Tom Read - click to email meBDXC ISWL WAB SOTA RSGB IOTA - see my radio page for more detailsLiam & Jimmy

Gun 2010 (2)

 

Activation reports and photos from the first four months of 2010 can be found here.    Click to return to summit index

 

International SOTA Weekend 2010 - Saturday 1st May

The 2nd International SOTA Weekend was to have a different design for the Macclesfield team of Sean M0GIA, Jimmy M3EYP and Tom M1EYP. For the inaugural event last year, we did Gun G/SP-013 for Saturday daytime, The Cloud G/SP-015 for Saturday night and Kinder Scout G/SP-001 for Sunday. This time Sean stated he wanted to do an overnight on Gun. Well, who was I to argue? ISW was Sean's idea, after all.

Liam was up for the camp, but Jimmy wasn't. However, a plan was hatched and the three of us set off, late morning on Saturday 1st May 2010. "Kitting up" took much longer than usual at the parking spot, as I loaded myself, Jimmy and Liam up with four HF antennas, two SOTA poles, SB270, WASP, walking poles, tent, tarp, plus two bags of food. I don't normally invite my lads to accept such a payload, but it was a very short and easy walk. I forgot to start calling them 'Rooster' and 'Peanut' in honour of the situation though!

The shack for ISW    Daniel & Liam at Gun summit

I decided to get everything set up first, so having pitched the £11 two-man single skin Sainsbury's tent, I was still putting HF dipoles up when Sean M0GIA and Daniel arrived. Jimmy made a start on 2m FM using his handheld and the SB270 mounted on WASP Special and Leki pole. I put up the dipoles for 80m, 40m and 30m on the same fishing pole, and the 20m Magic Moggy on the other one, giving myself a selection of feeders at my operating spot - a patch of grass a few feet forward from the tent. It was a calm, sunny and warm afternoon - perfect for ISW. We knew from the forecast there was likely to be a deterioration later, but now was to be enjoyed - even the grass was bone dry allowing us to sit anywhere without a mat and avoid getting wet.

Mr ISW    Daniel decides to experiment with camouflage

By the time I was QRV, Sean had long been set up. He jibed me that my single band resonant aerials might be more efficient than his 160m to 70cm system, but that he a single feeder and was set up long before me even though he arrived later. I invited him to compare logbooks by the Sunday afternoon, but he was quick to change the subject at that point!  Greg 2E0RXX arrived on summit for some afternoon SOTA, and it seems, to run around being silly with Daniel and Liam! It was nice to have an early visit from a fellow Macclesfield radio amateur.

 During the afternoon, I worked on 20m CW and 40m CW. Jimmy did 2m FM and SSB.  Sean was keeping busy on the radio and later plucked up courage to work a few on 80m CW. Liam and Dan played around the trig point and surrounding area. Liam was enjoying himself so much that he decided he was camping out that night rather than going home when Marianne picked Jimmy up. S2S made in the first afternoon session included Tom M3XFG/P and James G7MLO/P on Shining Tor G/SP-004 and Dave GW7SKR/P on Moel y Gamelin GW/NW-042. Lunch was served from my flask as usual, but this time it contained only hot water to pour in our Pot Noodles!

Radials on 20m Magic Moggy    Lunchtime on Day 1

At 4pm, I got a text to say that Marianne was at the parking spot. I invited her to walk up, as the path was unusually dry, and to see for herself how much fun Liam was having. She declined as she was expecting visitors for Saturday tea (the visitors happened to be Sean's XYL Trish and daughter Tash), so I walked down with Jimmy. The reason for me making the trip was that with Liam's change of heart, I needed to retrieve another sleep mat and sleeping bag from my car.

End of an 80m dipole leg    Liam on the summit, with Shutlingsloe visible behind

Back on summit, I kicked off on 30m CW for a short run before connecting up to the 6 element 70cm Yagi for the 70cm contest and the 70cm and up contest! The serial number reached was a breathtaking 005, with 006 added the following morning. As much as I fancied a beer, I decided to take Sean's advice to leave it to much later so as not to take the edge off the operating.

