I was back on the evening of Tuesday 13th January 2009 for the RSGB 70cm Activity Contest. The outward journey was delayed due to having to collect a scouts neckerchief and woggle for Jimmy, but I was commencing by ascent, by torchlight, at 7.45pm.

The direction of the gentle but cold breeze, together with the areas of soft ground that would take a peg, dictated that my mast, and myself, were parked right on the Eastern edge of the summit. This afforded a great view of the nearly full moon rising up over The Roaches and a star-studded sky. I was perfectly comfortable here so did not deploy the bothy bag, although it was always an option.

With a chocolate-covered Kendal Mint Cake for company, I made 26 contacts on 70cm SSB, then a couple on 70cm FM. It was quite a good night in terms of the number of QSOs for this band, but not in terms of DX, which was non-existent. The nearest thing to DX was M0GHZ at 195km.  It was a reasonable night's work, and just before 10pm I packed up and descended by the relatively meagre light of the spare torch - the main one had just run out of charge. However, the night was still brightly moonlit, so progress was easy enough.

The drive home was broken up by a rare stint of repeater chatting (GB3MN 2m and GB3MR 70cm), and a nip into the Harrington Arms in Gawsworth for pint of Robinsons Mr Scrooge Humbug ale and a bag of root vegetable crisps.  Many thanks to everyone that called in:

It was high time I did a pre-work dawn activation again, so I did so on Friday 13th February 2009. Going to bed at half-past midnight with a couple of bottles of the excellent Wells Banana Bread Ale inside me was not compatible with a 6am start though.  Imagine my surprise therefore, to be awake and alert at 0555z. My surprise continued with the discovery of a calm dry morning, the opposite of what the forecasters had led me to believe.

In fact everything went like clockwork until I arrived at Cloudside to find a white van parked along the parking area, taking up three spaces. I just about managed to squeeze my car in with the correct/more considerate orientation behind him, still leaving access room for the gate. As I got out my rucksack from the back seat, one of its plastic clips pinged against the close-by white van, resulting in a series of incoherent yells from its driver.

The ascent was pleasant in the cool morning air, and considerably less icy than it had been on Tuesday night. I enjoyed the walk, and although I was wearing my headtorch, there was no need to turn it on.  On summit, I set up the 80m dipole and was QRV by 0708 UTC. I sheltered on the Congleton side of the topograph and enjoyed a comfortable operating position with a panoramic view of the wakening bear(town).

What sounded like a big pile-up was in fact the simultaneous calls of LA1ENA, DL4FDM and G0AZS. After working all three, the frequency fell silent, so a couple of unanswered calls later I went to SSB. This portion of 80m was busy as usual, but I found a reasonable slot on 3.661MHz. However, no-one answered the calls on SSB.

I returned to 3.557MHz CW, but still no responses, although I later noted that Marc G0AZS had tracked my move to SSB and back to CW on SOTAwatch - thanks Marc. I dropped down towards 3.500MHz to see who was calling CQ. I answered one from CT3FT which was very satisfying, and was then called by F6ACD.

Just after 7.30am, I packed up the HF station, and was bang on cue when calling on 2m and 70cm FM at 0745z. Response here was nil. It was now a very bright morning with a beautiful sunrise over Gun G/SP-013. I enjoyed my descent and drove to work pleased with the activation. It was only five contacts, but it's quality not quantity!

Saturday 14th February 2009 saw a good activation with a strange ending. Jimmy, Liam and I ascended from Cloudside and enjoyed the crisp fresh morning air in temperatures of 4 degrees Celcius. I set up with an operating position viewing East towards Sutton Common and The Roaches for a pleasant vista.

It was 80m this morning, with Jimmy doing the SSB and me concentrating on CW. It was good fun with plenty of contacts between us, despite the very last minute announcement of intention - Jimmy self-spotting en route in the car.  Plenty of walkers passed by and showed interest in our activity. They were all fascinated, and one even remarked "Blimey, short wave ham radio, I thought all that had stopped years ago!".

