I had a great experience going up on a Quad Bike. Last customer of the day and could have stayed at the top as long as I wanted.
Had prepared to take just the HH, but when I asked if I could take a small pole they said it was fine and strapped it to the rear carrier.
Had there been others, I think the maximum stay would have been around 10 minutes; a small break for pictures and enjoying the sights from the top.
What I will never forget is the support I received; some traveling many many miles just to make contact and help me qualify the summit on VHF.
A very humbling experience and will forever grateful for their generosity. I made 10 contacts in 15 minutes.
I hate to think what the true cost of doing SOTA is. Driving works out to something approaching 40p per mile and the other environmental costs to society must be substantial. Jimmy is not considering those costs in his assessment I suspect. I wonder what getting to Mountain Goat actually costs?
I suppose we don’t take any of these costs in to consideration - that shows the focus of enjoyment in the scheme I’m sure someone did a tally of how much they spent to hit MG status - I can’t remember who it was now, but maybe they will see this post and share some info. I do not want to share any of my full Island costs here maybe it would push me back to rallying, hahaa.
The weather is looking a bit grim for the weekend… It’s certainly going to be raining for the next few days.
I can deal with a bit of rain, but thunderstorms have been on and off the forecast now for a few days. I don’t fancy being on a peak, waving a big conductive rod around in a lightening storm…
You need to wait until 3 days before to get anywhere near an accurate forecast, in my experience.
I predict 17ºC with light winds on summits for the entire weekend
I wondered about doing that on my road bike. I think the long continuous descent would be rather alarming - even though I once just managed 49.5mph coming down Blue Bank into Sleights. It does have a good run out just incase. I don’t think Great Dun Fell does??
I’ve just had confirmation of an out-of-county family get-together on Saturday which will mean – for the first time in five years – I shall miss taking part in the SOTA Lake District Weekend event. I hope everybody has a good time during the day and at the evening meet-up.
Sorry Mark, as previous post I cannot make it this year due to family commitments.
Hope you all have fun in perfect weather and of course SFI 200+ and KP<2.
David
G0EVV
Getting excited here now, slight change of equipment, managed to get myself an FT857D Yesterday, so installing it in the car, purely for chasing with a bit more power if needed.
The FT817 will be for activating the nice easy walk’s.
I haven’t had the chance to get the 857 widebanded for 60M , so will listening 40 and 20 and of course 2m ssb on Saturday from the Wyresdale Road, just North of Bowland. then camping out in a hotel in Lancaster , back home Sunday.
maybe it would push me back to rallying, hahaa.
so everyone leaves you well alone then go out and play radio. You know you want to!