The Cloud 2017

A nice activation on Sunday 5th February 2017. Cold and sunny with nice views, apart from a chemical factory on fire in Stoke (Hanley).

I was then off to see the brilliant Stu Clark for a guitar concert in Lymm. Check him out on YouTube!

Time	Call	Band	Mode	S2S
09:01z	GW4ZAR	433MHz	SSB
09:02z	M0OMB	433MHz	SSB
09:04z	G3TDH	433MHz	SSB
09:06z	M1DDD/P	433MHz	SSB
09:06z	GD8EXI	433MHz	SSB
09:13z	G4FSU/P	433MHz	SSB
09:15z	M0WYB/P	433MHz	SSB
09:23z	G3PYE/P	433MHz	SSB
09:28z	G4HVC	433MHz	SSB
09:33z	G3TBK/P	433MHz	SSB
09:36z	G0ODQ	433MHz	SSB
09:38z	G8DOH	433MHz	SSB
09:39z	G8REQ	433MHz	SSB
09:41z	2W0JYN	433MHz	SSB
09:42z	M6ANY/P	433MHz	SSB
09:43z	G4JLG	433MHz	SSB
09:45z	G1JPV	433MHz	SSB
09:48z	GW3ATZ	433MHz	SSB
09:59z	G2BQY/P	433MHz	SSB
10:08z	M0AFJ	433MHz	CW
10:16z	G6UW	433MHz	SSB
10:20z	G3SQQ	433MHz	SSB
10:32z	M6VMS/P	144MHz	FM	G/NP-022
10:35z	M0CQE	144MHz	FM
10:39z	M6VMS/P	433MHz	SSB
10:41z	GW8ASD	433MHz	SSB
10:45z	M0CQE	433MHz	FM
10:56z	G0KEN	433MHz	FM
10:59z	G0SVY	433MHz	FM
11:00z	G0CPJ	433MHz	FM
11:03z	G0TFL	433MHz	FM
11:04z	MW1FGQ	433MHz	FM
11:07z	G4MWC	144MHz	FM
11:08z	G4MWC	433MHz	FM
11:09z	G3BSA	433MHz	FM
11:10z	G0OHY/P	433MHz	FM
11:11z	2E0KOL	433MHz	FM
11:39z	GW4EVX	433MHz	SSB
11:49z	G4HGI	433MHz	SSB
11:51z	G4ERO	433MHz	SSB
12:02z	G8CUL	433MHz	SSB
12:04z	M0VAA/P	433MHz	SSB
12:13z	G4ASR	433MHz	SSB
12:16z	G4ODA	433MHz	SSB
12:19z	M1MHZ	433MHz	SSB
12:24z	G4TJC/P	433MHz	SSB
12:32z	G4GFI	433MHz	SSB
12:37z	GW3TKH/P	433MHz	SSB
12:39z	G3MEH	433MHz	SSB
12:41z	G5BBL/P	433MHz	SSB
12:55z	M0GHZ/P	433MHz	SSB

It was subzero as I departed from the car on Cloudside at 7.20pm on Thursday 9th February 2017. The temperature only dropped from that moment, but thankfully only at a very gradual rate. Finding ground that would take a peg to guy the mast was taxing. I found my flask of hot coffee most welcome through the evening, and I treated myself to a pint of ale in the Harrington Arms, Gawsworth, on the way home afterwards.

55 QSOs were made. Several stations were called repeatedly, but they couldn't hear me. That phenomenon is actually quite rare for me, even with my FT-817 and 5 watts. A couple of these were GMs and I missed IO75 and IO85 as a result. That rules me out from any hope of being competitive then, not to mention never finding GI4SNA in IO64. A couple of stations in IO72 were heard, but not worked. Frustrating in that I heard a lengthy KST-scheduled attempt between GW0GEI in IO72 and G8XVJ - not sure if it came off, but not while I was listening. I tried my luck at going back to GEI who I was hearing well when XVJ clearly couldn't hear him - but to no avail.

I also heard IN99, IO80 and JO01 out there, again with none finding my log. So overall, an underwhelming night - and a cold one! Squares worked: IO73, 81, 82, 83, 84, 86, 91, 92, 93, 94, JO02. This was my first experience of a /P UKAC in 2017 under the new arrangements. First impressions: Thursday: bobbins (5th contest in 5 days meant I could only join in with 2 of them). B2: bobbins (less squares calling CQ than normal, pile-ups on all GM frequencies). General / Local: bobbins (removal of motivation!) KST allowed: bobbins (too many desirable stations being "unavailable" for long periods, trying to complete a KST schedule).

That most despised of activating protocols, the "Smash & Grab", the "Four and Run", call it what you will. With a 2m FM handheld and rubber duck antenna, of course. That's what did on Friday 17th February 2017. I decided to flag it up on the SOTA Reflector with a bit of notice, as if just watching the spots, it could have been a case of "blink and you'll miss it". No school teaching or gigging this day, so needed a little fresh air, if nothing else. Following the activation, I continued south into Stoke-on-Trent for a game of football with my old teaching colleagues and friends.

Nasty activation on The Cloud G/SP-015 on the morning of Thursday 2nd March 2017. Even the path up there was a mudplug; goodness knows what state Gun G/SP-013 was in. Even the concrete steps were buried under 2 inches of mud. Forecast was for the rain to have stopped - however, stop it did not. The new 10m travel mast from SOTABEAMS went up well and was surprisingly easy to use. The sky however was not in a similarly cooperative mood, and nothing whatsoever could be heard across 20m - except for a ZD7 coming in very loud on SSB. What's all that about? Sadly, I didn't have a microphone with me to try and work him.

Towards 0830z, and a few weak signals began to appear on 20m. I was a bit concerned as the skimmers that were spotting were only doing so with reports of 2 or 3 dB SNR. RV9DC was first into the logbook. I then called in response to a weak CQ from a Ukrainian station, who worked me immediately. The only other entry in my logbook was friend Terry G3RKF from up the road in Bramhall. A few weak CQ calls from China could now be heard, but I was getting fed up. I had taken my 10m/6m trap vertical with me to check out - mainly to see how it configured with the travel mast ahead of the EA8 holiday. Good job I did. I had forgotten it was in a poor state of repair - and indeed had forgotten to repair it!

I packed up and thought things couldn't get any worse. I shouldn't have thought that. Halfway down, I slipped on some mud and ended up with a splashdown into a filthy muddy puddle. I was now caked in mud! Local residents were 'phoning BBC Radio Stoke with reports of an earth tremor. My next job was to work out how to drive myself home without transferring too much mud from my clothes to my car. My bothy bag was far too wet to sit on, and I was reluctant to remove my trousers for fear of being arrested. My jacket was used to sit on and provide a protective layer between my car upholstery and The Creature From The Black Lagoon.

Saturday 11th March 2017 was nominated as a VK/ZL to EU S2S event. Well I HEARD 3 JA stations, several VK stations including 3 SOTA activators, and one very strong ZL chaser. My 5 watts wasn't making the return trip though today. The summary from The Cloud G/SP-015 was as follows:

I can report that 70cm SOTA is alive and well. I did an activation on the evening of Tuesday 14th March 2017 and made a total of 75 contacts - 16 on FM, 1 on CW and 58 on SSB.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
19:07z	M0CQE	433MHz	FM
19:08z	GW8ASD	433MHz	FM
19:09z	2W0JYN	433MHz	FM
19:11z	G0CDA	433MHz	FM
19:23z	G4VPD	433MHz	FM
19:25z	G4VFL/P	433MHz	FM
19:27z	G4PGJ	433MHz	FM
19:30z	2W0MLG	433MHz	FM
19:32z	G8ZRE	433MHz	FM
19:33z	M6SEC/P	433MHz	FM
19:33z	M1MLM/P	433MHz	FM
19:38z	G7CFS	433MHz	FM
19:39z	G0CWM	433MHz	FM
19:41z	G4TGQ	433MHz	FM
19:56z	M5AFG	433MHz	FM
19:58z	M0NVS/P	433MHz	FM
20:03z	M1MHZ	433MHz	SSB
20:04z	G3UBX	433MHz	SSB
20:09z	G3UVR	433MHz	SSB
20:11z	M0OMB	433MHz	SSB
20:12z	GW8ASD	433MHz	SSB
20:13z	G3KAF	433MHz	SSB
20:14z	M5AFG	433MHz	SSB
20:15z	G8ONK	433MHz	SSB
20:16z	G2ANC	433MHz	SSB
20:16z	G8BFF	433MHz	SSB
20:17z	M0XGS	433MHz	SSB
20:18z	G4NTY	433MHz	SSB
20:19z	G3TDH	433MHz	SSB
20:20z	G4IOQ	433MHz	SSB
20:20z	G4AQB	433MHz	SSB
20:21z	G8HXE/P	433MHz	SSB
20:22z	G4APJ	433MHz	SSB
20:24z	G4NBS	433MHz	SSB
20:25z	G3TBK	433MHz	SSB
20:27z	M0AFJ	433MHz	SSB
20:28z	G4JLG	433MHz	SSB
20:29z	G8BYB	433MHz	SSB
20:30z	G4VFL/P	433MHz	SSB
20:31z	2W0JYN	433MHz	SSB
20:32z	G3WRA/P	433MHz	SSB
20:34z	M1MLM/P	433MHz	SSB
20:35z	GD8EXI	433MHz	SSB
20:36z	G8VXJ	433MHz	SSB
20:37z	G0ODQ	433MHz	SSB
20:39z	G4GFI	433MHz	SSB
20:42z	GW4ZAR/P	433MHz	SSB
20:44z	G4CLA	433MHz	SSB
20:47z	G1YBB/P	433MHz	SSB
20:48z	2E0DXK/P	433MHz	SSB
20:50z	G8HAV/P	433MHz	SSB
20:59z	G8PNN/P	433MHz	SSB
21:02z	G0UUU/P	433MHz	SSB
21:07z	G8ZRE	433MHz	SSB
21:07z	G4BRK	433MHz	SSB
21:08z	G6DOD/P	433MHz	SSB
21:09z	G0CDA	433MHz	SSB
21:11z	G0HEL/P	433MHz	SSB
21:13z	M0RKX/P	433MHz	SSB
21:17z	G4EII	433MHz	SSB
21:21z	G0BRC	433MHz	SSB
21:24z	G3YDY	433MHz	SSB
21:24z	G3VLG/P	433MHz	SSB
21:25z	G3XPU	433MHz	SSB
21:26z	G4FRK	433MHz	SSB
21:27z	G4RUL/P	433MHz	SSB
21:29z	G0CZR	433MHz	SSB
21:32z	G8REQ	433MHz	SSB
21:33z	M1CNK	433MHz	SSB
21:39z	G7LRQ	433MHz	SSB
21:58z	M0WBG	433MHz	SSB
22:06z	F1BHL/P	433MHz	SSB
22:09z	G8BUN	433MHz	SSB
22:22z	G3MEH	433MHz	CW
22:28z	G4CZP/P	433MHz	SSB