A brief dabble on 40m SSB failed to completed the attempted S2S with Mads LA1TPA/P on LA/TM-048, so it was then onto 80m for the early evening session. After just four QSOs on CW, things were quiet, so I switched to SSB. Straight away I worked Bill GW4WSB/P on Y Golfa GW/NW-061, followed by a good run on 3.655MHz SSB. Switching to 40m CW I snagged S2S with DK1HW/P on DM/NS-125, HA2VR/P on HA/KD-003 and Z35F/P on Z3/WM-030 in amongst the other QSOs. I then offered up the summit on 2m FM, but attracted only four takers, including Steve GW7AAV for his sole point on ISW, and Jimmy M3EYP enjoying the comfort of the shack and the luxury of a hot buffet!

View of the ISW site, with The Roaches and Hen Cloud behind    Bedtime

By now, things had taken a slightly unpleasant turn weather-wise. The warmth and calm of the day had gone. The wind direction had turned 180 degrees, meaning that our site was no longer sheltered whatsoever, and it was cold - and getting colder. Mercifully, there was no rain, but the wind strength increased as the night wore on.

So much for the social element of the SOTA campover. Both Sean and I were now zipped away in our respective tents with our respective sons. Liam's company was a real pleasure as he enjoyed the simple relaxation of the situation somehow, in conjunction with the survival element! Occasionally he would read one of the two magazines he had taken with him - Top Gear magazine and (of course) the Auto Trader - but he was mainly content to huddle in his sleeping bag and emerge occasionally for food (Southern Fried Chicken wrap) and a drink.

The station in the tent    Spirits remained high despite the hostile weather

The QSO rate slowed as I hopped frequently around the bands and modes, not getting into a sustained running period on any of them. 30m CW, 80m CW, 80m SSB and 40m CW were all sampled. I decided to brave the still worsening weather around 10pm and delivered a can of Stella across to Sean's tent. Unknown to Sean, his antenna was down, so I propped it back up again. This was the point when I eagerly accepted Sean's offer of a couple of swigs from his half bottle of Tesco blended Scotch whisky. And you know what? It was great! The same couldn't be said for Sean's comment of "This wind is starting to die down now". Grrr. Let me know your lottery numbers Sean, so I can pick some different ones!

Back in the tent, Liam was dozing off to sleep, but goodness knows how. It was really blowing a hooley out there now, and this was rattleing the tent in almost deafening fashion. I had to turn the volume and the sidetone right up on my 817 in order for it to remain usable! On 40m CW, a contest was in full flow, so I worked a few of them as I myself began to feel really sleepy. Now I was fully horizontal in my sleeping bag, which was lovely and warm. The sleeping bag is rated at "down to -10", and unlike Andy MM0FMF, both Liam and myself found that T-shirt and pants was more than sufficient nightwear. With my head on the hood of the sleeping bag - with my other clothes under it to turn it into a pillow - I had the Mini Palm Paddle inside the bag with me as I chased the 40m contesters. Occasionally I had to reach my right arm out of the bag to write the logging, but other than that it was very comfortable operating! It was great fun working several USA stations on 40m and exchanging 599 reports!  The team's log for the Saturday of International SOTA Weekend was as follows:

2E0MAS 2m FM J
G7MLO/P on Shining Tor SP-004 2m FM J, G
M3XFG/P on Shining Tor SP-004 2m FM T, S
GW7SKR/P on Moel y Gamelin NW-042 2m FM J, T
M3NVJ 2m FM J
2E0RXX 2m FM J
G0OON 2m FM J
G0TRB 70cm FM S
MW3ZCB/P on Y Garn NW-037 2m SSB S
MW1MAJ/P on Y Garn NW-037 2m SSB J, S
GW6WRW/P on Fan Fawr SW-005 2m SSB J, S
G0TRB 2m SSB S
M0SNR 2m FM J
GW4EVX 2m SSB S
G0VOF 2m SSB S
G1INK/P on Shining Tor SP-004 2m SSB S
2E0DAI 2m SSB S
DL3JL 20m CW T
SM6CMU 20m CW T
9A7W 20m CW T
LA8BCA 20m CW T
2E0BTR 2m SSB S
YL2UZ 20m CW T
HB9BIN 20m CW T
SM7HVQ 20m CW T
G3RMD 2m SSB S
HA5CW 20m CW T
G0LGS/P 2m SSB S
HA5MA 20m CW T
OK1CZ 20m CW T
G3WPF 20m CW T
MW6CSS 2m FM J
2W0TDX 2m FM J
MW0YHB/P on Fan Fawr SW-005 2m FM J
9A2JG 20m CW T
M3HGH 2m FM G
M0EEG 2m FM G
HA2MN 20m CW T
G7PAL 2m FM G
F5AKL 40m CW T
F5SQA 40m CW T
DL3JPN 40m CW T
ON3ND 40m CW T
F6CXJ 40m CW T
DL2EF 40m CW T
HB9AAQ 40m CW T
DL6KVA 40m CW T
DL4FDM 40m CW T
DL8DXL 40m CW T
M3WJD 70cm FM G
I1GIS 30m CW T
DL6ATM 30m CW T
HA7UG 30m CW T
I2ZBX 30m CW T
OK1HCG 30m CW T
OE7PHI 30m CW T
LZ3SM 30m CW T
HF720S 30m CW T
OE5EEP 30m CW T
OK1FHD 30m CW T
GD0EMG 70cm SSB T
G0BWC 70cm SSB T
G3CKR/P 70cm SSB T
G8OHM/P 70cm SSB T
G5B 70cm SSB T
G4ELZ 80m CW T, S
DJ5AV 80m CW T
G3RMD 80m CW T
G0PEB 80m CW T
GW4WSB/P on Y Golfa NW-061 80m SSB T
G4ELZ 80m SSB T
G4OBK 80m SSB T
G8BVJ 80m SSB T
G3OHC 80m SSB T
G0RQL 80m SSB T
G0VOF 80m SSB T
G3RDQ 80m SSB T
MM0USU 80m SSB T
G8ADD 80m SSB T
GM7UAU 80m SSB T
DK1HW/P on Bückeberg NS-125 40m CW T
LA1ENA 40m CW T
SM3EVR 40m CW T
SP3GVX 40m CW T
OK2QA 40m CW T
HA2VR/P on Középsö-Hajag KD-003 40m CW T
ON3ND 40m CW T
GI4SRQ 80m CW S
Z35F/P on Dve Ushi WM-030 40m CW T
G0AZS 80m CW S
I2CZQ 40m CW T
G3RDQ 80m SSB S
LA8WF 40m CW T
HB9DDE 40m CW T
G4WSX 40m CW T
GW7AAV 2m FM T
M3EYP 2m FM T
G4OBK 160m SSB S
G0RQL 160m SSB S
G8ADD 160m SSB S
G0PEB 160m SSB S
G1ZGZ 2m FM T
G0NED 2m FM T
IK4PKK 30m CW T
S51WO 30m CW T
EW2BO 30m CW T
SP9GR 30m CW T
G4SSH 80m CW T
EI2CL 80m CW T
G7SKR 80m CW T
G7SKR 80m SSB T
IQ2MG 40m CW T
YR5T 40m CW T
N4AF 40m CW T
YO9HP 40m CW T
IR1Y 40m CW T
I6NXH 40m CW T
IQ9PA 40m CW T
W1KM 40m CW T
K1GQ 40m CW T
UA9MD 40m CW T
IQ1SM 40m CW T
IK8TEO 40m CW T

 

International SOTA Weekend 2010 - Sunday 2nd May

As we went past the midnight UT day change at 1am BST, I wrote a the new date of Sunday 2nd May 2010 in my logbook and started a "new" activation. This opened well with UA2 (Kaliningrad), but then I decided to try and get some sleep. What I then discovered was that on the fairly uneven ground and with the racket the wind was making, I could sleep for about two hours at a time, before waking up for a bit. At 0233 I was surprised to hear strong signals on 145.550MHz FM, so I broke in and worked both 2E0 stations.

