I took my SOTA hip flask out on an activation today, loaded with Glenmorangie 10 year single malt.
It was a “date walk” with my wife Marianne, just a week after celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary! She only recently discovered the delight of the Ponderosa Cafe after years of me mithering her to check it out, but now she has, she loves it!
After setting up on Moel y Gamelin GW/NW-042, something weird happened. No signals at all - not even on 28.074MHz FT8.
My tactic was to call on 2m FM with the handheld and invite stations worked to try and also make it on 10m SSB. This worked and soon I was qualified with three on 10m SSB and two on 2m FM - four distinct stations.
Then I noticed that the 10m FT8 QRG was making its typical “plague of locusts” din again - so it must have been some kind of temporary propagation dropout. Marianne was ready to descend though, so I didn’t bother trying to make more contacts.
Nice day out, not a huge amount of radio though! The pie and chips was great, so was the lemon drizzle cake, and the whisky was splendid!
Nice photos of what I would consider a non descript summit, the other side of the Ponderosa IMHO is nicer.
and Can I politely ask, now that Marianne is succumbing to your Mithering, when is she booked in for her Foundation course, or maybe even “Straight to Full”? It might spur Elaine on to go for hers!!!
It was just a thought, Elaine keeps replying “I am happy to listen”
please don’t let this wonderful Reflector of ours go so far as comparison with that Social Media,
I have to agree the food is good at the Ponderosa, On the winter activations, we used to look forward to getting down for the Hot Chocolate, most welcome after sitting atop a summit in 6 inches or more of snow
Still waiting for my Flask to arrive so I can do the Photo shoot, the 15 year old Glenfiddich is waiting patiently to be used
Thanks also to Barry @GM4TOE for supplying the Flask, they are well worth the cost and I think it also gives a small amount for running SOTA so win-win
Thanks for the comment.
All merchandise (and Awards) provide a little excess to keep the SOTA facilities running. The cost of the IT systems are eye-watering and without these sales they could not be provided.