Not bad, not bad. 8 QSOs on 20m PSK31 on Friday 17th March 2017. This included at least 5 active chasers and 2 US stations. Followed by 4 QSOs (including 2 more US) on 20m CW.

That was "fun". Monday 20th March 2017, and Liam had a social event in Congleton 1800-2000z, so I thought I'd do a bit of SOTA PSK from The Cloud G/SP-015. I realised upon parking up that I'd left my coat at home - along with useful items such as hat, gloves, pencil and headtorch which were all in its pockets. I did have the bothy bag though, which would be good for an extra 5 degrees of warmth while operating, so I decided to go for it anyway.

I walked to the summit and set up the SOTAbeams Bandhopper 4 linked dipole, set first for 20m. It was getting a bit chilly outdoors in the breeze without a coat on, but once inside the bothy bag, it was relatively comfortable. I self-spotted and called CQ for a while on 14.074MHz PSK31, but to no avail. The waterfall was busy with strong signals, so I picked one of them and responded to the CQ call. RW3TT was worked, and the activation could now be deemed to have occurred!

I opened the first set of links, self-spotted again, and called CQ on 10.142MHz PSK31. No response from chasers again, and now no time to move down to 40m either (which may have been a better band for EU). It had only just turned 7pm, but I was mindful of packing away in the dark, descending a very muddy and slippery path in even more dark, and picking Liam up on time. The packaway went well, though I did concentrate hard on it in rapidly deteriorating light and no torch. The descent was painstakingly slow and I was particularly mindful of the muddy and greasy patches noted on the way up earlier. It was a relief to reach the top of the staircase without slipping over into a huge filthy puddle just before it - as I had done fairly recently! It was a further relief to be at the foot of those stairs and with just a short walk along a vehicle access track back to the car. I arrived at Liam's venue at 1950z, so adjourned to the pub next door for a very swift pint of ale. Now, where did I put that coat...?

Just 3 good QSOs as it turned out - SA4BLM and M0HGY on 30m PSK31 and K2EQ on 20m PSK31. Also written in my logbook were HB9DQM and SV2OXS, both fine signals with me, but nothing heard from either after I went back with my reports. Activation was generally unstraightforward. I had a couple of mast collapses, one resulting in fatal damage to two sections of the SOTA Pole. That has been made back up now with sections from old poles. Usually when this happens, the section I need is not amongst my spares, meaning I need to but a new pole, but happily today (or unhappily for SOTABEAMS) I had what I needed.

I also shattered the acrylic dipole centre piece from my Bandhopper 4 antenna in this wave of destruction. This had never happened to me before, but then someone goes and starts a thread about it, and it happens on virtually the next activation. Darn you, whoever started that discussion! I was using a length of Aircell 7 cable as a feeder extension, and noted an intermittent in one of the connectors too. Using my LifePO4 battery back to apply pressure in a certain direction got me through the activation, but I'll have to check that out before the next VHF activity contest outing. I too noted the considerable RTTY activity on 40m and thought I ought to get DroidRTTY installed on my phone, and maybe DroidSSTV as well. I was talking with G3CWI about JT65 yesterday as well. Much to mull over.

Thursday 13th April 2017 After working in EA8 recently, EA7 seemed cold when we arrived there on the tour. It warmed up a bit when we moved onto EA5. Here's a clip from the opening of that show (feel free to ignore / skip!)

Well if I thought Marbella was nippy, you can imagine the shock to the system that 4.5 degrees on the summit of The Cloud G/SP-015 was! Of course, normally, that would be a relatively comfortable and mild night for me in a UK activity contest. On this occasion however, I did feel the cold! I certainly wasn't as organised as I should have been, and my mobile phone was nearly out of charge as I arrived on summit. This was unclever, especially as interaction with the ON4KST website is now permitted in these contests. Fortunately, I had my SOTAbeams Phonepole with me, so I could charge up my Samsung Galaxy S3 from my Tracer LifePO4 battery during my activation. I think this is a discontinued product, but instructions to build your own are online: http://www.sotabeams.co.uk/content/Phonepolebuild.pdf3

It was another discontinued SOTAbeams product I was using as the aerial, the SB6 Moxon. In days gone by, rotating the antenna (essential in UKACs) was a laborious process involving getting up from the operating position and repegging two guylines of the delta loop! Anyway, 59 contacts were made, all SSB except for one on CW. DXCCs worked were F, G, GW, GM, GI and GD. Squares worked were IN99, IO64, IO72, IO73, IO74, IO81, IO82, IO83, IO86, IO91, IO92, IO93, IO94, JO01 and JO02. Many more squares were there for the taking (IO75, IO80, IO84, IO85, IO90, JO03 etc) but I just couldn't track them down! The last half hour was particularly slow, and my logbook showed a gap between QSO #58 @ 2109z and QSO #59 @ 2129z - I particularly felt the cold through that twenty minutes! Nonetheless it was good to be back activating again after a huge (for me) 20 day gap since my last one! A pint of ale and a beef pie at the Harrington Arms, Gawsworth on the way home helped me to warm back up a bit.

A little stroll up to The Cloud G/SP-015 with Liam on Thursday 27th April 2017, as a result of having nowt better to do. The sky was threateningly grey but thankfully hardly any rain while we were out. Liam still accepted use of the bothy bag though to keep a bit warmer while playing his games console. My intention was 30m PSK31 and CW, so not sure how I inexplicably alerted for 14MHz. In any case, it was not to be. The connector end of the feeder had developed an intermittent which was impossible to fix, as much as I tried. So no HF.

Instead, I made 3 contacts on 2m FM on the VX7R handheld before descending. The Harrington Arms at Gawsworth was shut on the way back so we ended up meeting Jimmy M0HGY (on his way home from work) at the Weston pub on our estate. Now to remake the BNC connection on the feeder for the 30m dipole. Upcoming activations will focus on 20m with the GP and 40m with the dipole which are planned as the HF options for our forthcoming GI and GW expeditions.

Too much dawdling on the morning of Friday 28th April 2017 meant that I couldn't undertake the planned HF activation. Again, I had to be on the road for a gig, so it was just the VHF handheld, and two QSOs on 2m FM. Still, even this was twice as good as my activation of Rombalds Moor G/NP-028 later that same day!

So the original plan was to be QRV by 7pm local and win the 2m FMAC. The the next 2.5 hours would be devoted to a top 5 finish in the 2m UKAC. All good intentions...

It was a great night with huge activity, lots of high-scoring bonus squares on offer (as much as I detest the current B2 handicap system) and decent conditions. A great night with 150 QSOs there for the taking by any competent and well-prepared SOTA activator. Unfortunately, that activator was not me... It all started to go wrong when She Who Must Be Obeyed advised me that I was picking Liam up from his vocals lesson, not her. That wiped out any involvement in the FMAC 7-8pm and put me in "last minute" territory for the main UKAC. It was a good job that I therefore decided to make up the SOTAbeams SB5 antenna in advance, so I could just grab it out of the boot and carry it ready-made up the hill... ...Because the two rods for the driven element were missing. I hunted high and low for these after bringing Liam back, eventually finding them, inexplicably, behind the shoe box in the front porch. More time lost.

Fast forward to setting up on The Cloud summit, and me thinking "Why is there only one crocodile clip at the end of that bit of RG58?" There were two when I packed the car earlier. I glanced around the vicinity just in case it had only just come apart there, but no joy. This meant stripping some of the insulation from the core with my teeth, wrapping the wire around the driven element and attaching some tape to try and keep it in place. More time lost. Imagine my (relative) joy when finally switching on and seeing that it was only 1907 UTC. Remarkable with the last minute arrangements and all the time lost that I was only 7 minutes late QRV.

I found a frequency, but no-one was interested in working me. Maybe with all the "exotic" squares on offer, IO83 was just not going to cut it. I went into S&P mode but I had difficulty directing the antenna. The issue was twofold: Firstly I had not got round to replacing the bottom disc in the SOTAbeams rotating guying kit, which blew away on Merryton Low while packing up one very windy night. This isn't normally problematic, but in windy conditions it proved to be, and my telescopic mast kept collapsing in on itself. Secondly, I had somehow pegged the guys out incorrectly so they were getting all twisted at the top, increasing the strain on the mast, and making it nigh on impossible to direct the beam. More time lost. I had made two QSOs by 8.30pm. I could have cried! I kind of got going then, but it was still rather stuttery, and all prospect of competitiveness had evaporated, so the enthusiasm tank was running on empty.

