The Cloud 2007 (2)

The third and final day of our Gritstone Trail walk, Wednesday 25th July 2007, began with a great full English breakfast at the Rushton Inn. We exchanged plenty of chat and banter with the landlord and landlady at the Inn. The landlady told us that she knew from previous Gritstone Trail walkers that had stayed with her that the forthcoming third leg to Kidsgrove (15 miles) should take no more than four and a half hours. We told her we expected to take around nine hours, and she scoffed at us asking what we were playing at! I retorted that I did not believe the trail to Kidsgrove could genuinely be done in the time she suggested it should take. We eventually thanked our hosts, said goodbye and crossed the road to drop back down onto the Staffordshire Way, following the disused railway line back to the Gritstone Trail.

Once back on the Gritstone Trail route, we were soon back into some lush green meadows with the river weaving around small wooded areas. We lost the path and began to climb far too early on loose muddy terrain. Towards the top of the hill, some farm buildings and a road bore no relation to what the map indicated, so we returned to the meadows down the hill and rejoined where we should have been. We we should have climbed was up Ravens Clough. This was reached by crossing a wooden bridge inside a small wood. A boardwalk contouring upwards alongside a steep drop in the walk afforded some enjoyable walking. The route led out onto a sloping field to climb up to Cloudside, and Jimmy used the opportunity to send a spot on his WAP mobile 'phone ahead of our SOTA activation on The Cloud G/SP-015.

We were now progressing with gusto and enthusiasm, anticipating some familiar walking territory and a chance to play some amateur radio. A short way along Tunstall Road, we reached the small Cloudside parking area and turned sharply to head up the long flight of stone steps. Walking out onto the exposed summit area, the weather was turning colder and wetter. There was no decision to make as regards operating conditions, for we had only carried VHF handheld radios with us, without additional power or antennas. Jimmy and I passed the radio between us as we relaxed for about an hour on the summit, making plenty of contacts.

Packing away on The Cloud brought with it a sense of anticipation. For despite my scores of visits to this local hill, I had never ventured on the route off the summit to Timbersbrook. So within seconds of throwing the rucksacks back on, we were on new territory. It was almost a mirror image of the ascent route, with a stony muddy path dropping down into woodland and then easing onto an access track.

The last section down to Timbersbrook was down a very steep bank, thankfully adorned with pitched wooden steps. Another path brought us into the Timbersbrook car park and picnic area, and another of the relatively sparse official Gritstone Trail information boards. Usefully, there is a large toilet block at this location. Unusefully, it was all locked up. With nothing to demand our attention at Timbersbrook, we moved swiftly on.

Sunday 5th August 2007, and we fancied another go at playing HF. We opened on SSB and both worked Peter ON3WAB. We also heard DG0JMB calling, but couldn't make it back to him. Unfortunately, that was it for SSB with much QRM, QRN and QSB on the band.

Road sign to the parking spot

A switch to 40m CW brought a few more stations, but not a great deal, so perhaps conditions were not that great. Like several others, I thought I had got some chaser points, and indeed a summit-to-summit contact with HB9AFH/P on HB/SG-038. However it seems that this summit was deleted from the HB ARM in the recent past. All was not lost though, it had simply been allocated a different summit reference - HB/AR-008.

ON3WAB	Wakken	Peter	40m	SSB	T, J
DL6KVA	Rostock	Axel	40m	CW	T
SM5CBC/4	Norrkoeping	Einar	40m	CW	T
HB9AFH/P	Hochalp AR-008	Hugo	40m	CW	T
HB9EAA	Hofstetton	Niklaus	40m	CW	T
DL1FU	Biedenkopf	Friedrich	40m	CW	T

Tuesday 7th August 2007 brought around the weekly SOTA Fun Evening, and also the monthly RSGB 144MHz Activity Contest. After dropping Jimmy off at Air Cadets, Liam and myself took a walk up to The Cloud summit and set up the 2m SOTA Beam, horizontally polarised at 4m AGL on the fishing pole.

The contacts were not exactly rolling in over the 40 minutes in which I operated, but I did make 14 contacts with 5 mulitplier squares and two summit-to-summit QSOs. It was good fun, but a shame it was so cold and windy - again. Many thanks to the following stations, all worked on 2m SSB:

GW8ZRE/P	IO83JF	Dave	2.5 watts
GW4EVX/P	Foel Fenlli NW-051 / IO83JD	Ron	2.5 watts
G1INK/P	Gun SP-013 / IO83XD	Steve	2.5 watts
G3SPJ	JO01BL	Colin	2.5 watts
G3CWI	IO93AD	Richard	1 watt
G3SDA/A	IO92FM		1 watt
G4OIG/P	IO92LJ	Gerald	1 watt
M0GIE	IO83WN	Phil	1 watt
G8ZHC	IO83WM	Ian	1 watt
G6TGO	IO83UJ	Ian	1 watt
2E0OML/P	IO82XR	Trevor	1 watt
G1ORC	IO83WN		1 watt
2E1MPC	IO92FN	Mike	1 watt
G0VJG/P	JO01CK	Nobby	2.5 watts

Wednesday 15th August 2007 offered a little free time with the XYL and offspring otherwise engaged. After pumping some iron, swimming and a light lunch in the gym bar, I thought I would so something a little different. So I walked up Bosley Cloud.

After five contacts on 40m CW, I noticed that 10m was open. So I checked 15m, as I thought my 40m dipole should work on that band. It did, and I worked three DXCCs courtesy of HB, GW and DL. Switching over to 2m FM, just three stations worked, followed by four on 70cm FM. I then attempted to work on 6m FM using just the attachment on the VX-7R's rubber duck, but I wasn't getting out at all.

