Part three of my walking day on Saturday 8th June 2013. Part one was a very satisfying 24MHz “all-mode” (“all” = 3) activation on Gun G/SP-013. Part two was a return family walk between Rushton Spencer and Rudyard, and was by some distance the longest route of the day. It is quite interesting how often a non-SOTA family walk has eclipsed the efforts to climb Marilyns on the same day when I look back over the years!
As I left the home QTH at Saturday teatime, it was still sunny and hot. I didn’t fancy carrying the weight of my rucksack, swollen by coat and fleece, so was mildly pleased when my arrival at Cloudside coincided with a drop in temperature and an increase in wind. Knowing that the temperature would drop further, and rapidly as the sun set, and the wind speed would be at its maximum across the summit, I doonned my fleece and coat for the ascent.
The sun was still fairly lofty above Merseyside when I reached the top around 8.15pm BST. I was hoping that this may be primetime for 12m, but mindful of Richard G3CWI’s quiet experience on Gun G/SP-013 in the afternoon. Well it seemed the band had not really come back to life, nor was it subject to any Sporadic E.
Signs of life were there. A station in Israel and one in Argentina were both very loud on SSB, but try as I might, I couldn’t get back to them. Stations from Brazil were audible on both SSB and CW but very up and down in QSB. A 9Q station (Democratic Republic of Congo) was heard on CW, but again I failed to make myself heard.
Finally after many many calls on both 12m SSB and 12 CW, on self-spotted frequencies, CT1DRB came back on 24.897MHz CW and we exchanged. This would prove to be my one and only contact on 12m on this activation as I called and chased for a further hour without any joy.
Sensibly, I had taken another antenna with me. Admittedly, the 20m GP was not included as a back up in case of poor band conditions on 12m, but to open up the possibility of S2S with US SOTA activations. But at 9.40pm BST I decided I had had enough of wasting my time on 24MHz and replaced the antenna to go on 14MHz. I made sure I set this up practically the full feeder cable length away from my radio, and this did the trick of avoiding any RF tantrums from the Wolphi-Link interface.
Starting on 20m PSK31, things at last got moving. My first few calls were answered by non-SOTA chasers, but then it was nice to see S54X, EA3EGB and DJ5AV appear in the log after my self-spots on 14.0732MHz and 14.0729MHz PSK31. I ended up with seven QSOs on PSK, before having a look at CW.
My first instinct was to check the latest spots for North American SOTAs, but I couldn’t hear a thing on the listed frequencies. I spotted myself on 14.0627MHz CW and worked a small run of seven QSOs, including three into North America. With more than half of the incoming reports ranging from 339 to 559, it seemed it was not the night, and I was getting uncomfortable and cold in the chilly wind.
After packing away the main station, I called on 2m FM to work Jimmy M0HGY who reported he had intended chasing my PSK31, but was in the shower at the moment I was operating on that mode. Steve G6LUZ also called in to make it 17 QSOs for the activation, but even 2m was quiet it seemed.
After descent, I managed to get to the Harrington Arms, Gawsworth for 11.25pm local, just in time for a pint of ale and a spot of supper. I had mixed feelings about the activation. The 12m aspect was very disppointing, but the 20m PSK31 was quite pleasing. A good night’s sleep then beckoned - I was absolutely shattered!
Tom M1EYP