Disclaimer: There’s talk of POTA in this, so might not be of interest to anyone, but it was a dire start that turned out to be great and well worth doing I thought.
Today, Easter Sunday, was one of those extremely rare occasions where I actually had a day with no other tasks or duties planned. I had a day to myself and was going to make the most of it.
Out by the coast early doors with an 11km trail run in the bag by about 9:30am. All I had to do then was pack the radio gear (this would come back to haunt me), a wash, clean pants, a dab of Steve Davis Pot Black cologne (as it was a special day), load the Austin Allegro Type R Supersport and head off to Mount Oriel.
I had a look at the summit advice posted by @GI0AZA which was excellent because Esther pointed out that the land surrounding the summit is privately owned.
There would be no trigslappin’ today…or would there? Ah sure it’ll be grand, I’ll just operate by the roadside.
After pulling up in the layby before the summit back road, a bloke came from the direction of the summit with his hund. I petted said hund briefly (mandatory!) while asking about the land being privately owned, which he confirmed. Really nice fella though, he said I could drive the Allegro Type R up to the gate by the summit and have room to do a U’ey. With that I headed off to the summit and was immediately confronted by this:
That’s just one of them. There’s about 937,803 masts, pylons, dishes and every other type of antenna you could imagine up here. Literally surrounding the summit. To cap it off, the gate to the summit greets you thus notice the trig in the background:
Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, the whole fence around it as well as some of the gate is a mix of barbed wire and electrified down the side run offs.
Still, the weather seemed to be alright. Breezy but sunny enough and not too cold.
Then I looked to my left across the valleys and saw this:
The photo doesn’t capture it all. Those clouds (already bucketing down) and a jillion more rolling up behind them were on their way, and fast. I hadn’t much time so figured I would throw up the 7m mast, Slim G and hook up the FT-65 and try my luck.
Nope. A veritable QRM fiesta ensued. So I whipped out the aul Ali Express 2m band pass filter. It made it worse. I could hear voices very distant (like RST 11) so kept trying to see would I catch a break.
Nothing.
OK, lets whip out the beast. The sultan. The big lad that is unafraid of QRM and will demolish anyone who dares to make it angry. The trusty Yaesu FT-202R.
Nope. Not a hope. Kicked to the kerb like Port Vale in an FA Cup match against Chelsea (and not getting £600k they rightfully earned even though they lost because the FA changed the rules, but anyway I digress…).
The WX was changing rapidly and the heavens opened. OK, no problem, tis but a drop of water. Head back to the car and wait for it to pass.
I think Michael Fish must be working for Met Eireann because what followed was an absolutely CATASTROPHIC hail and sleet storm. The Met were saying today would be alright and sunny! All of a sudden it feels like 1987 again.
A few minutes passed, then a bloke pulled up alongside me in a Volkswagen Caddy. I thought I was going to get a rollocking for being up here but he wound the window down and after he finished being jolted around by some seriously squishy suspension I was able to get a look at him.
He was an older gent and in great spirits. He asked what I was up to and just explained I was trying to work amateur radio for the SOTA program (a quick 10 second explainer and a bit about my understanding the trig was on private land followed).
I was expecting to get roared at here but instead he simply said “oh! I know the fella who owns the land, that’s his house there”, he pointed to a green shed, “he’s away on holiday at the minute but he won’t mind a bit, I’ll let him know. You work away!”. I asked about the gate. “Oh just open it. If not hop over, yer grand. Go on ahead so!”.
We wished each other a Happy Easter and he drove off laughing about something. I wondered if he was laughing because once I hopped over the fence he’s friend would get the rifle out and pick me off at long range.
The bloke in the van disappeared so I chanced it and hopped over the fence when the weather cleared. While ‘hopping the fence’ I managed to slip and give the aul plums a tickle on the barbed electric fence.
It hurt. Thank God I’ve no plans to expand my family. That’s all I’ll say.
Yaesu firmly in hand, I made my way towards the trig once the hail and sleet storm had passed. There was more on the way so I didn’t even contemplate getting the KH1 out. Glad I didn’t now after ‘plumgate’. This would be 4 FM contacts and gone.
Problem is the trig was surrounded by sheep. I think the sheep were holding their own Easter Egg hunt as the ground surrounding the trig was absolutely littered with prizes.
As I approached the trig the lads made their way down and towards me. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going to happen here and I didn’t fancy having to hop over that gate in a hurry either. Thankfully they just went and hid by a shed - also covered in dishes and antennas.
No sooner had I made it to the trig and given it a slap than I looked behind me and the next wave of angry clouds was on the way. Time to move. I called CQ again. Nothing, just noise. I tried to see could I pick up the IRTS news on 525 but nothing.