Another two hour sleeping stint, and on nipping outside the tent - as one does - I was dismayed at the scene of carnage outside. The 20m antenna was flat on the ground - but that was OK as I had sensibly laid it down at bedtime. However, the other pole with the three dipoles on it was broken in three places, and the dipoles all on either the ground or the tent. I decided to go back to bed! I was interested to note that every time I did wake up throughout the night, that Sean and Daniel were still chatting away and laughing in the other tent! Liam continued to sleep "like a baby".

Wakey wakey on Day 2    The morning after the night before - carnage!    Sean's mast after it was stood back up again

I still didn't have the stomach for remedial action when I awoke again after a better sleep after 8am. The SB270 on the WASP Special mast assembly was typically "strong as an ox" and had survived the night better then everything else. Even my tent had suffered damage, but nothing that couldn't be coped with. I connected to the 6 element 70cm beam and worked one more station in the 70cm and Up contest, but then it was time to survey the damage.

The easiest job was to re-erect the 20m Magic Moggy which I had actually lay down before going to bed. Not so easy was the other pole and three dipoles. In fact I had assumed that it would just be 20m and VHF today, but a bit of mind-over-matter later and I was on those bands as well. The largest (bottom) section of the pole was damaged, and no longer locked into place with its neighbour. A piece near the top was damaged, but could be made usable by using the broken bit to insert upside down to strengthen the locking bit. It just meant that the pole was two sections shorter than its optimum!

The problem was the third broken section, halfway up the pole, where the weakness was such that it just flopped over in half as soon as there was any weight on it. I had the idea of using the now moribund bottom section to stand over the weak section as reinforcement. But how to keep it there? I took a couple of spare guy cords from my camping stuff and wrapped and tied them around the pole at the point where I wanted the bigger section to sit. I couldn't believe it when the whole thing worked! The photos need to be seen to be believed, and they will appear on my website in due course!

Pole temporarily repaired using botton section as support and tent guys to keep it in place        Roger M0GMG

The other part of the clear up operation was due to a rubbish bag being ripped off my tent. I soon found the bag and recollected all the rubbish, but started to notice other people's litter and bagged that up too - it seemed only fair.

Everything up and running again, I kicked off the main morning session on 40m CW enjoying a good run on good old 7.032MHz CW. Before switching antennas, I also tried my luck on 15m CW, bagging just one QSO. Over on 80m, it was a short but sweet run of four on SSB and just one on CW, either side of four on 2m FM.

It was then onto 20m CW playing S+P with the contesters. Roger M0GMG - the chairman of the Macclesfield & DRS summited and was invited to use my "shack" for whatever band and mode he chose. For I had got the call from Marianne that she was at the parking spot. Liam was now ready to go home, so I thanked him for his company and good spirit on the expedition. The idea was to walk down with him, but he shot away at great speed after I had loaded up his rucksack and his hands with equipment to be jettisoned - like his sleeping bag etc. I did follow him down though, with other stuff to dump in my car and hoping to catch a word with my wife. Halfway down, there was Jimmy M3EYP and his mate Edward ascending, so I gave Jimmy a few updates and told him I would see him later.

Sunday lunch with the EYPs    Edward & Jimmy M3EYP

I drove down to Tittesworth Reservoir where Marianne and Liam had gone for a drink and some lunch. After a brief stop there, I drove back up and ascended Gun for the third time in two days. Hang on - isn't the idea of an overnighter to actually do LESS ascents than the number of activations?!?!

I had promised Jimmy he could use the 817 to do HF SSB and 2m SSB on the Sunday, so I had to be patient while he was operating, just diving in occasionally for any S2S that were going. These included ON5CMB/P on ON/ON-021 and Steve G1INK/P on Fair Snape Fell G/SP-007 both on 40m SSB. On 2m SSB, there was Tony 2E0LAE/P also on Fair Snape Fell G/SP-007 and Geoff 2W0BTR/P on Beacon Hill G/MW-009.