I picked up some nice squares - IN99, IO74, 76, 80, 81, 82, 83, 85, 86, 91, 92, 93, 94, JO00, 01, 02 and 03 - but missed plenty of others - IO64, 72, 73, 75, 84, 87 and 90 for instance, plus Belgium ON which was coming in really strongly. Worse still, I ended on a pathetic 50 QSOs - all 2m SSB except for one on 2m CW. It's a good job that I'm not going to make the 8 sessions for a "full score" this year due to all the gigging, as this performance would have been a "killer blow" for my chances in the overall table. Still the pie and pint at the Harrington Arms, Gawsworth was nice.

In response to recent moans about VHF/UHF activity, I decided to focus on that on Sunday 7th May 2017. But not with a good system or on 2m, oh no. No, I was determined not to have my results dismissed, so I challenged myself further. The band to be used was 70cm, the mode FM, and the equipment just a handheld with rubber duck. So how did I do with all these limitations?

Jimmy was using a proper 2m system with an 817 running 2.5 watts into a SOTAbeams MFD @ 7m on a SOTA Pole. Between the two of us, we made 122 activator QSOs on the day, all VHF/UHF, all FM, all QRP, and most of mine on 70cm with HT & RD! Great day out in the sunshine!

Time	Call	Band	Mode	S2S	Op
14:03z	M0CQE	433MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
14:10z	M0CQE	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:12z	G7ADF	433MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
14:12z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:12z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:13z	M6UKZ	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:14z	2E0FFM	433MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
14:15z	M0PLA/M	433MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
14:15z	M0PLA	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:16z	M0HZX	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:16z	M6UKZ	433MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
14:17z	2E0LKC	433MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
14:18z	EI9GLB	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:20z	G0EWV	433MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
14:21z	M6LZT/P	433MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
14:22z	M0HZX	433MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
14:22z	G0NAJ	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:24z	G4AZS	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:25z	M0WBG/P	144MHz	FM	G/SP-014	M0HGY/P, M1EYP/P
14:28z	G0EWV	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:37z	G4HRG	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:42z	2E0HFE/M	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:43z	M6OAU	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:43z	2E0HFE	433MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
14:45z	M3ISJ	433MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
14:45z	MW1MDH/M	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:46z	M5HFJ	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:46z	MW1MDH/P	433MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
14:47z	M6ISQ	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:48z	G0WRE	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:48z	M5HFJ	433MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
14:51z	M0TXX	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:52z	2E0DTB	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P
14:52z	M0TXX	433MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
14:54z	2E0DTB	433MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
14:59z	M6IFA	433MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
15:09z	M6OAU	144MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
15:10z	M0KZP	144MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
15:10z	G7AMD	144MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
15:13z	M1CNL	144MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
15:14z	G1VTA	144MHz	FM		M1EYP/P
15:07z	EI6KO/P	144MHz	FM	EI/IE-003	M0HGY/P, M1EYP/P
15:15z	G0KEN	144MHz	FM		M0HGY/P, M1EYP/P

It's a "double contest" on the evening of Tuesday 9th May 2017, so even more appropriate for a SOTA Fun Evening, especially with this lovely weather and potential of enhanced conditions on UHF. 1800-1900z (7pm to 8pm BST) it was the FMAC - 433MHz FM event. I expected there would be a mix of vertical and horizontal polarisations in use for this. 1900-2130z (8pm to 10.30pm BST) it was the UKAC - 432MHz activity contest - mainly SSB, but maybe some CW and FM involved as well. It all added up to a rather long 3.5 hour activation for me, which started to drag a bit, not helped by me having to leave the house before the family dinner is served! Still, I copped for a nasty cold the previous day - or so it seemed - so to be feeling immeasurably better 24 hours later was a bonus and I intended to make the most of it.

However, the conditions were bobbins and the temperature dropped like a stone once the sun went down. Conditions were so poor that I thought the RX on my new FT-817 was a bit deaf. Signals were way down on usual and no GM stations were heard all night. The only squares I worked were IO74, 81, 82, 83, 84, 91, 92, 93, 95 and JO01. In the end, I lost the will to carry on any further and pulled the plug 40 minutes early at 2050 UTC. 44 QSOs were made in the main UKAC. Earlier in the FMAC, things were similarly quiet and just 11 contacts went in the logbook. I noticed an uncomfortably high SWR indication while using the front (BNC) connector into the 817. This improved significantly after switching to the rear connector (PL259) via an adaptor. Something to check out there then. So a total of 55 for the activation, 11 on 70cm FM, 43 on 70cm SSB and 1 on 70cm CW.

It was good to catch Phil G0UUU/P (son of John G4YSS) in the 6m contest on Thursday 11th May 2017. I think I had 3 into IO94 which is quite something. It was a pretty lousy night for conditions again though. Just 51 QSOs and squares worked were limited to IO64, 74, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 86, 91, 92, 93 and 94. I didn't get into the JO squares or outside of the UK. Just one GM QSO, which is a poor return for all the searching and calling while beaming that way, enticed by the big bonus squares in Scotland. It was a difficult night with a lively breeze across the summit of G/SP-015, causing repeated difficulties with the guying and use of the mast.

Saturday 13th May 2017 and I had the urge to vary the frequency and wavelength by a scale of magnitude from the previous activation. 5MHz is a band I had paid very little attention to, despite holding an NoV back to its early days. Well I did a 5MHz activation on The Cloud G/SP-015, and very pleasant it was too. I started off on 5262kHz CW, working 5 chasers, then had a further 9 QSOs on 5403.5kHz USB. The last of these was a S2S with Barry MW0IML/P on Sugar Loaf GW/SW-011. I then completed my activation with 7 QSOs on 2m FM using the HT. Driving down the road I could hear Mike 2E0YYY/P calling from Walton Hill G/CE-002. I called a few times, but didn't get through.

So I drove up to Mow Cop, the Cheshire village that sits atop a submarilyn, with several different spots for great take-off in different directions. I chose the car park for the Mow Cop Inn, for best coverage to the south. My 50 watts from the Yaesu FT-8800 mobile transceiver didn't get a reaction from Mike, although Bert M0EOT, just along the same ridge from me got in no problem. A chaser in the West Midlands told me I was a 59 signal with him, as did another down in Herefordshire. Both stations, like Bert before, were heard telling Mike on-air that I was calling him, but Mike replied "can't hear him" to all three. I tried a couple more times before I had to admit another failure and get back to Macclesfield. I needed to drop Liam off in Hurdsfield for a McDonalds outing with his mate. Meanwhile, Jimmy and I went for something a little more palatable at the superb new Sri Lankan cafe/restaurant in Macclesfield - "Portobello Macc". I was very pleased with 60m today, and think now that this will be the HF band of choice for the upcoming Northern Ireland and North Wales SOTA trips.

Well UHF was certainly perfectly adequate for SOTA once again today. Then again, the being the only activation in England on Wednesday 17th May 2017 may have helped ease the qualification!

It wouldn't take Sherlock Holmes to work out why I was the only G activator. The rain never stopped all day. Which is why it was something of a surprise to find a National Trust warden and large working party near the summit of The Cloud G/SP-015 upon my arrival. I was intrigued by their mission!

The Cloud has always been off-limits for cyclists. Well, those that insist on actually riding their bikes over it anyway. Officially that is, according to the signs and bye-laws. Many ignored that, and it would be a rare Tuesday night activation that didn't involve at least two groups of mountain bikers passing over the summit. In recent weeks, the frequency and visibility of the "mountain biking prohibited" notices has markedly increased.

The frequency and visibility of mountain biking has not correspondingly decreased though. So, what was the NT working party up to? Well, digging up and moving a huge boulder it seemed. This was a complex operation, and each slight movement was facilitated by two carefully-positioned rails, a harness, and a tug o' war effort by the working party. Surely this would have been the perfect training camp for the nearby, and world-famous Bosley Wood Treatment Tug of War Club?

The boulder was eventually positioned about a quarter of the way down a path off the summit - a particularly popular one for mountain bike descents of the hill, and suffering rapid erosion damage as a result. It will be interesting to see if it dampens the bikers' enthusiasm. I had originally intended to do another 5MHz activation, but the rain washed away any enthusiasm for such a thing, and I didn't even carry the gear up with me. Just the VX7R handheld in my pocket, and the logbook and pencil in the other.

I did also try 6m FM using the extension to the VX7R's helical antenna, but no-one came back, despite soliciting a spot and even setting up a sked on air. Many thanks to all chasers who called in..

VHF was a breeze again on the morning of Thursday 18th May 2017. And a good job too, because the portion of the HF spectrum for which I brought an antenna - 60m - was far from "alive and well". In total contrast to the other day, it was a struggle to get the three QSOs in 20 minutes of operating. The other stations were reporting severe noise and QSB, although at my end I was not experiencing such difficulties. A fourth station - MI0RTY - was heard really well by me, and the contact was entirely complete, with the exception of him receiving his report from me - so not complete then! Don G0RQL (my first contact) came back on frequency to advise that John MW0XOT was struggling for QSOs on his HEMA (HuMPs Excluding Marilyns Award) activation, and could I provide him with a contact? Of course, I would be happy to help was my reply, although I think John must have got his contacts on 80m as he never did call me on 60m.

There was then a further delay as I chased up that night's gig for which I had been booked, but not heard anything about. The phone call provided me with the information that the gig had been cancelled and they had forgotten to tell me. Pity, I was looking forward to playing at Old Trafford again (not many people can say that hi hi!), but at least it meant I had a night off and didn't have to rush home (my glass is always half-full). I then switched to my VX7R VHF/UHF handheld, and the famine instantly became a feast. Two QSOs on 70cm, preceded by six in as many minutes on 2m FM, including S2S with Dave G3TQQ/P on Calf Top G/NP-022, and Dave GW8NZN/P on Penycloddiau GW/NW-054.

