Well, the weather forecast is looking colder, duller and windier today 
so I’m planning on getting up and down the Old Man a bit earlier, and I’ll find a lower summit to activate afterwards.
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Hi Guys,
I’ve come down with a dose of man-flu. I made it out of bed and drove to kirkstone pass with the intention of activating stoney cove pike. I got about 1/2 km from the car park and realised it was a mistake to get out of bed.
I’ve returned to my AirBNB and ensconced under the covers again. I might make it to the Elkeray this evening, but I’m not sure I should expose you to my pathogens!
I hope everyone has a good day!
Dave.
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anyone else for the Elleray we’re in the main bar
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The summit of Seatallan (G/LD-025) was busy today, with four masts in use this afternoon. I had camped overnight, with an EFHW on one mast and a 2m flowerpot on a second, and then at lunchtime GM4WHA and M8XGO arrived and setup two masts (visible close to the trig point and summit cairn in the attached).
Friday evening was lovely and still, but by lunchtime on Saturday a cold wind was blowing gusting just over 20mph with windchill making the temperature feel like 2 to 3 Celsius.
Furthest DX for me was Alaska at about 4am on Saturday morning (until I got home I thought I had worked one of my last remaining states, Arkansas, but just found out that AK is Alaska not Arkansas as I had originally thought).
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Saturday was a slog up Skiddaw G/LD-004 from Dodd Wood with Paul @G4IPB - I made the decision to leave the FT-817 and beam with the motorbike as Paul said the forecast summit windspeed had increased to 20 knotts. Glad I did as there would have been no chance of keeping my flimsy setup pointed in any kind of direction, let alone with the biting wind seeping through clothing.
Paul braved HF and was quite the sight setting up an HF dipole with his two attached dogs, very impressive! I was content with my eight handheld 2m contacts including S2S with Tony on G/LD-022 Calf Top and Chris @M0KPW on G/LD-056 Whitbarrow Scar (Chris had a very impressive signal that we could still here quite low down on the descent).
Even though I’ve been having some trouble with my feet recently when I woke on Sunday they weren’t so bad so I decided I’d go for the one pointer my local closest line-of-sight SOTA summit Claife Heights only to find the Windermere Ferry was closed, so failing that I decided on my normal summit Gummer’s How, G/LD-050. I would have driven and done Top O’Selside but the forecast was for rain so took the quicker option.
My SotaBeams Band Hopper IV needs a bit of TLC so I packed my homebrew trapped end fed - recently created as part of a FARS group build - and the FT-817 with the handheld used yesterday my FTDX1. HF was very slow - to the point where I started thinking maybe there was an issue with the antenna, but then some big signals convinced me otherwise.
Good to catch Paul @G4IPB at the other end of a radio activing Loughrigg G/LD-047 and Pete M0PJE activing Top O’Selside G/LD-048. The HF antenna did well in the wind and I even had a lady identify it correctly as a SW antenna as she’d used HF in the past from a yatch.
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I would for one…bit late in the day for this weekend, but quite happy anytime to try VP for SSB.
73 John G0MHF.
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I was plagued with equipment problems on Gummers How G/LD-050, which meant I probably spent as much time connecting and un-connecting stuff as being on-air. I must have been QRV only for about 30-40 minutes so I’m grateful for the 14 QSOs of which 8 were S2Ss.
- My ‘handheld’ [actually two hands needed] 23cm solution doesn’t really work. It comprises a sandwich of [FT1D 2m HT / Tracer battery / SG-Labs transverter with PCB antenna]. The Tracer’s current-over-limit protection circuit doesn’t like the RF from both rigs at point blank range and cuts out. Also, my elderly FT1D has an increasingly-frequent habit of powering off when I press the PTT. My first 23cm FM QSO with Pete @M0PJE on nearby Coniston Old Man G/LD-013 was great at first, but it failed on me mid over.
- My 2m multimode setup with FT817, 4-element Yagi on a 4m pole had mixed results. Having worked Chris @M0KFW and later Nick @G0HIK both on very close by Whitbarrow Scar G/LD-056 with great reports, I assumed all was well. But then switching to SSB, nobody replied to my self-spotted CQs or when I went back to a station calling CQ. The FT817 power level display looked wrong (insufficient deflection).
Today I measured the FT817’s RF power on all bands into a dummy load and HF/VHF/UHF antennas. On the 5W setting I’m getting 0.9-1.4W on the HF bands, 0.8W on 2m and 0.3W on 70cm on CW, SSB and FM. I suspect its 21-year-old PA has gone defective (maybe one of the two push-pull transistors).
I don’t recall abusing the faithful ‘817 recently e.g. tx’ing into an open circuit for ages, so it’s probably an age thing. I can’t complain. It’s served me well for over two decades (although little used since I got an KX2) and it deserves to have a new PA PCB if that’s the problem.
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Andy,
It’s not that long ago that I replaced the final pa board on a ft817 and I was surprised how reasonable the cost direct from Yaesu.