Good fun. Thanks to the following stations, all worked on 5 watts:

F6GEO	Lille	Michel	40m	CW
DL4FCK	Bavaria	Gerd	40m	CW
DL6UNF	Guben	Frank	40m	CW
GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike	40m	CW
DJ4EY	Warstein	Jo	40m	CW
HB9AGH	Zurich	Ambrosi	15m	CW
GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike	15m	CW
DJ5AV	Heiligenberg	Michael	15m	CW
F5CQ	La Chapelle du Lou	Rafik	40m	CW
F5UOW	St Contest	Stephane	40m	CW
HB9BHW	Switzerland	Hans	40m	CW
DL4FDM	Bensheim	Fritz	40m	CW
G7EMK	Leek	Darren	2m	FM
GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike	2m	FM
GW7AAV	Connahs Quay	Steve	2m	FM
M3XMC	Wigan	Mike	70cm	FM
G6YWL	Wolverhampton	Tony	70cm	FM
GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike	70cm	FM
GW7AAV	Connahs Quay	Steve	70cm	FM

And the next one, on Friday 17th August 2007. Jimmy and Marianne had gone off on a 20 mile cycle ride - Macclesfield to Marple and back on the Middlewood Way. Liam and myself got a pastie and a cake in town, then a drink from the excellent "Juicy's Juice Bar". Plenty of time left on a mild and dry afternoon, so off up The Cloud.

No aspirations for band and mode hopping today, after my ticking off for an unacceptable performance on 2m FM the other day, so I lay down and relaxed in the grass while tapping away on the paddle. One eye was kept on the unnervingly multiplying swarm of mosquitos in the vicinity of my head, but I remained calm and assertive, and they did eventually disperse.

I worked 17 stations / 5 DXCCs on 40m CW, and then had a little go on 2m FM. I tried my best not to improve on the previous activation's 3 contacts on this mode, but I failed and ended up with 5. At least they contained two more DXCCs, taking the activation total to 7 - DL, HB9, SP, F, OK, GW, G. Nearly two hours on summit, most of which Liam spent sitting on the viewfinder reading out and pointing out the various hills and features. Many thanks to the following, all worked on 5 watts:

DL2DXA	Dresden	Bernd	40m	CW
HB9AAQ	Haag	Fred	40m	CW
DL6UNF	Guben	Frank	40m	CW
DL9DRL	Dresden	Frank	40m	CW
DJ5AV	Heiligenberg	Michael	40m	CW
HB9AGH	Zurich	Ambrosi	40m	CW
SP4GHL/4	Ferdnowy	Tomasz	40m	CW
DL3HWO	Raguhn	Herbert	40m	CW
DH8DX	Bad Blankenberg	Daniel	40m	CW
F5GEO	Lille	Michel	40m	CW
DJ5AA	Dresden	Joachim	40m	CW
HB9RE	Zurich	Fritz	40m	CW
DL6UHA	Forst	Hans	40m	CW
DL8DXL	Laussnitz	Fred	40m	CW
HB9IAB/P	Geneva	Eric	40m	CW
OK1HCG	Prague	Karel	40m	CW
F6FTB	Pasques	Christian	40m	CW
GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike	2m	FM
GW7AAV/M	Mold	Steve	2m	FM
2W1RSS/M	Queensferry	Russ	2m	FM
G0PZO	Birkenhead	Charlie	2m	FM
M3PXW/M	Ellesmere Port	Barry	2m	FM

On that aforementioned cycle ride, Marianne had lost her car and house keys. I 'phoned round and established their position at The Railway pub in Marple. Taking an opportunity to avoid the tedium of DanceX and The X Factor, Jimmy and I offered to take a drive up to collect the keys. And do an evening activation of The Cloud on the way back, the scenic route (although we didn't mention that part of our intentions at the time).

Keys collected, back down the A523 to Macc and straight through down the Leek road to Bosley, where we turned right onto the A54. That left the left turn by the canal bridge to climb the lane to the parking spot. To my surprise, there were not any cars here; ther usually are several on a summer Saturday evening. Mind you, it was cold, and raining lightly. The rain soon abated as we began to climb the initial track, justifying our decision not to bother with waterproof overtrousers. We took just our 2m handheld radios, but I also carried my rucksack in case we needed the SLAB to power one of them.

Upon arrival on summit, I discovered that my mapcase, while containing the waterproof logbook, for some reason was devoid of any pens or pencils. I memorised Jimmy's initial contact with Mal G8ALB, and then fortunately the next station to call was our friend Chris M3SQT from nearby Biddulph, and a fellow member of the Macclesfield & District Radio Society. Chris kindly accepted the job of remote logging for us, so on we went with the activation.

We had ascended in daylight, but the night was closing in very quickly, as was the mist. A party of young girls ascended in headtorches, although I don't know what their expedition was about, or what organisation they were with. We saw their minibus at the parking spot later though. We managed to work all stations that called us, which was not a huge amount, while enjoying the new views of the lights of Biddulph, Macclesfield and Congleton in the night sky.

Headtorches were packed and available, but we managed to descend safely in murky light without them. This was an enjoyable way to walk off some of Marianne's superb homemade chilli, miss all the rubbish on telly, and time our return perfectly to pour a can of beer and settle down for Match of the Day. Thanks to Mike for the spotting, and to Chris for the logging the following stations, all worked on 2m FM with 2.5 watts:

G8ALB	Birkenhead	Mal	J
M3SQT	Biddulph	Chris	J, T
M3OUA	Sale	Les	T
GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike	J, T
M3PXW	Ellesmere Port	Barry	T
G0FOU	Sale	Gary	J
G4BLH	Brierfield	Mike	T

My least favourite local event of the year - West Park Family Fun Day. Jimmy had to be dropped off at Air Cadets for 8am to prepare for their stand at the show. Marianne and Liam still in bed. What I now describe as a "Cloud Opening".

40m CW kicked off well, with five different DXCCs in the first five contacts (HB9, G, F, DL, EI). I seemed to be getting lots of requests for confirming the summit reference, even from G3CWI down the road. I had forgotten that just a few minutes earlier I had made a hash of my initial Spotlite, which had gone on as G/SP-004 (Shining Tor) on 145.500MHz!

