waster, though a new GPS waypoint (NY 22088 09045) should eliminate further occurrences. I plodded on listening to the long version of Arlo Guthrie’s song - ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ chuckling to myself at the clever though ridiculous lyrics.
While correcting my navigational error, I was aware of a figure moving in the mist behind me and he caught me up as I nervously tried to descend the rock face at NY 2189 0852. This was a man of about 40 from Workington with a spaniel on a lead. A veteran of over 200 ascents via this route to my dozen or so, he soon put me right on the easiest route down this steep and today slippery scramble. (Basically - keep left). Discussing a recent death in Piers Gill, we kept company right up to the top of the corridor where he stopped for a flask of coffee. I pressed on and less than 20 minutes got me to the deserted top. My time was 2 hours-10 minutes which going by memory beat a previous best by about 10 minutes.
Setting up the dipole is always a difficult job on LD1 and as well as being loose, the rocks were more slippery than usual today. I chose to put it a few metres down the SW slope from the big summit cairn. Unfortunately the shape of the terrain there only allowed the inner part to be deployed which limited me to 7 MHz and above. The 80m & 60m outer sections would have been resting on rocks had the aerial been fully erected. That was particularly galling when I discovered that I could not phone G4SSH for a spot. He would likely have been listening for me on 3.557 CW though I doubt I would have made it with 5 Watts.
Left with only two viable alternatives; 7.032 and 145.500, I elected to try 40m first. Just as I was about to start, the man with the spaniel arrived and waved a greeting through the mist. I had company on the summit but from the radio viewpoint, it looked like I was on my own today.
SCAFELL PIKE, LD-001, 978m, 10 pts, 12:10 to 15:32. 6 deg C. 10 mph wind. Low-cloud with occasional drizzle. IO84JK – NY20. Fleeting Orange mobile coverage on the phone’s ‘S’ meter but none in practice.
7.032 CW - 14 QSO`s:
5 Watts on 7.032 then 7.033 failed to attract anybody let alone a pileup of SOTA chasers but I CQ’d on for some minutes, avoiding other SOTA ops when they came up. Somewhat disillusioned about picking a day with obviously rotten band conditions AND a five-Watt QRP rig to boot, I had to resort to calling two other SOTA activators: Dave EJ/G4ASA/P on 7.032 and EI/IS-104 and Ruda OK2QA/P on 7.033 and OK/KR-010. Nobody else was hearing me but the beauty of working another activator is that they have low noise and are often QRP. The former gives your QRP signal some chance of getting through and the latter proves it’s possible. In fact it was entirely possible and the exchanges of 539/ 339 and 339/ 339 were made respectively and without too much difficulty. At least the rig was working!
After further CQ’ing on 7.032 GX0OOO/P was finally heard by fixed station ON4FI who kindly spotted me. After these I worked: PB2T; G3RMD; DL2EF; PA0WLB; DL1FU; PA4EA; DF5WA; G4SSH; EI2CL; F6ENO/P and DL3HXX. Alain F6ENO/P was S2S on F/AL-279.
PB2T called in for a second time near the end and I worked him again. This appeared to be and was logged as a dupe from my end but that was obviously not the case from Hans’ viewpoint. He did the right thing by making sure of it and I am very understanding of chasers doing this, especially in the poor conditions of a day like this one. There was barely any propagation at times and QSB was deep. Stations were not just fading down but fading right out. If anyone is unsure if they are in the log please call again. I will either say ‘In Log - Good QSO’ or if conditions are really bad just go with another QSO which lends confidence at the remote end by simply following once again, the standard and expected format.
The session took almost 50 minutes for the fourteen stations worked which is a measure of how difficult it was and how bad the conditions were. I was routinely sending callsigns back two or three times and RST’s three to eight times depending on how I thought they were hearing me, so if you worked Scafell Pike today, you were very lucky.
10.118 CW - 1 QSO:
By now I was damp, shivering and feeling somewhat disillusioned. After climbing to the highest point in England I was rewarded with barely useable propagation and why I didn’t try out the new hooded jacket I don’t know. The question was, ‘What do we do next?’ With the dipole as it was, in the words of Yazz, ‘The only way is up.’ Up in frequency that was. With little prospect of success after failure on 30m the day before, I pulled out one 20m link and tried 10.118.
Twenty minutes after I’d abandoned 7.032 I managed to find one QSO with F8BJO on 30m. Unhappily this was not the callsign of a SOTA chaser so a rather drawn out QSO ensued with at least one enquiry about the QTH. In the end I sent ‘Cumbria’ which gave him a lot of scope. We finished and I hoped I’d been heard by at least one chaser who could have spotted me but to no avail.
The automatic machine which finds activators couldn’t help me either. For that there needs to be a prior alert I’m told.
What next?