So eleven contacts for this activation, and the almost-daily activations of The Cloud are starting to make me feel slightly less pleb-like, so I must keep them up. Back home, and sorted myself some maths teaching work for the Friday to cover for the lost gig on Thursday. Getting bored with my job is now something from the dim and distant past! I would not be on for the Backpackers that coming Sunday. I would absolutely love to do another full series of the Backpackers Contest, which fits so well with summer SOTA activations, but it wouldn't be this year as I've got gig work most weekends throughout. Ironically, that coming weekend I would gigging Saturday night (Hull), but, unusually, no gig on Sunday. However, Macclesfield Town were playing in the F.A. Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium Sunday afternoon, so that's where I'd be.

No problem today (Friday 2nd June 2017) on The Cloud G/SP-015. Just using the handheld and rubber duck, but a steady rate of 1.5 QSOs per minute throughout the activation. I was going to do 10m or 15m, but the heavens opened upon my arrival on summit, and I couldn't be bothered. Maybe the following morning?

This morning (Saturday 3rd June 2017) it didn't rain and I could be bothered. However the two days of Sp.E did not extend to a third day. Nonetheless, I did 6m and 10m with my trap vertical with GP anyway. Well I did 6m - 3 QSOs - one each into G, GW and TF - but nothing doing on 10m. Then I remembered that this antenna works well on 2m - and it did again, returning many contacts in a short space of time.

Monday 5th June 2017, and I was doing some supply teaching at a school in Newcastle-under-Lyme. So an ideal opportunity for me to relive the old days, and bag an activation of The Cloud on the way home from work! Nine contacts on 2m FM, all just using the VX7R handheld transceiver.

I wanted to make the most of the current conditions on 6m and 10m, so took my 6/10 trap vertical up to Cloud summit on the afternoon of Wednesday 5th June 2017. Results weren't exactly spectacular, but there were some openings into Europe. At quieter times, I took full advantage of the fact that this antenna is viable for use on the 2m band as well. Mike 2E0YYY/P was over on Gun G/SP-013 at the same time, and was really jealous when it was time for me to go and he was continuing his activation. Mike was a great signal on 29MHz FM:

Conditions on 6m and 10m were there, but not spectacular I found. Significantly better than the customary silence on those two bands of course! I used my 6m-10m trap vertical with groundplane - which also performs adequately as a 2m antenna, so it was nice not to have to open/close any links or use an ATU. I had QSOs on 6m CW, 6m SSB, 10m CW, 10m SSB and 2m FM, all with 5 watts. The 6m propagation was all to the East - HA, OK, OM and SP, whereas on 10m there was some of this, but predominantly into DL and EA.

2m FM was as "alive and well" as ever, but the clear highlight was S2S with John GX0OOO/P on Skiddaw G/LD-004. A total of 35 QSOs and 2 SWL logs (28MHz SSB and 29MHz FM of 2E0YYY/P on Gun G/SP-013) for the activation.

It still didn't seem right on a Thursday instead of a Tuesday, but the RSGB Contest Committee seemed to have gone into overdrive with contentious changes this year! And one of them is that the 6m UKAC was now on the 2nd Thursday of each month, instead of the 4th Tuesday.

So was on The Cloud G/SP-015 on the evening of Thursday 8th June 2017 between 8pm and 10.30pm (1900-2130z), and mainly on 50MHz SSB and CW. My 5 watts was getting into Eastern Europe the previous day on 6m, so my fingers were crossed for a bit of life. Even in flat conditions, my 5 watts can make it into all corners of the UK and near-Europe, so with a few Es, who knew what could happen?

Well, as it turned out, Thursday 8th June 2017 was quite an evening on 6m. The Sp. E was better at some times than others, but kept coming back strongly, and was with us right through to my going QRT at 10.30pm BST. Operating from The Cloud G/SP-015 with 5 watts from an FT-817 and a SOTAbeams SB6 Moxon antenna @ 4m, I made 62 QSOs - 2 on 2m FM, 13 on 6m CW and 47 on 6m SSB. DXCCs worked on 6m were DL (1), EA (1), G (35), GI (1), GW (4), HA (5), I (2), OE (1), OK (4), OM (3), S5 (2) and SP (1).

The first hour was hampered by 3 heavy rain showers, so the bothy bag provided essential shelter to allow me to continue operating. I briefly QSY'd to 3m FM on the stroke of 2200 BST to hear the election exit poll, and after the contest started to digest that particular result with the farmers in the Harrington Arms at Gawsworth. There was a new guest ale on called "Socks and Sandals" and it was really good.

Getting home at around 2345 BST, I was surprised to find Marianne still up at this late hour - she's normally in bed long before I get back from a night-time activation. But she was of course watching the election coverage on BBC1 and celebrating the result. No, not the election result, but the other one that came through that day - Liam having passed his Grade 4 vocals with Distinction.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
18:37z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM
18:38z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM
19:05z	G3CWI	50MHz	CW
19:06z	G3RKF	50MHz	CW
19:07z	HA5OW	50MHz	CW
19:11z	OM3CLS	50MHz	CW
19:13z	M0SDV	50MHz	SSB
19:14z	G0LGS/P	50MHz	SSB
19:21z	S57AC	50MHz	SSB
19:22z	GI4SNA	50MHz	SSB
19:26z	GW4BVE	50MHz	SSB
19:27z	GW4ZAR/P	50MHz	SSB
19:36z	G3KAF	50MHz	CW
19:38z	HA5JI	50MHz	CW
19:47z	OM7LW	50MHz	CW
19:48z	G3UVR	50MHz	CW
19:52z	OM8CW	50MHz	CW
19:56z	M0GDX	50MHz	SSB
19:59z	EA3EVL	50MHz	SSB
20:00z	HG2DX	50MHz	SSB
20:01z	S52NR	50MHz	SSB
20:02z	HA2ML	50MHz	SSB
20:06z	IK4ZHH	50MHz	SSB
20:07z	OK2SGY	50MHz	SSB
20:08z	G0EAK/P	50MHz	SSB
20:10z	OE4JHW	50MHz	SSB
20:11z	G7HAH	50MHz	SSB
20:13z	G3TBK	50MHz	SSB
20:16z	HA3HK	50MHz	CW
20:18z	OK1ACO	50MHz	CW
20:19z	G4EHT	50MHz	CW
20:25z	G4FZN/P	50MHz	SSB
20:27z	IQ6AN	50MHz	SSB
20:28z	G0VOF	50MHz	SSB
20:30z	G4VYP	50MHz	SSB
20:32z	G4CLA	50MHz	SSB
20:32z	G8XVJ/P	50MHz	SSB
20:33z	M0MDY	50MHz	SSB
20:35z	G3MEH	50MHz	SSB
20:36z	G1YBB/P	50MHz	SSB
20:38z	G3PHO	50MHz	SSB
20:39z	G8BUN	50MHz	SSB
20:39z	2E0RET/P	50MHz	SSB
20:40z	G8REQ	50MHz	SSB
20:42z	G0CER	50MHz	SSB
20:43z	G3SQQ	50MHz	SSB
20:44z	GW8ASD	50MHz	SSB
20:45z	OK1SI	50MHz	SSB
20:46z	G0CDA	50MHz	SSB
20:47z	G4NTY	50MHz	SSB
20:48z	G4JLG	50MHz	SSB
20:49z	M0WBG	50MHz	SSB
20:50z	M6OXO	50MHz	SSB
20:50z	M0OMB	50MHz	SSB
20:51z	G8ONK	50MHz	SSB
20:53z	2W0MLG	50MHz	SSB
20:59z	OK1IO	50MHz	SSB
21:02z	G7LRQ/P	50MHz	SSB
21:05z	G4ASR	50MHz	SSB
21:20z	DL7UAJ	50MHz	SSB
21:22z	G4NGV	50MHz	SSB
21:29z	SQ6ELV	50MHz	SSB

Enthused by the previous night's bonanza on 6m, I went out with my 6m/10m trap vertical + GP antenna late morning on Friday 9th June 2017. I had to get back home to get ready and load up for a gig that night in York, so it was just my usual local summit The Cloud G/SP-015, once again! Although I could hear bits of action on 6m, nobody seemed to be hearing me, whether I was answering a CQ call, or calling CQ SOTA myself. However, over on 10m, things were much better. On 10m CW I soon had a steady stream of callers and quickly had 18 in the log, including S2S with HB9DQM/P on HB/FR-003. 10m SSB and 10m FM did not match up to the CW, producing just one QSO each, while on 2m FM I added 4, including S2S with M0PLA/P on G/SP-004. I ran out of time to try 10m PSK31, and went home to get ready for work.

Another short activation of The Cloud G/SP-015 on the early evening of Monday 12th June 2017. Without any research whatsoever, I went for the 6m-10m trap vertical + groundplane again, knowing that I could use it as a 2m antenna if both 6 and 10 were closed. Well there was not a sausage on 6m, but a handful of loud signals were heard on 10m SSB. Ten QSOs were made on 28MHz, half of them on SSB and half on CW. DXCCs worked were EA, F, G, I and SV. Just one station came back to my CQ call on 2m FM.