Steadily, we worked our way through the picnic sent up with Jimmy from Marianne, and also used another flask of hot water to make up Pot Noodles which were a welcome source of hot food.

After a couple of QSOs on 2m FM and a couple on 30m CW, it was then 20m CW virtually to the end of the expedition. This was still in S+P mode in a very busy contest, but finished with a S2S with Z30A/P on Z3/WM-052 on 14.058MHz CW. When a self-spotted run on 7.031MHz CW dried up after just four QSOs, I realised it was time to begin packing away.

Thanks to Jimmy, Edward and myself working together on the task, we were leaving the summit at around 5.15pm BST, and thoughts turned to the hill opposite. "Have you ever been up The Cloud?" I asked Edward, but Jimmy immediately piped up "And I want to see what the fire has done". So that was it, we were off to the Cloud!   The logs from the Sunday of ISW were as follows:

UA2FL 40m CW T
2E0PHJ 2m FM T
2E0BZU 2m FM T
G3Z/P 70cm SSB T
F5SQA 40m CW T
DF5WA 40m CW T
DJ6AV 40m CW T
9A7W 40m CW T
DL2EF 40m CW T
DL6KVA 40m CW T
LA1ENA 40m CW T
F6CXJ 40m CW T
HB9CGA 40m CW T
SM5IMO 40m CW T
PA7ZEE 40m CW T
LA8WF 40m CW T
HB9BIN 40m CW T
9A4MF 40m CW T
DL8DXL 15m CW T
M6WSB 80m SSB T
G0RQL 80m SSB T
G8ADD 80m SSB T
G3RDQ 80m SSB T
M3EYP 2m FM T
M0GMG/M 2m FM T
GX4MWC 2m FM T
M1HLL/P 2m FM T
G4OWG 80m CW T
EA3/G4WZG 20m CW T
HA7JDV 20m CW T
RT3T 20m CW T
RA3ZZ 20m CW T
UA3MIF 20m CW T
OG6N 20m SSB S
IQ3UD 20m SSB S
IQ2BG 20m SSB S
G7MLO/P on Kinder Scout SP-001 2m FM R
M3XFG/P on Kinder Scout SP-001 2m FM R
2E0MAS 2m FM R
G1OPV on Pendle Hill SP-005 2m FM R
LA1KHA/P on Holtankollen TM-049 30m CW S
M3NVJ 2m FM J, R
M3VUO 2m FM J
G0VOF/P on Fair Snape Fell SP-007 2m FM J
M3GHI 2m FM J
GW6MXJ 2m FM J
G0DMV/M 2m FM J
ON5CMB/P on Plantis de Mesnil ON-021 40m SSB T
G1INK/P on Fair Snape Fell SP-007 40m SSB T, J
2W0BTR/P on Beacon Hill MW-009 2m SSB T, J
G4RQJ/P on Black Combe LD-030 2m SSB J
M3XIE 2m FM T
M0JBC/M 2m FM T
DL3JPN 30m CW T
DL4CW 30m CW T
M3ZRY/P 2m FM J
M3LQY 2m FM J
G3WPF 20m CW T
IQ9AL 20m CW T
OH6M 20m CW T
I0ZUT 20m CW T
IT9RZU 20m CW T
SX1L 20m CW T
YT5A 20m CW T
YO9AGI 20m CW T
HA8TP 20m CW T
UR7GO 20m CW T
YL3FT 20m CW T
LZ1BJ 20m CW T
YT2ISM 20m CW T
Z30A/P on Zelen Breg WM-052 20m CW T
G4WSX 40m CW T
DC7CCC 40m CW T
G4SSH 40m CW T
DL1DVE 40m CW T

 

Aerials eh? Potentially a contentious subject, but always a hot topic for us lightweight portable SOTA ops. Unfortunately, while I am quite good at doing the maths bits for aerials, things go pear shaped when I need to start any practical work. I've rarely managed to fit a plug without the SWR going through the roof, and just don't ask about the soldering iron and the Bencher paddle...

