Hello Everyone
I was just wondering if anybody knows when the Winter Bonus period will start and for how long it will last?
Many thanks
Matt 2E0XTL
In reply to 2E0XTL:
1 Dec - 15 March
In reply to G3CWI:
Many thanks Richard
Matt
Farewell Winter Bonus!
I had intended to have a bumper Winter Bonus this time around, but it was not to be. My car was getting rather long in the tooth and I felt it was not to be trusted for long journeys. We have had our new car for a week now, so this should not be an issue in future.
The weather wasn’t particularly coooperative either at the beginning of the season.
I managed 2 activations, one in January on Helvellyn G/LD-003 and one yesterday on Pendle Hill G/SP-005 on the last day of Winter Bonus!
I had originally planned to do Pendle Hill on Thursday 10th March, but on viewing the weather forecast, I decided it would be best to postpone the activation, I’m glad I did! Monday would have been a great day for an activation with sunshine and good visibility, but instead I had chosen to book Tuesday off from work! I woke up to thick fog and drizzle! I decided to continue with my activation anyway as the forecast was for only light winds.
After setting off up the path towards Pendle I realised I’d left my power lead at home for my chosen radio. I had an FT817 in reserve so decided to carry on. I reached the summit (sp-005) and found 2E0YYY/P on SP-004 in QSO on 2fm with G4BLH, who had been watching my APRS beacon and was passing on the info, stating that I’d likely be popping up on the band soon. I surprised them both by calling in! The wind at that point was not the light wind predicted by the weather forecast at all!
Luckily the wind died down a bit during my activation and I worked more stations than I would have thought, even though I’d left my antenna plug adaptors at home with my power lead! Doh! Thank goodness the FT817 has 2 differing connectors!
I even managed a QSO on 20m CW, working Iain, M1RPW in Halifax. I enjoyed this 1st CW QSO for many years so much I’m determined to have another go at it. I was quite nervous and resorted to the straight key as I’m not too clever with a paddle key! I was surprised at how well I copied the Morse. It was not the most polished of contacts, but I really did enjoy it.
Looking forward to the next Winter Bonus season!
73
Colin
M0CGH
I guess there’s likely to be a dip in activations now that bonus time’s passed, at least until the weather gets a little better and the days a little longer?
In reply to M0LEP:
Well I managed a reasonable amount of activations of the winter bonus period, even managed to activate in England for the VHF fun day. But hopefully I can ramp it up over the summer and If I can crack 40 summits this year I think I’ll be happy.
Adrian
MM0TAI