A sixth DXCC in six contacts was on the cards when an SM5 station called, but for some reason, we were unable to complete the contact. It was then 25 minutes before my CQ was answered again. Another contact into F was followed by another call from G3CWI asking me to QSY to 2m, where he reported that I had an intermittent tx problem to me. Investigations are underway. Many thanks to the following stations:

HB9CGA	Embrach	Ulrich	40m	CW	5 watts
G3CWI	Macclesfield	Richard	40m	CW	5 watts
F6ENO	Rilly-la-Montagne	Alain	40m	CW	5 watts
DL6UNF	Guben	Frank	40m	CW	5 watts
EI7CC	Dublin	Pete	40m	CW	5 watts
F5CQ	La Chapelle du Lou	Rafik	40m	CW	5 watts
G3CWI	Macclesfield	Richard	2m	FM	2.5 watts

Jimmy, Liam and myself killed a bit of otherwise stale time with a walk up The Cloud on Friday 24th August 2007. Liam was keen to impress, and he did so by being first to the summit. I was keen to try out the FT-817 on 2m FM, given the problems in intermittent sudden elimination of transmit power on HF CW. Sadly, the problem presented itself on 2m FM as well, although not as frequently observed. It was not noticed on 2m SSB, although that is probably just luck. Eight chasers were worked on 2m FM or 2m SSB, the microphone shared between Jimmy and myself as usual. Thanks to the following, all worked using 2.5 watts:

G0PZO	Birkenhead	Charlie	2m	FM	T
G4BLH	Brierfield	Mike	2m	FM	J
GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike	2m	FM	J
GW4BVE	Pool Quay	John	2m	FM	T
GW1LDY	Broughton	Arthur	2m	FM	T
M3XMC	Wigan	Mike	2m	SSB	T, J
M1DAP	Chester	Mike	2m	FM	J
G0KKO	Little Sutton	John	2m	FM	T

A similar task was presented to us on Saturday 25th August 2007, with Marianne requiring a few hours shut eye before a night-shift. This time, I wanted to see how well out Yaesu handheld transceivers performed when connect to the SOTA Beam, as this would be our optimal working conditions during our forthcoming Lake District trip. Liam again set off ahead of Jimmy and myself with enthusiasm, but we caught him on the final approach to the trig point. There being much less wind across the summit than usual, I set up in a new place, near the trig and almost hanging off the edge. It was a pleasant spot, comfortable with good views.

I was satisfied with the performance of the Yaesu VX-110 and VX-7R through the SOTA Beam, with good copy contacts around the East and West Midlands, Cumbria, Lancashire, Cheshire and Staffordshire, and mostly on 2.5 watts. In the LD, we will have 5 watts all the time courtesy of the SLAB. Particularly pleasing were the S2S contacts with Barry M3PXW/P on Longridge Fell G/SP-014, Keith GW8HXE/P on Moel Eilio GW/NW-022, Carolyn on Pen y Fan GW/SW-001, and best of all Fred GI4MWA/P on Slieve Binnian GI/MM-003. It looked like the handies and the SB3 would do the job!

A nice activation was rounded off with a visit to the Coach & Horses in nearby Timbersbrook. Thanks to the many regulars that worked us, all on 2m FM:

G4BLH	Brierfield	Mike	2.5 watts	T
G0AOD	Tutbury	David	2.5 watts	T
2E0KPO	Burton-on-Trent	Steve	2.5 watts	T
M3PQQ	Birmingham	Robert	2.5 watts	T
GI4MWA/P	Slieve Binnian MM-003	Fred	5 watts	T, J
M1AVV	Dalton-in-Furness	Simon	5 watts	J
M0EIQ/M	Trafford Centre	Dick	5 watts	J
GW6WRW/P	Pen y Fan SW-001	Carolyn	2.5 watts	T, J
M3VPM/M	Worsley	Paul	2.5 watts	T
GW8HXE/P	Moel Eilio NW-022	Keith	2.5 watts	T, J
G7RYN	Winsford	Dave	2.5 watts	T
G0DSP/M	Jeffrey Hill	Mike	2.5 watts	T
2E0HJD/M	Jeffrey Hill	Mick	2.5 watts	J
M3PXW/P	Longridge Fell SP-014	Barry	2.5 watts	T, J
M3ZGD	Stone	Gordon	2.5 watts	T
M1DAP	Chester	Mike	2.5 watts	T

Jimmy M3EYP, Liam and myself took a quick stroll up The Cloud on the afternoon of Sunday 26th August 2007. Nothing special, just three contacts each on 2m FM using the handhelds running 2.5 watts. Thanks to:

2E0RYP	Padgate	Chris	T, J
GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike	T, J
M3PXW	Ellesmere Port	Barry	T
2E0CJD	Biddulph	Chris	J

The first day back at work after the summer break - Monday 3rd September 2007. I didn't feel like going up The Cloud today. But I felt like going to the gym even less, so The Cloud it had to be, just to ensure my body continued to work after being subject to seven hours of inactive boredom (INSET day).

Poor start, with no takers from S20 at all. However, Steve M0DNA/M was mugged from the Stockport repeater (he is used to being mugged on my early bird activations), and then three more stations rolled in. Cheers to all stations, worked on 2m FM with 2.5 watts, except M3PXW on 5 watts:

M0DNA/M	M60 Stockport	Steve
GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike
M5GWH	Hanley	Leigh
M3PXW	Ellesmere Port	Barry

I felt even less like it on Tuesday 4th September! The fatigue caused by the culture shock of actually having to do a couple of days work after 44 days off was desperately intense. Some earlier nights and mugs of coffee and bacon butties in the mornings needed methinks.

