Local activations 2013

Old Reflector
1

Suppose I could just chuck all my “local summit” reports in here for the year. Starting with Tuesday 22nd January 2013 on Shining Tor G/SP-004. This was a joint activation with Richard G3CWI, and we parked in the lay-by opposite the Cat & Fiddle, what with the normal parking spot being covered in far too much snow.

The going for this one was slow. The snow wasn’t wet, but it was deep, and the brisk winds over the moor were causing slight drifting. Once at the summit, Richard went through the gate and along the wall somewhat to set up for 20m CW. I opted for a nice sheltered spot made by hollowing out a big bank of snow behind the wall corner, before setting up for 30m CW.

It was a good activation with 25 QSOs, and the HB1B transceiver, modded for full break-in, was a joy to use. I could hear any station that repeatedly called while I and others were in QSO and make a mental note!

I seemed to be able to get moving a bit quicker on the descent - perhaps drawn to the appeal of the hostelry by which I was parked. And indeed, in we went for some light refreshments before driving back to Macc.

Tom M1EYP

2

The next job on Tuesday 22nd January 2013 was to help Jimmy M0HGY set up a 6m “Hentenna” (borrowed from Roger M0GMG) in the garden ready for the UKAC that night. This we did, and tested it successfully.

I then set off for The Cloud G/SP-015 to take part in the contest portable style. There was a lot of snow and ice down on the side roads, so went through Congleton to Mossley, and took the back route up to Cloudside to avoid any bad sections that my car might not manage.

What with the antenna work at home, and the longer route, I was 25 minutes late QRV in the contest. It wasn’t a great contest either, with poor conditions, terrible QSB all night, and relatively low participation. I finished the night with 49 QSOs but only 8 multipliers.

I chatted to Jimmy M0HGY on 2m while I drove home. He told me that he had made 21 QSOs, by far his best from home ever on 6m. So the ‘Hentenna’ had done its job. I got in and there was a mug of tea waiting for me, and a rare bit of company for a late Tuesday night - cheers Jim!

Tom M1EYP

3

Wednesday 30th January 2012 and a desire to sneak in an activation before the forecast rain came in. It was bright, but very breezy as I ascended The Cloud G/SP-015 along the usual path. At the top, the wind was blasting across, carrying some significant gusts with it.

The chances of setting up the Band Hopper IV linked dipole for 80-40-30-20 on the summit were slim I reckoned, so I dropped off a distance down the heathery southern slope. There was no chance of any shelter for the operator, but perhaps a chance of getting the antenna up.

Alas not. On four occasions, it seemed to be up and ready to go, then just as I was about to connect the HB1B transceiver, the whole thing came down. On the last time this happened, two sections of my pole snapped as well. So no HF, as I then admitted defeat and wound the new, and still yet to be used BHIV antenna in.

Well I do not walk up to the summit of The Cloud without doing some sort of activation. So sat next to the trig at such an angle as to minimise the gusts (it was still dreadful anyway!), I made a call on the VX7R. Just two contacts on 2m FM went into the logbook. Then there was a silence with no further callers. I eagerly accepted the opportunity to switch off and descend.

A band of heavy rain had been approaching the hill all the time I was on it, but I was inside the car before the first drop fell.

Tom M1EYP

4

The Cloud would have been a bad choice on Monday 4th February 2013. There’s hardly anywhere where you can get yourself out of the wind on SP-015, although there are places if you know where to look! But keeping 6m plus of mast + antenna protected from that sort of wind is nigh on impossible - which is why I opted for Gun G/SP-013.

My original plan was to set up the BHIV along the eastern edge of the wood, which is within the AZ. However, my boots were still wet from a few days ago, so it was my battered old cheap trainers on my feet. Some lady dog walkers told me that the path beyond the trig point down to the wood was much worse than the one coming up from the road - so no good for my in hardly suitable footwear.

So I branched right at the summit and dropped down the path towards the farm. I found a slightly sheltered spot by a small tree, about 10m vertically lower than the trig point, and set up there.

At last, I had my new BHIV antenna in the air and not coming straight back down at me! On the Youkits HB1B, I started on 80m, CW of course. Ten QSOs in 22 minutes went into the new SOTAbeams waterproof logbook, with three DXCCs: G, GW & GI.

It was time to uncouple the first set of links, which I did in order to commence on 40m CW. This band brought a swift 22 QSOs in 17 minutes, with seven DXCCs: DL, G, GM, GW, HB, ON & PA. Having a single antenna that did four bands and a proper CW portable transceiver was proving fun. Being able to adjust the filtering at the turn of a knob was cool, I only wished there was one for the CW speed as well!