BTW tnx for the S2S
73 Steve
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Made a quick activation on Little Mell Fell G/LD-037 on the way home from a weeks stay in the Lakes. Only packed a Kenwood D72 with its rubber duck and my “vintage” Icom ic12 23cm handheld so I could run up LOL. Not taking the mast and slim-jim turned out to be a mistake, I could hear lots of action but I struggled to be heard, although I did manage 7 qso which included 5 S2S. Tnx to all.
Highlight of the activation was my first ever contact using the Icom ic12 tnx Keith G1FVA. I was so excited that I begged the first person to walk out of the mist to photograph the great event.
73 Steve
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I can remember my first 23cm summit QSO with an old handheld. It was about 3kHz off frequency so I used to use 1297.505 instead of 1297.500. Made things much better.
Why so many adapters ?
Old Man of Coniston G/LD-013
Cold and windy. Had to call it a day after just over an hour because I was frozen despite wearing 5 layers, the cloud was rolling in and the racket from the crowds on the summit were making it difficult to hear anything.
Had a good run on 23cm (10 QSOs) and 2 contacts on 4m including a summit to summit.
Holme Fell G/LD-051
Windy but much less cold. Only 2 contacts on 2m FM but I’d brought my FT891 so managed to get a few more on 15m using the red slug whip.
Top o Selside G/LD-048
On Saturday night the forecast for Sunday was horrendous all day, however when I woke up it was dry and it was now forecasting that the rain would arrive at 1300 so headed out.
Windy on the top but not cold.
No data on my mobile phone and APRS spots weren’t getting picked up. Dave G6AEK spotted me on 2m and luckily I found I had G/LD loaded into SotaMat which meant I could self spot on HF, although nothing seemed to be getting picked up on 40m.
2 summit to summits on 2 m which was nice.
Claife Heights G/LD-053
The weather was still dry and bright when I got back to the car so pushed my luck to try another summit. It was spotting with rain by the time I got there but nothing serious.
Wet and windy on the top, although it was just light rain and not the torrential rain that was forecasted. Glad I’d remembered to pack my bivvy bag to hide in.
Only 2 on 2 m again, no spots making it out again on 40m but managed 2 voice contacts on 17m SSB then a few on FT8.
Plans for Monday/Tuesday still up on the air as the forecast is constantly changing. I had alerted for Helvellyn but unless the weather improves it will probably be 1 or 2 pointers.
Ta for the contacts over the weekend.
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I made the 5 ele Yagi with the intention of using it with my sg-lab transverter, hence it’s terminated with a sma. The Icom ic12 uses tnc connector. So using parts that I have in stock, tnc male to bnc female adapter, bnc male to bnc male adapter then bnc female to sma female adapter.
Hope you’re feeling better today Dave, sorry you missed out. I had COVID one year, it sucks not being able to get out.
Mark
This was my first LD Activity Weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
My main interests are microwave operating and seeing there was talk of 23cm activity, I had to take part. Deciding what summit to do was difficult. I wanted to catch as many S2S 23cm QSO’s as possible and also be able to get into other action on the band from none SOTAers.
Whitbarrow Scar G/LD-056 being chosen as I’d get into the Lakes from there and also a good take-off across Morecambe Bay into the rest of England. I had posted on the Microwave reflector I would be out so I wanted the best chance to get them.
Equipment was my old 23 element Tonna aerial on my camera tripod, with the Icom IC-905 running 10 watts on 23cm. I also took the Alinco handie radio for any local 23cm FM QSO’s.
I was with Chris M0KPW as we often SOTA together, he used his IC-705 on 40/20 and a homebrew J Pole on 2mtrs.
I completed 10 QSO’s on 23cm, two being S2S, things have certainly changed on this band, only a year ago, I’d have been happy to get one QSO on 23cm.
Unfortunately I missed out on two other S2S QSO’s and also some none SOTA operators, hopefully I’ll do better next time.
Battery powering the IC-905 is an issue as it’s obviously not really designed for portable operation and it eats the battery power. I had used both of my batteries, when Chris said he had a spare, what a lifesaver that was, as I made three more QSO’s on that battery.
Chris also had a really good day with 30 QSO’s in the log, including 14 S2S on 2mtrs.
We could hear the wind in the microphone of M0PJE/P on The Old Man G/LD-013, but luckily down at our level it was a pleasant day.
Many folk stopped to ask what I was doing, surprisingly, there were no silly comments and all seemed genuinely interested to hear what it was about.
We are both looking forward to the next one in spring.
My 23cm QSO’s, Best DX being G3TCU via Aircraft Scatter
Chris M0KPW, using his J Pole on 2 mtrs
23cm station, with SOTA dog Georgia, waiting patently for the next passer by to make a fuss of her.
Nick G0HIK
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I must have missed a spot, if there was one, when I got back from Gummers How I set the motorbike up for radio and went to sit at Waterhead in Ambleside for a while, listening and watching for a spot. Not to worry, it was a good excuse to get out for an hour and I did have a couple of contacts on HF using the ATAS.
