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I went to bed nice and early after the New Year's Eve festivities at 0030 UTC, so I could get up at 0540z and make the most of the morning, which was forecast to be dry and fairly calm, albeit cold.
The first port of call was Gun G/SP-013, which I did as a "raid" - 2m handheld in one coat pocket, logbook in the other, no mast, no separate antenna, no FT817 and no rucksack. Even at 0725 to 0730z on New Year's Day 2016 morning, even with a HT and rubber duck, I had four quick contacts into the log to qualify my first activator point of 2016. I walked back to my car by the light of my headtorch as it was still dark. I then drove across to The Cloud G/SP-015.
After Shining Tor G/SP-004 on Saturday 30th April 2016, Andy and I chatted on 2m FM as we drove over to the parking spot for Gun G/SP-013. I was surprised that my SatNav app took me down the A53 Leek road and back up through Meerbrook rather than my usual route through the Macclesfield Forest, but there you go, I must have been taking longer than I needed all these years!
I didn't need the points from Gun, so left Andy to get his four on 2m FM. This was to be a quick "no setting up" HT type activation for us both. I grabbed 2 contacts just before descending, one each on 2m FM and 70cm FM. Next was the quick 10 minute drive across the Dane Valley to The Cloud G/SP-015.
@!#%** cyclists. Don't like them myself. It's the way they ride at a speed that is slow enough to hold me up when I'm driving, but too fast for me to easily complete a safe overtaking manoeuvre. Or when they ride two-abreast on a main road, especially on the bits with double white lines in the middle. Or that they ride six feet away from the left-hand edge of the carriageway when there's a perfectly good gutter for them to ride in. And don't even get me started on the wannabe Olympian holiday cyclists in Majorca. And that's nothing compared to the mountain bikers that persist in churning up the paths on The Cloud G/SP-015, happily riding past and happily ignoring the National Trust signs that prohibit cycling on there. I mean, just how selfish can people be? Now the Olympians themselves are OK. I don't mind them so much. I like the way they win lots of gold medals for Britain and give us some sporting pride, especially just after the national football team has performed to its usual tournament standard in a tournament. And how our boys keep winning the Tour de France. I think Kenya counts as "ours" doesn't it? So with Mr Froome set to ride into Paris as the "le Tour" winner once again on Sunday 23rd July 2016, I thought I would bury the hatchet for one afternoon and support "SOTA Cycling Week". To do this, I piled all my gear and grown-up children into my Citroen Xsara Picasso and drove up to Gun G/SP-013 for a look at Richard G3CWI's bike.
I arrived at a strangely deserted parking area just after 3pm local. It was no surprise that Richard's car wasn't there, but there were no other cars there either. Not even Mickey 2E0YYY's car. Unbelievable! I felt every one of my now 46 years on the long and gruelling ascent, with Jimmy disappearing into a dot on the horizon, and my failing to keep pace with Liam despite my very finest efforts.
Richard had already finished his 2m FM activation and was sat by the trig point modelling his yellow cycling helmet and branded SOTAbeams cycling vest. Jimmy was delighted not to have any competition for VHF spectrum and made 9 contacts of his own on 2m FM. On 15m CW, I made 6 QSOs, mainly into central Europe. I was tempted to stay longer with some very loud signals being heard on the PSK frequencies - and I had all the data kit with me. However, Richard's suggestion of beer at the Harrington Arms, Gawsworth won the day. We'd worked out that if we started packing up at the same time that Richard set off on his bike, that we'd arrive at the pub around a similar time. And we did, and enjoyed a couple of very welcome beers. Richard, having established that Marianne was working a late shift, then managed to skilfully manipulate himself an invitation to dinner at EYP Towers. That necessitated a diversion to Big Sainsburys on the way home to get ingredients for my speciality - chicken, chorizo and squid paella. This had a cycling theme to it as well as a cyclist joined us to eat it. Apparently, sometimes cyclists in Spain eat it too. So, there's my entry to the SOTAbeams SOTA Cycling Week activation report thing. I think it's a sure-fire winner myself - we took part in a SOTA Cycling Week activation, we had a look at a bike, we overtook two bikes on the roads, we took a photo of a bike and we fed a cyclist. #WINNER
I operated on 2m SSB and made 14 QSOs. Conditions were good, particularly to the south, and signals from France, Guernsey, Cornwall, Devon and Surrey were all particularly strong. Locators worked were: IN78, IN88, IN89, IN98, IO70, IO73, IO81, IO82, IO83, IO91. Additionally, using the VX7R handheld, I worked Simon GW4TJC/P S2S on Y Lliwedd GW/NW-008 plus one other station. After a pint at the Harrington Arms, Gawsworth, it was back home to the family, then a drive up into Derbyshire to watch the sunset from the top of Eccles Pike (a HuMP) and some pub grub. A rather nice day in all respects.
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