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Gun, G/SP-013 - 385m ASL - SJ 970 615 - OS Explorer OL24 - 1 SOTA point
Monday 4th January 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015
I was at work in Leek for the start of the new term, even though we knew by now that students would not be on site due to the pandemic. I took the opportunity to get some exercise by walking up and down Gun with my handheld on the way, at this stage not realising that the rules were about to change, and this approach would no longer be possible 24 hours later.
After work that afternoon, I activated The Cloud G/SP-015 on my way home.
Monday 29th March 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013
After The Cloud G/SP-015, I drove over to Gun, with still plenty of slack time in the bag ahead of a workday. After the slow-going on 40m earlier, this time I opted for 20m - although results were almost identical.
Three QSOs on 20m CW and the same number on 2m FM, and it was time to pack up and head to work - if I was to have time to collect a filled oatcake breakfast en route!
Tuesday 30th March 2021 - Shining Tor G/SP-004, Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015
After Shining Tor G/SP-004, I drove across via Bottom of the Oven, Wildboarclough and Wincle. The walk up Gun was quick and easy with no bog to negotiate, and the summit was bathed in bright moonlight.
The first two contacts came very quickly and easily. The first was with a station in Grantham with fine signals both ways. There seemed to be some lift conditions at play. I then spent far too long persisting with getting more QSOs, even though there wasn't an activator point available anyway. I had plenty of time available though. Ultimately I gave up and made my way over to The Cloud G/SP-015.
Thursday 1st April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013
After The Cloud G/SP-015, I drove over to Gun and walked up to the trig with my handheld. I worked Rod M0RCC and Brian G4XQB as I often do, on the "Robin's Nest" early morning net frequency of 145.550MHz - but unusually, not Robin G4VXW himself! Bacon, sausage, cheese and mushroom double oatcakes were collected for breakfast on the remainder of the commute.
Saturday 10th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013
After The Cloud G/SP-015, I was about to slope off home in a sulk for a nice hot cup of tea. But the precipitation abated, and the wallabies hopped over to say hello as I descended. My mood lifted,and I drove over to Gun for another try.
All the parking spots were taken, so I had to drive round the back way where fortunately there was a space for me beside the start of the path. I set up the SB5 on the summit, but failed to generate any interest in making a 2m SSTV contact. I went onto 2m FT8, working 4 QSOs including Belgium.
I then decided to be popular by activating on 2m SSB with a horizontal beam and not in a contest. That failed spectacularly and I got zero contacts. I hardly needed to try 2m CW to confirm the same success rate.
I went onto 2m FM but still with a horizontal beam as it was now snowing heavily and I didn’t want to get out of my bothy bag. Five stations were worked, culminating in Simon G7WKX who bemoaned missing the SSTV opportunity. No problem, I was happy to rig the tablet and interface up again for another go. We made the contact!
Saturday 17th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Jimmy M0HGY wrote the following account of our Saturday evening visit to Gun:
"Earlier this evening, me and my dad Tom M1EYP set off for our remaining local SOTA Gun G/SP-013. When we got to the parking spot 2 other cars were there, both of which were occupied (one of the occupied 2 cars was still there when we arrived back at the parking spot after our activation). With this, we did not expect to see anyone at all on the hill and this was indeed the case, so no social distancing needed to be observed except for not getting too close the cars at the parking spot.
My dad activated on the summit on 20m FT4 where he got 8 contacts, DX being PY Brazil, CU Azores, HI Dominican Republic and 7X Algeria. He then went onto 2m FM where he got 11 contacts, so his total number of contacts was 19. I started off the activation on 2m FM where I got 11 contacts and then went onto 20m FT4 where I got 4 contacts, DX being PY Brazil. My total number of contacts was 15. This was the first time ever that I have worked PY Brazil under one of my own callsigns. Usually we would take a flask of soup on SOTA activations. However we haven’t done this on our recent night time activations, but we did take a flask of tea which we enjoyed."
Monday 19th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 After The Cloud G/SP-015, I still had time to activate Gun on the way to work - but only with a VHF handheld! Two stations worked from the summit before a swift retreat and drive into Leek. As usual, a filled oatcake breakfast was collected from "Take A Break" in Leek - and very much enjoyed.
Tuesday 20th April 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 I went straight to Gun on the way to work, as I wanted to try a little HF - requiring extra time to set up and take down a groundplane antenna. Nothing spectacular - just six QSOs on FT4 mode, half of which were with Greek stations. I did The Cloud G/SP-015 later, on the way home from work.
Wednesday 21st April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Back to the routine of activating both The Cloud G/SP-015 and Gun G/SP-013 on the way to work. Just one 2m FM QSO on The Cloud, followed by three on Gun.
Friday 23rd April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 And the same again on Friday - Cloud and Gun en route to work.
Saturday 24th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 After the long 2m multimode activation on The Cloud, just a typical dash up Gun with a handheld. Nonetheless, a pleasing eight QSOs recorded.
Sunday 25th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Over to Gun, and as is so often the case, time was now against me and I just walked to the summit with my handheld. I wanted to get back in time for Dan Toft’s weekly online “Virtual Open Mic” show at 1.30pm BST, as Liam’s latest video and recording was scheduled to be on it. 2m FM: 7 QSOs 2 S2S: GW4HQB/P & MW0OVW/P on GW/MW-009 Back home, and watched the Facebook Live broadcast, which included this cover of a 1980 Manchester punk classic from my son’s band:
Monday 26th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Another working week, and another decision to do both summits with a handheld on the way to work.
Tuesday 27th April 2021 - Kinder Scout G/SP-001, The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Having done The Cloud, I could hardly then return straight home without doing Gun! Across I went, but this time just took the handheld up with me. 2m FM: 1 QSO!
Wednesday 28th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 My local pair of summits activated on the way to work in Leek. 2m handheld with rubber duck.
Thursday 29th April 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 My local pair of summits activated on the way home from work in Leek. 2m handheld with rubber duck.
Friday 30th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 My local pair of summits activated on the way to work in Leek. 2m handheld with rubber duck.
Saturday 1st May 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 A drive out to Wincle microbrewery later on, resulted in an unplanned jaunt up Gun G/SP-013 for a second activation of the day. This was just using the handheld and rubber duck but still netted 4 QSOs including one S2S: G7HEM/P on G/WB-004.
Wednesday 5th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 I was a bit late getting up on the Wednesday morning. Not that I had aspirations to get two summits in before work; The Cloud G/SP-015 was being "saved" for that evening's 2m FT8 activity contest! However, more time would have afforded HF operation. As it was, it had to be 2m handheld in-a-rush as usual!
Friday 7th May 2021 I wanted to try 15m from Gun G/SP-013 on my way to work in Leek in the morning. Imagine my frustration upon failing to find the antenna in my car! I (mistakenly) concluded it must be hidden away somewhere in the boot of Marianne’s car from the previous day. I deployed 17m instead, but was disappointed both with the lack of DX in the band activity window, and moreso with the absence of stations replying to my CQ calls on FT8 . Eventually I called a CQing Polish station and made a single contact. JA stations were just starting to appear on the screen as I began packing away. Listening around the band, for once CW may have been a better choice than FT8. So a couple of false starts there, but I still thought there was fun to be had on 15m with a groundplane vertical at the current time - when I find it - so watch this space!
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