Until a gentlemen, a rather large chap, and his wife arrived, and from my operating position, I could hear him ranting at the topograph; "What an eyesore", "Well it shouldn't be there" etc. He gave me daggers as he settled down to eat his picnic on the trig point base, with his wife and two dogs. I started packing away. No-one was calling after John G4WSX anyway.

I got the impression that he was in a bad mood and wanted a confrontation. Sure enough, as I was winding in a dipole leg, he addressed me for the first time. "Have you got a licence for that?" he asked. "Yes" I replied. "But this is National Trust property and you shouldn't be doing that". I told him that in actual fact it was accepted on a temporary and low-impact basis, but that I respected the fact that he didn't like it, and was therefore packing up. A process I explained to him, that would take no more than four minutes.

However, he definitely was up for an argument, and started asking me if I had public liability insurance in case one of the wires landed on his wife's head and injured her! Then the most remarkable thing happened. The other walkers, of which there were now quite a few, chipped in and supported me!

I guess they had heard enough of this chap's bleating and confrontation, and started on him! He was asked if he had insurance for his dogs, or written NT permission to eat his picnic on the trigpoint! "Don't be so ridiculous" one of the walkers told him, "This spot is for everyone to come out and enjoy whatever they do". Another lady walker added "I think it's really interesting what they're doing, leave them alone".

Then to top it all, his own wife gave him a ticking off, saying "Oh pack it in, they're doing nothing wrong". At last, he went silent, although his face went purple and the steam was puffing out of his ears!  I chuckled to myself as Jimmy, Liam and I trotted down the hill. The morning mini-expedition was rounded off with a nice lunch purchased from Danebridge Chippy in Congleton.

But what a weird turn of events. An extremely rare expression of disapproval from a passer-by, and an unexpected strong show of support from all the other walkers.

And if I like The Cloud so much, why not go out and activate it (again)?  So on Monday 16th February 2009, that is what I did. Jimmy M3EYP, Liam and myself had a few hours to kill, and as it turned out, so did Richard G3CWI.  After a brief deliberation in the car about which of the three local summits to do, we settled on The Cloud G/SP-015, swayed by the choice of after-activation hostelry.

It was quite busy at Cloudside, but enough room to park. On the summit, Richard deployed his little-used SB MFD for 2m FM, while Jimmy and I set up the new M0GIA portable 20m vertical.  Jimmy opened up on 20m SSB, working a SOTA chaser HA5UG and was then called by W1OW from Douglas near Boston MA. What a result! However, Jimmy was unable to attract further calls on the very crowded SSB portion of the 20m band, so I took over on 20m CW.

I worked plenty of stations, known SOTA chasers and others alike. DX came in from RA9, UA2, VE and two from the USA. Other countries worked included YU, 9A, EU, OH, plus SOTA chasers Mike DJ5AV and Phil G4OBK. Jimmy then resumed on SSB working Jozsef HA6OD, but couldn't get any more.  Liam spent his time exploring the area in front of the trig point a few feet lower down.

After packing away and descending, we drove to the Harrington Arms in Gawsworth for an excellent pint of Robbie's Trouble & Strife and bag of pork scratchings each. A nice day out - and some DX too!

My own "adventure", in the cloud on The Cloud took place on the evening of Tuesday 24th February 2009. It was the 6m week in the RSGB Activity Contest schedule, and thus I set up the Delta Loop on summit around 8pm.  It was quite mild at 7 degrees at that time, but a few spots of rain were beginning, so I deployed the bothy bag anyway. In there I was warm and cosy with my flask of Cadbury's hot chocolate, and a good job, for I ended up staying nearly the duration of the contest, only going QRT at 10.20pm.

