The Met office forecasts for the next few days show some interesting high pressure features over the North Atlantic
Looks like we might be in for snow and settled weather conditions over the next week or so - and possibly some lift conditions.
Together with the high sunspot activity at present things are looking promising.
Rick.
In reply to M0RCP:
Also to the point, an easterly airstream from Siberia is getting established, the dreaded “continental polar” conditions that make it bitterly cold. Great for my friends that glory in climbing frozen waterfalls but not good for sitting on summits playing SOTA whilst the cold stops the batteries from working!
73
Brian G8ADD
Obviously, I am looking with interest to the days 20 - 23 December, when Jimmy and I intend to do some LD activating. Before then doesn’t look too good, but this looks promising for our days:
That will do very nicely! A possible disruption could be if Wrynose Pass is iced up, and therefore closed, blocking an attempt of Pike o’Blisco G/LD-024, but we can always head further out to some smaller ones that we still need in such a case.
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M0RCP:
Hopefully it brings better condx than the high pressure system which passed over at the weekend. I spent Friday and Saturday evening sat in the freezing cold up at the local perch beaming at a very profound inversion to the E/NE and worked the sum total of no DX on 2m which was flatter than a really flat thing. Some BIG MS pings from SK4MPI though with the onset of the latest shower so should have stayed at home and played JT/FSK instead.
Sunday was a bit better with BIG signals to NW-044 from Dave G2BOF in London and Don G0RQL in Devon even with my broken antenna, however: biggest signal of all was GM4GUF/P on Tinto who owes me a speaker and a signal meter.
73, Chris
In reply to M1EYP:
Thats the problem with LD and some other areas in this country!! icy paths H&S problems
Weather is a big issue as I have found out in the last few months, good luck to you, Tom and Jimmy in LD land!!
Might try a Smash & Grab this weekend if weather on Sunday is dry need a few S2S??
Take care
73
Tony
In reply to G8ADD:
…not good for sitting on summits playing SOTA whilst the cold stops the batteries from working!
Thankfully no problems so far this year. The LiPos sit in their own quilts (Jiffy bags) in an outer pocket. As the thermometer has read around 9C when it has been taken out of the backpack, I think I’ll move them inboard so they can snuggle up against the 817.
Seems like I might have more trouble leaving Northampton due to snow than sitting on a snowy summit when I’m out next time. Thank goodness for the 4WD.
73, Gerald
Latest LD 5 day forecast:
I’ve never had a problem with the SLABs, which remain inside an Exped Drybag, inside the rucksack inside hood pocket. I’ve never had a problem with the handhelds either, which tend to be completely exposed clipped to a rucksack strap or belt. The old problem of the internal battery of the 817 not recharging has reappeared (a problem with the 817, not the battery itself), but I trust the SLABs and HHs will be as reliable as ever until I get that fixed.
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
I don’t know what temperature will stop a slab from working well, but I have known it to be so cold on a Scottish summit after a winter climb that a digital watch stopped working and a headtorch with alkaline batteries was reduced to a glimmer until I warmed it up by putting it within my clothes. A cup of tea from a thermos went from very hot to tepid in seconds earlier that day…literally, in the time it took to screw in the bung and put it back in the rucsac! Fortunately that degree of cold is very rare!
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
Yesterday I worked on summit OK/KA-027 of about one hour at a temperature -10 degrees C and I did not observe any significant reduction in the capacity my LIPOs battery. But my CW capacity decreased a lot …
73!
Petr OK1FFU
In reply to G8ADD:
It was -6C on the summit of Ben Cleuch today and I reckon with the windchill it was -10C or just colder. My camera (Canon using 2xAA NiMH) doesn’t like the cold but I kept it in my jacket for 1.5hrs before using it and it seemed happy. I had 2x LiPo with me. One was partially used from last weekend and the other unused since charging 2 weeks ago. That was saying 12.2V on the 817 display which is the same as at 20C. The 817 LCD display was sluggish at updating but not surprising given the temp. My Icom IC-80AD has a LiPo cell and is not rated to work below 0.5C. I couldn’t get it to switch to high power, it stayed on low. Now it has warmed up it will select high power. I don’t know if this is deliberate or it was too cold for me to press the buttons correctly.
In reply to OK1FFU:
My CW is bad at 20C, at -10C it is very poor too! But I managed a nice QSO with DJ5KZ before it was too cold to continue. I’d already had 27 SSB QSOs and 1hr30 on the summit was enough at that temperature.
Andy
MM0FMF
(RATM for the Christmas #1!)