Return of the Cloud

Activation Reports
61

Woke up with the alarm at 5.45am. Woke up again without it at 6.13am. Doh!

However, got myself moving, posted a “running late, ETA 0615z” spot and was on the road just before 6.30am. There was a bit more to do this mornng as well, with a newly charged SLAB to be inserted into the zip pocket under the hood of my rucksack, and the FT-817 to uninstall from the car and return to the pack.

All in all, I was quite satisfied with my actual QRV time of 0617z, when I worked PA0HRW. This was after an unselfspotted (will conatct OED to get it in) CQ call on 7.031MHz CW after discovering 7.032 to be occupied by an OK station calling CQ.

This headed up a pleasing activation, with 12 contacts from 8 DXCCs: PA, I, DL, SM, 9A, GW, S5 and HB. I chanced it somewhat by running the activation right through to 0640z, but still managed to get to work on time. The just-prior-to-descent calls on S20 and SU20 were unanswered.

After doing a whole week on 40m CW, it’s probably time to run 80m SSB & CW for next weeks dawn activations.

Nice dry and clear weather, but very cold. However, the sun is out now (9.20am local) and it’s warming up. I think I’ll take the boys and girls out onto the field this afternoon for the radio lesson and demo my portable gear. Maybe you’ll hear my students passing greetings messages around 7.095MHz SSB - or me on 7.033MHz CW (but probably no supervised greetings messages on there hi).

73, Tom M1EYP

62

In reply to M1EYP:

I was in the shack earlier than usual this morning so, combined with your late-running, I was able to listen on 7031 during your activation. Unfortunately there was not a trace of your signal here in Sussex, although your callers were loud and clear. Maybe another morning …

73 de Les, G3VQO

63

In reply to M1EYP:

After doing a whole week on 40m CW, it’s probably time to run 80m SSB
& CW for next weeks dawn activations.

Missed the morning “Cloud Skeds” this week but will not be QRV next week Tom. I’m not able to be QRV from JA… and in any case, openings to there on 80 would be around midnight in the UK. hi

See the the week after maybe.

73 Marc G0AZS

64

In reply to M1EYP:
Well Tom, I have not been able to copy you for several mornings now. Good signals from the stations calling you, but NOTHING at all from you. The winter skip on 40 has caught us.
Looking forward to hear you on 80 - however, from Tuesday next week I will be on holiday in Germany for some days, w/o radio.
By the way, the OK-stn on 7.032 this morning was struggling to copy a very weak LU1DRP, who still was much stronger with me than you were ;-).
Good luck.
Mike

65

Nice to get you this morning Mike. I guess you must have been sitting on my alert frequency of 3.554MHz. This QRG seemed to have strong SSB signals on it when I first went to it, hence why I opened on 3.557MHz. Pete PA0FBI came straight back, but he was the only one, probably because I had alerted for 3.554MHz and not self-spotted to advise the different QRG.

Before that, I had called CQ several times on 3.660MHz SSB, which was suffering heavy splatter from below, and 3.662MHz SSB which was somewhat clearer. No response, so went down to CW.

After the one CW QSO, I then did surrender to self-spotting. I try to do this as little as possible in the dawn activations due to the proportion of my available time it takes up. It isn’t as critical on a Sunday afternoon with a few hours to spare and no deadlines to meet! Also, when activating with Jimmy M3EYP, it will be that one of us is calling while the other is self-spotting, so the potential radio time isn’t eroded anyway.

Anyway, with the self-spot for 3.662MHz SSB lodged with SOTAwatch, a nice little run of five stations in five minutes ensued - G0TDM, G0RQL, G6CRV, G4OBK and G6MZX. All were excellent signals with me, but I only managed to put a “Radio 5” signal into Geoff.

John G0TDM was there when I returned to 3.557MHz CW, to continue his habit of working me on both modes each activation. I then noticed that 3.554MHz was now free of the SSB QRM, so I tried a CQ call in case any chasers were waiting there. And there was Mike LA5SAA to complete a rather slow and sparse activation this cold October morning.

