It Happened on Two Rock...

EI3LH · 22 March 2026 17:59

Status this morning before setting off in the car:

Before even putting a finger to a keyboard, I’d half considered sending the SOTA MT a quick note to say that this wasn’t a hoax, I was actually going to make an activation attempt, my last teetering on 2 years ago, some time in 2024.

I play in the hills reasonably often enough, but usually am up there for other things so an activation attempt isn’t really something I can factor in to a training run. Hence I spend a lot my time either chasing SOTA if possible, or out and about doing POTA (and also now LLOTA) but also trying to chase SOTA if I can when out /P.

Today was a little different as I was out in the hills for the first time in 2026 on a 90 minute trail run. It was the first time back at Kilmashogue Forest (the base entry point for me to get up to Two Rock (Fairy Castle).

I’ve been up this route about 962 jillion times before, usually I do the full Fairy Castle/Two Rock, Ticknock and Forest loop (about 13km) but I cut it short today to around 11km and avoided the full loop and drop down to the forest and back round. One because it was my first run back in the hills and two the conditions changed fairly quickly making it tough to see past the low mist if I was to drop down the other side of Two Rock to the forest entry. The smell of forest and greenery in there is unreal, highly recommended on early Summer mornings by the way. Better to play it safe than fall, twist/break something and end up in trouble and end my season before it even starts.

On the way up I spotted a hole that was dug out (either that or a tree had been cut and stumped). It reminded me of the snow shelter @MM0EFI and @GM5ALX dug out on a recent activation (minus the white, icy stuff). I paused briefly to take a quick snap of it as I think SOTA UK’s resident Bert and Ernie would’ve appreciated it!

The summit was exceptionally busy today. I’ve never seen anything like it. Packed to the rafters with wave after wave of cub scouts, scouts, girl guides and all the rest of it. Imagine the film World War Z but with scouts and guides clamouring to a massive pile up at the summit!

There were also lots and lots of HUNDS! So I had to stop and pet as many as I could on the way up. Most important! Some of them even came for a run with me when the trail flattened out after the mountain bike trail platform (keen MTB’ers will love this area as it has dedicated MTB trails for you to enjoy, very popular).

What started as a mix of sun and cloudy skies quickly became overcast, and as I approached the summit the mists and slight drizzle descended.

I gave it a wide berth initially and went to the other false summit across the way, just before the drop down to the forest entry point below (anyone who wants to run Run The Line in November would do well to practice on this trail).

Here’s a couple of scenery snaps on the way up. No snaps of the summit (though I did the mandatory hand slap on top of the trig) as it was packed with kids, so to take photos would be inappropriate.

After a quick rest on the ‘other summit’ which was baren and which I had all to myself, I sat for a bit and supped on my drink mix, made peace with the world for a couple of minutes and then trotted off to double back on myself towards the activation point. I then sent out a pre-configured spot, fired up PoLo (which I also pre-configured in case of signal loss at the car park, good job I did too) and got to work.

I really wasn’t expecting much for some reason. It was a Sunday, and around lunch. The smell of a dozen carveries and draught beer wafting across Ireland to lead people to dinner tables in their droves and away from radios was what went through my mind. I raised the trusty Diamond RH-770 and fired up the Yaesu FT-65 (my favourite HT donkey, it just never lets you down - one of Yaesu’s finest hours in my opinion, a wonderful HT).

What a wonderful surprise it was to get so many lovely responses to my calling CQ SOTA on 145.500!

I had 4 in the log within a couple of minutes, and 12 QSO’s in the log, all 2m FM, within 23 minutes. That included a couple of QSY’s and a switch over to 70cm then back to 2m to finish.

With 4 in the log that confirmed the activation but also confirmed the complete as I had chased this summit in 2024. Double result today so!

Here is a little map of all the QSO’s I made today:

And the summit reference (I’ll upload my log in a bit)

I had great success on 2m, highlights being a lovely S2S with @GW7HEM and some QSO’s over in Northern Ireland too! There were also people looking for me from NI and Wales that other chases told me about but I couldn’t hear them alas. I did keep trying though just in case they broke through.

