3 down and not a drop of rain 
Blake Fell was a lovely walk and good views (especially of all the clouds on the higher fells).
Swinside is short… and steep! Not sure I’d rush back to this one but I’ve ticked it off now.
Taxi driver is still on form (thanks to a tea stop on the way back), so looking forward to that first pint! Thanks for all the S2S de G6PJZee/P 
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Thanks Gerald and Ian I was shocked to make so many QSOs from that side of the Lakes, plenty of VHF S2S /chasers logged from G-LD029 and G/LD-59 today.
Knew it would be a struggle finding a freq and in some cases a summit unoccupied, the activators I heard were happy to share or hand over the freq.
The LNR MTR with the small size, low weight and a couple watts output always amazes me when you get a reply to your call.
Very enjoyable day and a big thanks to Mark M0NOM for organising the event.
73
Graeme
M0OAT
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I have been on some co-activations, never a co-co-co-co activation. 4 of us on LD-022 M/N6JFD, G4IPB, The guy that put this chaos together/M0NOM, and not sure if i refer to that guy on the end W6PNG or M0SNA 
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Amazing signal for such a small rig Graeme. Thankfully the early activation meant that the neighbours were still in bed and the noise level was lower than usual. Lots of QSB, but you were a genuine 559 with me. I was looking for others on and off during the day. I called Andy on Swinside, but my antenna would not match properly on 60m and he didn’t copy me. Pity, that would also have been a Complete. 
73, Gerald
Thanks for putting on 60m Andy. I gave you a call, but had a mismatch on the antenna, so the rig only put out a few watts. By the time I’d had a fiddle and coaxed some more RF out, you had called it a day. Antenna review definitely required!
73, Gerald
Despite having car troubles which meant that I could not do an activation today, I just wanted to acknowledge that I’ve had a great day.
I’m sat watching the sun go down over Windermere as I wait for the train to take me home.
I started the day by digging an old 5 element VHF yagi out of the back of the garage. I had been told that I wouldn’t have much success on 2m from my home QTH, but looking at online mapping, I saw that I have clear line of sight paths to the Lake District and Western Dales. I was pleased when I heard Lake District activators coming in on 2m FM. If only I could have mounted the beam for vertical polarisation! Anyway, in my short operating window, I worked 4 activators.
It was great to work Allan G(W)4VPX as I had done an joint activation of G/LD-052 Hutton Roof Crags with him yesterday.
I had a brain wave last night that I could maybe catch the train to Windermere to join in on the social event, and simply put, I can only say that I’ve had a great evening and met a great bunch of folks!
73, Colin
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A great day today with 6 activator points, 15 S2S QSO’s resulting in 60 Chaser points and some regular and new Chasers in the log.
Many thanks for the S2S QSO’s and special thanks to Mark M0NOM for organising the event.
Where is the SOTA tour heading next? G/NP, G/SP, GW maybe. Nothing quite like a SOTA event to raise VHF activity.
73 Chris M0RSF
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I’m sorry to hear that Gerald. Whilst it took less than 30 mins to climb, it wasn’t one of my favourites.
I hope you get your aerial sorted out soon. I’m hoping to be on Lords Seat tomorrow morning.
It was a great evening thanks again Mark. Good to meet so many of you
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Good to meet up yesterday Chris when you were coming off Red Screes.
Currently waiting for Windermere Ferry to get across to the Coniston side of the lake.
73 Phil
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Definitely need to go on a diet thanks to that photo from Jamie! @N6JFD
It was such an unusual situation - Paul M0SNA was just trying to assess where the summit was on the ascent from Grizedale Gap when I spotter Paul G4IPB’s excellently constructed dipole peaking over the next ridge. Paul and I got up there about 5 minutes after the station was constructed. He had his handheld hijacked for a S2S which I thought would be fun from four operators sharing the same handheld, but then we got an unexpected pile up - and with Paul G4PIB wanting to do HF we had to cut that short as Paul M0SNA was going to setup his slim-j a little away. As it panned out he got distracted by GHz-voodoo for a while so I have 20m a go with my own setup, and then he worked VHF some time later but by the time I got packed up it was pretty much time to leave. So apologies to the chasers.
It was the most congested I’ve ever heard 2m - what an amazing problem to have. At one point on Helvellyn we were trying to get a S2S contact with a Northern Ireland activator who was working on of the other LD activators but then two other LD activators jumped on the same frequency - neither of them could hear either of the LD/GI stations. We were getting everything on and off - but that scuppered our plans for a S2S with the GI station.
Hoping to do a decent write up shortly!.
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Ee, what a good do!! Thanks to MARK M0NOM (and whoever assisted) for organising the LD event. Not really a 2m man but took the handheld and got plenty of S2S. NICE!! As was the weather.
Great to meet up with the others later.
