Thursday 30th August 2018 - Hutton Roof Crags G/LD-052 & Arthur’s Seat GM/SS-272

Gig: Joe Longthorne

Venue: The Brunton, Musselburgh

So to the start of an intensive few weeks of tour dates with the show through the Autumn.  The first one demanded a “bit of a drive” from Cheshire up to Edinburgh, so I set off first thing and programmed in a couple of activations.  First stop was the Plain Quarry car park and picnic area, near Burton-in-Kendal, Cumbria.  Hutton Roof Crags is an easy walk up only a gradual gradient for about 20 minutes. The limestone landscape is pretty striking.  I didn’t have a map with me, but I’d done this ascent several times and was confident I could find my way through the maze of path options - which aren’t on the map anyway! 

On all of the activations on these four days, I would carry FT-817, SOTA pole, 20m groundplane, Windows 10 tablet for datamodes, interface and Palm Paddle and microphone.  On all summits though, I attempted to qualify using just 2m FM on the handheld with rubber duck.  It was a work trip after all, so being on time for soundcheck was always at the back (and sometimes the front) of my mind.  On this activation, I easily qualified with five QSOs - 3 on 2m FM, and 2 on 2m C4FM (Fusion). The final contact was S2W (SOTA-to-WOTA) with Reg 2E0LDF/P on LDW-011.

The walk down was an easy amble, then it was time to head up to the border, and clock the miles in towards Edinburgh for the gig, but first ac activation of Arthur's Seat GM/SS-272.