Gummer's How - Our SOTA family

Activation Reports
1

Gummers How

WOTA ID: LDO-067 Height: 321 m (1053 ft)
SOTA ID: G/LD-050 Grid ref: SD390884
QTH Locator: IO84MG
Lat: 54.287427 Long: -2.937165

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Following various changes in my family requirements this morning I wasn’t able to head to the planned summit Red Screes G/LD-017 as I was running about an hour late, so I opted instead to bring out the big guns FT-857D and the trusted SOTABeams Band Hopper IV (with an additional section for 60m) and head for my go-to local summit Gummer’s How G/LD-050. I think this is my 38th activation of that summit.

Thankfully the wind stayed much calmer than predicted and only after 3 hours did I finally deploy the tarpaulin to get some protection from the strengthening wind.

This is a popular family summit as you have a good head start from the road on the height and it has lovely views of the Lake District Fells and also Morecambe Bay and The Pennines to the East. I had to break off the radio many times to explain what I was up to, everyone was very interested.

Obviously the main focus was looking out for @EA2IF Guru’s spot and I managed to get him in the log on 30m CW after an hour on the summit. Bands were weird - it didn’t really open to the USA although there were some big stations making it through. As I am close to my 2,500 S2S points I concentrated on both working a frequency and also doing the crocodile-clip shuffle on the antenna to try not to miss an opportunity. There was no propagation to Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, but even so I did manage to get a healthy 19 S2S, so thank you to everyone who made the effort. What was also clear was that SOTA folk who were unable to head to a summit today were on the radio from home, a wonderful group effort.

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TIME CALLSIGN BAND MODE RST RSR OPERATOR SIG REF
11:58 EA2WX/P 20m CW 599 599 Marcial SOTA EA1/BU-071
12:03 DF1AKR/P 20m SSB 55 59 Andreas SOTA DM/BW-193
12:05 2E0HPI/P 40m SSB 53 59 Carl HEMA G/HTW-005
12:09 2E0GVI 40m SSB 59 59 Stuart
12:11 GM6ZAK 40m SSB 59 59 Andy
12:13 G3TQQ/P 40m SSB 58 57 J SOTA G/TW-004
12:14 G4OOE 40m SSB 59 59 A.R.N.
12:14 DJ5AV 40m SSB 58 56 Michael
12:14 G6LKB 40m SSB 59 59 David
12:15 HB9JOE 40m SSB 59 57 ANDREAS
12:17 IU2HEE 40m SSB 44 55 Marco
12:17 ON7TWA/M 40m SSB 58 59 Geert
12:19 PD7P 40m SSB 59 59 Paul
12:22 S57LXN/P 20m SSB 58 56 Boyan SOTA S5/RG-016
12:26 CT2IQK 20m SSB 55 55 Jorge
12:26 SQ9MDF 20m SSB 59 55 Leszek
12:26 SQ9NOT 20m SSB 59 55 WIOLETTA
12:27 S52CU 20m SSB 56 58 Mirko
12:27 SQ2NBY/P 20m SSB 55 57
12:28 CT1DIZ 20m SSB 58 57 JOSE
12:28 IN3ADF/P 20m SSB 59 59 Markus SOTA I/AA-186
12:29 CT2HKN 20m SSB 56 56 Miguel
12:30 OE6GND 20m SSB 59 59 GERHARD
12:31 SP2SJ/P 20m SSB 58 57 MARCIN
12:32 SQ9BQW/P 20m SSB 59 59 Wojciech SOTA SP/BZ-065
12:37 GM3YXM 60m SSB 59 59 Dave
12:38 G0EVV/P 60m SSB 59 59 DI SOTA G/SB-006
12:38 G3RDQ 60m SSB 59 59 DAVID
12:39 G4IVV 60m SSB 59 59 Jonathan
12:39 GM4WHA 60m SSB 59 59 GEOFF
12:40 G4IPB 60m SSB 59 59 PJ
12:40 M0XRS 60m SSB 59 59 Chris
12:41 M0JLA/P 60m SSB 59 59 Rod SOTA G/WB-002
12:41 EI7GEB 60m SSB 59 59 David
12:42 G3YZY 60m SSB 59 59 Howard
12:43 G0FVH 60m SSB 58 44 DAVID.
12:46 SP9MA/P 20m SSB 59 59 Jarek SOTA SP/BZ-012
12:48 SP3W/P 40m SSB 59 59 Sebastian COTA SP-00037
12:54 SP9BIJ/P 40m SSB 57 55 Marco SOTA SP/BZ-065
12:56 SV2RUJ/P 20m SSB 59 57 Stavros SOTA SV/TL-066
13:02 EA2IF/P 30m CW 559 519 Guru SOTA EA2/SS-057
13:11 EA1FIC 20m SSB 59 59 Roberto
13:12 EA3HYJ 20m SSB 59 55 Agustín
13:12 N2BTD 20m SSB 51 51 BRIAN
13:13 EA4M 20m SSB 59 57 Ricardo
13:13 EA7JXZ 20m SSB 59 57 David
13:14 YU3FMS/P 20m SSB 59 59 Filip POTA YT-0001
13:17 IK3RIY 20m SSB 59 57 Martino
13:25 MW3TMX/P 40m CW 599 599 Jordan SOTA GW/NW-036
13:31 DL7BC/P 40m CW 599 599 Hartwig SOTA DM/BW-010
13:38 OE5EEP/P 20m CW 599 599 Heinz SOTA OE/SB-458
13:39 IW2OBX/P 20m CW 559 559 Roberto SOTA I/LO-252
14:02 EA2ESE/P 20m SSB 59 57 Koldo SOTA EA2/BI-056
14:23 RW3AG 40m SSB 59 57 Vlad
14:28 YI1WWA 20m SSB 59 57 Wisam
14:32 II4WRTC 20m SSB 59 59 WRTC
14:32 9A/S57MS/P 20m SSB 55 57 Marko SOTA 9A/PH-038
14:57 MI0TXM 20m CW 519 559 Andrew SOTA GI/MM-010
15:05 KA2HTV 20m SSB 59 57 Dave
15:10 EA2GM/P 20m CW 559 559 Javier SOTA EA1/AT-208
15:30 KC3PIP 20m SSB 55 55 DALE POTA K-4356
16:00 G6NHW 80m SSB 59 59 PETE
16:02 ON4UP 80m SSB 59 33 Peter
16:04 M1DYU 80m SSB 58 59 Gary
16:04 2E0ESY 80m SSB 59 59 Mike
16:08 2E0FEH 80m SSB 59 57 Karl
16:09 G8ADD 80m SSB 59 59 Brian
16:11 2E0BTR 80m SSB 59 59 Geoff
16:13 M0FXX 80m SSB 59 59 Robert
16:14 M0BQF 80m SSB 59 59 Mick
16:16 M7GMP 80m SSB 59 59 Karl