I think I heard a GW station on 70cm but it didn’t break through enough to get a QSO confirmed. I did keep trying though.

Between switching bands I had a quick scan to 145.525 and forgot that the IRTS weekly news report was being broadcast by @EI0IRTS so I stopped by there and waited for stations to be called and checked my name in the log.

I always try to check in to the news on a Sunday or Tuesday night if I can, it’s important (in my opinion) and people give up their free time to provide the news for everyone so the least you can do is check in. It was a good job I did as after the news finished a few of the listeners to the news came and chased me when I went back on 2 meters again. Lovely stuff!

Who said 2 meters and 70cm are dead? Switch a radio on and GET YAPPIN’ and stop saying it’s all quiet and nobody cares any more. I scanned the band after going QRT and there was a good few folks yappin away across both 2 and 70. So quit moaning and switch your radios on!

I was starting to shiver as the core temperature was dropping due to my standing still so I had to get moving again. After going QRT and having a quick scan for activity (shout out to Jeffrey @EI0TOG (club call) / @EI7IRB who was doing a POTA activation - don’t worry Jeffrey I’ll add you to my hunter log, great work activating Bull Island today sir!), it was time to get running again and back down to the car park.

World War Z was still ongoing as swarms of cubs/scouts/guides were all over the trails in both directions. I got a bit of a break though and after petting some more HUNDS! I managed to pick up some speed and get down to the car park again for a few hill repeats and then back to the car.

Time to call it a day and get back home. So after a quick wipe down, clean pants, a dab of Brut and a flask of tea, I switched on Tidal, queued up the greatest hits of the KLF and the new Lamb of God album and made my way back home.

Oh, and one other thing. I conducted an experiment while prancing around on the trails. As a keen fountain pen user, I wondered why Kaweco Sport fountains pens are called ‘Sport’ and if you could actually use them while doing sports?

Here’s the result:

Thanks to all of the chasers today that made this simple little FM activation attempt so much fun and so special to me, even the stations that were trying but I couldn’t heard.

Imagine what an hour glass antenna and some 270 SSB, CW and SSTV might do up here on Two Rock?

See you again for another activation report in 2028!

MM1ROS · 22 March 2026 19:31

I feel your pain at the moment! Sundays are long run days, so even though I’m out and about, I don’t reckon my pals would appreciate me taking time to faff about with a radio, even if they probably could appreciate the simple functional beauty of the FT-65.

Incidentally, my new running pack has a couple of “pole sleeves” built into the body of the pack, but I don’t run with poles, so you can usually stick an FT-65 with a whip into one side, and a bunch of pre-made chocolate crepes into the other. Most importantly, the pack’s big enough to pack an insulated jacket into, so that makes standing about shouting CQ in running clothes just about workable.

MM6YSH · 22 March 2026 19:59

A fellow Kaweco enthusiast! Outstanding! I had resigned myself to getting a fineline Sharpie or some such for paper logging; maybe I’ll dig out my old brass Kaweco Sport (sadly less-used these days as I’m mostly using LAMY offerings) and take it for my next summit.

Congrats on a good activation, and I’m glad that - like me - you’ve had success on 2m!

EI3LH · 22 March 2026 20:27

Did you ever see the Yaesu launch advert for the FT-65?

Black Diamond? Just a guess. Their packs can house poles. I have some Carbon Endurance Z’s but switched last year to Leki. I use a Salomon Adv Skin 12 and a Salomon quivver, or use the bungees on the bottom of the pack horizontal. Depends what I am up to, usually pack poles for anything technical/steep, poor weather or just over 18-20km.

Massive fountain pen and paper nerd. Have been for years. I used a Kaweco Sport red classic today (with gold classic clip) and gold F nib. Mnemosyne A7 notepad for portability and my old GoPro 7 Black and an after market bite mount.