Anyway, not wanting to get out of good habits, and to utilise a gloriously hot and sunny September afternoon, I did go up The Cloud, albeit an hour earlier of my Alert time - which was submitted in BST instead of UTC - regrettably a mistake I can't seem to stop making!

I basked on my favourite big flat rock (which seems higher then the trig base) up there, and put out a few calls on 70cm FM and 2m FM. Only DSP and PXW returned the calls. I didn't dash off though. It was nice up there, so I was content to continue calling on S20 for another few minutes. No further contacts though. Many thanks to the following, worked on 2m FM with 5 watts:

GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike
M3PXW	Ellesmere Port	Barry

An activation on Wednesday 5th September 2007 was PM, not AM. I had tried to get up fpr an early pre-work activation a couple of times already during the week, but couldn't yet heave myself out of the sack before 7am. And yet it seemed so easy to do it at the youth hostel in the Lakes the week before!

Anyway, this turned out to be a really good one. Perhaps being a touch later - this was just after 6pm in the evening - meant that more people were in their shacks. A repeated theme was "long time no hear" as I caught up with no less than four old amateur radio friends with whom I hadn't spoken for ages. 15 contacts on 2m FM, and an enjoyable activation. The best contact was Nick G0HIK, 20 miles West of Blackpool, on an offshore gas platform in the Irish Sea.

The weather was mild as I commenced the ascent, so just grabbed a fleece from the back seat and slung it over my arm. When the wind picked up, and the temperature dropped on the summit, I put it on, only to discover it was Jimmy's! It hugged me very tightly, but it did keep me warm, and at least I could fasten it, which was pleasing. I must have looked a sight though! Thanks to the following, all worked on 2m FM with 5 watts:

M1CUE/M	Middlewich	Kevin
GW7AAV	Connahs Quay	Steve
M3PXW	Ellesmere Port	Barry
GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike
G4BLH	Brierfield	Mike
M3VPM	Bolton	Paul
G3CWI	Macclesfield	Richard
M0SGB	Bury	Steve
G0HIK	Irish Sea gas platform	Nick
G0LPQ	Wiston	John
M3OUA	Sale	Les
G7ADF	Wigan	Ian
G0IHB/M	Rochdale	Gary
M0EOT	Sandyford	Bert
M3PTI	Sneyd Green	Brian

A very warm and sunny late afternoon after work on Thursday 6th September 2007, so another stroll along to my rock armchair with a view of the entire North West. Being two and a half hours earlier definitely had a detrimental effect on the number of contacts I could make, but it's quality that counts, not quantity. The quality was assured with an enjoyable summit-to-summit contact with Terry G0VWP/P, who was on Pen-y-ghent G/NP-010. It was good to be comparing notes on the superb views and wonderful weather at 4pm on a September afternoon. In fact it was rather good to be having a S2S QSO at 4pm on a Thursday!

Thanks to the following, all worked on 2m FM with 2.5 watts:

GW0DSP/M	Hope	Mike
G0VWP/P	Pen-y-ghent NP-010	Terry
2E0GYO	Orton	Alan
2E0RFX	Rochdale	Ray

It was a little harder to drag myself up the steps on the evening of Friday 7th September 2007, straight after an intense 90 minutes of playing football. The later time certainly seemed better for getting contacts, with 8 QSOs coming in 18 minutes on 2m FM. I was eventually beaten of the summit by the increasing strength of the wind and corresponding decreasing temperatures. Thanks to:

2E0DDD/M	Nantwich	Robert
GW7AAV	Connahs Quay	Steve
M0SGB	Bury	Steve
M3OUA	Sale	Les
M3PXW	Ellesmere Port	Barry
2E0FQC	Crewe	John
G4FBC/M	M6(N) South Cheshire	Ron
G7MRL/M	M6(N) Holmes Chapel	Laurie

We were in danger of making good time back from Donington Rally on Saturday 8th September 2007. So good, we might have been home before Marianne left for her party. Advisable to kill time, and preserve my XYL's hitherto undisturbed preparation I thought. "How many activations of Shining Tor have there been?" asked Jimmy from the back seat. "181" I replied. "How many for The Cloud?" he continued. "180" said I. "Let's go and beat it on the way home!" proposed Jimmy. "No" said Liam, lacking enthusiasm. He wasn't once we got to the Cloudside parking spot though, from where he immediately tore off ahead of Jimmy and I at great speed. Until he realised he had overdone it and had to stop for a breather halfway up the stairs!

Sitting or standing on the favourite rock, now known as the "Armchair over Cheshire", Jimmy and I took turns on the Yaesu VX-110, racking up four each, eight between us on 2m FM in 25 minutes. Interestingly, these were 8 unique stations, with not one of them working both of us.

With these two activations, The Cloud G/SP-015 became the most activated summit in SOTA! Thanks to:

M3PXW	Ellesmere Port	Barry	J
G7XYZ	Wem	Howard	J
G4BLH	Brierfield	Mike	T
M0JDK	Swadlincote	John	T
G0NED	Meir Heath	Eric	T
GW7AAV	Connahs Quay	Steve	T
GW7AAU	Connahs Quay	Helen	J
M3VPM/P	Worsley	Paul	J

The following afternoon, Sunday 9th September 2007, Jimmy was out at an Air Cadets swimming gala. Marianne wanted to sleep in between a party last night, and a night-shift to come. So she booted Liam and myself out for the afternoon. A couple of selfish activations it had to be - although I later paid the ultimate price for my selfishness.

