Rogan's seat G/NP -014 & Great Shunner Fell G/NP-006

[M6GYU]

Rogans Seat G/NP-014 - Thursday 6 Feb I’d activated Rogans Seat just before Xmas and there’s been no activation until I visited it again. Its seems its a lonely hill.

I leave my car in Gunnerside and following the footpath up and between the cottages you soon join the well used gravel track up to the summit. It takes me 1hr 35 minutes to reach the shelter stone complete with seat. Its just below freezing, windy but reasonably sunny. Nearby hidden in a clump of heather I notice a small group of white painted stones - all with the name Rogan along with initials and dates. Relatives or just similar names? A cursory look with google didn’t shed any light on the matter. Any know anything?

After wandering around again I get a signal and self spot. ( Next time i’ll try switching the phone on and off, like suggested in a previous post).

I worked a few callers on 7mhz and then I qsy’d to 10 mhz and got 4 qsos including an S2S with M1BUU/P Colin on G/NP-008 before I noticed I’d not dropped the 7mhz link on my aerial!! Its not the first time I’ve done this - I must try harder!. A minute later I get another S2S with G4TGJ/p on G/NP-005 - Ingleborough.

In total I get 63 CW QSOs in the 2 hrs I’m sitting there before I start to get too cold and pack up. Its 14.5 km there and back…

Gunnerside in the evening sun

Great Shunner Fell G/NP-006. Friday 7 Feb.

I parked at the southern end of the Buttertubs next to the cattle grid and followed the fence to the top in 1 hour.

On the way up I noticed this sign :- But I wondered how many black grouse will end up flying into the fence?

cid:23CA8575-175D-4F5E-AC03-A3D670E2F108@home
Summit shelter
It was quite windy, cloudy and below freezing with the odd snow flurry. The summit and the shelter was covered in hoar frost. I chose the most sheltered corner, kitted up and got inside my bothy bag and sat on my karrimats on the ground with my back resting comfortably on the seat. Luxury……

I managed to self spot from within the comfort of my ‘office’ and I was off.

A little later whilst I was working someone else I heard a voice call out, “Hello”, This was a surprise as I only use CW. Rather than tell them to clear off, I kindly I replied; “Hang on a minute- I’m operating a radio”. I wasn’t expecting visitors. In return I got the quick reply that they were just wanting to check I was OK and off they went on their way. I didn’t think any other idiots would be up here during the week but perhaps they were keen Pennine Way walkers (the summit is on the Pennine Way).

I managed 53 CW QSOs and another S2S from Richard G4TGJ/p operating from G/SP-008 in 1hr 35 minutes of operating before I was getting too cold to continue.

14 on 7mhz
18 on 10mhz
and the remainder on 14 mhz
Total operating time = 1hr 35minutes.

(One annoying chaser kept calling on top of the others. So I sent a very slow and deliberate “AS PSE AS A S …”, to which he instantly replied with his callsign again. ) He’s not in my log book.

I saw the first flock of Golden Plovers flying over the moor on my way back.

[G4TGJ]

@M6GYU

I didn’t think any other idiots would be up here during the week

I’ve made the mistake of thinking that I’d have an obscure hill to myself. But someone always seems to appear. SOTA summits in the UK are Marilyns and muggles like bagging them.

[G4OBK]

@M6GYU

(One annoying chaser kept calling on top of the others. So I sent a very slow and deliberate “AS PSE AS A S …”, to which he instantly replied with his callsign again. ) He’s not in my log book.

HI Dave

Nice report, TNX. These chancers seems to be able to send CW but have not taken the trouble to learn the receving part of the art, and this one could not even read a slow and deliverable “AS PSE AS A S”!

Thats a goodly number of contacts with the little You Kits radio. Hope to see you in the SOTA corner at the Scarborough Club tmw night. I can try and gues who the offender was and see if I am right. They may not get named and shamed on the reflector but we can talk in private!

73 Phil G4OBK

[M6GYU]

I’lll be there Phil. I’m afraid I can’t remember who the offender was.