Well that was good fun. SOTA Fun Evening on Tuesday 13th June 2017. Dry, mild and only a light breeze. Don't get many evenings as comfortable as that across the year! A total of 77 contacts were made, all on the 70cm band, in this activation. 54 on SSB and 23 on FM. DXCCs: F, G, GD, GI, GM, GW. Squares: IN99, IO64, 74, 81, 82, 83, 84, 86, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, JN09, JO01. The QSB was troublesome throughout the evening, and all things considered, I felt satisfied with the results of my QRP station.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
18:05z	G0LGS/P	433MHz	FM
18:06z	GW0TQM	433MHz	FM
18:09z	GW8ASD	433MHz	FM
18:09z	GW3ATZ/P	433MHz	FM
18:13z	G8EVR	433MHz	FM
18:27z	M0NZR	433MHz	FM
18:28z	G0CWM	433MHz	FM
18:30z	G4VPD	433MHz	FM
18:34z	G8HXE/P	433MHz	FM
18:35z	M0CQE	433MHz	FM
18:37z	G4PGJ	433MHz	FM
18:38z	M0AFJ	433MHz	FM
18:39z	2W0JYN/A	433MHz	FM
18:44z	M3LWP	433MHz	FM
18:45z	G4TGQ	433MHz	FM
18:47z	M1MLM/P	433MHz	FM
18:49z	M0RKX/P	433MHz	FM
18:53z	2W0MLG/P	433MHz	FM
18:59z	2E0LKC	433MHz	FM
18:59z	2E0LMD	433MHz	FM
19:00z	2E0LKC	433MHz	FM
19:00z	2E0LMD	433MHz	FM
19:01z	M0CQE	433MHz	FM
19:02z	GI6ATZ	433MHz	SSB
19:04z	G3KAF	433MHz	SSB
19:06z	GW8REQ/P	433MHz	SSB
19:07z	G8HXE/P	433MHz	SSB
19:09z	G1YBB/P	433MHz	SSB
19:11z	M0WBG	433MHz	SSB
19:12z	G8EEM/P	433MHz	SSB
19:14z	G3TBK/P	433MHz	SSB
19:14z	M0VXX/P	433MHz	SSB
19:15z	G3UVR	433MHz	SSB
19:16z	G8VHI	433MHz	SSB
19:17z	G3UBX	433MHz	SSB
19:21z	GD8EXI	433MHz	SSB
19:23z	G3WRA/P	433MHz	SSB
19:25z	G4NTY	433MHz	SSB
19:35z	M1MLM/P	433MHz	SSB
19:37z	M0OMB	433MHz	SSB
19:38z	G4EII	433MHz	SSB
19:38z	G8DIR	433MHz	SSB
19:42z	G8OHM	433MHz	SSB
19:48z	G8FUO	433MHz	SSB
19:51z	GI4SNA	433MHz	SSB
19:53z	F8BRK	433MHz	SSB
19:54z	G7RHF/P	433MHz	SSB
19:54z	G4IOQ	433MHz	SSB
19:56z	G4JLG	433MHz	SSB
19:57z	M6KMB	433MHz	SSB
19:58z	GW8ASD	433MHz	SSB
20:00z	M0XGS	433MHz	SSB
20:05z	2E0OLG	433MHz	SSB
20:05z	G8EVR	433MHz	SSB
20:06z	G4BLH/P	433MHz	SSB
20:07z	GW4ZAR/P	433MHz	SSB
20:11z	G7LRQ	433MHz	SSB
20:13z	2W0JYN/A	433MHz	SSB
20:22z	G4ZTR	433MHz	SSB
20:25z	G8CUL	433MHz	SSB
20:29z	G3VCA	433MHz	SSB
20:31z	M0GAV/P	433MHz	SSB
20:34z	M0GHZ	433MHz	SSB
20:39z	2E0RET/P	433MHz	SSB
20:42z	M0RKX/P	433MHz	SSB
20:45z	GM4JJJ	433MHz	SSB
20:47z	2W0MLG/P	433MHz	SSB
20:53z	G8ONK	433MHz	SSB
20:53z	G3TDH	433MHz	SSB
21:03z	GW4ASR/P	433MHz	SSB
21:06z	G6DOD/P	433MHz	SSB
21:08z	F1FPL	433MHz	SSB
21:14z	G4GFI/P	433MHz	SSB
21:19z	G0EHV/P	433MHz	SSB
21:20z	M1MHZ	433MHz	SSB
21:23z	G4LPD	433MHz	SSB
21:29z	G4FEV	433MHz	SSB

Without any research whatsoever, I took 15m up The Cloud G/SP-015 this morning (Wednesday 14th June 2017). I should have had a look at the propagation - or at least taken an alternative antenna up with me (although I sort of did - see later). Many calls on 15m CW produced a RBNHOLE spot - but no chasers. The entire CW and SSB expanses of the 15m seemed to be silent - but the PSK and RTTY frequencies seemed to be quite busy. My first call on 15m PSK31 brought an easy QSO with Yuri UT5QBC - but there was to be no further action as 21.070MHz then fell as silent as the rest of the band!

I left my Palm Code Cube on beacon mode, pumping out repeated CQ calls while I checked up on emails and Facebook on my phone. I enjoyed relaxing in the warm sunshine for an hour or so, barely interrupted by my radio, save for a couple of QSOs, both with G stations. My "alternative", as usual, was 2m FM from my handheld. Despite the low effort approach (sat on the floor and just using the rubber duck), five contacts were made on this band. Lovely day - though a rather lower pollen count would have been nice.

I repeated my "challenge" walk again on Thursday 15th June 2017 - only this time, didn't take a radio. This was a case of catching two buses up to the Winking Man in Staffordshire, then walking home from there, via several ridges. I wasn't walking across any SOTA summits, but The Roaches is G/HSP-026 in HEMA. However, despite being one of the first bunch of activators and chasers in that programme following its launch, all my requests for access to its new logging database have been ignored - and now I see that all my previous activation and chaser logs have been deleted from the database, without explanation. So this time I didn't even take a handheld with me.

What I did do, was make it to the Ship Inn at Wincle actually for lunchtime, so much quicker (about two hours!) that the bar staff asked me if it was an earlier bus I'd caught! No, it was the same two buses from Macclesfield to Burbage (Buxton), and then to the Winking Man on the A53 Leek-Buxton road. Lunch, which was actually a Spanish seafood paella, at the pub, meant that there was another item missing from my rucksack - my flask! I'm not sure if the lesser pack weight was helping me move more quickly, but the improving fitness certainly did. I am currently walking up and down The Cloud G/SP-015 every day if possible, and trying to fit in one longer walk per week as well. It is certainly helping.

After lunch is the toughest part of this walk with the steep ascent onto Wincle Minn, and then the long high ridge walk over that and then Sutton Common / Croker Hill. This time, I was still two hours ahead of the last time I attempted this walk, and I was not so ruined after Croker Hill that I was calling my wife to pick me up from the next pub, a mile or so down the canal! No, this time I was determined to fulfill the objective of actually walking home from The Winking Man, so after getting on the canal at Fools Nook, I continued a short way until turning left off it and crossing the beautiful Danes Moss Nature Reserve where I was fortunate enough to spot a lizard crossing the boardwalk - but not quick enough to capture a photo though.

I was now getting pretty tired, so once on the A536 Congleton to Macclesfield walk, I accidentally veered into the Rising Sun pub for a pint of ale. Contact with home advised that they had eaten all my tea, so I should get something myself en route. I teased Marianne by saying that my route would take me right past the Weston Balti, but she replied "Go for it" - so I did. I made it to the curry house for about 8.30pm - I was slowing down big time now - but enjoyed my mulligatawny soup and prawn biryani, with a Bangla beer. After my evening meal, my legs really didn't want to move, but at least all that was left was a quarter mile of urban walking on my estate, and I was home before 10pm! So that was the best walking of the week, even though it was non-SOTA and firmly here in the "Off Topic" category! Mind you, If it wasn't for SOTA, I probably wouldn't have developed the same love for walking as I have now. I think as a fat shack-based unfit middle-aged radio amateur, SOTA was invented with me in mind...

Anyway, onto the SOTA, and the last two days have both seen a further activation of The Cloud G/SP-015 by me. On Friday 16th June 2017 I had another go on 5MHz, and made 8 QSOs - half on CW and half on SSB, and all G/GM. Four more were added on 2m FM.

Saturday 17th June 2017, and the first job was to pick Jimmy M0HGY up from town then visit my Nanna who is 102 years old today. That was a very pleasant hour or so with all the family, after which I wanted to continue my daily walk ritual. Jimmy joined me as we did a handheld-only activation in the 30 degree sunshine - and absolutely stunning day! I think Jimmy reported 7 QSOs on 2m FM, while I managed just 5 on 70cm FM. It was the daily walk that mattered most though! And then it was time to go to work. At least it was a relatively short drive to a hall in Northwich for a gig with the band "Motown Gold". (Since my activation I was sat in the shack and learning the basslines for "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "ABC"...). Thanks to all the chasers that called in, especially Paul M0CQE, Pete 2E0LKC and Ann 2E0LMD who seem to be there for me every time I call "CQ2" - or indeed "CQ70" as it was today, at the minute.

As for activation 1995 (or so I thought), it was a lot of fun - apart from the hayfever. To be fair, the hayfever wasn't too prominent - strong earlier on, but mostly quiet with the occasional burst of activity - almost exactly how the Sporadic E went as well! A variety of bands and modes were used, all on the 6m-10m trap vertical with groundplane:

In conclusion, I should have done 6m first as all the Sp. E had gone by the time I had finished playing with all the modes on 10m! Now, what would Activation #1996* be...?

Best of all today, one of the S2S stations - I think it was Simon G7WKX/P on Bardon Hill G/CE-004 - told me, on air, that it was mine and Jimmy M0HGY's article in PW magazine that first inspired him to take up SOTA. Great stuff! (And if anyone wants to see the El Teide EA8/TF-001 article, please click on the image below):

So SOTA Activation #1996 on The Cloud G/SP-015, Monday 19th June 2017, was my very first attempt at JT65 mode. I read a couple of articles at home, and downloaded the JT65android app - the only one I could find to support doing JT65 with a mobile phone. I sure hope there is another one out there somewhere...! Anyway, I was getting nowhere fast, even though I was able to receive, and, seemingly transmit - using the Wolphi-Link interface and cables between the Samsung Galaxy S2 and FT-817.