I’ll stick with 80m this week and see if I can build things up a bit. Marianne is working on Wednesday night, so there will be a gap in my schedule on Thursday morning. I will also cancel any where I stand a chance of getting very wet!

73, Tom M1EYP

66

My alarm went off at 5.45am, and I could hear the rain hammering on the conservatory roof below our bedroom window. If the promised bad weather had arrived already, I would be having an enforced lie-in. However, the pattering has stopped within five minutes, so up I got and out I went.

Parking on Cloudside, I could see that the trees were being blown around rather violently. At least it was still dry. The ascent was in the gloominess of meagre early morning light and thick mist. The 80m antenna went up fairly easily given the wind blasting across the summit, and I settled into the shelter of the NW side of the summit topograph.

I was set up and ready to go by 0605z, but there was nowhere worth calling in the 3.660MHz SSB vicinity. I found a bit of a hole at 3.632MHz, and self-spotted accordingly. This delay meant that my first contact, with John G0TDM, was not until 0614z.

I went on to work G4WHA, G0TRB, M3RHJ and finally a very difficult contact with Jordan M3TMX. The QRM from adjacent frequencies was becoming unbearable. I got my 42 report through OK, although receiving Jordan’s acknowledgement of it was difficult. I was about to give up on getting my report back from him when his voice came up just in time for me to hear “Five and four”.

No such troubles on 3.557MHz CW, where Phil G4OBK answered my first call, followed swiftly by EI7CC, G4OWG, SM6CMU, HB9DOT and G0TDM, John “topping and tailing” the activation log. Most stations on SSB were S2, while the average on CW was S7. There was a similar story with the incoming reports for the SSB and CW phases.

I stood up to begin packing my gear away, and realised how effective my choice of shelter had been. I hadn’t even been aware that the hill was being lashed by horizontal rain. However, now I was all too aware of it and my Berghaus jacket was wetting-out rapidly. I packed up, gave the customary calls on S20 and SU70, and wasn’t at all disappointed that they weren’t answered.

Thanks to all callers; much appreciated.

Tom M1EYP

67

In reply to M1EYP:

You’re a hardy one, Tom! I had decided to look for you on 80 SSB this morning but the alarm woke me up to hear the rain battering the window and the wind roaring in the trees and I thought to myself “No way”!

Perhaps tomorrow!

73

Brian G8ADD

68

Your judgement is sound enough Brian. It was raining when I woke up, and when I finished activating. If it had been raining in-between, either when I left the house, or when I pulled up on Cloudside, then I wouldn’t have bothered.

Now, fingers crossed for another dry interlude for tonight’s activity.

Tom M1EYP

69

It was hard work getting out of bed at 5.45am after my exertions on Shining Tor G/SP-004 late the previous evening. My sluggishness resulted in me running about 15 minutes behind schedule, and thus I posted an ETA of 0615z on SOTAwatch before leaving the house.

In contrast to last night, it was a dry, crisp and cloud-free morning, although there was some heavy mist rolling around on Sutton Common. My rucksack and coat were still wet from last night, but the insides of each were dry at least.

The only free spot on 80m SSB was 3.666MHz, but there was no response to my calls on there. I self-spotted and awaited the pile-up. It did not materialise. I made a mental note to revert to opening on CW for the next outing, and QSYd down to 3.557MHz CW. “G4SSH” was the instant reply to my “QRL?”, quickly followed by HB9DOT, SM6CMU and G0TDM. After a little gap came SM3BFH and then G4OWG.

With 3.557MHz CW exhausted, I announced (in CW) my return to 3.666MHz SSB, which was acknowledged by someone. I called again on SSB, but still no joy. Later I read that Brian had not been able to hear me, but did hear other stations trying to call me - but without a response from me. I certainly didn’t hear anything. Perhaps conditions were down, and the efficiency of CW enabled it to reach the parts SSB cannot reach!

