Tom,
What a great thing to see you out with all your newly qualified M6’s. Wow what a treat not only for the kids but for the chasers. I’m planning something similar later in the year with Nathan’s ATC Squadron. You must let us know how it went.
All the best for Friday as unfortunately I have to work in doors. I hope the weather keeps fine for you.
73’s
Brian M0OYG
In reply to all:
Tom
Working from home Friday just checked map profile and no chance from here.
Rombalds Moor also looks very borderline.
Black Hill looks good but don’t know yet if there will be a big enough window to fit that in.
Good luck anyway.
Roger G4OWG
In reply to 2E0OYG:
I’ve just noticed the alerts page too. Outstanding work Tom… that will be fun.
I wonder if that’s going to be a record for the greatest number of licensed amateurs on the the same summit at the same time?
Good luck… but alas I doubt 2m fm will make it to SM7 for me on Friday 
73 Marc G0AZS
In reply to thread:
Wow…just WOW!
Something to be proud of!
Well done all!
73
Brian G8ADD
Thanks for the nice comments all.
I will try to spread the beam around a bit. There is a possibility of some 20m SSB as well, but we will see re time available.
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
Congratulations to your pupils! Will try for S2S with Raw Head.
73
Richard
G3CWI
Marc,
I suspect the biggest numbers of activating activators on one SOTA summit at a time was either the Kirkby Moor LD-049 mass activation organised by Myke G6DDQ a few years ago, or the Easington Fell SP-012 cream tea, organised by Myke G6DDQ last year. I know there were 14 activators on the latter.
Tom
In reply to M1EYP:
Hmm, I’m at work then, as I always am unless I can manage to get a day off, but if your alerted time of 11:30 is 11:30z I will try to escape for half an hour & be on high ground for 12:30 BST on Friday. 2m FM will probably work best from here, I could take my FT290 for SSB, but I wouldn’t have a beam.
Always willing to work new licencees 
Well done with your tuition Tom, & congratulations to your students.
73,
Mark G0VOF
In reply to M1EYP:
There is a possibility of some 20m SSB as well
I will try to listen for you on 20m.
Congratulations to your pupils!
Mads
LA1TPA
In reply to M1EYP:
Hi Tom, nice work. I’m on annual leave Friday with a local activation in mind (probably a NW) so will try to get on air for your alert time for another s2s.
73 Chris, M1DTJ
That will be great Chris. A few S2S will be very nice.
Mads, I hope to include some 20m SSB, but only if the wx stays dry - and I need to remember to fix the Magic Moggy antenna, as the radials came away from the vertical section while packing up this morning!
Strange one this morning. I went to bed at 1am. By 3am, I was wide awake and unable to sleep. I guess the heat and the hayfever didn’t help, or I have been possessed by Gerald. In the end, I gave in and got up at 4.30am. I placed an alert on SOTAwatch and set off to The Cloud G/SP-015.
I hadn’t done 20m for a while, and I was interested to see if anything interesting happened on the band at this early time of day. It was a beautiful warm sunny morning on Cloud summit at 5.40am as I started setting up the 20m vertical.
I relaxed into my usual grassy perch and began calling CQ on 14.032MHz CW at 0457 UTC. Three minutes later, HA7UG was the first station in the log. The next hour and a quarter brought in a total of 27 stations in 14 DXCCs. I then packed up the 20m aerial, and this is when I noticed the break between the radials and the vertical element.
After a few chats with the increasing frequency of dog walkers now moving across the summit, I called on 70cm FM. Steve GW7AAV answered to give me QSO number 28 and DXCC number 15 for the activation. A couple more on 2m FM brought me QSOs 29 and 30, and DXCC number 16 - G England!
The I went to the doctor - good news, my blood pressure is what it should be, so the initial low dosage of the medication seems sufficient - for now - and then I went to work. Now it is lunchtime, but already I am feeling worse for having had only two hours sleep last night!
One observation: I5BOL is a really difficult callsign to send back. I took four attempts to key it successfuly hi!
Cheers,
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
Please try pointing the beam SW. I hope to be on Pen Y Fan at 11:30 GMT. 170Km, but a reasonably clear path.
How are you organising the event, as I presume there is a limit on the number of transceivers.
Richard
G0IBE
The main station will be the school’s FT-817 (originally Shirley MW0YLS’s SOTA rig) with SOTA Beam for 2m FM. If time/wx allows, we will then try 20m SSB using the M0GIA Magic Moggy vertical. Me, and the students will all be sharing the one station with operators taking turns. The only prospect of simultaneous operating is if Jimmy M3EYP does some 70cm FM while the students are on.
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
I will listen for you on FM to your south, but our recent QSO’s have been on 144 SSB Tom when you’ve been on the Cloud.
I suppose it would probably work without changing the polarisation / changing the antenna round. Horizontal FM with a SOTABeam seems to succeed from here. Why not the converse? I would work as many of the students as is helpful for the activation if I can hear you.
Best wishes
David 2E0DAI
Thank you David. I guess we will be mainly on 2m FM with vertical polarisation, but there maybe time to try horizontal and/or SSB later. We will probably use any spare time for HF though. Operating time windows could be severely limited if the wx doesn’t cooperate!