When I popped onto 2m FM with the handheld, it transpired that Dave M6RUG - one of the stations I had been trying to work on 20m JT65 - had been trying to call me on S20 for half-an-hour! Dave then provided excellent real-time support as we made the contact happen. As Dave was able to tell me what was coming out on his side (somewhat different to what I was putting in on my side), the lessons were learned quickly. Ultimately, chopping the "/P" off my callsign in the JT65android app, and also the last two letters of the Maidenhead locator, then made it all work, and a few QSOs were made on the mode.

Tell you what though, with taking it in turns at strictly 43 seconds each (with then 17 seconds gap) and a QSO being 3/4 overs each, each contact was taking 8 minutes or so. This mode ain't for anyone in a hurry! So far, I'm not quite sure what all the clamour for JT65 is about - PSK31 seems much better, even for /P operations. I'll stick at it for a bit though, and maybe try to persuade Wolfgang to make a DroidJT app. Things I don't like about JT65android: Doesn't appear to receive everything! An unsolicited email advised that I was receiving far more replies to my CQs than I was aware of! No waterfall! (Although I subsequently now understand why a waterfall isn't particularly important for this mode). No way to edit/customise the macros. BUT - I'm only a few hours into my JT65 journey, so these observations might not be valid and may cause me acute embarrassment if I was to look back at them in a few weeks time! Also one contact made on 20m CW and a couple on 2m FM.

The following image was supplied by Chris M0RSF and shows the extent to which my 20m JT65 signal was getting received and automatically reported:

This was the third activation on Tuesday 20th June 2017, and I had just driven over from Gun G/SP-013. I was now eagerly anticipating achieving my first ever SOTA qualification (4 QSOs) on JT65 and perhaps getting across the pond into North America with my new mode. I set up the 20m GP antenna, but soon found a problem - hardly any RX, and very high VSWR. When I checked everything, I found that the feeder core had snapped out of the chocolate box connector. I would need to unscrew that part of the chocolate box to attempt to fudge a repair, but I couldn't find anything about my person (car keys, allan key etc) that would budge it.

So, regrettably, I had to pack the 20m aerial area and just activate on 2m FM with the handheld. And yet again, it was Pete 2E0LKC and Ann 2E0LMD from Heald Green that were on the other end of the radiowaves. At the time I was under the impression that this was my 1999th SOTA activation. But in fact there was an activation lurking in my logbook that I had not entered, so it was in fact my 2000th!

I mistakenly believed this activation, on Wednesday 20th June 2017, to be my 200th in SOTA. The comments that follow are in this context!

Unfortunately Jimmy never did get the opportunity to work me on my 2000th SOTA activation - because I was forced to abandon it before he was home from work! I had intended/hoped to continue making contacts into the evening, but as I was nearly finished changing antennas (from the HBIV linked dipole to the 20m vertical with groundplane), I noticed something. There was a loud clicking noise every half second. I trained my ears to locate it and found my head homing in on the BNC connector plug on the feeder from the 20m GP antenna I had just put up.

Looking to the west, I could see a swirling thick bank of grey clag advancing, thankfully slowly, in my direction. I put two and two together and decided it was end of activation; I didn't want to hang around.

Problem was, I had an antenna set up (that was clearly attracting some electrical charge; I could now hear the wires fizzing a bit as well), and two others lying on the ground. Grasping the base of the SOTA Pole, I carefully lay the mast and antenna on the ground, taking care not to contact any of the wires or connector. I then put my gloves on and packed away the two antennas that were on the ground. I wanted to give the 20m GP plenty of time to discharge, so I then packed away the rest of the kit into the rucksack. I now noted that there was no clicking at all coming from the BNC, nor hissing coming from the wires. I figured it was safe to pack this antenna away, though I kept my gloves on!

The rain actually never got properly going, so that was a huge assistance, as the operation could have been much more tricky if everything (including my clothing) was wet! In fact nothing got going at all. As I type this I am almost suffocating in the oppressive humidity. No hint of a thunderstorm yet - though it is desperately needed. Nonetheless, there was evidence of its impending presence over seven hours ago, and I still think it was the best call to abandon Activation 2K!

It had all started with an alarm at 5am. My first contact on The Cloud G/SP-015 was timed at 0555 UTC (6.55am BST), and was the first of 104, distributed as follows:

60m CW: 3
60m SSB: 5
40m CW: 2
40m SSB: 2
30m CW: 11
30m JT65: 1
30m PSK31: 1
20m CW: 32
20m JT65: 8
20m PSK31: 5
20m PSK63: 2
20m SSB: 9
2m FM: 22
70cm FM: 1

It was fun making the JT65 happen after my trial run yesterday. There is considerable room for improvement with the app, but it is usable.

Many thanks to everyone who called. The soup in the flask was indeed Baxters Lobster Bisque.

Time	Call	Band	Mode	S2S
05:55z	SP9AMH	14MHz	CW
05:57z	DL9GMC	14MHz	CW
05:58z	EA5UR	14MHz	CW
06:02z	F8EUU	14MHz	CW
06:02z	IK2ZJR	14MHz	CW
06:03z	RA1WF	14MHz	CW
06:04z	E72MD	14MHz	CW
06:04z	UX1IM	14MHz	CW
06:07z	EA3CW	14MHz	CW
06:08z	OE7FMH	14MHz	CW
06:10z	EA2DT	14MHz	CW
06:12z	G3MBN	14MHz	CW
06:14z	YO2BP/P	14MHz	CW	YO/MC-156
06:17z	DL2DSL	14MHz	CW
06:18z	OM3KZA	14MHz	CW
06:19z	IK3DRO	14MHz	CW
06:39z	OE7FMH	14MHz	JT65
06:50z	F1FJT	14MHz	JT65
06:57z	G0TOG/M	144MHz	FM
07:11z	IW3IEH	14MHz	JT65
07:15z	M0CQE	144MHz	FM
07:26z	M0CQE	433MHz	FM
07:32z	G3CWI	14MHz	JT65
07:37z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM
07:39z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM
08:02z	RN6AJ	14MHz	JT65
08:14z	DF2WF	14MHz	PSK31
08:17z	DB3FA	14MHz	PSK31
08:20z	SQ8LSB	14MHz	PSK31
08:23z	IK1NEW	14MHz	PSK31
08:24z	ON3BQ	14MHz	PSK31
08:42z	EU1ZA/2	14MHz	PSK63
08:53z	ON5SWA	14MHz	PSK63
08:57z	SP9AMH	14MHz	SSB
08:59z	G0VWP	14MHz	SSB
09:00z	ON7SD	14MHz	SSB
09:03z	OE7RDI/P	14MHz	SSB	OE/TI-642
09:05z	ON5SWA	14MHz	SSB
09:06z	OE5YYN	14MHz	SSB
09:08z	OK1SDE	14MHz	SSB
09:10z	HB9DHA	14MHz	SSB
09:12z	DG5NAT	14MHz	SSB
09:31z	G3DXZ	5MHz	CW
09:37z	G3VQO	5MHz	CW
09:41z	G3YPE	5MHz	CW
09:46z	G0FVH	5MHz	SSB
09:50z	GW0PLP	5MHz	SSB
09:51z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB
09:52z	G4IAR	5MHz	SSB
09:53z	GW4ATX/P	5MHz	SSB
10:30z	M0PLA/M	144MHz	FM
10:32z	M6CEQ	144MHz	FM
10:33z	G3RMD	144MHz	FM
10:34z	G4KPM	144MHz	FM
10:36z	G3JDT	144MHz	FM
10:37z	G7BGA	144MHz	FM
10:41z	M0VTD	144MHz	FM
10:43z	M0SAQ/M	144MHz	FM
10:45z	EI9GLB	144MHz	FM
10:46z	G0OHY	144MHz	FM
10:46z	G4TRA	144MHz	FM
10:47z	G0WIS	144MHz	FM
10:47z	G1JZY	144MHz	FM
10:48z	M0YYC/M	144MHz	FM
10:51z	G0SDD	144MHz	FM
10:56z	M0RFR/M	144MHz	FM
10:58z	G0NED/M	144MHz	FM
11:14z	G4AYO	14MHz	CW
11:15z	HA6VR	14MHz	CW
11:16z	DL4ZWJ	14MHz	CW
11:16z	F5TXA	14MHz	CW
11:20z	OE6GND	14MHz	CW
11:24z	OK2PDT	14MHz	CW
11:25z	F6EAZ	14MHz	CW
11:25z	G3EGY	14MHz	CW
11:26z	VE2JCW	14MHz	CW
11:28z	F6BYZ	14MHz	CW
11:29z	UT5SI	14MHz	CW
11:33z	EU1FY	14MHz	CW
11:56z	DJ9BX	14MHz	JT65
12:05z	DM5KK	14MHz	JT65
12:20z	IU4DTV	14MHz	JT65
12:38z	OM6TC	14MHz	CW
12:39z	EU1FY	14MHz	CW
12:40z	EA3GHZ	14MHz	CW
12:41z	EA2IF	14MHz	CW
13:13z	OE7PHI	10MHz	CW
13:15z	DL3HXX	10MHz	CW
13:16z	DJ5AV	10MHz	CW
13:17z	HB9DST/P	10MHz	CW	HB/TI-102
13:18z	SP3DOF	10MHz	CW
13:22z	GM4TOE	10MHz	CW
13:24z	DH0DK	10MHz	CW
13:24z	DL1AZZ	10MHz	CW
13:25z	RW3XZ	10MHz	CW
13:26z	HB9CUE	10MHz	CW
13:33z	DL6AP	10MHz	CW
13:42z	SP9DTE	10MHz	PSK31
13:59z	DL5UDO	10MHz	JT65
14:24z	M3FEH	7MHz	SSB
14:25z	DK8PX	7MHz	SSB
14:30z	DL6WT	7MHz	CW
14:31z	DH0DK	7MHz	CW
15:31z	M6LCH	144MHz	FM

Date:25/Jun/2017 Summit:G/SP-015 (The Cloud) Call Used:M1EYP/P Points: 0 Bonus: 0 Delete

So, Sunday 25th June 2017, and what I understood at the time, to be my 2001st SOTA activation - A Summit Odyssey? Good intentions and all that...