It had to be 2m-FM again. There was little else I could do. I had 15 QSO’s in the log after the better part of two hours and couldn’t communicate with my spotter. I was chilled to the bone, thoroughly damp from wet fog and drizzle, stiff as a board and I hurt from the hard rocks beneath my thin sit-mat. Not only that, I had been sitting in the wind to allow the ‘normal’ walkers their sheltered spot by the cairn. An activator’s life is not always a happy one but I have known far worse so would not be giving up. A positive course of action became clear; the HF station was laboriously packed away whence I relocated to the summit cairn to set up for VHF in its welcome shelter.
145.400 FM - 23 QSO`s:
This session was worked with 5 Watts to a half-wave J-Pole and started at 13:20z with a vigilant G4WHA/A in Penrith who called me when I checked 145.400 prior to a CQ on S20. Geoff has a shop to run as well as chasing the odd SOTA so any time saved is worth a bite of guile. After Geoff came: G0TDM; G1OHH; G6ODU; 2E0MNO/M; M0ZIF/M; M6ANX; G4UXH; G4ZRP; G1CCL; M6NKB; 2E0BMO; G6MZX; M0RSF; M3NHA; G4SXI; M6WAD; G0UQC; G1PIE; M0SYY/M; MD3OED; GW4ZPL/P and finally at 14:02z - M3RDZ.
I hope I didn’t annoy anybody by working next to the summit cairn - the antenna was stuck in the top of it. In fact everybody seemed far from upset; some interested and questioning, others merely curious but all were friendly. At some stage it was pointed out to me that I was sitting on someone’s ashes - a quantity of creamy-white grit amongst the stones. Later when leaving I noticed a second more extensive area around the other side on the cairn. I thought of Alfred Wainwright and the quip in one of his books reference ‘grit in your boot’ on Haystacks. That said, thought it’s a natural thing to want to end up on your favourite mountain (Mickle Fell is mine) but it might be more fitting if these shrines were put under rocks rather than on them.
Despite having packed up everything apart from the VHFM equipment beforehand, half an hour passed by between the final QSO and the start of the walk down. This was because people kept approaching me with maps, compasses and for advice on how to get off to various places in the fog. One group wished to return via Esk Hause and another were headed down to Wasdale. I set a compass up for the Wasdale couple, including magnetic compensation, and pointed the way but they still hesitated, waiting until someone else was going that way too. The urge to follow the Esk Hause party was resisted because I think it would have taken longer that way. Hopefully everybody got down OK? It’s easy to find a summit. You just keep ascending. Unfortunately there are an infinite number of ways down.
Descent of LD1:
The descent via the reciprocal route took an hour and fifty nine minutes to 17:31 but that did include a 7 minute stop to remove waterproofs & fleece at the sheltered and by now occasionally sunny Corridor low point. A short cut across the grass was made between the end of the Corridor Route and Sty Head Tarn. Passing the foot of Great Gable without going up it was a shame but I had to be back for evening meal.
The weather at Seathwaite - now merely overcast with short sunny intervals, was a vast improvement on the morning’s rain and clag. By 6pm I was back at the B&B in Keswick for the final time. After having to drive for three hours to get home countless times, a warm shower within 30 minutes of returning to the car is a luxury highly valued.
Total QSO`s for LD1 were 38.
In Conclusion:
The obvious solution when you are limited by meal times, is one day one summit. Also, summer (if you could call it that) is not for rushing about. The cost of staying in Keswick seems to have risen once again but that can be expected in the Lake District as can the wet weather. Since the holiday had been booked six months in advance there was little that could be done about the latter other than just working around it on a day to day basis. Just one activation (LD24) out of the four was comfortable. Walking was never a problem but the other summit stays (up to five hours) were all mildly arduous.
Without spots from G4SSH life is much harder and I am extremely grateful to Roy for his unstinting support in answering mobile phone calls from the first three summit. The advantage of this system became all too evident when we were not able to follow normal procedures for the LD1 activation.
The week before had seen very mixed conditions especially on the mainstay 40m band. The activation of LD4 on Monday showed a vast improvement in HF propagation which enabled a good QSO count of 83. It would have been naive to assume that this was going to continue however and though the decline wasn’t initially steep, the final two days were badly affected by poor propagation and increasingly severe QSB in addition to bad weather. 40m band conditions for LD1 on 5th June couldn’t have been much worse and it was down to 2m-FM to save the day; which it did pretty well. Nevertheless, considering the effort expended and summit time, a QSO count of 38 from England’s biggest was poor indeed.
160m SOTA was kept ‘ticking along’ on the first three days. It was no more than that, because without Phil G4OBK the tally of QSO’s would have been just one (G4RQJ - Rob) for the whole holiday. At sunspot high and with long daylight hours, we were up against it so thanks go to Phil for being there.
