Swinside LD-057

Monday 2nd May 2011 - Swinside G/LD-057, 244m ASL - 1 point

To be honest, I was quite surprised that we had got through three days and five summits (12 if you include the WOTAs) entirely as planned and in order. Usually something goes wrong or gets changed! And all that remained was arguably the easiest task of all, physically. Other aspects were far from tirvial though, having had to secure advance permission to access the summit, and the prospect of difficulty in using VHF in this mostly screened location.

We parked, as agreed with the estate manager, just by some double gates at NY246221. We waited here for about two minutes, and then Rick M0RCP arrived, dropped off by his XYL Barbara. The three of us walked up the wide track as far as NY244222 where Jimmy led us off to the right, taking a line diagonally up the steep wooded slope. As the hill rounded off, we headed up to the highest point, which was also in a small clearing with good views of Derwent Water and Bassenthwaite Lake.

Jimmy and Rick shared a station for 2m FM, and made well beyond their requisite four contacts each easily. In fact they had both qualified the summit before I had finished pegging out the 40m dipole, which was something of a surprise! I made 17 QSOs on 40m CW, before swapping over to the 20m MM vertical, where a further 77 CW QSOs were made.

Tom on summit with views of Derwentwater behind

The pile-up was huge, but sadly became a little badly behaved right at the end. I was down to the last three or four stations to work, but when I called QRZ, they each sent their callsigns over and over again, seemingly because when they dropped key, they could hear someone else calling. I had promised Rick a lift back down to Keswick and time was getting on, so I had to leave those final few without a contact. Serves them right though - if they had each just called once, they would have all been safely in the log five minutes earlier.

SOTA pole loaded with SOTA Beam and 40m dipole

94 QSOs was a pleasing haul from G SOTAs rarest summit, and I enjoyed the short amble back to the car. After dropping Rick in Keswick, Jimmy and I had a good journey south with surprisingly little delay in the M55 area. Many thanks to all who worked us on all bands and modes during the Lake District International SOTA Weekend trip.

G0VWP/M	2m	FM	J
G0TDM	2m	FM	J
MM1MPB	2m	FM	J
GM4WHA	2m	FM	J
M0XAT	2m	FM	J
G0TDM	40m	CW	T
ON5QRP	40m	CW	T
F8LDX	40m	CW	T
DL3HXX	40m	CW	T
OE6WIG	40m	CW	T
DJ5AV	40m	CW	T
DL2HWI	40m	CW	T
S58R	40m	CW	T
HB9CGA/P on Vögelisegg AR-005	40m	CW	T
PA0WDG	40m	CW	T
LA8BCA	40m	CW	T
G1OAE	2m	FM	J
PA0ALW	40m	CW	T
PA0HRM	40m	CW	T
I2CZQ	40m	CW	T
OK2BDR	40m	CW	T
G3VXJ	40m	CW	T
F5SQA	40m	CW	T
OE8SPW	20m	CW	T
EC2DM	20m	CW	T
HA7UG	20m	CW	T
G0TDM	20m	CW	T
G4UXH	2m	FM	J
HA5WG	20m	CW	T
RW3WA	20m	CW	T
OK1IVU	20m	CW	T
RX9WN	20m	CW	T
OK1TD	20m	CW	T
RA1OD	20m	CW	T
9A2JK	20m	CW	T
R9AX	20m	CW	T
SP3J	20m	CW	T
IZ0FVD	20m	CW	T
UT5UIA	20m	CW	T
SM5ELV	20m	CW	T
RU9CZ	20m	CW	T
R2DW	20m	CW	T
SM7CBS	20m	CW	T
R9AB	20m	CW	T
DL1TRK	20m	CW	T
RA3BZ	20m	CW	T
9A4OE	20m	CW	T
OM3KRZ	20m	CW	T
OH1MRE	20m	CW	T
DL8YRM	20m	CW	T
DL5KVV	20m	CW	T
DK7FZ	20m	CW	T
DL5WS	20m	CW	T
UX1IM	20m	CW	T
9A6ILI	20m	CW	T
S52KM	20m	CW	T
SP1PWP	20m	CW	T
LZ3SM	20m	CW	T
M5TNT	2m	FM	J
SP9DLY	20m	CW	T
G0MWE	2m	FM	J
HB9DNB	20m	CW	T
M0AYB/P	2m	FM	J
RA3TO	20m	CW	T
DH5MM	20m	CW	T
HB9DAX	20m	CW	T
OM3CFF	20m	CW	T
OM7AW	20m	CW	T
RD4WM	20m	CW	T
S58AL	20m	CW	T
S57CI	20m	CW	T
I5FLN	20m	CW	T
S51RU	20m	CW	T
OK2PAY	20m	CW	T
RQ4N	20m	CW	T
S51ZG	20m	CW	T
S52ON	20m	CW	T
SP6IEQ	20m	CW	T
IZ3ETU	20m	CW	T
S58AL	20m	CW	T
UA3DSS	20m	CW	T
S59DXX	20m	CW	T
EA3GHZ	20m	CW	T
UA3CS	20m	CW	T
HA4XG	20m	CW	T
DF1YQ	20m	CW	T
OZ4RT	20m	CW	T
OZ5KU	20m	CW	T
RV3LO	20m	CW	T
DK4RM	20m	CW	T
DL2RNS	20m	CW	T
OH3BHL	20m	CW	T
UA1OJL	20m	CW	T
SP2JNK	20m	CW	T
OE5GA	20m	CW	T
SM5CNQ	20m	CW	T
UA9LT	20m	CW	T
RA3DNC	20m	CW	T
UY5ZZ	20m	CW	T
DJ3EF	20m	CW	T
SP4NKU	20m	CW	T
UA9FGT	20m	CW	T
RO3DX	20m	CW	T
SP2GSI	20m	CW	T