Saturday, 15th August 2026, certainly made for a monster last joint activation of the season for @M0PVC and me. Our mission for the day… Cold Fell, G/NP-020, and Cross Fell, G/NP-001. Little did we know that the following day we’d likely be suffering from our choices! 
Having woken up awfully early - 5AM - for our day of SOTA, we were on our jolly way to our first summit of the day - Cold Fell. This summit seems to be under-activated, making it a somewhat difficult one to chase. Who knows when we may achieve the complete status?!
We started our ascent from the RSPB Geltsdale car park - free by the way - and I looked like a SOTA martyr with my new homebrew tape measure yagi; the word ‘homebrew’ doing a lot of lifting here… because let’s face it, nobody is professionally producing these, are they? May I introduce to you, The M1TJM Botherer Magnet 
An antenna that is guaranteed to raise a few eyebrows 
We quickly noticed how boggy this route was. Jake, wearing his new Alt-Berg boots had no issue here - and wouldn’t stop reminding me how good they were. On the other hand, my Salomon Gore-Tex boots leave a lot to be desired… instantly soaked through from just the wet grass!
Upon reaching the summit of Cold Fell, we were indeed Cold and I almost Fell on some slippery rocks - really living up to its name here. We set up the M1TJM Botherer Magnet and away we went on 2m SSB, properly, for the very first time. You’d be right to say that I am very late to the 2m SSB party, and I feel like I’ve missed out on some epic contacts on my past activations, but no-more… this mode will be used on future activations for sure. Like most activations when trying something new, it didn’t all go to plan. From bending elements to coax losses and eventually just completely broken coax, I was described by Jake as ‘crestfallen’. Now, I wouldn’t go that far… but it was rather sad to hear these chasers from afar and not be able to get back to them. Cue the picture of the tape measure elements bending in the wind.
The coax, which I had made in the Austria YOTA 2026 camp a few weeks ago, was no good. I remember at the time saying “this feels weak, no way am I taking this on a SOTA”. I am unsure what changed my mind - but I’d also forgotten a fleece and coat, so maybe I am losing my marbles?!
We set up Jake’s slim-jim antenna and decided to try some vertical 2m SSB. Whilst I am not a fan of breaking convention, it was our only option at this time. I am very glad we tried, as the results were spectacular! Two contacts on our 10W into West Wales. Don, @GW0PLP and Frank, GW1OFA, were definitely the highlights from that activation - with a max distance of 354 km - this was just outrageously incredible. I can only imagine the distances we’d reach if our yagi had worked 
Thank you, Don, for continuing to try us whilst we were experiencing issues - your patience was very much appreciated.
This was the first time I’d used the Icom IC-705 in the field, and I really do love this radio. Having sold both of my Xiegu radio sets earlier on in the week, it was farewell to the G90 and X6100, and helloooo to the beautiful 705! I think this set is joining the FT-891 as one of my favourites. Not keen on that rusty nail so close to it though… thankfully I’d printed a nice rugged case for it.
We decided we’d had our fun and skipped HF due to the wet and cold weather, making our way back down the fell. At a total distance of 5.57 miles, 413m of ascent, in just under 2 hours, we were pleased with ourselves. I don’t think I would class this as a ‘worth it for the winter bonus’… as you may just sink in the bog on your way up - or maybe Burnhope Seat and Hoove are way worse for that?!
Next Up… Cross Fell
Onwards to the next summit of the day. Let’s remember, this wasn’t a “drive two hours for 4 points” sort of day, this was a “We’re going to feel this for the next few days, but the 12 points will be worth it… right?!” sort of day. Cross Fell, G/NP-001. We tackled the big 001 from Garrigill, which is the same route I took last time. A long and exhausting track, fit for a mountain bike, took us to the Greg’s Hut bothy. If you haven’t visited this, please do - what a marvellous facility.
From there, the path takes you up the summit of Cross Fell. This was boggy, and my non-waterproof Merrell shoes lived up to their name. With Jake reminding me that his feet were still bone dry, we made it to the summit and had the entire thing to ourselves 
What better way to celebrate than setting up an antenna-farm next to the shelter. With a different run of coax, I was absolutely determined to put this tape measure yagi to the test. Aren’t I glad I did… as we had two glorious 2m SSB contacts with GI5JOE (what a callsign) and GD4OFB. With an excellent 59+10 dB report from GI5JOE both ways, I was very pleased with the antenna. At least the elements were behaving themselves this time. As you can tell from the picture, I was pretty chuffed that it worked out.
Jake set up his OFC-Dipole for the HF bands, but unfortunately it didn’t work out - we’re blaming the ground (it probably isn’t the ground ). We deployed my linked dipole for 40m and 20m and made some contacts on the awfully cramped bands. Almost every contact complained about QRM on adjacent channels, but such is life I suppose!
Feeling rather dishevelled and hollow about the impending doom of the long walk back to Garrigill, we packed up our kit and started the descent. Feeling very pleased with ourselves and our 46,000 steps of the day, we hobbled back to the car and drove home.
Thank you to all of the chaser and S2S stations who worked us and made the day possible. Whilst this may be the last joint activation for M1TJM and M0PVC for a little while, I am sure it won’t be the last. I shall now leave you with a final picture of my yagi after Jake exposed my director elements!
Hopefully catch you again soon, and as always, thank you for reading my post!
73,
M1TJM
from me for making your own antennas. It’s huge fun even if they don’t work as expected. And when they do work…
this is what it’s all about!
Onwards and upwards for the next antenna.
WOW! Now, that would’ve really made our day extra special. Was this on FM or SSB? How great! Thank you for letting us know what our signal report was, that’s great work from the 10W we were running.
very well done on the 2m CW. I’m almost there, or so I keep telling myself. I have been on/off learning CW since mid-June. So it’s still early days here.