I uncoupled another set of links, having to lower the mast by one pole section in order to do so. This was now set for 30m, so off I went on 10.115MHz CW. Twenty QSOs followed in 18 action-packed minutes, with 12 DXCCs worked - DL, F, G, HB, I, OE, OH, OK, OM, OZ, PA & SP.

In order to unclip the final set of links to turn my HBIV into a 20m dipole, I needed to briefly lower the mast by two sections. I was soon up and running again, and into the madhouse with 56 QSOs made in 47 minutes operating (with a 15 minute break). On 20m CW, I worked 21 DXCCs, which were 9A, DL, ES, G, I, LA, LZ, OE, OH, OK, OM, RA, S5, SM, SP, UA2, UA9, UR, VE, W & Z3. It was now very cold, and the wind had changed direction, making my spot not quite as sheltered as it was initially!

I packed everything away, then stood at the trig point in the full force of the icy, noisy gusting wind. A very brief 2m FM handheld operation brought eight QSOs in 11 minutes (just the one DXCC hi!). The final contact was my first S2S for the new award - with Mickey 2E0YYY/P over on The Cloud G/SP-015.

It was another case of dancing and hopping around the treacherous path in my flimsy worn-out old trainers, but I made it to the car in one piece and, remarkably, with two reasonably dry feet!

The total was 108 QSOs in 1 hour 44 minutes for the HF part of the activation (28 DXCCs), with the VHF bringing the total to 116 QSOs. Excellent fun in the cold with my new products (waterproof SOTA logbook, BHIV linked dipole and HB1B CW transceiver) from SOTAbeams.

Tom M1EYP

5

Tuesday 5th February 2013 was a weird day. The daytime started and ended with hospital visits as investigations into persistent headaches and other problems following a head injury continued. The neurosurgeon at the hospital in Newcastle-under-Lyme showed me the images from my recent CT scan. She expressed concern at finding nothing. A great big bubble of nothing, in my brain, many times bigger than a cavity in there should be, apparently. No doubt a cue for all the one-liners, but be sure, I’ve already heard them all! Investigations and scans will continue, because that clearly isn’t right.

The good news is my eyes, and the nerves behind them are in very good shape, as advised in my late afternoon consultation at the hospital in Crewe. In between, I decided to get a bit of fresh air, and listening around 2m, Mickey 2E0YYY was activating Gun G/SP-013. I thought I’d pay him a visit.

He was doing very well, as usual, on 20m and 15m SSB when I walked past him. Mike was sitting a few feet from the trigpoint by the higher hawthorn tree, about 2m vertically lower than the summit. He was taking quite a battering from the gusting westerly wind there, so I dropped further down to the lower hawthorn tree and the same operating position I had used the previous day.

Up again went the HBIV antenna, set for 30m to begin with, so as to leave 20m clear for Mickey. 10MHz was in good shape, and I worked 17 QSOs in 17m on CW, culminating when I worked special event station OE2013SNL - who just started CQing on my frequency after the contact! Checking the spots, via Spotlite on my mobile, I saw OK1DVM/P on OK/JC-058 on 10.119MHz CW. I called in and worked him pretty quickly for an always satisfying HF CW S2S.

A QSY to 20m CW brought only seven contacts, in total contrast to the previous day’s bonanza. Some light snow started to fall. A move to 40m CW was even less lucrative, with just two contacts made. However, the first of these was another S2S, this time with F/HB9BIN/P on F/JU-103.

Suddenly the light snow had turned into heavy snow, and I made the decision to pack up a little earlier than the deadline I had set myself to be at my next hospital appointment. Suddenly, the wind picked right up, and the heavy snow turned to blizzard, and it was time to get off the hill sharpish!

The short ten minute walk to the parking spot was easy enough, but by now the high country roads were completely covere in snow, which was still falling very heavily. I gingerly drove down the lanes and managed to get to the A523 Leek-Macclesfield road with only two hints of crunching from the ABS. This man road is often one of the first to close after the usual suspects of the Woodhead and Snakes passes in snow, so I was keen to press on to Leek and Stoke. On the A500 towards Crewe, you wouldn’t have thought there had been any snow anywhere!

Tom M1EYP

6

In reply to M1EYP:
…the first of these was another S2S, this time with HB9BIN/P on HB/JU-103…

Hi Tom, I think you will find Juerg was operating as F/HB9BIN/P on F/JU-103 not HB/JU-103

73

Victor GI4ONL

7

Headache-induced typos Victor! Now corrected, thanks for the heads-up.

