On the 16th of May 2012 I climbed Place Fell G/LD-027 and activated it on 2m using my IC92D handheld, 6Watt to a recently made “Flower Pot” aerial in my rucksack. I had 4 QSO,s which qualified the summit. I had taken the first step in my Sota journey.
G/LD-027 in 2012
Since then I have achieved a Mountain Goat and a Mountain Goat on CW. Time past and around Christmas I realised that I was approaching 2000 Activator points. Over the winter I activated G/NP-001 and G/SB-001. That took me to 1997points. I decided to do something a bit special and achieve MG2 on the summit of my first Sota activation G/LD-027. Then a window of opportunity opened in the weather, instead of rain and wind it was blue sky and light breeze Sota weather, Lake District here we come!
Just as in 2012 I stayed in Beetham Cottage, the Fell and Rock Climbing hut at Hartsop. The ascent to Place Fell via Boredale Hause commences as a pleasant valley walk, a total distance of 4km and 500m ascent.
For this Activation I planned an extended time on the summit, operating on VHF and HF, FM and CW. Unfortunately, the weight of my rucksac was considerably more than in 2012. In addition to the same IC92D and Flowerpot my Sota equipment now included an FT857, 6m mast with link dipoles for 60, 40, 30, 20,17, 15 and 10m. Because of the extended activation I also carried 4, 5Ah Lipo, batteries. Poor old shoulders and thighs!
I departed the hut at 07:30 and enjoyed the walk along the valley and up the steepening gradient to the Hause. The path to the summit is very distinct, but a little steeper. My ascent time was just under 2 hours.
Once on the summit, adjacent to the trig point, I picked a south facing slope to the West of the trig point. It was a sunny Sunday and I anticipated lots of fellow walkers, 60m dipoles take up a lot of space. I set up the link dipole covering 60-20m and erected the mast. As I normally do, I commenced the Activation on 30m CW. The band was open but quiet. The RBN was quick at finding me and soon I had a stream of Chasers. After 7 minutes, at 10:31 I had QSO number 4 with ON4FI. We exchanged 569 reports. Having qualified the activation that was 4points plus 3 winter bonus, a total of 2004 activator points.
Now I could relax a bit. I continued on 30m until there were no more chasers and then heard Ian M0JIA/p calling from G/NP-005 on 2m. we exchanged 59 reports. Further CQ calls on 30m were answered but the band was relatively quiet so I changed the links for 40m. Unfortunately the Sun Gods did not approve and only 7 QSOs were made, but I had qualified on a second band. Next I changed the links for 20m. This was a good move and SV2OXS was a nice addition to the log.
Next a spell on 2m FM qualified the band together with several S2S QSO’s. After a quick lunch of my usual sardine sandwiches (which I nearly lost to a Jack Russel Terrier) I changed dipoles and set up for 17m. As I was about to go on air I had a visit from the National Park Warden, but I am pleased to say when I explained what I was doing he was satisfied and wished me well. My third Chaser on 17m was Phil G4OBK, soon followed by W4JKC and HZ1BS. The Sun Gods were happy again. After 3 ½ hours on the air and 4 discharged batteries it was time to pack up and descend.
73 QSO’s, 8, S2S, qualified the summit on 5 bands.
A grand total of 2004 points, 480 Activations and 17,674 QSOs
However, before you ask, I am not selling my mast or hanging up my boots, but I have no expectation of getting MG3, just take it a bit easier.
May I finally say a very humble, big thank you to all of the Chasers, the Back-Room Boys, Wizards on databases, the RBN and the Management Team all of whom have made this journey possible and very enjoyable. And of course, long suffering Mrs Stansfield.
David
G0EVV
