Thursday 14th June 2018

Gig: Joe Longthorne

Venue: Viva Blackpool

I’d often thought about combining Arnside Knott with one of the many Viva Blackpool gigs I do each year.  I probably won’t again; it’s nowhere near it!  Well, it probably is as the crow flies, but not in terms of road miles.  However, the fact that this was a matinee gig on the same day as an RSGB activity contest night persuaded me to go for it.  Research informed that the usual National Trust car park for Arnside Knott would be closed at dusk, so I needed to find alternative parking and approach route. I discovered a large lay-by on the other side of the hill, on Silverdale Road, and a summit path leading through the woods on the other side of the road.  This route took about 15 minutes to ascend before emerging at the trig point. I wasn’t sure what VHF take-off was going to be like; the hill is significantly prominent to its immediate surroundings, especially to the south, despite its small stature, but has lots of trees on the top. 

First I set up my homebrew 6m vertical with elevated groundplane antenna, for the FM contest between 7 and 8pm.  This was a complete wash-out with not a single contact being made.  I only heard two other stations - GW8ASD and EA1HRR - and I contacted both via ON4KST to make a sked - both did call me, but neither heard my replies.  During this hour I did call on the FT70D handheld, and worked Chris 2E0MOW twice - on 2m FM, and on 2m C4FM.  So that guarateed the existence of an activation, if not (yet) a qualification. 

I had to wait until 8pm and changing over to the SOTAbeams SB6 to earn my activation point, but even then, it was very slow going.  There was a lot of disruptive noise on the band, a negative effect of the opening in progress.  Many other stations were heard commenting on this.  Also, I came to the conclusion that Arnside Knott was not a suitable VHF contest site!  The 2.5 hours were terrible in terms of QSO numbers - just 19 worked, making a total of 21 for the activation - but pretty good in terms of some distances and DX achieved.

DXCCs: EA, G, GD, GI, GJ, GM, GW.

QRAs: IN53, 82, 89, 92, IO64, 74, 75, 81, 82, 83, 84, 93, 94, JN00.

The descent was interesting!  Approaching the summer solstice at this latitude, there was still some light in the sky even at 10.45pm after packing everything away.  However, I was soon plunged into pitch black as I descended into the woods.  Of course, I’d made sure my headtorch battery was freshly charged, so no problem there, but doubt kept creeping into my mind about whether I was following the right path - it all looked so different in the dark!  It was a relief to suddenly see a car’s headlights zooming past about 30 yards ahead of me.  I was back at the road - but where was my car - and the lay-by?  It seemed I had emerged onto the road at a different point.  So did I now turn left or right?  I could see a farmhouse, and in my mind it looked further away then it did when I parked earlier.  So I turned right and walked towards it.  I reached my car - and the ascent footpath entry point - a couple of minutes later.  The drive back to Macclesfield took probably double what it should with coffee stops, power-nap stops and two motorway closures.  The following day’s gig with Motown Gold at Peckforton Castle, Cheshire, would not include a SOTA activation!