2025 was a very quiet year for me (activation wise). I was rather focused on the amateur MTB events that I had entered. Achieving 2nd and 3rd place was worth the effort, but no gold. Maybe next year? There was still more training to do in preparation for winter, but unfortunately the season ended abruptly and prematurely. 
Volunteering at a marathon in September (on behalf of Raynet)… I was stood on the moor… something stung me through my full-length trousers. My leg would no longer fit into my jeans 24h later, and the subsequent infection needed treating.
I’ve not been the same since, but a cold new year (& literal blinding sunlight) might just be the ticket - cue some local activations to warm up the SOTA skills.
1st January 2026: G/SC-004.
Having built and tested my beautiful, bijou and dare I say sexy QMX - it was time for it to actually earn me some points.
I wouldn’t say this summit was the best for playing radio (I’ve had better), but it’s close by and good for testing (when I say testing, I mean it’s good to see if I managed to bring everything that I need on an activation HI).
6 contacts on 20m, and 9 on 40m. I’d say I was very impressed with how it went on 40m (although it took about 10-15mins to find a clear frequency). One station reported audio clipping (thank you - I’d rather know so that I can do something about it), so I made the necessary adjustments.
All went well - I hadn’t forgotten anything, and the radio + accessories all performed flawlessly.
2nd January 2026: G/SC-005.
Usually, I have better results on HF at this summit. Not the case this time.
On my way up (despite wearing a beanie) I experienced ‘ice cream head’ - the last time that happened to me was during a rather frosty descent on my bicycle, from Col De La Bonnette, at over 40MPH. The difference - I wasn’t wearing a beanie that day so it was to be expected!
With a frosty head (despite wearing a posh, double layered merino hat), I setup and found some shelter at the bottom of the cairn. The headache started to ease.
It was busy on 20m, so whilst looking for a frequency to use, I managed to get in and make my first contact with a POTA operator. Good report.
I called CQ on 20m and managed a further 3 contacts. Again, good reports. This is where things got confusing - I could hear stations calling, but they were not hearing me… or was someone else on the frequency? I don’t know, but I suppose all I needed was 4 contacts. Instead, I spent some time trying to chase a few operators on other summits. No sausage… and during that time the sun was hidden by some clouds.
Suddenly, it was very cold. I rushed to pack up - and once stood up I was reminded of how brisk it was.
I tend to use knots for everything - all you need is a bit of cord in most scenarios. But when your hands no longer function (with or without gloves), there’s probably a benefit to using carabiners instead HI. My teeth proved to be very useful, however I might add some small crabs to my shopping list to avoid visits to the dentitht.
No photos - it was bitterly cold.
3rd January 2026: G/SC-002.
Activity on 40m was bonkers - the decision was made. 2m FM only (I wasn’t in the mood to play in the Wild West). Also, a few operators were intending to be up GW/SW summits at lunch time. Perfect.
Lydeard Hill car park was heaving - fortunately I arrived just as a few people had already given up, which got me a parking space pretty quickly. 
It’s only 1.3 miles to the summit, during which I experienced ice cream head again! I got to the top and found some shelter only about 10-15m SW of the trig point.
I setup (QRO this time) and waited on 145.500 patiently - I knew there’d be activity on other summits and I didn’t want to miss out. Plus there was no phone signal to self-spot.
Sure enough my first contact was with an operator on GW/SW-009. After exchanging signal reports, another station popped up. He was on GW/SW-001. Then another who was on GW/SW-011. Two of them were called Neil which led to a bit of confusion HI. I QSYd to the wrong frequency only to find it was Neil, not Neil. 
Anyway, with a bit of patience I managed to find Neil, then I decided to call CQ. My second contact after calling CQ was the operator on SW/SW-011. So it all worked out.
13 contacts in total, but most importantly, it was on 2m. The more I use 2m, the more I like it!
Update: I thought I’d add my next activation here (saves another thread).
4th January 2026: G/DC-001.
Tempted by some alerts on SOTA Watch, I thought I’d combine my love of snow (and 2m FM S2S contacts) with my hatred of cold extremities (is one’s head classed as an extremity?).
A gorgeous, sunny morning. I arrived very close to the Meldon Reservoir car park and the road was covered with compacted snow. There’s an ascending corner (just after a bridge). The car wouldn’t go up it, so I decided to go back and park in the lay-by that I had just passed…
…but whilst assessing the situation (stationery, foot on brake), the car was adamant that it would go back down the hill of its own accord. Fair enough. I suppose that was my first experience of a self-driving car. I can’t say I was too keen TBH.
After a bit of faff, I had a bit further to walk. That combined with a fair bit of snow meant I arrived at the summit some 15-20 minutes later than expected. I had taken the steepest and most direct route.
I could see that other operators had spotted themselves - unfortunately there were various local (ish) hams on nets, so there was no chance of trying to hear them on their respective summits. I thought the nets might be a good opportunity to grab a few contacts, save that some of the overs were 10 minutes long and I was getting cold.
With the sun still shining and less than ideal shelter (not enough coax) I called CQ and grabbed my first 3 contacts. I scanned around various alerts on SOTA Watch however, once again, the nets were all I could hear. I called CQ one more time and got my last three contacts.
During the latter half, the sun disappeared and freezing fog came down. It was like someone had put me in a deep freezer - humidity makes such a difference to how hot or cold you feel. Perhaps that’s why we complain about the weather so much?
My ageing LiPo didn’t like the cold either (the voltage dropped substantially), so it’s just as well I decided to pack up. I started to make my way down through the fog - it was eerie but beautiful. Once it had passed, I was rewarded with a beautiful snowy view for the rest of the descent.
. It was ‘uffernol o oer’ today (**** cold). 73