Hope to hear you on Friday,
Tom M1EYP
One day to go to the event I have been working towards all year! The Magic Moggy antenna was repaired last night, and will be used tomorrow if time and weather allows. I thought I’d better test it today, and when I woke up at 4.30am, I thought “No time like the present”!
It was steady rather than busy, but an hour and a quarter on 20m CW brought 34 QSOs into 17 DXCCs. It was chilly in the breeze on summit, and initially I wore my fleece and jacket, despite the lovely blue sky and strong early sunshine. It was really warming up around 7.15am though, forcing me to layer down.
After taking the Magic Moggy down (all working perfectly), I did my customary curtain call on SU70, and worked GW7AAV for a 35th contact and 18th DXCC for the activation. And then I went to work, etc etc…
Tom M1EYP
Well, what an afternoon! Not really what I envisaged for the “summer” outing to celebrate the success of the radio enrichment course, but good results nonetheless.
The booked minibus dropped the eight new Foundation licensees, two staff colleages and I at Cloudside, where we met Jimmy M3EYP who was being dropped off there by his mum. The ascent went well, and the pupils seemed to enjoy this, especially getting to the summit.
They then had their packed lunches, while Jimmy and I set up the 2m station. The weather was breezy with light drizzle, but nothing too bad. The children took it in turns to sit at my radio and do the requisite four contacts each. Some of them were really good and confident - the two Charlottes (M3YUR & M6CYA) operated especially well. Some like Lewis M6LDP and Jordan M6JLH showed dogged determination to get the four contacts in deteriorating weather. Some of the others were extremely nervous and needed lots of encouragement, but they all did eventually get on the air with their shiny new callsigns.
Lots of stations made the effort to get on air and support the kids, and for that I am grateful. Humayun M6HKX, Lewis M6LDP, Jordan M6JLH, Charlotte M6CYA and Charlotte M3YUR all made the requisite four contacts and qualified the summit. Charlotte M3YUR even made a couple of S2S QSOs - with Richard G3CWI/P on Raw Head G/SP-016 and GW0IBE/P on Pen y Fan GW/SW-001.
But then the weather suddenly turned rather nasty, with much heavier rain, swirling winds and significant temperature drop. I decided that I had to wrap things up pretty quickly, so poor Andy M6AJE was left on three contacts, while Leia M6LLL and Henna M6MIR, who were still waiting their turns, were each rushed into the operating position to perform one QSO each.
All the pupils made their way downhill with my staff colleagues Deb and Ian, while Jimmy wrapped up the team activation with a couple of QSOs of his own. Jimmy then raced downhill to seek shelter in the minibus as he waited for his mum to pick him up, while I endured a total drenching on the exposed summit as I packed away, alone.
The children’s spirits soon lifted on the minibus, and the girls at the back were singing away as we pulled back into the school car park. Initial reactions of “We’re never doing this again” had morphed to “When are we doing this again Sir?” and “Can we have an amateur radio club at dinnertimes in your room next year?”.
So, overall, it was a positive experience, but I do hope for one of those lovely sunny afternoons up there with next year’s cohort! My grateful thanks to everyone that called in - I really appreciated it.
Tom M1EYP
In reply to M1EYP:
Good effort for all concerned. The weather was pretty poor on Raw Head for the walk to the top. It then brightened up a bit. Two school parties passed by at the summit. The teachers looked envious when I said that I was also “with” a school party but that the pupils were 25 miles away.
On the walk down, the lightning detector was giving frequent alarms suggesting activity not too far away.
I thought your pupils did well under difficult circumstances. I imagine that some had probably never been anywhere like that before, no mind that it was raining and they had radio to do as well. It will give them something interesting to recount over the weekend.
73
Richard
G3CWI
In reply to M1EYP:
Hi Tom and also the rest of the pupils.I purposly went up Gummers How to give you all a call.I was there in good time and qualified the summit by 11 o clock.Up untill then the wx was fine we were wearing shorts and a tee shirt and sandals on the feet.To cut a long story short we got soaked and made a hasty retreat down to the car.We will try to be on another LD for an s2s with you when you do Grayrigg Forest.We are here for a week staying in the caravan a couple of miles from Kendal.ATB Geoff G6MZX
In reply to M1EYP:
Well done to all of the new licencees
I almost had to abandon my attempt to work them as the weather here was terrible at midday, with torrential rain & the odd clap of thunder. At 12:30 I was still in my office & the rain was still coming down, although not as heavily. After seeing that the activation was going ahead, I threw on my waterproofs & headed up to a convenient bit of high ground on my bike. During my journey the rain came down heavily again & the wind picked up, so I abandoned my first choice of site & chose the relative comfort of a bus shelter instead. I listened on my handheld & Lewis M6LDP/P was about S5, so I quickly lashed a J-pole to the sotapole taped to a corner of the bus shelter.
It was very nice to work Lewis M6LDP/P, Charlotte M6CYA/P, Humayan M6HKX/P, & Andy M6AJE/P, although sometimes it was a little hard to hear them with the wind & rain lashing down against the side of the shelter. I had to make Andy my final contact & return to work so I am glad to hear that all the students managed to make at least one contact, & were only stopped by the weather.
Nice to hear a good geographical spread of stations calling in too
Well done & congratulations to all involved
73,
Mark G0VOF