Couldn’t decide whether to put this is this thread, or the SOTA on Tour thread. Anyway…
Sunday 30th December 2018 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013
Gig: Matt Philips
Venue: Mytton Fold Golf Club, Langho, Blackburn
A repeat of one of the Lancashire summits might seem more sensible for this, but the drummer booked on the gig was also from Macclesfield and we’d arranged to travel together - making “SOTA En Route” not really appropriate. In any case, I was keen to get out early and try for a DX S2S on 20m FT8.
Alas, the hoped-for QSO with Willis BX2AFU never came off. We were QRV simultaneously on 14.092MHz FT8, but I don’t think either of us appeared in each others’ WSJT-X display.
The good thing about operating away from the hustle and bustle of 14.074MHz was the time and space to work four consecutive SOTA chasers. That I did enjoy. In total I made 12 QSOs on FT8, with ER1PB (Moldova) and EA9ACD (Ceuta & Melilla) being the highlights. Thank you to Heinz OE5EEP for emailing me these screenshots:
I then switched to 20m SSB for the S2S with EA1/CT2GSN/P on EA1/PO-026 before finishing with a couple on 2m FM.
Despite the damp weather, there was no surface water anywhere on the path up to Gun G/SP-013. The summit was shrouded in mist though, which was a little cold and damp. Just two QSOs were made on the 2m FM handheld; I’d really just gone for the walk for this one.
Tomorrow’s SOTA will be a little bit more genuinely “on the way to a gig”, but again probably won’t appear in the Tour thread as it will bring up a different landmark for me! More on that tomorrow…