Mark
Well once again I got woken up early for a walk in the dark, somethings afoot I thought, and it was shortly after breakfast I was bundled into the camper with that daft black dog and we set off. It was definitely a new car park, with lots of smells and he decided we were going to walk up with the bloke on the motorbike. Apparently it was Skiddaw, which I’ve bagged before so I thought I’d better pull him to the top in a record breaking time. Thought I would also take the opportunity to show this chap who is in charge - 4 legs is much better than 2 so I spent some time showing how I could pull the man around, When we got to the top sometimes the man is such an idiot, the chap on the motorbike just took this little handheld out and got on with it - it was really cold and blowy, even just above the ground, but what did he do? He took this bloody mast out with wires everywhere. That daft black dog did his usual trick and managed to wrap the wires around his paws so the mast went up, and down, and up, and down and finally he got set up. Now I’m not stupid I know what CQ means, it means talk to me so I did my best to talk to everyone while that daft black dog tried to stick his head between the thing called the microphone and the man. After a bit he got cold and then after more faffing round we set off back down the hill. What is it with these bipeds on steep ground? They find it so difficult. When we got back to the van we had a drink and a biscuit but he didn’t even let us have cheese and apparently it was worth 10 points - that should be about a block of cheddar for us dogs.
Me and that bloke off the motorbike (M0NOM) on Skiddaw, and that daft black dog (Jet)
We drove off, had tea and then went to the pub. You can’t take the black dog anywhere. I don’t know if he has a problem but he tried to go in every pub we passed. I was good, sitting quietly (well no-one was calling CQ) and that black dog decided it was a good opportunity to lie upside down on the floor with his feet in the air, honestly which kennel did he come from?
We had an unsettled night. In the middle of the night there was lots of bleeping and the man got up and said something about the battery and the fridge, what a faff on. (*)
The next morning was better, we went up Queen Adalaide’s hill (but he didn’t let us go in the lake) before we set off again.
Dawn on Windermere
He said something about Loughrigg Fell. I enjoyed pulling him up the hill again, but this time there was no-one to show off to so I was a bit better, but that black dog still managed to get his feet around the wires. I enjoyed saying hello after he said CQ then we went back down, and it still hadn’t rained so I didn’t manage to get too muddy….
Me (Woody), The view over Grasmere and the other dog.
From Loughrigg Fell looking down Windermere
Woof…
G/LD-004. Sorry only tried 40 as it was so cold, and it was a faff getting the mast up. Just six contacts but that was enough….
G/LD-047. Was once again faffing around on 40m (which seemed very full and lots of longer skip) but only managed one QSO on a very busy band. Called on 60 but … well nothing… but 2m worked well with Mark calling me to get the first one in the log.
PS. Thanks to everyone, and particularly Mark who put up with not only myself but the two hounds. (Mark is very close to his goat so I’m sure he will be on a hilltop again shortly)
(*) 1AM is not the ideal time to find you need to replace a AGM battery in your camper. The fridge on the camper kept kicking in, the battery - which is now knackered dropped voltage and at 11.5v the system cuts out, until the voltage recovers, the usb charger goes back on, all the devices in the van go ping and light up, the compressor on the fridge kicks in and the voltage falls again…
PS2.
Mark suggested that I perhaps ought to try and organise something for the NP region. So perhaps something next spring either based in Ingleton or Hawes where there is reasonable accommodation, parking and lots of fells. If anyone has any particular thoughts please PM me.
73. Woody, Jet (The daft black dog) and him (Paul G4IPB)
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Brilliant report Woody, looking forwards to your next one…
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I had a pretty good nights sleep last night. I had a bumble down to Grange-over-sands and did a BOTA activation from the relative comfort of my truck. I’ve kitted it out with a leisure battery DC-DC charger and wired in my radios, so was a good chance to shake the kit down, before I head up to Scotland next week.
Pretty tired now, but I think I’m over the worst of it. Whilst it’s frustrating I missed out this weekend, the hills will still be there for the next time I’m here! It sounds like Paul and yourself had an eventful trip up Skiddaw.
Was there a big turnout at the Elleray?
73’s - Dave.
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Many thanks to all worked from Billinge Hill (G/SP-017) today.
Not in the lake district, but ventured out to see what could happen on 23cm.
9 qsos on 23cm FM with 3 summit to summits.
Further 4 qso on 70cm (no summits) and 7 on 2m (all summits as was in search and pounce mode on 2m).
Shame to miss G0HIK on LD-56 and Andy’s, G8CPZ, problems with 23cm, but at least we managed it on 2m.
I’ll have to see if I can get in on some of the SSB action by either getting a transverter or hauling the 9700 up there (I’ll sneak it into Peter’s M1BZJ’s bag when he’s not looking)
Ian
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I think I heard you briefly when I beamed south but you were in a long-ish QSO with Pete on Old Man of C and my setup died before it ended. But - it’s 89km - is that possible?