Every so often someone posts on here that they left some vital component in their car or back at home. I think what amateurs! I’d never do something like that. Well on Saturday I got to the summit of Whernside G/NP-004 and took out all the kit from my rucksack only to find there was no pole. What an idiot!
Initially thinking it was going to be a disaster I wasn’t going to give up so I strung my EFHW wire between my two walking poles. The wire was no more than about a metre above the ground and dipped a lot in the middle. I started on 20m CW and was pleased to see an RBNHole spot almost immediately. I had 12 QSOs in as many minutes. Every time there was a new call or when I got a 579 signal report there was a big smile on my face.
I also got a few S2S QSOs on 20/30/40m but my CQ on 30m didn’t get a spot from RBNHole. I normally start my activations on 30m and it was only by chance that I started on 20m. I might have been disheartened if I had tried 30m first and got no response.
I also had my FT-65 with a long whip and I had a number of S2S including into Scotland and Wales as well as a few to neighbouring summits.
This was the first day in a few weeks with glorious sunshine after almost nothing but rain and gloom. Everybody else had the same idea to be out and Whernside, which is always a popular summit (Yorkshire’s highest and one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks), felt like Piccadilly Circus at times.
