SOTA LD Weekend, Spring 2024

Can anyone suggest any nice G/LD summits that are push bike-able please?

Thanks in advance.

73, Ben
GW4BML

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Met this guy on the Old Man of Coniston, but I wouldn’t recommend it :smiley:

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Hahaa, that’s a great photo! I did the old man at the LD event a couple of years ago, but would be interesting getting a bike up there :grinning:

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What equipment will you have Tony? I can possibly take a yagi for 2m if that makes it more likely to make a contact, if you don’t have HF.

Cheers, Mark.

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LD-043 ,Shame that one got away Andy,

I have no way of Chasing much in my new Home QTH,

and yes I have activated LD-052 so extra special to get chase on it aswell. will pm you when I know I’m able to chase.

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Hi Mark, will have an FT817 QRP, 4 element Yagi for 2m both horizontal for ssb and vertical for fm, plus dual band mobile mag mounted . I have a efhw with 49:1 unun for coax feed for HF. FT70 for HH backup.?

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Ben,

I can recall only one summit where I wished I had a push-bike. :bike:
G/LD-030, Black Combe

I did them all by foot and enjoyed them all :grinning:

I guess Matthew @M0MZB may have some good recommendations.

GL.
73, Robert

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I regularly cycle to the top of Dent (g/ld-045) and have even done it with a tag-a-long on the back of the bike, pulling a 7 year old up to the summit.

Also Claife Heights (g/ld-053) is doable, except for the last little bit. I left my bike near the bottom but was wishing i had ridden further.

Muncaster fell (except for the last few meters)

Hutton roof crags is a good one to cycle, except for the last few metres which is a SSSI and so bicycles are forbidden.

Of The bigger hills the following would be doable, but I have never tried as i am more of a road cyclist

High street (from patterdale) - have regularly seen cyclists heading up to boredale hause. However surely a spectacular rode would bebto follow the roman road from Penrith, over Loadpot Hill and High Raise to reach High Street and then descend towards Trout Beck along the roman road.

Just outside LD, Cross Fell in NP is perhaps the one where a bicycle is most beneficial in order to follow the metalled road up to the transmitter station on Dun Fell, which can be done on a road bike. It is then a short jog across to the summit of Cross Fell.

Skiddaw (would be very straightforward)


Camping in AZ of Hutton Roof Crags…just outside SSSI


Great Dun Fell (near SOTA summit Cross Fell)

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Hi Tony, if at least you and Mark are taking 2m SSB I’ll take my FT817 and 4-el Yagi. As usual for this event, I’ll wait until visitors have alerted for any of my nearest 4 or 5 SOTA summits in south Cumbria and do a ‘spare’ one. In any case, working Trough of Bowland should be a doddle.

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I have a lightweight Wimo YAGI that I will take in preference to the Arrow, depending on wind conditions. I will have the IC-705 so SSB 2m eminently doable.

Mark.

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G8CPZ Andy, M0NOM Mark, 2m SSB would be brilliant, that was always my preferred Band/Mode when I was active back in the day.

I do miss those days very much!

Maybe it was carrying an FT897 with a 12ah Slab and at least 3 antennas , that was the most fun :wink:

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I agree. Even though I’m mainly a CW op, I’ve always found VHF/UHF SSB a bit special. And I never cease to be amazed by what one can achieve with 5W and a simple Yagi from a decent hill. And an excuse to dust off my ~21yo FT817 for a bit of retro feel radio. Let’s hope others will join us on Saturday. I’ll also take my paddles in case there’s any 2m CW about.

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I wish you better luck than i had last saturday from G/WB-005. Ran 25W into 3 ele beam, made spots, called on a few beam headings to deathly silience.

A shame as its my preffered band/mode too.

I’ll see if i can set something up at home (Wigan) but I’m not in the best spot for beaming north.

Ian

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Hi Ian, yes I seen your spots, my problem is my new QTH suits my medical needs , but is absolutely useless for RF!

as we always say in this hobby, Trial and error and then still frustration :upside_down_face:

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Yes, and always fun to try even if the result isn’t what was hoped for. But every so often something spectacular comes along which makes it worthwhile. I have a log from 2005 (I think) that was 2m ssb activation that looks more like it was on 20m. :slight_smile:

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Thanks Robert.

Thanks Matthew.

73, Ben
GW4BML

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What are the rules with mountain biking in the LD these days ? Back in the early 1990s when a postgrad student at Lancaster, I spent far too much time mountain biking in the Lake District - rather than doing research. At that time, mountain biking on anything other than a bridle way, or the special routes through Grisedale forest, was deemed a serious crime. Although allowed, in the eyes of some foik even cycling on a bridal-way was still a punishable offence, usually by having a stick rammed into your rear spokes, a wet ham sandwich thrown at you or being whipped by some posh bloke on a horse.

Dave

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It would appear that this is still very much the case. I wondered if the Countryside and Rights of Way Act would have an impact, but it appears not, excerpt from: Rights of way and accessing land: Use your right to roam - GOV.UK :

What you can and cannot do

You can use access land for walking, running, watching wildlife and climbing.

There are certain activities you cannot usually do on open access land, including:

  • horse-riding
  • cycling
  • camping
  • taking animals other than dogs on to the land
  • driving a vehicle (except mobility scooters and powered wheelchairs)
  • water sports

But you can use access land for horse-riding and cycling if:

  • the landowner allows it
  • public bridleways or byways cross the land – horse riders and cyclists can ride along these
  • there are local traditions, or rights, of access

I suspect most mountain access routes fall under right to roam, but definitely worth checking.

The Lake District website has a cycling section: Cycling, bike hire and cycle routes in the Lake District

Personally I’ve never had an issue with cyclists, in my recent-ish travels on mountains in the Lake District I haven’t come across many, notably more in the Helvellyn area (including Fairfield and St Sunday Crag) and Skiddaw than any of the other mountains. I suspect this has as much to do with ease of access via mountain bike, than any particular reason.

Mark.

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With regards to Swinside G/LD-057, it use to be very easy to obtain permission to activate this SOTA summit. However, since what I believe was down to change of ownership, permission will now only be granted in the month of March each year (see Swinside G/LD-057 - Notices - SOTA Reflector and Sotadata3). If you email QUADTREKS@MAIL.COM, you will be added to the permission list for the following March.

Another option is to book yourself on a Quad Bike Trek, these Quad Bike Treks run for 1st March to 1st October each year. However this isn’t an option I would recommend as Quad Bike Treks are very expensive at £69 and you are only allowed 10 to 15 minutes on the summit and your are not allowed to set up any antennas during this short time period on the summit so you are restricted to hand held and rubber duck and VHF is not good on Swinside G/LD-057.

Jimmy M0HGY

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Thanks Jimmy, excellent scrutiny as usual, It look like this is the one that will cause issues for completes in LD Land, not impossible just more difficult :slightly_smiling_face:

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