First stop was Jennings Garden Centre for a roast beef Sunday lunch. Then around a couple of corners to The Cloud G/SP-015. Conditions seemed to be up and down, but that could just be me swaying in the strong wind. Three contacts on 2m, one on 70cm, several unanswered CQ calls, and a descent from the busy summit, ahead of a switch over to Gun G/SP-013. Thanks to:

GW1YQM	between Oswestry & Welshpool	Richard	2m
GW7AAV	Connahs Quay	Steve	70cm
2E0VOM	Gorton	Noel	2m
M3VOM	Gorton	Noel	2m

An after work activation on Monday 10th September 2007 netted seven contacts on 2m FM, of which five were 'mugged' from the GB3MN repeater. Sat on the rock, extremely windy, so ended up hiding behind it. The primary band as advertised on SOTAwatch was supposed to be 70cm, but all calls on SU20 remained unanswered. Thanks to:

G7MRL/M	M61 Atherton	Norman
GW7AAV	Connahs Quay	Steve
M1CVL/M	Crumpsall	Mike
M0DNA/M	M62 J20	Steve
MW1DAP/P	Halkyn Mountain	Mike
G1JVF/M	Stockport	Dave
G6LCS/M	Handforth	John

A before work activation on Tuesday 11th September 2007 netted just three contacts on 2m FM, all of which were mugged from the GB3MN repeater. Calls on SU20 were again fruitless - as indeed they were on S20! What a stunningly beautiful morning though. Bright sunshine behind me, clear crisp views of the Cheshire hills, and the valleys either side of me full of mist, producing a low cloud inversion effect when looking towards Leek or Biddulph. The ground was completely obscured with only the tops of the electricity pylons, and the summit of Mow Cop (submarilyn) poking through.

While activating on Gun G/SP-013 after work later that day, the first station heard upon switching on the radio at the summit was Mike GW0DSP/P, operating from The Cloud G/SP-015. After the completing the Gun activation, I decided to drop in on Mike's activation, and found him in the heather a few metres below the summit of The Cloud. Steve G1INK showed his face a few minutes later, and when Terry G0VWP/P and Ian 2E0EDX/P turned up on 145.475MHz from Easington Fell G/SP-012, Steve and myself raced up to the trig point with our hand-portable radios for the S2S contacts.

This S2S gave me a 4th contact for the activation - timed at 1643z, and exactly ten hours after the 3rd contact (0643z)! Thanks to:

G6LCS/M	M60 Sale Water Park	John
M3LUE/M	A580 Astley	Keith
2E0CRX/M	M60 Middleton	Steve
2E0EDX/P	Easington Fell SP-012	Ian

Lovely sunshine and only a calm cooling breeze on the summit on Wednesday 12th September 2007, for my late aftenoon/early evening activation. Four contacts on 2m FM, but not by design. The calls dried up after that. I also tried to work Frank M1BFV in Church Gresley, but we didn't complete the exchange of reports, so I crossed that one out. At one point, I thought that batteries might be expiring, but it turned out they weren't; it was just the way I was facing! Thanks to:

M0GIE	Royton	Phil
2E0NBR	Burton-on-Trent	Sharon
2E0KPO	Burton-on-Trent	Steve
G7ADF	Wigan	Ian

Another lovely afternoon on Thursday 13th September 2007, and another lovely walk after work. I did both The Cloud and Gun, and thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air and views. It was very quiet on 2m FM on both summits, but in each case I lowered myself and begged for a chat from stations on the GB3MN repeater! (Yes, I know, it's easy for all to spot a number crunching saddo!).

Nonetheless, by now my ego was sufficiently boosted, so after a few more unanswered calls, I descended a happy bunny. Beautiful afternoon. Many thanks to:

G1ITV	Bolton	Ken
M0DNA/M	Gatley	Steve
G1JVF/M	Ashton-under-Lyne	Dave

Another Cloud/Gun double on the afternoon of Friday 14th September 2007. Four contacts on Cloud and three on Gun:

GW7AAV	Connahs Quay	Steve
GW7AAU	Connahs Quay	Helen
2E0OTE	Urmston	Daniel
GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike

Liam's mate Ben is a nice lad, and he comes to the footy with us on a Saturday. This time on 15th September 2007, I invited him to be collected a few hours earlier for some fresh air and fun (cf: 'Albert & The Lion').

How could we possibly spend the extra time before kick-off? Why, Cloud and Gun of course! The fact it was a Saturday, combined with having two operators on this side seemed to really boost the number of contacts we made, plenty on both hills, despite working conditions being only 2m handhelds and rubber ducks, although the SLAB provided a reliable power source.

Very enjoyable, which was just as well, because the football wasn't... Thanks to:

GW7AAV	Connahs Quay	Steve	T
2E0RXX	Macclesfield	Greg	T
2E0EDX	Blackpool	Ian	T
GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike	T
G3CWI	Macclesfield	Richard	T
GW4MD/P	Pen Llithrig y Wrach NW-013	Paul	T, J
G0AOD	Tutbury	Dave	J
M0JDK	Swadlincote	John	J
M0GIE	Royton	Phil	J

These "summer late afternoon" strolls seem to have evolved into "winter early morning" walks! The temperature was just 1 degree as I parked on Cloudside on the morning of Tuesday 18th September 2007, and 25 minutes earlier I had defrosted my car windscreen for the first time since last winter.

At the summit, it was bright, clear, sunny, breezy and very very cold. So cold that I put out only a couple of further calls after the initial pile-up on 2m FM was worked, before declaring and retreating down the hill to the warmth of the car. That pile-up amounted to just two stations! Thanks to Steve and Russ.

GW7AAV	Connahs Quay	Steve
2E1RSS/M	near Chester	Russ

Back to The Cloud, on the way to work on the morning of Wednesday 19th September 2007. Again, just two contacts on 2m FM, and one of those was a mobile station mugged from a repeater! At least the first station was an active chaser who responded to the initial call on S20, John M0AAS. It was very cold and windy again. I will be interested to observe how long into winter I keep this charade going for!

M0AAS	Wilmslow	John
G6LCS/M	M56 Manchester Airport	John

I awoke, without the assistance of an alarm, at 5.50am BST on Thursday 20th September 2007. I felt remarkably fresh and rested. Knowing that I couldn't do an after-work activation today, and indeed had alerted for only a pre-work summit, the idea came to me that with an early start I could get both in before work!