[G8CPZ]

@M6GYU

A little later whilst I was working someone else I heard a voice call out, “Hello”, This was a surprise as I only use CW. Rather than tell them to clear off, I kindly I replied; “Hang on a minute- I’m operating a radio”. I wasn’t expecting visitors. In return I got the quick reply that they were just wanting to check I was OK and off they went on their way.

This is always a tricky one. I’m often approached during set up or packing up by a curious visitor and I’m more than happy to give a quick overview of what I’m doing [it has to be quick else their eyes start glazing over if I make it too long]. But whilst I’m in the middle of a CW activation especially during a pile-up, I need total concentration to catch those 429 chaser callsigns so I (literally) keep my head down and hope the visitor doesn’t interrupt me.

On activating at the summit trig point / cairn / other feature I’ve learnt long ago not to activate right at the summit no matter how remote I think the location is. Sod’s Law has confirmed that walkers will show up mid-QSO and want to touch / stand on / have lunch at the summit feature.

Sometimes a walker can be quite unreasonable that you are even at the summit …

Do you fix your antenna to the summit cross?

On popular summits, I try to operate away from the trig point/cairn/other summit marker if practical unless there’s no protection from adverse weather elsewhere in the AZ. In any case, I have found people friendly - including a farmer who raced up on his all-terrain vehicle initially to complain about my 10m pole and quad-band dipole on his land - once they understand what I’m doing there. The exception was last week on G/LD-022 Seat Sandal early morning, alone on the summit. Suddenly a woman …

[G4TGJ]

I always activate away from the summit trig point/shelter/topograph/etc as I don’t want to be disturbed or to disturb anyone else (one of the reasons I like CW). I get a few stares and a few people come to ask what I am doing or what I am measuring (I’m not sure why they think a piece of wire can be used to measure wind). I had a farmer come up to me on Sharp Haw G/NP-029 - I think he was more worried about my tarp as from a distance it probably looked like I was camping. We had a nice chat and he was fine once he knew what I was doing.

[G8CPZ]

@G4TGJ

I had a farmer come up to me on Sharp Haw G/NP-029

I never had problems with a bull before [it’s cows with calves who can be aggressive] but the first time I activated Sharp Haw I did it from that metal bench just outside of the walled summit.

A curious bull kept coming ever closer to me and my little dog until - not wanting to risk it - I moved to a better (and safer?) position just below and to the east of the summit. Nowadays I would consider that bench a ‘summit feature’ to be avoided, bulls or no bulls.

[G4TGJ]

@G8CPZ

my little dog

That’s your problem. Dogs always generate bovine curiosity.

@G8CPZ

position just below and to the east of the summit

I think that’s the standard operating position. It’s sheltered from the prevailing wind and has enough space for my tarp and mast. Having said that, last time I was there in November I had to set up on the opposite side of the ridge as the cold wind was coming from the east.

[G8CPZ]

@G4TGJ

Dogs always generate bovine curiosity

Yes, I’ve found it a ‘feature’ of taking my dogs on activations. For a classic example read here … Warning: lame bovine jokes (the jokes are lame, not the cows).

SOTA LD Weekend, 7th/8th October 2023

As this was the LD Weekend event, I decided to focus on 2m FM and 60m SSB hoping to work visiting activators. Gummers How G/LD-050 was in the clouds despite a strong wind at the summit. Eschewing my usual Diamond RH770 2m ½-wave telescopic I put up a J-pole on a 6m mast so the dog and I could crouch on the leeside of some low rocks. Got 7 contacts including Dan MW7DTE/P on Glasgwm GW/NW-015 and Mark M0NOM/P on nearby Lambrigg Fell G/LD-046. [2023-10-07 Gummers How 1] All my gear was dripping …

[G4OIG]

@M6GYU

Its seems its a lonely hill.

I think the lengthy walk in puts people off, though the track makes for relatively easy going. I really enjoyed the summit and Kisdon beforehand.

@M6GYU

I chose the most sheltered corner, kitted up and got inside my bothy bag…

I must admit, I do have concerns about operating from within a bothy bag on account of the fact that I can’t see anything outside when I am operating. Then again, concentrating on the radio can be isolating enough in itself.

Nice summits. I’ve fond memories of all the NPs even though it’s years since I activated them.

73, Gerald