Not much DX in the log but of note was my second contact with YI1WWA Wisam in Baghdad who’s pileup I happened across by chance and somehow managed to break straight through. KA2HTV was a big signal but with a 5 over 5 over 5 antenna at 176 feet that isn’t too much of a surprise! I also enjoyed a good group of contacts on 60m and 80m.

Next weekend our local panto starts a run for a week and I have volunteered as follow spot, so my radio activity will be taking a backseat for a while. Both my wife and daughter are in it this time round!

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As the sun was setting the moon rose which was a magical end to the day, with the lake taking on a distinctive pink hue.

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8 Likes
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And the moon rose, over an open hill…

(Simon)

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… and I think Mark was looking for America …

( But I can’t think of any lyrics at all with propogation in, other than perhaps the first bit of Peter Gabriels here comes the flood…)

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4

Hi Mark,

Tnx S2S :wink:

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You were booming :muscle:
What was your power ?

73, Jarek

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Having carried the 22Ah LifePo4 battery to the summit I figured there was little point in running less than the full 100 watts. Just have to keep an eye on folk wondering around, thankfully this is a large summit and I setup off the beaten track, so generally people only come closer when they are interested in what I’m doing.

Cheers for the S2S! Mark.

p.s. my back doesn’t thank me these days so I don’t do this very often any more!

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6

… and just uploaded to the SOTA database and found I have reached the 2,500 S2S point mark. Yah! :clap: :clap: :clap:

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7

I think so :face_with_monocle:
On my first stage with SOTA I carried 18Ah gel battery with me …
Now 2,6 li-ion is enough :smiley:

73, Jarek

2 Likes
8

Hi,
I wondered why you, an apparently sane individual, would activate the same peak so often. Then I saw your excellent pictures of the views. Totally justified. What camera are you using?

73
Ron
VK3AFW

9

Well, after sat on that rocky summit for 4 hours, how about [a few lines further on] …
“I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why”

The Lake District is a magical part of the country and attracts 16 millions visitors every year, an area only 2362 square kilometres (912 square miles). I’m very happy to keep repeatedly walking some of the summits radio or no radio [but usually early morning in summer before the tourists get there].

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10

Gummer’s How is my closest SOTA summit. You will find some folk who are mostly interested in DX will visit the same summit loads. I’m sure I’ve seen a statistic somewhere lately, and it makes me look sane, trust me!

The camera is a Panasonic TZ-80 @VK3AFW.

11

I’m starting to think I’m jinxed Mark. Most of my recent activations have been in mist! I rely on you to show me what I keep missing :wink:.

At this time of year, spending over 4 hours sat on a summit is testament to your:

  1. commitment

  2. winter clothing / shelter

  3. absence of non-SOTA companions :grin:

Well done; great pictures again.

4 Likes