SOTA LD Weekend - Saturday Pike O'Blisco G/LD-024

Activation Reports
1

On Saturday I decided to activate Pike O’Blisco which is fairly central to the Lake District and provided chasers with the ability to obtain 6 points. It is a 45 minute hike from my parking spot at the top of Wrynose Pass, which greeted me with horizontal rain.

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That’s the obligatory Lake District Sheep photo taken care of

I tried to pick a lull in the weather, but there was no getting away from it. By the time I reached the summit I was ‘pants wet’, in spite of the ‘waterproof’ clothing.

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On the Ascent, Red Tarn

I had brought a tarp which I deployed on the Easterly side of the Southerly summit. I tried to use the rock to my advantage to keep out of the weather but to be honest I then spent most of the time slipping and sliding across the rock between my precarious position and the antenna setup next to the trig point. At least I had lots of rocks to weigh down the tarp. Somehow despite the increasing winds best efforts the ramshackle setup held.

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Summit ‘Shelter’

The guying kit for the tripod on which the Super Antenna MP1 was mounted was an absolute necessity, wedged in various points of the cairn stone pile.

All my VHF contacts were using the FT1XD with stock whip. I never did get the SlimJ up. The plan was to do VHF again at the end once everything else was packed up, but I was just too cold to manage it.

Great to get Esther @GI0AZA and Ian @GI0AZB on G/LD-041 who were over from Northern Ireland, first time using VHF between us. Phil @G4OBK was doing a fine job chasing from his car.

TIME CALLSIGN FREQ BAND MODE RST RSR SIG REF
09:56 G4TQQ/P 145.375 2m FM 56 56 SOTA G/NP-006
09:59 G7CDA 145.550 2m FM 59 57
09:59 G1OHH 145.550 2m FM 59 57
10:00 M5TUE/P 145.550 2m FM 57 59 SOTA G/LD-038
10:02 G4OBK/P 145.550 2m FM 57 57
10:08 G4YTD 145.550 2m FM 57 58
10:09 G4WHA/P 145.550 2m FM 53 57 WOTA LDW-096
10:09 2E0LDF 145.550 2m FM 55 53 WOTA LDW-096
10:10 G0UXC 145.550 2m FM 57 55
10:10 G0AZA/P 145.550 2m FM 57 57 SOTA G/LD-041
10:10 G0AZB/P 145.550 2m FM 59 59 SOTA G/LD-041
10:11 G0AZB/P 145.550 2m C4FM 59 59 SOTA G/LD-041
10:11 G0AZA/P 145.550 2m C4FM 59 59 SOTA G/LD-041
10:13 G0HIK 145.550 2m FM 57 55
10:15 G0LWU 145.550 2m FM 57 52
10:16 2E0GVI 145.550 2m FM 59 59
10:23 G8CPZ/P 145.550 2m FM 59 59 SOTA G/LD-056
10:23 G6WBS/P 145.550 2m FM 59 59 SOTA G/LD-001
10:24 M0JKS/P 145.550 2m FM 59 59 SOTA G/LD-003
10:24 G7CDA 145.575 2m C4FM 59 57
10:24 G1OHH 145.575 2m C4FM 59 57
11:20 G3TQQ/P 145.350 2m FM 59 59 SOTA G/LD-046
11:21 G4OOE/P 145.350 2m FM 59 59 SOTA G/LD-046
11:28 G4WHA/P 145.275 2m FM 59 55 SOTA G/LD-008
11:31 2E0LDF/P 145.275 2m FM 59 59 SOTA G/LD-008
13:02 G1ZAR/P 145.525 2m FM 59 59 SOTA G/LD-011
13:05 M0FMF/P 145.450 2m FM 59 59 SOTA G/LD-018

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VHF Contacts

My normal HF routine of both working a frequency and frequent search and pounces didn’t really work given the hassle it was to change antenna frequencies. Good to get Stuart 2E0GVI on 15m - he was only in Grasmere! I also managed a 6m S2S with @M0JKS Dave on Helvellyn - using 1 watt from the FT-817 and the Super Antenna MP1 set for 20m - the SWR was bearable! Phil unsurprisingly couldn’t hear me using that configuration!

TIME CALLSIGN FREQ BAND MODE RST RSR SIG REF
10:56 2E0GVI 21.247 15m SSB 59 59
11:03 OH3GZ 14.325 20m SSB 59 59
11:04 OE6GND 14.325 20m SSB 58 55
11:05 EA2/F5ODQ/P 14.325 20m SSB 44 44 SOTA EA2/NV-146
11:06 SP9MA/P 14.325 20m SSB 55 57 SOTA SP/BZ-081
11:06 EA2DT 14.325 20m SSB 53 42
11:09 UW8SM/P 14.325 20m SSB 55 59 SOTA UT/CA-351
11:36 ON4CB 7.099 40m SSB 59 55
11:38 IK2LEY/P 7.099 40m SSB 52 44 SOTA I/LO-187
11:41 S57S 7.099 40m SSB 58 53
11:42 GB2DH 7.099 40m SSB 58 57
11:46 DD0VE 7.099 40m SSB 59 57
12:00 DC8YZ/P 14.315 20m SSB 58 44 SOTA DM/BW-131
12:19 F4WBN 14.334 20m SSB 59 55
12:24 G4OBK/P 14.337 20m SSB 59 56
12:37 EA/DL1ASA/P 14.306 20m SSB 57 57 SOTA EA3/GI-035
12:39 M0JKS/P 51.530 6m FM 59 59 SOTA G/LD-003
12:51 SO9TA/P 14.064 20m CW 449 559 SOTA SP/BZ-028
12:54 M1BUU/P 14.062 20m CW 599 599 SOTA G/LD-007

HF-Contacts
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HF Contacts

Some nice HF S2S contacts including Fabio @IK2LEY on SSB and also Phil on 20m.
I would like to have done a CW activation but the brain just wasn’t working well any more with the cold, but nice to get Colin @M1BUU in the log who was working a nice pileup.

I did get some nice views as the weather finally cleared up. The Langdales are always photogenic.
Thanks for all the S2S and chaser contacts.

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All photos here.

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Hard to see it through the rain. You sure it wasn’t a goat or a llama?

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Is it the same sheep or are there many sheep in the Lake District? :thinking:

Are they purposely planting Herdwicks on the fells just to make pretty photos? I’ve never seen so many!

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Was a nice surprise to hear you calling me Mark, Thank you for the CW S2S.

73, Colin

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@M1BUU - are you saying the fells are pretty or the sheep? Tread carefully there Colin! :grinning:

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