I was out of the door at 6.03am, undeterred by the fine drizzle. I was sufficiently motivated by my personal challenge that I was prepared to put up with the elements. Assuming that even the pre-breakfast chaser club would not be in their shacks for my new earlier time, I sent a spot of my ETA from a lay-by a couple of miles south of Macclesfield.

At the Cloudside parking spot, it was raining heavily, and for the first time I began to question my own sanity and consider using my slack time for a lazy hour relaxing in the car listening to BBC Radio 5 Live and treating myself to a greasy spoon breakfast on the way to work. And then I got out, and put on my overtrousers, coat and hat as quickly as I could!

It was pretty dismal on the ascent in the rain, but the summit was in cloud and above the rain. The spot, for once, had not done the trick, and the chasers were conspicuous by their absence. However, two of the morning commute regulars on the GB3MN repeater were keen to QSY to work me - one of them is an occasional activator himself in fact. Another station then tail-ended for a QSO, but I don't know if he also followed me down from the repeater or first found me on simplex.

With everything quiet, and no further response either on my working frequency or S20, I began my descent at 7am. I knew from last week that I could be on Gun summit in 35 minutes, and calculated that the second pre-work summit was still feasible. Thanks to the following stations, worked on 2m FM:

M0DNA/M	M60 J32	Steve
G6LCS/M	between Pott Shrigley & Kettleshulme	John
G6KYN/M	M62 Birchwood	Mike

Early morning Friday 21st September 2007 saw another pre-work double, but in the opposite order. Because the direct route from Cloud to Gun involves a one-way street, a slightly longer road route is necessary when driving in the opposite direction. This, together with the steeper ascent of The Cloud contributed to a slightly higher transfer time of 37 minutes. It was nice and dry on The Cloud, with not as much wind as of late. DSP and LCS/M were both worked again, plus G7IEI/M.

I just about made it to work on time. Many thanks to the following stations, worked on 2m FM:

GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike
G6LCS/M	Carrington	John
G7IEI/M	Blackrod	Sean

After going a whole three days without activating, I thought I had better get out and do something. Finding out that the Careers Team meeting at work on Tuesday 25th September 2007 had been cancelled gave me the perfect prompt to hit the road and make for Cloudside.

7 contacts on 2m FM were made from the trig point, before I descended and drove to Macclesfield and joined the family for Jimmy's birthday curry. Many thanks to:

GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike
GW7AAV	Connahs Quay	Steve
GW1LDY	Broughton	Arthur
M0COP/M	Ditton Priors	Pete
2E0NHM	Warton	Nigel
M3PXW/M	Crewe	Barry
M0JDK	Swadlincote	John

The morning of Wednesday 26th September 2007 was another early get-up for me, and an opportunity to do a couple of summits on the way to work. It wasn't raining, but it was still very damp and boggy underfoot on the walk up to Gun G/SP-013. At the summit, it was icy cold in the wind, and I was pleasantly surprised to make 4 contacts.

When doing two activations before having to be at work (17 miles away) by 8.30am in the morning, it is crucial to know how long it takes to get from one to the other. After driving away from Gun, I realised that I had just enough time to do The Cloud G/SP-015. It turned out that my first contact, stood on the base of the trig point on The Cloud, was 31 minutes after my last contact on Gun. 4 contacts were made here as well, but then there were no further takers.

I was back in the car at 7.59am, and into staff briefing at 8.29am. Thanks to all stations who called in:

GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike
M0AAS	Wilmslow	John
G3GAH	Penketh	Dave
M3LUE/M	Death Valley	Keith

It's all about number crunching. I had a couple of targets in mind, but would my 817 have completed its long road to recovery to allow me to celebrate in style? (Neither target involved MG BTW; that remained a long way off at this juncture!).

Lying in bed for an hour after the first alarm on Friday 28th September 2007 meant that a two-summit pre-work sorte was out of the question. I did show more discipline on the second alarm though (the Degen DE-1103 portable multiband receiver is beautifully customizable to one's needs), and left the QTH shortly after 7.15am local.

Half-an-hour later, I walked onto the summit of The Cloud G/SP-015 and made my calls. I had not alerted for this activation, so the silence was not altogether unexpected. Nonetheless, an increasing faction of the chatting commuters on the GB3MN (Stockport) repeater are keen to QSY and make summit contacts, so I popped over there.

Only Keith M3LUE/M of the "increasing faction" was there today, but after working him, another station called, presumably having listened on GB3MN and followed us down. This was Paul M3XPP/M, an contract engineer working in Macclesfield, hence his strong signal. And then with no further takers, it was off to work. I made a note to try to improve my organisation with the alerting. Thanks to:

M3LUE/M	Rochdale	Keith
M3XPP/M	Macclesfield	Paul

The renewed, repaired, restored and rejuvenated 817 is ready for collection. This in mind, I put the SLAB on recharge and done an activation of The Cloud G/SP-015. The morning activation on Sunday 30th September 2007 was my 99th of The Cloud, and my 499th in SOTA - see where I'm heading?

With it being a Sunday, and not under any deadline to (a) get to work or (b) get home from work, I took the SOTA Beam with me and spent an hour on summit. No 817 yet though, so no CW, HF or SSB. 12 contacts were made on 2m FM, and mostly in relaxed unhurried ragchew mode:

G1OKW	Skelmersdale	Peter
G4BLH	Brierfield	Mike
M3VPM	Bolton	Paul
GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike
G8HXE	Dumplington	Keith
G1PPH	Linton	Matthew
M0COP/M	Church Stretton	Peter
G3JIR	Rainford	Jack
G1DDU	Congleton	Andy
G0AOD	Tutbury	Dave
G4ZRP	Wirral	Brian
G4ERP/P	Loton Park	Richard

Well, 1st October 2007 saw the anticipated 100/500 activation of The Cloud - my 100th SOTA activation of this summit, and my 500th in the SOTA Programme. It was nice to be back running on the FT-817 again, and to celebrate its return to the first team, it was accompanied by the 3 element 2m SOTA Beam and the 40m dipole.