As I was setting up the SB6 beam for 50MHz on Cloud summit, Sunday 25th June 2017, I noticed that I had left the VHF handheld in the car! So I couldn't fulfil my stated intention to offer A2001 to the local VHF chasers. Well, not properly. I suspected there would be a very good chance that Paul M0CQE would be listening S20 and ready to pounce, so I forced a CQ call out through the 6m antenna. Sure enough, Paul answered, and we completed a very quick rubber stamp contact.

Onto the 50MHz, and as expected, it was pretty slow going for the full three hours. 21 QSOs were made into G, GD, EI and I. A couple of GM stations were heard, but far too weak to work. Frustratingly, it was only in the last 15 minutes of the contest that an opening to Italy appeared. I didn't manage to get back to IK3VYO, who understandably had an anxious pile-up from G stations in the contest! I did manage to get through to IK7EVE though, so at least the activation ended on a high.

Mid-activation, a chap approached and said "I'm a National Trust warden. Have you got a licence for this?" I responded in the affirmative and told him I had held my amateur radio licence since 2001. "No, I meant a licence from the National Trust" he continued. I reported to him exactly what the NT had explained about its attitude to "low-impact activities" in years gone by, but added that if he required me to pack away, I would comply without argument and be able to do so in less than five minutes. There was no need for that though, as we was happy and content with what I'd had to say. With his colleague, he moved along to the northern-most of the four paths off Cloud summit, and worked on installing a Gritstone Trail waymark post. Finally it was back down and back home via the supermarket, and preparing Sunday dinner for Marianne's return from work.

I had some supply teaching in Newcastle-under-Lyme on Wednesday 28th June 2017, so returned home via The Cloud G/SP-015 - like the old days! I didn't even care that it was raining - I fancied a walk and an activation. I didn't need to find anywhere to get changed out of my suit either - as I was booked to teach P.E. all day so was already in comfortable clothing.

I set up the 10m-6m trap vertical + groundplane with the hope of making JT65 contacts on 6m and 10m. Well, 6m JT65 brought 9A8A, while 10m JT65 netted DJ9WH and OE5PEN. Four were added courtesy of 2m FM.

The possibilities with a weak signal mode like JT65 are starting to reveal themselves to me. There was nothing at all audible on the 6m band, certainly not in the CW or SSB portions. Leaving my rig tuned to 50.276MHz, that was mainly silent too, but occasionally you got the faint whiff of a tone. But leaving the JT65android app running on the phone, connected by cables and interface to the 817, and several QSOs and CQ calls from South Eastern Europe revealed themselves.

Interesting stuff. Hoping to catch some E's when operating on JT65 - but time running out for that now this year possibly.

Monday 10th July 2017 was a youth group night for Liam in Congleton. I volunteered for taxi duties, knowing I could squeeze in a SOTA activation in-between drop-off and pick-up. It wasn't the most successful or interesting of activations, but the primary objective of walking up and down the hill was achieved!

Well the rain, and a Wimbledon tennis match, delayed me going out on Tuesday 11th July 2017. Then an undiagnosed high VSWR meant I packed up early and headed home. Just 8 QSOs on 70cm SSB. I did some 2m FM from the handie before leaving the summit.

Wednesday 12th July 2017, and I was working on supply at a secondary school in deepest Stoke-on-Trent. That called for an Cloud activation on the way home - of course! I was trying to get to grips with using the weak signal datamode JT65. I had some limited success using this on 6m, but most action was on 2m FM.

Thursday 13th July 2017 was the second Thursday of the month - so 6m contest night. On The Cloud yet again with the SOTAbeams SB6 antenna. 56 contacts made.

Friday 14th July 2017, and my fifth consecutive daily activation of Bosley Cloud (the hill, not the beer). I went to go and sit for an hour on summit on 50.276 and trying for JT65 QSOs. I wasn't expecting many contacts, which was just as well! A few weak signals were heard, but my Android smartphone and JT65android app didn't manage to decode anything. So just a single 2m FM contact on the handheld before descending and going home.

A quick local activation of The Cloud G/SP-015 on the early evening of Monday 24th July 2017.

In and around that lot I made 11 QSOs, mostly ragchews, on 2m FM just using the handie.

I imagine JT65 could be a lot of fun on 50MHz if the band is actually open. At other times, it is probably the only hope of scraping something overseas. It could be argued this makes it a win-win situation...

All the same, good job it was a very pleasant evening weather-wise on Tuesday 25th July 2017, and that I was in the mood for lying down on the grass and doing mostly nothing-at-all.

Right then, it was time to give this another go and see what happened! I worked 4O, OK and EA on a flat band last time, so who was to know? It was all rather exciting - apart from the lounging around doing nothing for interminable periods of time! It was Thursday 27th July 2017, and I had a bit of time to kill off in the afternoon, ahead of a Bandeoke gig with the Biscuit Brothers up at the Firepit in Rawtenstall that evening. 5w, FT-817, SOTABEAMS SB6 Moxon, Samsung Galaxy S2 phone running JT65android, WolphiLink interface - was the plan.

JT65android only started decoding 5 minutes before my scheduled pack-up time (because of the gig in Rawtenstall - a place I'd never heard of before the first time I set out to activate Hail Storm Hill G/SP-009 back in 2003...). I managed one 6m JT65 QSO - with G0JEI in IO93, to add to the two 2m FM QSOs with 2E0LKC and 2E0LMD. Not sure why it took so long before starting to do any decoding. Annoying, as 50.276MHz was rather busy with JT65 signals.

All mine and Jimmy's 2m gear was tested during the afternoon on Tuesday 1st August 2017, and all was in good working order. The same could not be said for the 6m kit which would need some attention before the coming Thursday, and the 70cm antenna which will need even more attention before it's next use!

After hurriedly packing everything down in my back garden as the rumbles of thunder got closer, and a subsequent heavy hail and rain shower, all seemed rather quieter later, and better for the evening to come, although still chance of a shower. I would, of course, be vigilant, but all indications were that any electrical activity was over for the day.

Well it turned out to be pretty good. Three and a half hours of activating, 120 QSOs all on 2m, 42 on FM and 78 on SSB. One S2S with Steven 2W0JYN/P on Hope Mountain GW/NW-062. Shame I missed Kevin and Lauren M6HLR/P on Kirk Fell G/LD-014. The weather remained dry and not too windy, so not a bad evening at all. On the summit, I found a piece of paper inside a plastic wallet under a stone. On it was a note from a 5 year old called Jacob that said he had been walking with his grandad, and whoever found it to email him via the address given. Guess that falls to me then!

