Family commitments meant I was unable to go for a long SOTA excursion today. Gummer’s How G/LD-050 is around 20 minutes drive from my QTH in Windermere although a little longer at the moment due to the Newby Bridge road being closed for sewerage mains work.
It was cold morning on Gummer’s How but I was blessed with sunshine for most of my time on the summit which makes everything much nicer. I was able to find a spot ducked down out of the biting northerly wind.
One of the reasons for getting out this morning was to make an attempt at the FT8 S2S Event. I don’t typically do much FT8 as I don’t have HF at home and taking a laptop is another bit of weight in the rucksack I don’t generally want! However, I stuck to the MCHF and MiniPA amp as it is very easy to interface to a PC and weighs less than the FT-857. The night before I took the time to setup the latest version of wsjtx on the Thinkpad and worked out the right settings on the MCHF again (it’s been a while since I’ve done any FT8!)
Unfortunately it looked like 20m was very quiet on the chosen FT8 frequency.
There was plenty of activity on the standard FT8 frequency from this location:
I tried 20m FT8 at the start and at the end. In the middle I did a standard SSB activation but apart from a groundwave contact on 20m it was completely devoid of anything! Better luck on 40m SSB and 80m SSB. I also managed to check out a backpack mounted military 5/8 wave 2m whip which worked much better than on the last support - it’ll be good for WOTA when I’m just using 2m for contacts (until I get an HF backpack sorted!)
Date: 02/Feb/2019 Summit: G/LD-050 (Gummer’s How) Call Used: M0NOM/P Points: 0 Bonus: 0
Time | Call | Band | Mode | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
10:42z | G6LKB | 14MHz | SSB | Groundwave |
10:47z | DL2HWI | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
10:48z | EA2DT | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
10:49z | HB9BIN/P | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
10:50z | DL4KCA/P | 7MHz | SSB | Global Summits DB: DANW-333 |
10:51z | OK1DPU | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
10:52z | F4HZN | 7MHz | SSB | SW France |
10:53z | EA2BD | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
10:53z | HB9AGH | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
10:56z | 2EOFEH | 3.5MHz | SSB | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
10:57z | G0FEX | 3.5MHz | SSB | Ken |
10:58z | G3TQQ | 3.5MHz | SSB | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
10:59z | G6LKB | 3.5MHz | SSB | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
11:00z | G4OOE | 3.5MHz | SSB | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
11:00z | MW0ISC | 3.5MHz | SSB | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
11:01z | G4OBK | 3.5MHz | SSB | Phil FTDX-5000 100w |
11:01z | G6NHW | 3.5MHz | SSB | Pete W. Midlands |
11:01z | M0TMD | 3.5MHz | SSB | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
11:03z | G0RQL | 3.5MHz | SSB | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
11:06z | LA5WNA | 3.5MHz | SSB | -12 degC |
11:34z | G1OHH | 144MHz | FM | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
11:37z | G7CDA | 144MHz | FM | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
11:44z | 2E0BLL | 144MHz | FM | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
11:45z | G6LKB | 144MHz | FM | Thx for SOTA chase from G/LD-050 IO84mg 73! |
One interesting contact here is Odd @LA5WNA - it took a little getting there with a QSY but a great contact on 80m SSB!
Lots of scenery photos here.
It was a stunning day in the Lakes and I had to get back home for lunchtime to take my teenage daughters sledging which was great fun on the slopes just down from Kirkstone Pass (although Brooke spent as much time eating snow as sledging on it!)
Many thanks to all the chasers as always, going to try and get out towards the Langdales tomorrow morning to tick off some Wainwrights which may include High Raise but it is very WX dependent and I suspect the openness of this summit, time to reach, icy footing and predicted worsening weather may mean a sensible choice is made to leave the SOTA for another day.