I kicked off on 40m CW, and it was absolutely fantastic that all the regulars were there to work me despite the long HF CW lay-off due to the hospitalization of the 817! DXCCs worked were HB, F, OH, DL, GW, G and OK, but as ever, by far the most were from DL. Perhaps the ITU prefix for Germany should be renominated as "SOTACW"!

It was very cold on summit as teatime approached, and the general dampness deteriorated into niggly light drizzle from time-to-time, so any thoughts of making 100 contacts or using SSB (HF or VHF) were banished. 2m FM was ready to go though, and chasers were expected, so I did then spend over an hour there, making 17 contacts after my earlier 13 on 40m CW.

A couple of personal targets reached, and time to relax. Many thanks to all the stations worked, all on 5 watts:

DJ4EY	Warstein	Jo	40m	CW
OK1HCG	Prague	Karel	40m	CW
OH3EQ	Hauho	Teuvo	40m	CW
G3CWI	Macclesfield	Richard	40m	CW
DL4FDM	Bensheim	Fritz	40m	CW
HB9AGH	Zurich	Ambrosi	40m	CW
DL6UNF	Guben	Frank	40m	CW
DL1FU	Biedenkopf	Friedrich	40m	CW
DL7UKA	Kronach	Joachim	40m	CW
F6CEL	Pignicourt	Ghislain	40m	CW
HB9CMI	Waengi	Peter	40m	CW
HB9AGO	Stettfurt	Hans	40m	CW
G0AKF	Knutsford	Ken	2m	FM
GW0DSP/P	Hope Mountain NW-062	Mike	2m	FM
GW7AAV	Connahs Quay	Steve	2m	FM
MW3PXW/M	Prestatyn	Barry	2m	FM
GW7ICY/M	near Chester	Steve	2m	FM
MW3ICY/M	near Chester	Steve	2m	FM
MW0ICT/M	near Chester	Steve	2m	FM
M1DAP	Chester	Mike	2m	FM
DL4FCK	Bavaria	Gerd	40m	CW
2E0BAX	Macclesfield	Sean	2m	FM
M1NTO/M	Tyldesley	Huw	2m	FM
GW7AAU/M	Connahs Quay	Helen	2m	FM
GW0DSP/M	Connahs Quay	Mike	2m	FM
GW1SXN	Caernarfon	Patrick	2m	FM
M0EIQ/M	Ashton-under-Lyne	Dick	2m	FM
M3PUE	Liverpool	Tony	2m	FM
G0DSP/P	Sealand	Mike	2m	FM
M3WKC	Shrewsbury	Alistair	2m	FM

Liam's cold wasn't up to a full day out on Sunday 7th October 2007. Neither was a leaky valve in my car engine's cooling system. So after a pleasantly good Sunday lunch at The Chilli Banana (Thai) restaurant in Macclesfield, Jimmy, Liam and I went to do the local 'double' - The Cloud G/SP-015 and Gun G/SP-013. It was necessary for us to kill a few more hours before Marianne awoke from her pre-night-shift kip.

Soon into Jimmy's 2m FM activation, no less than 3 S2S contacts presented themselves - Steve G1INK/P on Easington Fell G/SP-012, Gerald G4OIG/P on Dodd Fell Hill G/NP-016 and Ron GW4EVX/P on Foel Fenlli GW/NW-051. Jimmy worked all three before letting his Dad have a go.

Unfortunately, all three stations scarpered pretty quickly, and I failed in my attempts to call any of them back. To be fair to Gerald, he did report that the weather was closing in, and I have experienced just that on Dodd Fell myself - it is not pleasant.

Therefore I opened up, as per my alert, on 70cm. G6GVI, Ross in Bolton was first up, as he very often is on this band, followed by G1INK/P, Steve still on Easington Fell G/SP-012. So at least one of the S2S was salvaged, and nice to get one on 70cm. After a couple of contacts on 2m, I followed Jimmy and Liam back down to Cloudside, from where we set off for Gun G/SP-013. Thanks to the following stations:

GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike	2m	FM	J
M3OUA	Sale	Les	2m	FM	J, T
M3PXW	Ellesmere Port	Barry	2m	FM	J
G1INK/P	Easington Fell SP-012	Steve	2m	FM	J
G4OIG/P	Dodd Fell Hill NP-016	Gerald	2m	FM	J
GW4EVX/P	Foel Fenlli NW-051	Ron	2m	FM	J
G6GVI	Bolton	Ross	70cm	FM	T
G1INK/P	Easington Fell SP-012	Steve	70cm	FM	T
M1DOA/M	Tunstall	Shawn	2m	FM	T

Saturday 10th November 2007. We had been stuck in the house all day. We had some shopping to do. Marianne and Liam were bedding in for their Saturday evening entertainment of You've Been Framed!, X Factor and Family Fortunes. "Fancy a walk with the headtorches?" I asked Jimmy. Within 30 seconds, we were both in the car!

There was no moonlight, and so the headtorches were essential. We carried a hand torch as back-up as well. Jimmy didn't bother with his rucksack, but I donned mine, merely for the facility of being able to use the SOTAbeams RSS - Rucksack Special antenna.

Despite the very calm conditions at ground level in Macclesfield, and indeed at the Cloudside parking spot, it was extremely windy on the summit. It took a while to train Jimmy in the art of sheltering the microphone on the VX-7R from the wind noise!

Incoming reports for both the signal and the audio were excellent, and in particular, Frank G6TNO in Heywood, Lancashire, was amazed at the strength and audio quality coming from a handheld, without speaker mic, running 2.5 watts. Richard G3CWI also commented that my signal was up on the usual even in nearby Macclesfield, adding that "you are not known for your strong signals"!