I have 2 Kaweco Sport and 1 Kaweco Parkeo. I’m driving to Belfast in June for the in store only DIY Sport event (can’t buy it online worldwide, has to be in-store).

I used to have a Visconti Van Gogh Laguna Verde (sold it years ago) and still have a Lamy Studio and Lamy Safari. I use Waterman and Kaweco ink. I bought some Sailor cartridges recently and forgot they are proprietary so am going to get a Sailor fountain pen in the Summer when I go to visit Hunter Paper Co in Belfast.

Paper? I love Mnemosyne and Clairefontaine. I am keen to try Life Noble but it is a bit too expensive. Their manufacturing process is amazing though. Only 3 machines left in Japan that can do the job!

All I was wondering is if a pen is called Sport, can it be used while actually doing sport? Might as well put them to a proper test, so I did! (And didn’t break my neck in the process!).

MM1ROS · 22 March 2026 20:36

I’d highly recommend the Rite-in-the-Rain waterproof notebooks, but you’ll probably either want a pencil, or a pressurised ball-point pen for writing. I tend to use the Fisher fine space pen refills in a variety of other pen bodies - I’m pretty sure there are some Kawecos that take G2 refills out there too!

MM1ROS · 22 March 2026 20:43

And a good guess too! Aye, the BD Distance 15 - I had been using an Osprey Duro 6, but needed a bit more room to stash a few more layers and the Osprey was starting to fray a bit round the edges. Mostly just enjoying the significant added snack capacity with the 15L pack though.

I’ve never tried running with poles before, mostly because I’m too tall to borrow any that my pals have, and I don’t fancy shelling out a couple of hundred for some Lekis just to decide I don’t actually like them (nor do I fancy shelling out for cheapo heavy ones from Decathlon etc., just to want to replace them with Lekis etc.).

EI3LH · 22 March 2026 20:46

Thomas @K4SWL swears by those. I have the same Rite In The Rain brown canvas pen and pad case he has. Very good quality but I house my pens, Mnemosyne pads and a Kuru Toga Roulette mechanical pencil in it. Plus a spare Rhodia A6 notebook for shower thoughts when out and about.

I did buy some alternate UK-made Rite In The Rain paper. I forget the brand, it isn’t around any more. Stormproof or something I think it is called? I will dig it out tomorrow and take a snap. It’s alright paper but I am still ‘team Mnemosyne’.

Haha! Yes I had seen the Black Diamond packs not so long back. They look very nice but my Salomon has held up really well the last goodness knows how many years. It’s an older version of the current pack.

I use an Osprey pack for commuting. It is alright but I wouldn’t be a massive fan of their backpacks for radio or commuting/general use.

I did get an Osprey Daylite Messenger bag a couple weeks ago for commuting/radio. Going to use it for work and the KH1 during lunch breaks!

Totally depends what you are doing and using them for. The Black Diamond are excellent, I still use them often. The Leki though are another level (in my very amateur opinion). I wouldn’t get the lighter version of their ultralight poles, they can break easily if you are not careful. Last thing you want on an ultra is broken poles. Just DNF and save the misery!

Again, depends on use case. For training/pottering and shorter races, Black Diamond. For the serious stuff e.g. 50k-100km+ races, Leki all the way for me. Particularly the detachable grip clips so you can keep the gloves on. Super useful.

EDIT: Oh and top ‘buy once cry once’ (running poles for ultras etc) tip: BUY POLES WITH CORK GRIPS!

MM1ROS · 23 March 2026 11:02

The closest alternative I ever tried was a waterproof notepad from Lomo (Glasgow-based direct-from-China seller of varying quality). Sadly it was pretty ink-proof as well, the pages were basically just matte white plastic sheets.

I like Osprey packs for comfort, but their inherent softness does tend to limit them a bit in terms of durability. For hillwalking I have a Talon 33, for overnighters I’ve got a Talon 44, I’m still keeping the old Duro 6 as a spare running pack, and I’ve even got a cycling bumbag from them!

