Activation Report for Raw Head G/SP-016 11.08.09 19:00 UTC
Wanted to get this one in again before it was taken off list as it has lost its status as a marilyn:
David 2E0DAI wanted to get it for 1st time so invitation accepted we dual activated it last night.
Parking in usual spot of Coppermine lane, easy walk in to trig, especially easier for me from last time as snowdrift gave me a few worries back in February.
David opted for HF on his 817 and I set up for 2m & 70cm. Shouting for some time on both modes and bands with no Joy, Heard G6VS/P testing his rig in readiness for the 70cm contest due to start any minute . I went back to him and explained where I was, we swapped reports and at least I had one in the log! Upon going back to 2m FM, My Pal Mike M1DAP come back to me and we moved to .400. After Mike came a couple of mobiles so got my 4 to qualify. I was hoping to also get a short sched with Chris G0EXD,as I cannot get him from Home and he followed and listend till it went quiet on 400 and then came in we had a good ragchew. David was struggling on HF as conditions were odd ,so passed mic to him from my station to help him get at least four which he did. Light was fading by now so David went back to 40m for a last attempt and I chased a few 70cm contest calls. descent was in darkness with torches and a bit of an adventure down.
Total of 9 contacts in my log,ensuring I had qualified the summit for the second time:
70cm contacts: G6VS/P, GW4EVX/P (not on a SOTA), M0COP/P, G8ZRE/P.
2m Contacts: M1DAP, G4XQB/M, G1AIV/M, M3NVJ/P, G0EXD,
Hi Tony, apologies from John and myself for having to dive off rather abruptly(1 min to go). Hope yourself and David managed to dodge the nasty weather which came in from the NW. Did you pop into the poacher for a post activation pint?
Thanks Chris, no probs, once the contest starts you have to go for it!!!
We got down safe, I made certain of that but we did have to descend in the dark as I say,but we were OK. David has done really well with his leg and his Bionic bits worked as good as the old broken bits HiHi!!
No we didnt call to Poacher on way home but Elaine and I decided to crack open a nice bottle of Cabernet after our shower!! I think David went straight home too as he had a lot further to get back home than we did?
In reply to 2E0LAE:
A big thank you to Tony and Elaine for acting as guides. I had a good outing and enjoyed the little walk in. I erected the 80 / 40 linked dipole amongst the trees and along the summit fence and was rewarded by good clear reception on 3.6 MHz. Every 3 KHz was taken up by dear gentlemen discussing the weather or stations across Europe chatting away so I couldn’t find a clear spot to call CQ and notify with a spot. So that part went wrong. 7MHz was better but the fading sun, diminishing battery on the 817 and a meagre 2.5W meant that even the clear space that Tony spotted on 7.115 became swamped within 10 mins by a distant broadcast station. Thankfully Ciathos FM saved the day and I spoke to 5 stations in quick order on Tony’s radio ending with recently qualified Joe M6TRG from Liverpool. Sorry if anyone was hoping for a last QSO on HF from Raw Head before deletion - I did try for you and found the rucsac very heavy as a result! I even found my SOTA Pole bung in the dark on the descent.
I believe a soup report is traditional in SOTA. The broccoli, onion and cheese soup at the Poacher that I had beforehand was very good [I think that was what it was - very green in any case] and provided much needed sustenance.
Thanks to Tony and Elaine for helping with the last activation [probably]of Raw Head and I hope to visit a full set of South Pennine Hills in time.
I did a quick activation of G/SE-013 Detling Hill last month but was unable to carry out G/SE-015 as alerted due to time constraints upon our return from the continent. So Raw Head was my second 2E0 SOTA activation.
73
David 2E0DAI
Wolverhampton