That’s 199 activations of The Cloud G/SP-015. See you on Friday for #200.

Tom M1EYP

70

In reply to M1EYP:
Very strange this morning absolutely nothing on SSB true 599 on CW ?
Have you checked the mike was creating any modulation?

Roger G4OWG

71

In reply to M1EYP:

I listened on 3.666Mhz when you first self-spotted, but didn’t hear you at all at my QTH near Hull (but I’m only using a 45 ft long wire). However, I did hear a GM station call you (very weak with me, and I didn’t get their full call). Strange conditions this morning…

72

In reply to G4OWG:

Hmmm. Never thought of that, and the mike did get a bit wet (not badly) as I was packing away on Shining Tor last night. I have got Shirley MW0YLS’s old FT-817 and accessories here at school (Year 7 radio enrichment course going well BTW), so I’ll do a comparison before I go home. Mind you, if the GM station called me, presumably he heard me, unless it was an optimsitic effort having received the spot!

Thanks,

Tom M1EYP

73

In reply to M1EYP:

Hi Tom

You also just missed OE3KAB who called you on CW a few seconds after you said QSY SSB.

73 Roy G4SSH

74

I heard Tom this morning 599 on cw but nothing on ssb.but very noisy with lots of static.ATB Geoff. G6MZX

75

In reply to M1EYP:

Mind you, if the GM station called me, presumably
he heard me, unless it was an optimsitic effort having received the
spot!

Working from memory, I think I heard GM7UAU and G6MZX calling you. Presumably the latter was a speculative call as he says he didn’t hear you. At one point I heard a faint sign of your voice, but not readable enough to work.

76

In reply to M1EYP:

Tom

Well done on your 200th activation of the Cloud! Glad to have caught you on SSB and CW.

73

Richard
G3CWI

77

Well done Tom, thanks for the call on 70cms this morning. I have been out of the loop a bit due to work (and I am on nights over the weekend so I am still out of it) so it was good to catch you this morning on your 200th.

Steve GW7AAV

78

All the best Tom for your 200th.I heard you this morning on 3.610 ssb.But due to very heavy QRM I didnt call you.Without the QRM you would have been 5-7.73 Geoff.

79

Thanks all for the kind comments.

My 200th activation of The Cloud G/SP-015, was my 680th in SOTA. So I have actually done 480 activations on SOTA summits other than The Cloud!

I was out nice and early at 6.10am, after sending the customary “on me way” self-spot - which curiously never appeared. Maybe I forgot to press the “submit” button or something!

Nonetheless, the alert itself was sufficient, and there was G3CWI and ON3WAB to answer my first call on 3.557MHz CW. After those two, silence, so I had my first go on SSB, which was very crowded. No joy there, so back to CW, where I worked G4SSH, F5UKL and G0AZS. Roy kindly spotted my CW-announced move to 3.666MHz, but when I got there, the area was even more crowded than before.

I found a reasonable (but not ideal) slot on 3.610MHz SSB and self-spotted, getting G4WHA, G0TDM, EI7CC, G3CWI and G0RQL in the log. A final try on CW brought G0AOD and G0TDM. I announced “2m es 70cm in 10 mins” and commenced packing away the FT-817 and 80m dipole.

At 0644z, I called CQ on 2m FM, and got the usual round of indifference. Not expecting anything different, but wanting to keep to my word, I then called CQ on 70cm FM. This time I was answered, by Steve GW7AAV to being up the pleasant 13th and final contact of a pleasant activation.

The weather was chilly and very windy, but dry, and with some clear skies opening up between the high thin cloud, making me wish I could stop longer. The earlier start, and a couple of days further in towards winter, meant it was pretty dark for my ascent, and setting up the 80m aerial was difficult without being able to see the other ends of the dipole legs!

Thanks to all who made the effort to get out of bed and call in.

Tom M1EYP

80

Great to work you on your special activation, Tom. Congratulations!!