A total of 15 contacts were made, before we began the dark descent. Most stations were amateurs just tuned to S20 en spec, but a few did come in from SOTAwatch Spots. We left the summit, and it was at this pointed that I noticed how slow progress is in the dark compared with daylight, even on a very familiar route and with good headtorches.

Upon returning home, we were treated to welcome bowls of Marianne's homemade tomato, chickpea and chorizo soup, with freshly baked garlic bread and Belgian wheatbeer. Marianne's Saturday night telly was still in full swing with the end of Family Fortunes and the X Factor results, but come 11 o'clock, Jimmy and I were back in front of the box for Match of the Day. A nice evening! Thanks to the following stations, all worked on 2m FM with 5 watts:

G0CSX	Macclesfield	Oss	T, J
GW7AAV	Connahs Quay	Steve	T, J
M3OUA	Sale	Les	T, J
G6TNO	Heywood	Frank	T, J
G3CWI	Macclesfield	Richard	T, J
M0PER	Willaston	Alan	T
M3MQW	Old Trafford	Dave	T
M5AFE	Rochdale	Jack	T
G8HXE	Urmston	Keith	T
M0DWQ	Warrington	Roger	T

A Cloud Nightmare on Saturday 1st December 2007? Don't worry, it wasn't really. For those of newer into SOTA, I had a bit of a running theme, giving my activation reports on the old Yahoogroup reflector titles of this "nightmare" or that "nightmare". Nothing bad ever really happened, just the occasional humorous mishaps and scrapes that happen to us all. However, I used to take the mickey out of myself in my reports, exaggerate everything in true farce style. It was only 3 or 4 years later that I learned that our esteemed founders, John G3WGV and Richard G3CWI, had been greatly concerned about this inexperienced half-wit they had encouraged into the mountains, with his two young children! I still feel a bit bad about managing to convince them I was less capable than I actually was, and causing them to worry about me!

Anyway, to cut a short story long, I managed the most unbelievable piece of incompetence today. I made a navigational error, went 1km away from where I should have been and got briefly lost. Without a map or compass. ON MY LOCAL SUMMIT THAT I HAVE ACTIVATED 103 TIMES - Yes, The Cloud G/SP-015.

We'll return to that regrettable episode later. Today was a Liam day. Jimmy was off to Wood Vale, Formby, for some flying over the Merseyside coast with the ATC. Marianne was to be in bed, undisturbed all day between two night shifts.

After dropping Jimmy off at his coach pick-up point at 7.05am (earlier than I get out of bed on a work day - most unwelcome), I returned to get Liam up and out. We first drove up to the Trentabank Ranger Centre in the heart of the Macclesfield Forest. This was to confirm a work experience placement for Jimmy, but it unfortunately fell through while we were there. Back to the drawing board on that one. At least we did have a fine breakfast from the van there - Povey's Staffordshire Oatcakes, filled with local Buxton farm bacon, Ashbourne mushrooms and Stilton sauce. Fab.

A couple of other work experience possibilities for Jimmy were National Trust at Alderley Edge, and Bollin Valley Trust. We drove to those in turn, and indulged in a little walking at each. There were not any staff on either site to talk to, so I decided to stop chasing this particular issue, and resume it on Monday when other people are also more likely to be at work.

Liam was enjoying his outdoorsy day out with his daddy all to himself for a change, and requested "a circular walk on The Cloud with no SOTA activation". I negotiated with him that we changed the word "no" to the word "a", and he had a deal.

No sooner had I parked the car, and Liam was racing away up the driveway and staircase on the initial approach to the summit. Without his sac, coat or dad. That left me to scrabble a few things together for him as well as my own stuff. Half of which I couldn't find amongst the jumble sale that is my parcel shelf, and then I couldn't prise the PL259 connector (for the 2/70 mobile aerial on magmount) off my FT-817. Thankfully, I keep a multi-function tool in my rucksack, so I shaped this into the pliers configuration, and wrenched off the plug.

Liam was probably on the summit already by the time I was actually able to commence my own ascent. When I did reach the summit, I couldn't see Liam. Then I spotted him nearly at the edge of the wood on the descent route we had agreed. He was obviously not honouring the deal! I coaxed him back with the bribe of a Capri-Sun and a Soft-Bake bar.

We settled down into a slightly lower section close to the trig point and the steep escarpment edge, to shelter from the stiff cold wind. Liam hunkered down into his own depression. I set up the 3-element SOTA Beam, horizontally polarised, on the fishing pole. I got out the FT-817, connected it to the 7Ah SLAB, and left the microphone in the side pocket of the rucksack. Let's see what a 2m CW activation, without advertisements on other bands/modes, can do.

It wasn't bad, but it wasn't stunning either. Four stations were worked, three of whom are now regular members of my "2m CW Gang". I was pushing myself at 17wpm, but when I embarrassed myself by copying M0COP as "M1DAP", I took a bite of my humble pie and reduced the speed a bit. After working Peter GW0VLN in Mold, we were getting cold, so it was time to pack up and get off.

We set off down the track by the wall, and into the wood at the bottom. We had ascended on this path once before, but never descended. It seemed to go on for quite a long time. The lie of the land, directions of the towns of Biddulph, Mow Cop and Congleton, and positions of the roads all seemed illogical. When I noticed a waymark for the Gritstone Trail I knew we had gone wrong!

We climbed back up all the way through the wood to a corner just a few hundred yards from where we entered it. And here was the stile that took us out of the wood onto a short grassy path across to the farmhouse at the top of the access road back down to the Cloudside parking area! By which time it was almost dark. We actually enjoyed the extra exercise. I have noticed that Liam strides out much faster and more enthusiastically when Jimmy is not around. He is also more motivated when he has had a say in the choice of walk, and the route. Many thanks to the following stations, all worked on 2m CW with 5 watts:

G4BLH	Brierfield	Mike
GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike
M0COP	Church Stretton	Pete
GW0VLN	Mold	Peter