A comedy of errors, or getting away with it
Alex @GM5ALX had planned a Friday day out. Nothing out of the ordinary, just knocking off half of GM/ES summits, as he does most Fridays. It didn’t take much for my brain to parallel process and calculate I was owed a half day, and I could nip up Kerloch GM/ES-057 to catch him on one of his summits.
Alex then suggested I try my new AliExpress Telescopic HF Whip. Ok, I said. I hadn’t even taken it out of the box at this point.
Friday 31st January 2025
I set off for work, with my SOTA bag in the Landie. Inside was my usual soft case containing the KX2, 41’ wire, 9:1, some pegs, velcro and other bits and pieces. I also carried the new whip, base, spike, and radials. No mast needed today!
The day started well. I was able to chase Alex from the work’s car park when he was on GM/ES-049 Ladylea Hill.
Later, I left work heading for Kerloch and was able to chase him on his second summit, GM/ES-053 Ben Newe, but only by driving in the wrong direction for 2km and finding then stopping on the only 4m stretch of the road where I could hear his signal. A metre either way and he was gone. All good, and I turned around, heading for the Kerloch car park.
The Ascent
Striding up the nice level and smooth gravel road, I passed several chaps from the model flying club, who were enjoying the still and sunny afternoon. It was one of those chilly days with a warm sun.
The track climbed up through plantation and then I needed to turn off up the hill path. Storm Arwen (2020) wrecked this path, eroding it badly, with many windblown trees.
Well, I was pleased to see that most of those trees had been cleared, only to be replaced by new ones. The path, however, had deteriorated further, with deep gullies and more large boulders than Number 5 Gully.
None the less, I made steady progress. And then I stopped in my tracks! Not because of any blockage, but because it suddenly dawned in me that I hadn’t brought any coax to connect the HF whip to my radio. I sent a WhatsApp to the group. I needed to qualify this on 2m. Chris @2M0RVZ had planned on going out but said he’d hang back. That helped.
near the top
I charged on, dancing over the boulders that protruded like islands, from the iced upper path. I exploded (literally) on to the summit, out of breath, but no cramp this time!
The FT-3d on my shoulder strap announced my presence via APRS. My activation weapon, however, was to be the Yaesu ft-60r, complete with VHF/UHF RH-770 telescopic whip, or so I thought…
Things went well – a summit to summit with Alex on GM/ES-047 Pressendye, followed by another S2S. Well, it was Alex again, but this time with the GM/ES Society club call GM0ESS. I worked @MM0RFN and only got 2/2, much weaker than usual from here. Chris @2M0RVZ was 41 and gave me a similar report. Simon @GM4JXP was strong, but he was pointing his ft857d-powered yagi straight at me.
I still had the ft-3d turned on. I could hear Chris work Alex and they both sounded much stronger, despite this radio just having a whip. Mmm…? I’d been on .550 and they were on .500. Sometimes 2m can be funny like that. I moved on…
west to Mount Battock
south to the wind farm
east to the coast
With the summit qualified and with 30 minutes to kill, I took another look at the AliExpress HF whip. I wonder….
Five minutes later and I had the whip extended by a couple of metres, with the base stuck in a red bull can that was in the trig’s hole. The 41’ wire antenna was looped over the top just below the tip. I hooked the low saggy wire up to the KX2. Would it tune on 20m? Well, it had a wee think about it but produced a 1:1 match first try.
whip and 41’ end fed
I put out a spot and hoped for the best. It didn’t just work; it worked exceptionally well. My new inverted V with vertical section brought on a pile up, with the frankentenna giving me stations in England, across EU and even Africa, thanks to @EC8ADS Alfredo, in Las Palmas!
22 on 20m SSB and 5 on 2m FM
Pile up subsided and time to pack up. I had to be in Banchory for the dentist at 1630. I was just under an hour on the descent, arriving back at the Landie around 1605. Ten minutes later I was pulling up to the dentist.
descending
back at the Landie, with the last of the afternoon sun
Aftermath
APRS Mystery
Only when I was driving home, did I notice an APRS message on the ftm-400 in the Landie (MM0EFI-9). It simply said “amateur,” which is our little jibe we use in the group when someone screws up. It gets sent almost daily, to be fair, usually via Whatsapp. It surprised me because I thought Alex would have sent it to the handheld (MM0EFI-7). A later conversation revealed that he did. His message was picked up and gated by MB7UAB, to the east of both of us. Neither of my Yaesu’s have TNC’s, so wouldn’t re-transmit a packet. The RAW message on the HT was brief, however, the one in the Landie mentioned MM0EFI-7 at the bottom of it. Answers on a postcard please?
Poor Signal Reports on VHF
1900h and I’m back in the bothy unpacking my stuff. I pull out the ft-60, still attached to the RH-770. Except it looks strange. It doesn’t look like an RH-770. Closer inspection reveals it is not an RH-770. No, it is a 27MHz whip.
I am, indeed, an amateur.
Also managed to get lost in the mountain bike trails and having to just tramp across the middle of it.
Must be why they’re a fortune to buy second hand.