Yup, this seems to be the consensus among all the folk I run with too. I’d never bothered with poles previously because a lot of the ultras up here didn’t allow them, particularly the West Highland Way Race, but that seems to be softening a wee bit now, and if there’s an advantage to be gained, I’m always up for giving it a try!

MW0PJE · 23 March 2026 12:55

Stormpad by Limitless Equipment? I use those, I prefer them to Write in the Rain. I stock up when there’s an offer on.

I was using Pentel automatic pencils, because that’s why I use for work but I kept losing them or forgetting to refill them so I’m currently using the Home Bargains equivalent which are fine and are thinner so fit inside the spiral binding.

Edit: Their website seems to have gone and Amazon says they have no items available so maybe they’ve ceased trading.

G7HEM · 23 March 2026 13:10

Great to speak with you yesterday and get an EI-GW S2S contact on VHF! I think that was my best dx on 2m yesterday.

73 Mike

GM4LLD · 23 March 2026 13:42

There seems to be some effort to convert on-summit log taking into a form of the calligrapher’s art here. Remember you are writing a log not entering the 2026 World Handwriting Championships. A cheap spiral bound notebook that you can open and lay flat and a pencil, HB, sharpened at both ends. The pencil works when it’s cold enough for ink to not flow well. Sharpened at both ends means you can keep going should you break the lead. Yes, you need to be careful now until you sharpen it again. Should you lose it, it’s not a financial disaster.

I’ve been doing this game for 19.5 years now. When I started, I bought a box of 30 HB pencils from ASDA for £1 (well it was 2006). Logging is done on A4 printer paper, I fold it in half to make A5 and have a piece of plastic sheet to give me something to write on. It fits in an A5 Ziploc bag to keep dry when not in use. I opened a new ream of A4 80gm 500 sheets in October 2006 and I’m about halfway through that. A4 folded into A5 gives 4 sides to use, I can write about 25 QSOs per side, so 4 x 25 x 250 is 25000 QSOs. At the current rate I now feel I may shuffle off my mortal coil before I finish this ream of paper. There are some excellent field logging apps available, but I like to make notes in my log on who is where and calls I’ve heard, I can’t do that with the logging apps.

I bought some wet weather note pads in October 2006. They work in the rain and I’ve used about a 1/4 of the first pad so far. I try to avoid activating in the rain deliberately, so it’s only the odd occasion when the wet weather paper is really needed.

There you go, no need for some multi-thousand pound pen or paper hand made from select wood fibres and rolled on the thighs on young maidens in a tropical paradise.

And yes, writing on nice paper with a nice pen is very satisfying. I went to a poncy school were half the teachers would not accept written work unless written with a fountain pen. I still have a 1972 vintage Parker 45 Flighter with a medium 14ct nib. I wrote a lot with that. I had a 45 Flighter ball point through the last few years of school and university. Sadly mislaid and I so treated myself to a Parker Sonnet ballpoint when I moved to Scotland. I was astounded to find the same pen now costs about £75-85! But on a summit, a cheap pencil does fine.

Don’t over think the problem. Climb hill, play radio, log QSOs, go home. Lather, rinse, repeat.

EI3LH · 23 March 2026 14:01

A Bic and the back of a hand works as well! Resorted to that before a good few times not just for radio either.

For operating portable I don’t bring FP’s. Mechanical pencil and a pad, or just use PoLo.

Great stuff! I wasn’t expecting to get across the water with just the HT and RH770 yesterday, or up to NI either. Had it in my mind the 4 QSO’s were going to be hard work to bag, but 23mins later I was done and dusted.

You were a great signal yesterday S2S, nicely done Mike! Was it you who tried 70cm? I heard GW but then the signal just went completely and never came back.

That’s them. No longer in business according to Companies House? I ended up going down a bit if a detective trail with them and it turns out (at least from what I can see) that they could be an HK or CN company with a UK address.

The paper is alright but not really my cup of tea.

G7HEM · 23 March 2026 16:23

Was it you who tried 70cm? I heard GW but then the signal just went completely and never came back.

Nope.