I tried to activate GM/CS-082 back in Dec unashamedly hunting some bonus points. Going past Loch na Lairige reservoir heading north you lose a phone signal. There is no hint of a signal ascending the hill or on top. Back in Dec I spent an hour on top and tried 40m & 20m no joy. I left the hill top with snow blowing from the east, it was bitter as was I with no points.
Today I ascended again via a different shorter root following a quad track. It wasn’t difficult although coming down it was distinctly wetter after any snow/ice was melted by the sun. I set up my Sotabeams bandspringer and sent out a spot via SOTAMAT. It didn’t work unfortunately nor did the later one I sent out for 20m. This is no reflection on SOTAMAT I am sure it was down to my operator error.
I called CQ on 40m, 20m and 17m centring around the QRP COA. No joy. I chased other strong calls, No joy. I found a couple of other activations and I tried S2S. No joy. I spent an hour and a half on the top with the wind picking up. No joy.
I got quite a chill and only felt warm about half way home with the heater on full blast. Twice I had no joy Meall Nam Maigheach, twice I left cold and frustrated. Meall Nam Maigheach is my nemesis!
To me, it sounds that somehow your HF signal did not radiate well, or someting else I’m not aware of is the culprit.
Two things that jump to my mind:
Is your TRX, feeder and antenna OK? You can easily check that with a web-SDR when you have mobile coverage. Use exactly the same configuration as on the summit.
Concerning SOTAmat: did you check your smartphone time prior using/adjusting SOTAmat? I use the Smart Time Sync Android app using GPS, but there are other solutions. Sometimes my smartphone time is 5 minutes off sync (but in reality, only the +/- 7.5 seconds matter. And +/-1 second difference should still work).
I was also searching for you, but unfortunately no copy. I would have expected to hear something around 7.118MHz which I assume is where you were. I did take a quick look on 20m, but the skip went quite long and while I’d been hearing G and GM on the band earlier, it all changed quite rapidly.
I’m sorry to hear it was a failure. I was thinking of activating that one for a November activation in the Trans-Atlantic S2S event as the ascent / descent by the wall (which is where I assume you walked up the quad bike track) is quite short. Of course on such events, having decent phone coverage helps make contacts. Now I need to check how O2 and EE perform in that location, if at all.
It does sound more like an RF issue than not. Maybe setup your station at home and see if you can hear your signal mid day on 40m at the Hack Green SDR location (or whatever its called).
Something very similar happened to me in 2015 trying to activate a small Sierra Nevada Peak (W6/SS-276). First time I tried it failed due to a bad BNC, 2nd attempt was a failure as I left my antenna 30 miles south of the peak but eventually I got it right. The process was frustrating as the peak is 300+ miles north of home but perseverance paid off.
Yep I went up via the wall easy enough with no significant issues to report. It can get windy up there pretty quickly. You’re pretty much in the wild with any coverage for the Loch Tay area likely blocked by the Ben Lawers range. To the north Glen Lyon it’s pretty barren with remote farms up there. Still worth a punt. Noting the comments I wonder if having the bandspringer laying along NW/SE was part of the issue. I wonder if it lay W/E it would have been better.
I’ll be checking over my kit today, thanks for the advice and encouragement guys.
Well you’ve certainly done me a favour highlighting the lack of mobile coverage, so that one is off the Trans-Atlantic S2S event list. There’s plenty to go at of course. The summit looks to have a reasonable take off NW/SE. I worked quite a few Stateside S2S from CS-015 across the valley last year.
I will be up in the area between Sunday 5th March and Tuesday 7th March and plan to activate CS-010 and CS-041 on the Monday, assuming the mere threat of my presence doesn’t bring on a metre of snow. I do have a plan B of course. Events have transpired against me getting on the hills since last November, so I am keen to get some more Uniques under my belt.
I hope you find the reason for you not being heard on the last outing. If you are around during the period I am up in Scotland, it would be good to have a QSO.
Sounds nice. We certainly have had a drop in temp this morning, I’d say down to -5. No snow on the Munro above town GM/SS-015. When I was there on Sat all the hills in the range with the exception of Meall nam Maigheach, so above 800m at least, had a pretty solid dusting of snow with the big peaks pretty firmly covered. I’ll watch on the alerts for you, enjoy.
Many thanks for the WX update. Better to have a local report than try to decipher the tangled web of best guesses all the forecasters put out. I’m a bit surprised Chonzie doesn’t have snow on it, but I’m sure there’s a chance of encountering pockets of frozen snow en route to any summit. the crampons will be firmly attached to the pack for this outing. Maybe with Chonzie being a bit further east it has missed most of the precipitation.
I’ll put the alerts up in a while… all provisional of course. Plan B for the Monday is CS-077 and ES-028. If I need to resort to this pairing, my main concern will be Glen Isla not having any road treatment, so it scheduled for later in the day. There are plenty of alternatives of course. I’ve been known (occasionally) to replan on the hoof.
The snow that’s visible is left over and in shadow, it’s always the last spot to go. Looking out my window it doesn’t look like there’s been any substantial snow fall up there. Can’t see the top though and you know it’s kinda flattish up there. Good luck with CS-077 I’ve seen snow up there lingering into Jun. Not part of the world I know at all well, beautiful though.
It’s good to know the kit is working. I would think conditions and low power in among big signals would be the reason for failure on CS-082. Aerial orientation has never prevented me from making QSOs.
It’s looking like the early part of next week will be snowy, so I will probably be sensible and leave CS-010 / 041 for next winter… and this coming after a period of relatively benign weather during which I couldn’t get up north. C’est la vie!
“If you call, they will come”.
I’ve had a couple of hills that required 2 activations to get the points. There’s also one in NI that has avoided granting me 4 contacts on 2 separate occasions (not sure I can be bothered trying it again, it wasn’t that interesting).
Nothing wrong with your signal yesterday! Hope to hear you later
I’ve generally found that random wire antennas aren’t too sensitive to which direction they are oriented. They spew RF in all directions and especially upwards!
73 Mike