But fortunately, I've got a couple a local mates who are not only practically adept, but are SOTA activators. Richard G3CWI got me going with halfwave dipoles for 80m and 40m, which have always worked really well for these bands. A 30m dipole has recently been added to increase the fun. (The 40m and 30m dipoles also work acceptably on 15m and 10m respectively).

                    Feedpoint of the MM17

My other friend (yes, I've got two, I've never been so popular) Sean M0GIA has lots of ideas. Some of them are dreadful. Some of them are inspired. International SOTA Weekend must count amongst the latter. His converted CB aerial for a multiband HF vertical, without doubt, one of the former. A great big shiny metal rod with dual purpose - an effective lightning conductor for the summits and the most elaborate but functional dummy load you ever used. Great on receive, flat SWR, but the effect of a mesmorizing inverse amplifier on transmit. Truly astonishing.

But then he comes up with an idea (hardly original, but still a good one) to chase the horizon using a vertical 20m antenna with a groundplane. Four bits of wire and a feeder. And did it work? Yes - I instructed him that he had to hand it over to me in return for some leafeting I did for his XYL, and proceeded to work the world on 5 watts from the summits - UA9, JA, VE, W, LU etc, 599 both ways being typical. Although the theory of how the antenna was effective was simple to understand, its performance had a certain "magic" about it. "Magic M0GIA" was mentioned, soon after which the antenna became known as the Magic Moggy.

I immediately informed Sean that I wanted one making for 17m. Sean got straight to work on this, and I only had to deliver about 2200 more leaflets and wait several decades before he made me one. And Thursday 27th May 2010 was the night it would debut.  Jimmy M3EYP was at a scout event at Barnswood in the Staffordshire Moorlands with his mate Edward, so it was an easy decision to utilise the two hours of downtime. I continued up the hill to Gun G/SP-013 and marched to the summit.

                    Scribbling down the logs

I set up the MM17 with the driven element elastic-banded to the very top end of the SOTA Pole, meaning that the feedpoint was about 7 feet off the ground. The groundplane radials, also acting as guys for the pole, were angled at about 30 degrees to the horizontal in this arrangement.

I was about to kick off when I realised I had left my phone in the car - so there would be no self-spot. Fortunately, my alerted QRG of 18.077MHz CW was clear, and double-fortunately, well-known SOTA chaser Laci HA7UG answered my very first CQ call. This was great, because it meant I could ask him for a spot, which he kindly provided. Many thanks Laci.

I then operated continuously for fractionally over one hour making 36 contacts into 18 DXCCs, which were: Hungary HA, Poland SP, Austria OE, Germany DL, Slovakia OM, Croatia 9A, England G, Belgium ON, France F, Russia RA, Wales GW, Italy I, USA K, Switzerland HB, Denmark OZ, Ukraine UT, Serbia YU and Greece SV.  The architect of the MM himself, Sean M0GIA came out for a stroll to the summit, to check on the progress of his latest creation. He arrived as I was putting QSO number 30 and DXCC number 15 into the logbook, so was soon musing about the MM12 and the MM10 projects!

                    Sunset on Gun summit

If the evening couldn't get any better, the sun was out, the sky was blue, and the colourful panorama from Shutlingsloe, over The Roaches and down to Tittesworth Reservoir was stunning. OK, as "views from the shack" go, it's not quite in the league of Ailsa Craig GM/SS-246, Great Gable G/LD-005 or Slieve Donard GI/MM-001, but still pretty good.

Radio traffic eventually dried up just after 8pm, perfect timing for me to break everything down and drop back down the road to pick Jedward up from the scout camp. A most enjoyable evening. Thanks to Sean M0GIA for the excellent MM17 to go alongside the MM20, and to all the SOTA chasers that came on to work me - it is really appreciated, thank you.