10m FM was added ‘just for fun.’ Apart from possibly some Es, the band didn’t seem to be open much (if at all) on any of the four days, but line of sight contacts were hoped for. A handful of QSO’s were to be had but one reason for putting it on was to try to reach Mick M0MDA in Leeds. Even with 50 Watts, it didn’t happen from the first two summits; Skiddaw and Blisco because of their positions but there was some interest shown by those who did successfully chase the activations on 29.2. I didn’t use the band from the last two; Dale Head (well overshadowed by higher peaks) and Scafell Pike. Maybe if I had taken QRO up LD1 as I have done in the past, I might have been greeted with more success on 10-FM but this activation was always going to be simpler and lighter.
When 7MHz underperformed into Europe on the final two days, 10.118 CW was tried a couple of times but without success as far as SOTA chasing was concerned. It would seem that this frequency is not monitored much. That’s understandable when you consider that chasers must be almost constantly ‘here, there and everywhere’ in response to spots and in pursuit of points from stations that they can hear.
A big thank you to G4SSH for the SOTA spotting service. Thanks also to all chasers and the spotters who were: G4SSH; G6TUH; M6VGU; G3NYY; DD5LP; G4BLH; M0MDA; G4OBK; G3RMD and G4WHA. As always, your help in making this a successful trip was much appreciated.
QSO`s:
LD4 Skiddaw on 2nd June:
3 on 80m CW; 0 on 80m SSB; 2 on 160m CW; 1 on 160m SSB; 2 on 10m FM; 24 on 40m CW; 46 on 40m SSB; 5 on 2m FM.
Total LD4: 83
LD24 Pike of Blisco on 3rd June:
22 on 40m CW; 32 on 40m SSB; 1 on 160m CW; 3 on 10 FM; 7 on 2m FM; 1 on 4m FM.
Total LD24: 66
LD20 Dale Head on 4th June:
20 on 40m CW; 3 on 40m SSB; 1 on 160m CW; 9 on 2m FM; 0 on 30m CW.
Total LD20: 33
LD1: Scafell Pike on 5th June:
14 on 40m CW; 1 on 30m CW; 23 on 2m FM.
Total LD1: 38
G4YSS (GX0OOO) ‘LAKES Walking Week’ Table, 2nd to 5th June 2014
June SOTA SUMMIT Ref:G/ Pt. Time (BST) With:
2nd Underscar Car Park-295m 10:52 Solo
2nd SKIDDAW - 931m (Arr Trig Pt) LD-004 10 12:04 Solo
2nd LD4 QTH to South at NY2606 2882 12:08-16:57 Solo
2nd Underscar Car Park-295m 17:49 Solo
Bands 160-80-40cw/ssb-10fm-2fm QRO
Total: 10.6km/ 726m ascent; 2.1hrs walking/ 6.95hrs gross - 83 QSOs.
June SOTA SUMMIT Ref:G/ Pt. Time (BST) With:
3rd Old Dungeon Gill Hotel Car Pk-100m 10:13 Group
3rd Brown Howe NY 2673 0475 11:12 Group
3rd Left Group at NY 2667 0402 11:53 Solo
3rd PIKE of BLISCO - 705m LD-024 6 12:12-15:46 Solo
3rd C-Road NY 28598 05204 16:27 Solo
3rd Old Dungeon Gill Hotel Car Pk-100m 16:41 Solo
Bands 160cw-40cw/ssb-10fm-4fm-2fm QRO
Total: 7.8km/ 615m ascent - 2.9hrs walking/ 6.47hrs gross - 66 QSOs.
June SOTA SUMMIT Ref:G/ Pt. Time (BST) With:
4th Honister Nat Trust Car Pk-360m 09:50 Solo
4th DALE HEAD - 753m LD-020 6 10:29-13:00 Solo
4th Honister Nat Trust Car Pk-360m 13:25 Solo
Bands 160cw-40cw/ssb-2fm QRO
Total: 4.2km/ 397m ascent; 2.6hrs walking - 1.07hrs gross - 33 QSOs.
June SOTA SUMMIT Ref:G/ Pt. Time (BST) With:
5th Seathwaite-125m 10:00 Solo
5th Stockley Bridge/ Corridor Route Solo
5th SCAFELL PIKE - 978m LD-001 10 12:10-15:32 Solo
5th Corridor Route/ Stockley Bridge 7 min stop Solo
5th Seathwaite-125m 17:31 Solo
Bands 40-30cw-2fm QRP-5W
Total: 15.0km/ 893m ascent; 4.03hrs walking/ 7.8hrs gross - 38 QSOs.
TOTALS (four days): - 4 SOTAs - 32 pts - 220 QSO’s:
Walked: 37.6km (23.5 mls) with 2,631m (8,632ft) ascent.
11.6hrs walking at 2.02mph ave.
Miles Driven:
Total: 407 in XYL`s C4 Picasso Diesel.
73, John
(G4YSS using Scarborough Special Events Group Club Call GX0OOO/P.)