Until the next time
Neil G0WPO
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What a brilliant day on Saturday. Must admit that the legs are a xxbitxxx lot sore today after LD-010, LD-007 and LD-023 and the long walk back to Patterdale. Quick apology to anyone I missed. With hindsight I could have probably spent the entire day on one summit and one band and still not worked everyone Could hear Ian from NI clearly but 2m was just really busy so that was an S2S that I missed. Thanks Mark for a brilliant idea. Picture on route to 1st Hill - St Sunday Crag showing Ullswater and a rather sweaty left paw…
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A spectacularly good weekend. Thanks to Mark for all he did and for recommending his local which did a fine steak, good ales and had really nice atmosphere as well.
My plans changed from a Re-ennactment of The Somme (Nine Standards Rigg) to having Paul HB9DST riding shotgun with me. Simple summits was the plan starting with Gummer’s How. We were having so much fun chasing all the S2S contacts that we decided not to go for multiple activation glory but we’d sit in the occasional sun and chase all the other dafties who were running up and down the hills. A plan that both Paul and myself managed to perform to perfection.
Paul did 2m FM with his handy and a better rubber duck and 40/20m CW with his KX2. I did 2m FM with my 817 and 300ohm ribbon J-pole. To save the battery as FM kills them quick, I did my entire 2m operation at just 0.5W. ODX was Adrian GW4AZS on GW/MW-013 at 192kms. I could hear him on 23cms using a 3ele PCB antenna and the Alinco DJ-G7 but he couldn’t hear my single watt. In the end I worked 7 23cms FM contacts, 6 being S2S and 2 13cms SSB contacts. Also I got Paul light headed by having him operate on 23 and 13cms, he’s normally scared by 2m as being almost “daylight”. A 2m FM QSO with Geoff G6MZX/p on Binsey perplexes me. That’s the far side of all the big LD summits and I was running 0.5W to an average to rubbish antenna. Yet we had no problems but look at the path profile.
No rain, mainly T-shirt WX. Just a little cool towards the end on the day on Saturday needing a fleece.
It was a real pleasure to meet many people later in the pub. Having a couple of overseas visitors certainly added something extra to the events. We were blessed by the WX gods because if I had been able to cancel my reservation when I saw the forecast on Thursday, I would have and then missed this.
Sunday I did think of coming straight home but I couldn’t pass a unique just up the road in the shape of Loughrigg Fell LD-047. Checking the summit ref when I got to the top I found Pail HB9DST did it last Friday. I picked up a few more S2S contacts from people still up in LD from yesterday but HF was dire. The sun came out later on which made it much better. The views from Loughrigg are rather impressive for a small summit which made up for the 1.7million people who summited whilst I was activating and the fiscal rape of my wallet, £6.70 for the car park!
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Can’t complain about the weather at all this weekend. Tonight I resemble a cooked lobster after spending a large part of the day at the base for the Windermere Marathon, just outside of Ambleside.
My XYL’s sister, running her first marathon, finished in 4hrs12mins, we’re super proud of her!
A great weekend in the Lakes, the LD SOTA weekend can only be described as a massive success - lets do it again next year!
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just entered my stats:
10 unique S2S (8 of which in LD)
Achieved Shack Sloth on Saturday talking to Jamie on Helvellyn (I have had more slothful days if I’m honest, but I did enjoy the day 
Mark thanks again.
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I’m not taking any more praise for organising this event as what really made this special was the great support of people who made the time and spent their money being in the Lake District. Massive thanks also to all the chasers - at times it seemed like we’d never work everyone in some of the massive 2m pileups, I hope everyone feels like they were being treated fairly.
Cheers to Paul @M0SNA for talking constantly (in the best possible way) on our adventure to Helvellyn and Seat Sandal - it felt like an achievement to not have taken him out with the backpack antenna - someone normally falls foul! He’s taken some cracking photos as well.
The Brookside Inn turned out to be brilliant in the end - I’m glad the FA cup final didn’t end up swamping the place and they were really good to us, bringing drinks to the table and re-arranging furniture. I’ll make sure they know we appreciated their hospitality!
Benchmark on Helvellyn, M0NOM on left, M0SNA on right
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Just wanted to add my thanks to all of those that made it such a great weekend, including those chasers that were not out on summits. Pub meet up afterwards was a nice touch, meeting up with those I worked, or have known through the reflector or their blogs.
So that’s my first LD summit, must return for some more soon.
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I’m sitting on Arnside Knott LD-058 on my way to the airport. The view of the LD hills brings back so many memories, what a fantastic visit! I will hono(u)r Mark’s wishes and not thank him for organizing such a great event. It was fun meeting so many other SOTA freaks, and thanks for your hospitality to we few foreigners who crashed the party. Big thanks also to those who were kind enough to drive me around (Paul, Andy, Allan) and thereby increase my life expectancy. I’ll be watching the reflector for announcements of future events.
de Paul M/HB9DST
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