The heavens opened again just as I called it there. This wasn’t happening today. To make matters worse, I had brought my Microwave Modules 40w linear with me too thinking I would have great success. But no. I forgot ONE patch cable. So that was it, no linear today and it would be 5w.
To be honest, the summit is so littered with noise I’ve no idea how people have made contacts there. I would appreciate some advice on how to deal with this summit because I won’t let it beat me.
I felt deflated. I had set time aside to give this summit a try and a mix of bad luck, stupidity (on my part) and bad weather just worked against me.
The weather was now a shambles - which is odd because everywhere surrounding Mount Oriel was blue skies and sunshine. Just my luck eh!?
Littlewoods (Not The Catalog) Saves The Day:
I had planned to activate POTA IE-0044 after the SOTA activation. IE-0044 is only 10 minutes drive away so it made sense to me to do a twofer. With the SOTA a disaster I decided to try my luck. Sure what was the worst that could happen?
I arrived at Littlewoods (that is what it is called on the map, the actual forest is called Littlewood) shortly after leaving the summit. For car fanatics, I spotted a black Ferrari 458 Italia heading towards me. It’s a nice car - never seen a black 458 before, limited edition? - but you can’t beat British Leyland!
This is a blink and you’ll miss it place. It’s hidden by the side of a main road. You could pass it very easily.
Once inside, there is a generous car park and super high trees that @K4SWL would absolutely adore! I thought immediately about coming back here with a wire antenna but it’s 50/50 really. The place has one picnic table by the car park and if you want to use it I’d say arrive early and be done promptly as there isn’t anywhere else for families or visitors to picnic or sit.
I decided to go the lazy route and whip out the ATAS and FT-891 for a bit of QRO action.
Pants:
This was like Good Friday on 20m. Band conditions are reportedly good. I call CQ POTA and 2 QSO’s takes about 320 hours.
This isn’t going to do. Time to think of a plan B. If you are in amateur radio activation trouble and nobody else can help, maybe you can try…
CW.
There it was. As the Urban Cookie Collective once sang, “I’ve got the key, I’ve got the secret”, and I did.
The QSO’s rolled in with all that sweet goodness that only CW can deliver in those tough times. There were dry patches though so it was a mix of calling CQ and hunting POTA and chasing SOTA spots. So I did get to do some SOTA in a roundabout way!
Mega DX Time:
During a quieter moment I switched bands to see what else was happening and to try and make some more QSO’s. I was well over the 10 contacts required so this was really just trying to see what was happening prop-wise.
For no reason at all I switched to 15 meters. It sounded like a morgue but I gave it a scan anyway. Then as I ran the dial to 21.240, there was a very strong 59 SSB signal calling CQ DX.
There appeared to be quite the pile-up going on but I couldn’t hear all of the calls coming in. I chanced my arm and got through!
About 10 minutes later (and fair play to the operator for persisting as much as I was) we got the QSO made.
Huge thank you to @9K2ES who made a QSO with me all the way from his QTH in Kuwait! I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know much about DX stations (other than stuff like Bouvet etc) but I’ve heard in the past that Kuwait is a less common country to bag a QSO?
Also a big shout out to Yaesu and the ATAS antenna. “Compromised antennas are terrible!” “The ATAS sucks” and on it goes. Well it worked today for me (and has worked like a champ ever since I got it not long back).
Time To Wrap It Up:
With Kuwait in the bag and a big smile across my chops, it was time to try a few more calls and wrap things up.
I devoured a boatload more CW and a couple of SSB contacts before going QRT on HF. Before calling it a day completely I got out the FT-65, 7m mast and Slim G again to see who was around in the area.
This time I checked on the 145.600 repeater for a signal report and received a 59 from Oleg @EI7KD which was a positive start, my setup was working. A quick call on .500 and it was Oleg again, hurrah! A quick QSO and then across to 70cm but alas no joy there which was a shame.
Time to go QRT and pack up. With 52 QSO’s in the bag (45 of them CW - that G3HSC vinyl has paid for itself! - and that SSB DX to Kuwait) I was delighted!
Here’s the map of contacts I made, including my USA regular @K2UPD who bagged me on delicious CW once again! He is unreal at DX. Every time!
Before heading home I took a toepoke around the 2km looped trail. The forest is beautiful and well worth your time to have a look around. I spotted a sign talking about some of the plantlife in the forest and also some of the bizarre fungi that bloom all over the forest. Judging by the photos the fungi look like some mad stuff David Ike would probably be in to!
After completing the loop it was time to go home. The day didn’t stop there though. On the way home I passed a house I wish I had been able to get a photo of (I will in future). The house was built around the permieter of a ruined castle! Never seen anything quite like that before.
Mount Oriel will have to wait. I’ll be back though. Guaranteed.
