When I noticed that Peter G3TJE would be in the area I contacted him and suggested meeting up for a few summits. He was keen to do this and today was set aside. We met at the standard parking place for Gun and trudged up in light rain. The rain increased in intensity as Peter set up. I decided to relax and take photos instead of activating - it was that sort of weather. Radio conditions were poor and Peter struggled to make contacts on 5MHz ssb. 80m ssb was slightly better but even 40CW failed to gain any takers (although Peter did realise afterwards that he had a jumper in the wrong position on his aerial). We descended and were surprised to see a figure looming out of the mist coming towards us. This turned out to be Steve G1INK who had come up for a chat. After a short conversation, we said he was welcome to join us on the Cloud. He did not seem keen (sensible given the weather) but said he might join us later in the pub.
The satnav guided us to the Cloud (I was not sure of the best route from this side) and Peter seemed impressed with the system. Waterproofs were donned and again we set off in rain. Peter was soon set up but his new logging system did not like the rain. I lent him mine while he tried again on HF. Conditions were so bad that he had to resort to 2m FM…
The satnav guided us to the Stanley Arms (one of the few pubs in the area that does food on a Monday) where Steve was already waiting. A pleasant lunch and chat followed. we could have spent the afternoon there as the rain got heavier but Peter and I were on a mission.
Five minutes drive saw us at the start point for Shining Tor. A brisk walk in the rain and we were at the top. 2m FM and 5MHz were used but HF remained very poor. The summit was soon qualified and we were glad to be getting down.
Sorry to anyone hoping for 40m CW. I was far too lazy and anyway conditions were dreadful - next time.
Photos and video online soon.
73
Richard