IE-003 & IE-012 report

Old Reflector
1

Finally uploaded the log from yesterday.

The activation of Tongalee (817M) was quite hard.

I started out late, arriving at the carpark at 11:20AM. I was already 1 hour+ late. There was heavy rain in the previous days which had made the ground very heavy and marshy. The river was not swollen, but it looked like it had been previously.

I got my bag ready - which consisted of 817, SLAB 7Ah battery, first aid kit, bivvi-bag, rain wear, food, buddipole tripod, buddipole 8M pole, and buddipole coils, and camera.

I had decided on carrying the buddipole as I wanted to try out a) carrying it on an activation, and b) the performance.

I set off around 11:30AM, taking the shortest, but steepest route, into a stream reentrant. This was a bad idea, for a number of reasons (none from a safety POV), but it did get me there relatively quickly. On the way I got a heavy rain shower which helped wet me even more than the marsh.

It took about 1hr 30mins to reach the summit. Once there it was dry, a little windy, but manageable.

I found, much to my annoyance, I had forgotten the Buddipole centre, which made carrying the pole a waste of time.

I strung up my GW4VBE multi-band dipole. It took about 10-15mins to figure I needed to raise up the ends about 1-1.5M. Once I did that I had Mike EI2CL in the log.

After that Pete EI7CC spotted me, and things were cooking then.

I went on to work:

EI7CC, EI2CL, G6WRW, G4ELZ, G4JZF, G6MZX, GW1NK/P, GI4SRQ, GW0DSP, G0TRB, G4BLH/P, G0RQL, G4OBK, G0TDM, 2E0PXW, G7SKR, G0VWP/P, G0AOD, G0NES, DL3SBA/P, GM7UAU

After about 30mins of activity I took some photos, then dismantled everything, and got moving.

It took again about 1hr 20mins to get back down, again going for the shortest, wettest route.

I got back to the car, made some calculations (they seemed to work) and decided I had to go for Scarr, IE-012.

First I unloaded alot of the dead weight, as the kit was extremely heavy and was doing my back no favours. I dumped the SLAB, buddipole coils & etc, camera (sorry no photos of Scarr), extra clothes, food) and headed off.

It took me about 40mins to get to Scarr (641). Again, same config as Tonlagee. I had EI2CL again at the beginning, then went on to work alot of the same stations from earlier on including a few new ones:

EI2CL, GW0DSP, G6WRW, G3CWI, G0RQL, M0COP, G6MZX, G0TDM, G3OHC, GM7UAU, MW0IDX, G0TRB, G0VWP, G4OWG, G4JZF, G6LKB.

There was heavy QRM on adjacent frequencies, but everyone was patient with conditions.

The Scarr activity again took about 30mins, and I was back down at the carpark by approx. 19:00.

Into the shop, stock up on Lucozade ad then on the 1 hour drive back to Dublin.

I had a lot of firsts yesterday: my first nice SOTA pile-up, my first DL station (danke schon Lutz), my first summit-to-summits (thanks Terry & Lutz), my first GM station (thanks Steve) my first GI (thanks George).

First thing I have to do now is look at my kit bag setup…too much weight.

Thanks again to all. Looking forward to the next one.

73
bernard/ei8fdb

Edited to add:

The photos can be seen here:

[Album] SOTA IE-030 & IE-012

Not many of the setup as I forgot to take some at the start.

2

In reply to EI8FDB:

I had decided on carrying the buddipole as I wanted to try out
a) carrying it on an activation, and b) the performance.

Shame about the centre, I’d be interested in hearing how well the Buddipole worked compared to a multi band dipole. Also how much do all the bits weigh, tripod, elements and the rest?

It took about 10-15mins to figure I needed to raise up the ends about 1-1.5M.

Oh yes, that makes a huge difference, especially on 80m. I use my walking poles to support the ends just past the insulators. Raising the ends is probably worth about 2 S-points, if not more. Best of course is when some nice farmer has run a fence across the summit. Apart from the fence poles coming in useful, the fence running underneath helps tremedously.

Nice report Bernard and nice photos.

Andy
MM0FMF

3

Hi Andy,

In reply to MM0FMF:

Shame about the centre, I’d be interested in hearing how well the
Buddipole worked compared to a multi band dipole. Also how much do all
the bits weigh, tripod, elements and the rest?

I need to weigh them, but needless to say, they weigh a tonne on the walk. I would say approx. add a kg for the pole, and another 1.5-2 for the tripod. Then the SLAB battery also, whats that, 2Kg?

Oh yes, that makes a huge difference, especially on 80m. I use my
walking poles to support the ends just past the insulators.

Thats exactly what I did.

Raising the ends is probably worth about 2 S-points, if not more. Best of
course is when some nice farmer has run a fence across the summit.
Apart from the fence poles coming in useful, the fence running
underneath helps tremedously.

Unfortunately, there were no fences up there. The only “life” were the sheep and the heather.

Nice report Bernard and nice photos.

Thanks Andy. I hope to hear you on the next activation.

73,
bernard/ei8fdb

4

In reply to EI8FDB:

It took about 10-15mins to figure I needed to raise up the ends about 1-1.5M.

Lesson learned from IE72? lol

How deep did you sink in on those nice wet plains? BTW, I got new shoes last WE, no problem anymore to go swimming on EI summits…

Enjoy,
73 Norby

5

Hi Norby,

In reply to LX1NO:

Lesson learned from IE72? lol

Yes! Most definately. It was amazing the difference it made. Within seconds, Mike 2CL could make me out.

How deep did you sink in on those nice wet plains? BTW, I got new
shoes last WE, no problem anymore to go swimming on EI summits…

Well, lets say, more parts of me were wet, than dry. Walking down I went for an unplanned mud swim. Thankfully I went in up to my waist, and no higher.

Make sure you bring a snorkel next time you come. You can try some bog snorkelling:

thanks again,
73

bernard/ei8fdb

Edited: for typos.

6

In reply to EI8FDB:
Hello Bernard,
thank’s for your interesting report.
The QSO with you was my first S2S-contact to an EI-summit and my first contact to EI on 80 m at a SOTA activation. So, two first things for me too, hi.
By the way I think you must have had a third S2S QSO at your activation. You have written about a QSO with Steve GW1INK/p. I have had a QSO with GW1INK/p seven minutes before the QSO with you and Steve was on the summit GW/NW-021!
I hope to meet you soon again,
73 es 55
Lutz