My first SOTA in ages on a windless, cold winters day in the Lake District. My IC-705 internal battery was depleted so I decided to go old school and take the FT-817 together with my new SOTABeams Tactical 7m mast and the trusty SOTABeams Band Hopper IV. Power was via a 3 cell LifePo4 2200 mAH external battery.
I’d struggled previously to find a location on Loughrigg that will take the width of the 80m dipole but this time round I found an East-West ridgeline to the South that I had never noticed before from the summit. This was helped by the unusual southerly light breeze.
Band conditions were good and I had a nice pile up on 40m with skip distance starting very close in - within 20km and extending into Europe. 20m was S0 which was nice and drew in a few chasers from further afield.
Unfortunately I’d forgotten my BNC adapter for the FT1XD and couldn’t raise anyone on 2m FM. The FT-817 has a problem on 2m so I didn’t even try.
It was great to hear so many familiar voices on HF, and I’m hoping to get out over the winter more and make use of the bonus. My SOTA points have crept up very slowly this year due to other priorities and distractions!
Nice run of QSO’s there Mark. I’m curious as to what the problem is on 2m with your 817?
Mine has a problem on RX on 2m FM but if I gently tap the top of the case it works fine!
I’ve removed the case but I can’t see anything loose. Strangely 2m SSB is fine and speaking to Yaesu they seem to think it’s a problem with the filters.
I tried replacing the pin diode that switches in the 2m transmit signal path, but I’m not convinced that has cured the issue, even though the fix perfectly matches the symptoms. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Can’t be relied on.
I haven’t tried 2m SSB but that might help the problem diagnosis.
I just had to check David, as I had a very similar comment on my Great Gable activation a few years ago:
Blockquote Magnificent:
Views
Pictures
Route
QSO’s, Across the pond and S2S
Feel good factor
SOTA and Wainwright points
Report
Just need to add CW to make it
Totally Magnificent
Regards
David
G0EVV
Yes, still doing morse, although I have had so much to learn for work since I moved job 18 months ago that there has been little left in terms of mental capacity to keep the learning programme going. I joined the Long Island CW Club as a lifetime member, and am always planning on dropping into a few sessions, but that hasn’t happened in a while.
I don’t appear to have improved appreciably in the past 18 months which is probably in direct correlation to me not practicing actively.
On SOTA activations with the IC-705 I have my Palm Pico Paddles always to hand, but I typically chase rather than activate. Every time I hear an activation with a pile up I get scared…
G/LD-047 Loughrigg Fell is my favourite summit in England.
Perhaps the weather skewed my opinion when I did visit, but when Loughrigg Tarn came into view, it was like entering a completely different world. The summit has various small ‘tributary’ summits and dog walkers, fell runners and photographers arrived from all directions.
A great place to visit - with nice views - and spend a summer’s day at.
