Insomniac chasers sought

Radio update:

The interview on BBC Radio Manchester will go out tomorrow, probably sometime between 11 and 12 BST.

I’m going to be live on-air, probably sometime after 2am, and again sometime after 4am on BBC Radio 5 Live tonight (early hours of Wednesday morning).

1 Like

Good luck with tonight’s walk, Tom! I hope all goes well.

2 Likes

APRS.fi - “M1EYP-3”

ETA QRV 0300z = 4am BST.

Easy activation. 8 QSOs worked, including a S2S, all just after 4am local time!

13 Likes

Impressive effort for a good cause. I slept well knowing that there would be plenty of keener chasers following your exploits.

1 Like

Many congratulations, the cobweb antenna looks really lightweight. :slight_smile:

3 Likes

Congratulations, Tom, on your epic walk. You must be really cream-crackered now…I missed you by a few minutes on The Cloud- I woke up & checked APRS at 3.38z & you had just left the Cloud’s summit. Good stuff- same again next year?:wink:

1 Like

Well done Tom. Great to get a S2S Thanks to the Insomniacs for the activation.

9 Likes

Thanks everyone. I had been incrementally adjusting my waking/sleeping schedule forward over the last week. It was going perfectly, up to yesterday morning when I got up at 1am and went out to do my three local SOTA summits. The plan was then to go to bed at 4pm Tuesday afternoon, sleep for 7 hours, get up at 11pm and be all ready for a midnight start to the big walk.

But could I sleep in that unseasonal heat yesterday, with the bright sun penetrating the blinds and curtains? No chance. I ended up getting 90 minutes kip between 2145 and 2345 BST. Not the best preparation for an all-night 26km walk followed by a full day’s teaching!

However, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the walk, had a good shower in the P.E. department shortly after my arrival, and feel absolutely fine. Not tired whatsoever! I suspect the cocktail of adrenaline and caffeine is currently in charge!

Highlights of the walk:

  • Flask of spicy parsnip and carrot soup
  • Marianne’s homemade Victoria sponge with a flask of strong coffee
  • Getting a pile-up of 8 SOTA chasers at 4am
  • Getting a S2S at 4am - thank you Martyn @2E0BIA
  • Being called and interviewed by BBC Radio 5 Live at 0155 and 0450
  • A runner near Rudyard Lake asking me “Are you the guy that’s walked from Macclesfield who was on Radio 5 earlier on?”
  • Surpassing my amended target of £1500 raised with a series of donations caused by the coverage on national radio.
6 Likes

Here’s the radio clips:

BBC Radio Manchester - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p099tl33 - from 3:17
BBC Radio 5 Live - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000tkzf - from 0:56, and from 3:53

3 Likes

Have you checked those times Tom? Scrolling to them and it’s not you talking unless I’m doing it wrong?

They are in h:mm format. Does that solve your issue?

I put the start times as the minute in which the item starts.

1 Like

The first 5 Live time shows at 56:00 on the screen. :slight_smile:

Yes, I’m slightly bothered by the BBC website’s change of number format at the hour mark!

It probably will… my work laptop has been “unreliable” for months and it went so unreliable last week I have a temporary replacement for a few weeks whilst the original one gets new guts under warranty. But with big ships blocking the Suez Canal, everybody working from home for a year buying all the laptops and Easter, I guess it will be 3 weeks before mine is fixed. So trying to listen to your interview and reinstalled GB of software is taxing me to my limits.

If I have to reboot this again to complete installation of another big MS app I will scream!

EDIT: convert 3m17s from the start to 03:17:00 BST fixed the problem :wink:

1 Like

I’ve been listening to the clips and your interviews were just brilliant. Congrats for your fantastic initiative, the great echo you’ve got and the funds raisen to prostate cancer UK.
Respect
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

73,

Guru

2 Likes

Thank you Guru, that means a lot to me coming from you.

My Year 9 (age 13-14) form tutor group presented a surprise collection of £14 to me this morning, which was lovely. I’ve added it to the fundraising total, which now stands significantly above my initial £1000 target.

3 Likes

Just to wrap up the March the Month for Prostate Cancer UK thing, here’s the final analysis (as a mathematician, you have to permit me this indulgence!):

March 1st - 12,398 steps
March 2nd - 17,005 steps
March 3rd - 11,151 steps
March 4th - 13,163 steps
March 5th - 12,706 steps
March 6th - 24,324 steps
March 7th - 36,821 steps
March 8th - 15,500 steps
March 9th - 11,647 steps
March 10th - 14,142 steps
March 11th - 11,277 steps
March 12th - 16,371 steps
March 13th - 11,010 steps
March 14th - 12,936 steps
March 15th - 15,933 steps
March 16th - 16,104 steps
March 17th - 13,573 steps
March 18th - 14,205 steps
March 19th - 16,243 steps
March 20th - 18,631 steps
March 21st - 40,676 steps - activated G/SP-015
March 22nd - 16,081 steps
March 23rd - 15,239 steps
March 24th - 14,375 steps
March 25th - 31,707 steps - activated G/SP-004
March 26th - 20,519 steps
March 27th - 39,717 steps
March 28th - 13,635 steps
March 29th - 11,271 steps - activated G/SP-015 & G/SP-013
March 30th - 11,653 steps - activated G/SP-004, G/SP-013 & G/SP-015
March 31st - 40,477 steps - activated G/SP-015

Total steps: 570,490

Daily average: 18,403 steps

Total distance walked: 258 miles / 415 km

Money raised for Prostate Cancer UK: £1,640

Daily blog (and Just Giving button if there’s any more donations): https://marchthemonth.prostatecanceruk.org/fundraising/tom-read-m1eyps-march-the-month-challenge

Thank you all for your support. Over and out.

3 Likes

And your next challenge is?