Conditions were not brilliant, in fact some contesters were heard to remark that they were "very poor". But I did overhear Nick M1DDD/P up in Flash (Britain's highest village at 1518 feet) working a Dutch station, and activity levels were pretty good.

Without checking, I am sure I got my own PB on the 6m contest, with 33 QSOs and 11 square multipliers. Best DX was Don G0RQL in IO70 (295km), but GW6TEO in IO71 and EI3IO in IO63WF were not far behind. The log included 11 known SOTA chasers amongst the 33 QSOs, which was pleasing, and a highlight was working two stations on 50.090MHz CW just before 10pm - still no DX though.

Although my score of 38,000+ will be my best effort on the 6m AC to date, it was still barely a third of Nick M1DDD's, who topped the Claimed Scores on the Restricted section at midnight last night. Somehow, "restricted" to 100 watts doesn't seem all that "restricted" to me hi!

I was starting to get slightly cold in the bothy bag when I took the decision to call it a night at 10.20pm, and it was significantly cooler once outside and packing the antenna away. I descended in thick fog that acted as a barrier to my headtorch, and very light snow. The Harrington Arms at Gawsworth provided a "wind-down" pint of Robbies' Trouble & Strife.  Mine was tucked up in bed by the time I got home.

Many thanks to all that called me.

Sean M0GIA and I returned to The Cloud by headtorches on Sunday night, 1st March 2009, to test out the latest configuration of Sean's 160m portable antenna. This is an "inverted tick" fed at the bottom of the SOTA pole, with a loading coil and a counterpoise.  It was cold when we summitted, and an uncomfortable breeze acroos the summit wasn't helping. Hence we took ourselves to the "hole" further along to gain a little more shelter.

Initial results were poor, with only SSB contacts with the Shetland Isles (GZ) and CW into the "hardly DX" locations of Macclesfield and Wilmslow. Sean identified a possible problem with the patch lead between 817 and Z100 ATU, after which thngs improved, albeit only slightly.  We went on to make several more SSB contacts, including SOTA regular Frank G3RMD, and DK4A in the 160m SSB contest. Unfortunately, most of the contest stations couldn't hear us. After the contest finished at 10pm, I tried some calls on 1.832MHz CW. During the contest, SSB activity was spilling all the way down to 1.810MHz. I worked SM6CMU, but that was it, and we packed up on what was now an extremely cold summit.

We had a listen on 20m while we were up there, and were impressed to hear several clear signals from the USA that we would never get at home at that time. This strengthened my resolve to try some 20m greyline or even darkness work done soon.  The short journey home was broken with a quick pint of Robbie's Trouble & Strife at the Harrington Arms, Gawsworth.  Thanks to all who called us:

I did have a few seconds of doubt as I looked out of the window after our evening meal on Tuesday 28th April 2009. It was lashing it down! It was only brief doubt though, and I left as usual at 7pm to drive down through North Rode to Cloudside.  Ascending the "Stairway to Heaven", I was astonished to see the huge piles of freshly dropped hailstones! So astonished, it seemed, that I managed to forget the pole. Halfway up the stairs, I had to turn back and retrieve it from the car. The extra exercise will do me good I reasoned to myself.

I should have been set up with ten minutes to spare before the contest start time of 8pm, but a couple of stubborn tangles set me back. As it was, I was QRV bang on 8pm. The going was slow with only 4 QSOs in the first 25 minutes. Things then picked up with 24 QSOs rammed into the next 40 minutes.

Six locator squares were worked - JO03, IO82, IO83, IO91, IO92 and IO93, and the best DX was 199km to G0XDI in IO91RQ. Increasing availability of daylight made things easier, but the headtorch was necessary by 9pm. By 9.10pm, I had to pack up and return home. I normally work right through to 10.30pm local - the end of the contest window - these days, but Marianne had to go to work, meaning I had to be home by 9.50pm.  Which I was.  Mission accomplished.  Nice to work a few SOTA people; thanks to all for calling in.