HA7UG 17m CW
SP9GR 17m CW
OE6WIG 17m CW
DF8IF 17m CW
DL5DF 17m CW
DL6KVA 17m CW
SP8BAI 17m CW
OM3SX 17m CW
DJ5AV 17m CW
DL2EF 17m CW
9A4OE 17m CW
HA5LQ 17m CW
HA2ESM 17m CW
G3WPF 17m CW
ON4BB 17m CW
G3RMD 17m CW
F5SQA 17m CW
RA3TP 17m CW
G4OBK 17m CW
MW0IDX 17m CW
G3KAF 17m CW
SP5AHR 17m CW
F8AAB 17m CW
SP9GR 17m CW
SP5DIR 17m CW
I2ZGA 17m CW
K1IK 17m CW
HB9BQU 17m CW
OZ1CTK 17m CW
DJ0FX 17m CW
DB7MA 17m CW
DL9PT 17m CW
DF1CZ 17m CW
UR4UQ 17m CW
YU1TK 17m CW
SV1CU/8 17m CW

 

Tuesday 13th July 2010, and the next one - a return to Gun G/SP-013 for activation #966. My usual MO was somewhat disrupted tonight - I would normally be QRV in the RSGB 70cm UK activity contest for the full 8pm-10.30pm local, from The Cloud G/SP-015. But Jimmy needed dropping off and picking up from Barnswood Scout Camp near Leek, and very near Gun!

It was a rather horrid wet evening, so when I was messaged by G3CWI suggesting a beer meet, I was momentarily tempted. For it turned out that his daughter was attending the same event, albeit with slightly different start/end times to the older Explorer Scouts. Commitment to the cause won through, and I found myself trudging up the path to Gun summit in grotty drizzle by around 7.40pm.

I set up just beyond the summit to get out of the worst of the wind, but there was no way of avoiding the rain, meaning that I was soon inside the yellow bothy bag. As usual, many of those worked were members of the Bolton Wireless Club, where I had been the previous evening to do a talk about SOTA. "Are you in that yellow tent thing you showed us?" was mentioned in most QSOs with Bolton members! As an aside, what a superb radio society the Bolton club is. Well worth a visit if you get a chance, and any radio amateur in the vicinity really should join up - although their healthy membership numbers and massive participation in VHF contests suggests that they already have!

So it was the (slightly) unusual reference of SP-013 and locator IO83XD that I was issuing during the evening, as I worked my way to 34 QSOs - 32 on 70cm SSB, 1 on 70cm CW and 1 on 70cm FM. Unfortunately, by then it was 9.15pm and I had to pick Jimmy and his mate up from the scout camp, so probably missed out on maybe another 15 QSOs and the JO squares which tend to present themselves in the later stages of the UKACs. Not a strong contest effort, but a perfectly healthy SOTA activation nonetheless.

I picked the lads up from Barnswood, and Jimmy M3EYP reported that he had bumped into Richard G3CWI and had a natter with him. We drove home accompanied by the unique sounds of Frank Sidebottom's "A, B, C & D" and "E, F, G & H" compilation CDs that were no doubt causing an unexpected spike in Amazon's sales profile at that time!

2E0TXT/P

70cm

SSB

2E0UOG

70cm

SSB

GW8ASD

70cm

SSB

G4ZAJ

70cm

SSB

M0EMM

70cm

SSB

G3NYY/P

70cm

SSB

G8ZRE

70cm

SSB

G2ANC

70cm

SSB

M0GMG/P

70cm

SSB

M0OBW

70cm

SSB

G4JSR

70cm

SSB

M6MRD

70cm

SSB

G4HGI

70cm

SSB

G8VHI

70cm

SSB

G4APB

70cm

SSB

G0LGS/P

70cm

SSB

M0LTT/P

70cm

SSB

G8OHM

70cm

SSB

G4CLA

70cm

SSB

G8DTF

70cm

SSB

M1ZRP

70cm

SSB

G4AGE

70cm

SSB

2E0MWB/P

70cm

SSB

G0WTM

70cm

SSB

M0SDA

70cm

SSB

MM0GPZ/P

70cm

SSB

G4APJ

70cm

SSB

2E0BMO

70cm

SSB

2E0XTL/P

70cm

SSB

G1LAT/P

70cm

SSB

G1SMI

70cm

SSB

M3ZPJ

70cm

SSB

G3VCA

70cm

CW

M3OUA

70cm

FM