8

In reply to M1EYP:

Due to the high winds, I left the colinear at home. The dipole produced about thirty contacts before someone reported that my signal had dropped dramatically. It was then I looked into the hawthorne tree, only to see the dipole was no longer on the fishing pole. It was at this point I gave up with 2m and QSYd to HF.

You’re right about the HF bonanaza of Monday evaporating, Tom.

40m produced just 28 contacts but Summit to Summits with Barry MW0IML, DK2RMP and Inky helped ease the pain somewhat.

20m brought just a dozen contacts withh the ever reliable Rich N4EX being one of the first in and N2YTF/M making the trip again, albeit a tougher contact than Monday.

I’m afraid the 15m band was about the same as Saturday, Tom. The antenna was tuned up nicely, however, only 5 calls resulted. Bill W4ZV made the trip as did W6UB, sadly that was the only DX on what is my favorite band :frowning:

I was almost packed up when the snow/sleet/hail/rain (take your pick) arrived, so pretty good timing, even so, the short walk back to the jam jar wasn`t too much fun.

Just 76 contacts for the day.

73 Mike
2E0YYY

9

In reply to 2E0YYY:

Heard your Monday contact with N2YTF/m - that was a really good one! Even I would have to admit that SSB is a better mode than CW for mobile operating. I can count the mobile CW ststions that I have worked over the years on one or possibly two fingers.

73

Richard
G3CWI

10

In reply to 2E0YYY:

I was almost packed up when the snow/sleet/hail/rain (take your pick)

Well that just shows you what a difference getting off the hill a few minutes ahead of me made then! The only choice I had to pick from was (a) very heavy snow or (b) blizzard!

There wasn’t even a faint hint of it by the time I got to Endon!

Tom M1EYP

11

Tuesday 12th February 2013. Now this one was a shocker! I wandered happily up the hill to the summit. I was going to do 20m CW with the fantastic HB1B and the fabulous MM20 antenna. This was going to be awesome.

I set up the antenna. I sat down to connect the radio - and stared with disbelief and acute embarrassment at the PL259 connector in my left hand. The HB1B has only a BNC socket! Of course, the FT-817 has both, so I had gotten complacent!

I made two contacts on 2m FM on the handheld, then dismantled the 20m antenna and descended! I popped a BNC plug to SO239 adaptor into my coat pocket to prevent further such calamities…

Tom M1EYP

12

In reply to M1EYP:

Been there, done that, Tom!

Cant remember which summit it was, but my 857 has an N type socket for VHF and all my antennas are fitted with PL259 connectors. Reached into the rucksack for the adaptor and to my horror, it wasnt there. Certainly ruined my day :frowning:

73 Mike
2E0YYY

13

In reply to 2E0YYY:

Same here, Mike! Fortunately I had HF with me. An adapter is always in the pocket of my rucksack now, although I don’t use the 857 at present!

Memory is a wonderful thing!

73

Brian G8ADD

14

In reply to M1EYP:

and acute embarrassment at the PL259 connector in my left hand

Rightly so. It’s almost as bad as admitting you liked dancing to the Birdy Song!

The PL259 is the work of Satan and only those who know no better or are the members of the unspeakable hordes who worship at the alter of the triple nickel would consider them suitable for use in a radio environment!

Cast them out of your shack now and mock all who use them through choice.

But mark my words, some goon will come along and lay false witness to them “not being that bad really” or some other platitude in their defense. Ignore them for they are blinded by the erroneous thought that fitting proper connectors is hard work.

Here ends today’s lesson.
:slight_smile:

Andy
MM0FMF

15

In reply to G8ADD:

Hi Brian,

Without wishing to sound paranoid, I took a belt and braces approach and now carry two. One in the plastic box which holds the rig and a spare in the rucksack.

73 Mike
2E0YYY

16

Andy,

I can just about fit a PL259 connector, on a good day. BNC and N-type jobs are outsourced.

You may well be surprised to learn that it is this very antenna, yes, the one with the evil PL259 plug on it, that I have worked several VKs, LU, PY, XE, W6 and JA with, using 5 watts from SOTA summits!

Tom M1EYP

17

In reply to M1EYP:

I can just about fit a PL259 connector, on a good day.

How come I fitted two for you recently???

18

It was a bad day.

19

In reply to M1EYP:

BNC and N-type jobs are outsourced.

Practice Tom, practice. With practice comes confidence. With confidence comes complacency. Then you can try SMA’s onto UT-141 and the like. and go back to square one!

Seriously, buy a bag of gash BNCs at Blackpool and some cruddy coax and practice fitting them.

Andy
MM0FMF

20

In reply to MM0FMF:
Hi Andy if you buy gash cables with the said plugs on.And you caefully take them off this reveals all the different lengths things have to be cut to.73 Geoff