Time	Call	Band	Mode	S2S
18:00z	M6AIF	144MHz	FM
18:01z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM
18:02z	M3ROU	144MHz	FM
18:04z	G8ZRE	144MHz	FM
18:05z	M6YCE	144MHz	FM
18:05z	G3XMG	144MHz	FM
18:09z	G8HQW/P	144MHz	FM
18:11z	GX1MAR/P	144MHz	FM
18:14z	M1FHM/M	144MHz	FM
18:16z	G7OEP	144MHz	FM
18:17z	2E0DGP	144MHz	FM
18:18z	G3JDT	144MHz	FM
18:18z	G7OAI	144MHz	FM
18:19z	2E0HFE/M	144MHz	FM
18:20z	GW1UJU	144MHz	FM
18:20z	G7LMF	144MHz	FM
18:21z	G4ISQ	144MHz	FM
18:22z	G6SPG	144MHz	FM
18:22z	G4VFL/P	144MHz	FM
18:23z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM
18:24z	2E0UAC	144MHz	FM
18:24z	G8OMB	144MHz	FM
18:25z	GW8ASD	144MHz	FM
18:26z	G4TGQ	144MHz	FM
18:27z	2E0CMI	144MHz	FM
18:30z	G0WAB	144MHz	FM
18:31z	G1ZAR/P	144MHz	FM
18:31z	G0CYN	144MHz	FM
18:32z	M6MWZ/M	144MHz	FM
18:35z	G3TDH	144MHz	FM
18:36z	G0EIY	144MHz	FM
18:37z	G4PGJ	144MHz	FM
18:40z	M6OOY	144MHz	FM
18:40z	M3UFK	144MHz	FM
18:41z	2W0JYN/P	144MHz	FM	GW/NW-062
18:44z	GW3ATZ	144MHz	FM
18:46z	M1MLM/P	144MHz	FM
18:51z	M6IXM	144MHz	FM
18:52z	G4PWD	144MHz	FM
18:59z	M0VCS	144MHz	FM
18:59z	G5AU	144MHz	FM
19:00z	M0HGY	144MHz	FM
19:08z	M1CJN/P	144MHz	SSB
19:09z	G8EEM/P	144MHz	SSB
19:09z	G3UVR	144MHz	SSB
19:10z	G3WRA/P	144MHz	SSB
19:12z	GX1MAR	144MHz	SSB
19:14z	G4RRA	144MHz	SSB
19:15z	M1MLM/P	144MHz	SSB
19:17z	G3NFC/P	144MHz	SSB
19:17z	G8ZRE	144MHz	SSB
19:18z	GD8EXI	144MHz	SSB
19:19z	M0GAV/P	144MHz	SSB
19:20z	M0AFJ	144MHz	SSB
19:21z	G4EII	144MHz	SSB
19:22z	G3UBX	144MHz	SSB
19:24z	M0LPK/M	144MHz	SSB
19:25z	GW4ZAR/P	144MHz	SSB
19:26z	G3TDH	144MHz	SSB
19:28z	M0HWO	144MHz	SSB
19:28z	M0OMB	144MHz	SSB
19:29z	M0XGS	144MHz	SSB
19:30z	G3JDT	144MHz	SSB
19:31z	G3KAF	144MHz	SSB
19:33z	2E0RET/P	144MHz	SSB
19:34z	M0DXR/P	144MHz	SSB
19:35z	M1DDD/P	144MHz	SSB
19:36z	M0VXX/P	144MHz	SSB
19:37z	G4JLG	144MHz	SSB
19:38z	G3PHO	144MHz	SSB
19:39z	G4NTY	144MHz	SSB
19:41z	G3CKR	144MHz	SSB
19:42z	G0ODQ	144MHz	SSB
19:45z	G0BRC	144MHz	SSB
19:46z	M1MHZ	144MHz	SSB
19:48z	G0EHV/P	144MHz	SSB
19:50z	G8HXE/P	144MHz	SSB
19:52z	2W0JYN	144MHz	SSB
19:53z	G8DIR	144MHz	SSB
19:53z	2E0LKC	144MHz	SSB
19:54z	M3RNX	144MHz	SSB
19:54z	M0ICK/P	144MHz	SSB
19:58z	GD0AMD/P	144MHz	SSB
19:59z	G4ILI/P	144MHz	SSB
20:03z	M0BRA	144MHz	SSB
20:04z	G0LGS/P	144MHz	SSB
20:05z	G1YBB/P	144MHz	SSB
20:06z	G8REQ/P	144MHz	SSB
20:07z	2E0NEY	144MHz	SSB
20:08z	M0ICR	144MHz	SSB
20:14z	G3SMT	144MHz	SSB
20:15z	G8XYJ/P	144MHz	SSB
20:16z	M6KMB	144MHz	SSB
20:18z	M0HFC	144MHz	SSB
20:19z	G4RUL/P	144MHz	SSB
20:26z	G4CLA	144MHz	SSB
20:28z	GM4PPT	144MHz	SSB
20:35z	G4IRC	144MHz	SSB
20:37z	G3SQQ	144MHz	SSB
20:40z	GM3SEK	144MHz	SSB
20:41z	G4ASR	144MHz	SSB
20:48z	M0TBQ	144MHz	SSB
20:50z	G3PYE/P	144MHz	SSB
20:52z	M0WGF	144MHz	SSB
20:54z	GW4BVE	144MHz	SSB
20:55z	2E0DGP	144MHz	SSB
20:56z	M0VAA/P	144MHz	SSB
20:57z	G4VFL/P	144MHz	SSB
20:58z	MD0MAN/P	144MHz	SSB
20:59z	G4HGT/P	144MHz	SSB
21:00z	G4FZN/P	144MHz	SSB
21:05z	M0CGL	144MHz	SSB
21:07z	GI4SNA	144MHz	SSB
21:09z	G0CER	144MHz	SSB
21:14z	G8MKC/P	144MHz	SSB
21:17z	G7LRQ	144MHz	SSB
21:20z	G3YDY	144MHz	SSB
21:25z	GM4JJJ	144MHz	SSB
21:26z	G0BFJ	144MHz	SSB
21:28z	G8BUN	144MHz	SSB

The 70cm contest was not for me on the night of Tuesday 8th August 2017. I hadn't got round to repairing the 70cm antenna, and so I'd decided I was going to the footy instead. However, sat in a pub in Congleton with Liam, I thought we could at least take a wander up G/SP-015 with the VX7 VHF FM handheld.

Well as I uncoupled the VX7 from its charging lead in the car, just as I was about to start the ascent, I noticed it was turned on. Alarm bells! This suggested that when connected to the charging lead when I set off, it was completely out of charge - and in 'ON' mode. Therefore there was not very much charged in it whatsoever (five minutes' driving worth!). We'd had to park a little down the lane due to a piece of highly inconsiderate parking by someone who chose to have three spots for themselves!

Liam and I walked to the top in very light drizzle. Pete 2E0LKC answered the first call, and he was quickly followed by his YL Anne 2E0LMD. A further CQ call was then prevented by the VX7 switching itself off - out of charge. Liam was pleased.

So on Thursday 10th August 2017, for the very first time, I tried using ON4KST chat on my phone to sked some QSOs to potential new squares. I managed to get some (time-consuming) dialogue going - but no actual success in working a new square! In GM I got IO75 and IO86. I tried meeping a station in IO85 but didn't get any response. I looked for Barry GM4TOE on the list on stations on KST, but couldn't find him.

Earlier, while setting up, I accidentally stepped on part of my SB6 antenna and snapped the acrylic insulator. I fashioned a sort of repair using a reusable cable tie, then decided I preferred it like this as it made the whole system easier and quicker to set up and take down again!

Anyway, 67 QSOs. Squares worked: IO51, 61, 64, 74, 75, 81, 82, 83, 86, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, JO00 and 02. I did hear IO71, JO01 and JO03, but couldn't hunt them down. There were plenty of other bonuses out there too, but I never found them.

Good job it was a mild and still night as I forgot my jumper, so just had my jacket. I was pretty tired after doing a very much longer walk - a superb circuit on the edge of Macclesfield, taking in Higher Fence/Swans Pool, Lark Hall, Eddisbury Hill, Tegg's Nose, Higher Blakelow, the Macclesfield Canal and the Puss In Boots pub - with Marianne and Liam earlier that day.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
19:00z	GI4SNA	50MHz	SSB
19:01z	M1MHZ	50MHz	SSB
19:02z	G7RHF/P	50MHz	SSB
19:02z	M0GAV/P	50MHz	SSB
19:03z	G3PHO	50MHz	SSB
19:04z	G8ZRE	50MHz	SSB
19:05z	G0VVE	50MHz	SSB
19:05z	M5DWI/P	50MHz	SSB
19:06z	M0LLW/P	50MHz	SSB
19:08z	M1MLM/P	50MHz	SSB
19:08z	G1YBB/P	50MHz	SSB
19:09z	G4FZN/P	50MHz	SSB
19:11z	G3SQQ	50MHz	SSB
19:12z	G6CQC	50MHz	SSB
19:13z	G0CER	50MHz	SSB
19:14z	GW4ZAR/P	50MHz	SSB
19:16z	G3RKF	50MHz	SSB
19:18z	G3TDH	50MHz	SSB
19:20z	G3TBK/P	50MHz	SSB
19:22z	G3UVR	50MHz	SSB
19:23z	M0MDY	50MHz	SSB
19:24z	G0EAK/P	50MHz	SSB
19:27z	G7LRQ/P	50MHz	SSB
19:29z	M0VXX/P	50MHz	SSB
19:30z	G0HDV/P	50MHz	SSB
19:31z	G1HLT	50MHz	SSB
19:33z	M0ICR	50MHz	SSB
19:37z	2E0DXK/P	50MHz	SSB
19:39z	G4FJK/P	50MHz	SSB
19:41z	MM0CEZ	50MHz	SSB
19:43z	G4ASR	50MHz	SSB
19:48z	G4SDM/P	50MHz	SSB
19:49z	M6KMB	50MHz	SSB
19:51z	G0TVM	50MHz	SSB
19:52z	G3VCA	50MHz	SSB
19:53z	M0NKR	50MHz	SSB
19:55z	G4JLG	50MHz	SSB
19:56z	G3JDT	50MHz	SSB
19:57z	G4EII	50MHz	SSB
19:58z	GW1YQM	50MHz	SSB
19:59z	2E0DGP	50MHz	SSB
20:01z	M3RNX	50MHz	SSB
20:02z	G0BFJ	50MHz	SSB
20:02z	G4AHJ	50MHz	SSB
20:05z	GM4JJJ	50MHz	SSB
20:06z	M0OMB	50MHz	SSB
20:08z	G0JCQ	50MHz	SSB
20:14z	M0WCO/P	50MHz	SSB
20:16z	2E0RET	50MHz	SSB
20:24z	G0LGS/P	50MHz	SSB
20:25z	G0ODQ	50MHz	SSB
20:27z	G8MKC/P	50MHz	SSB
20:37z	G3WRA/P	50MHz	SSB
20:41z	G4RUL/P	50MHz	SSB
20:42z	2E1SKY	50MHz	SSB
20:48z	G0CDA	50MHz	SSB
20:49z	M0ORY	50MHz	SSB
20:51z	GW4BVE	50MHz	SSB
20:54z	EI3KD	50MHz	SSB
20:57z	G8REQ/P	50MHz	SSB
20:57z	GD8EXI	50MHz	SSB
20:59z	G4DFA	50MHz	SSB
21:01z	M0HWO	50MHz	SSB
21:09z	EI/G4CLA	50MHz	SSB
21:23z	G4GFI	50MHz	SSB
21:24z	G4NTY	50MHz	SSB
21:26z	G4FAD	50MHz	SSB

Well I listened to the Pirate BBC Essex - Manx Radio - Radio Caroline joint broadcast on Monday 14th August 2017, then Radio Caroline for much of the rest of the day beyond midnight, when they recreated the sequence of midnight on August 14th, 1967. An hour off was taken to listen to my son Liam's show on Upload Radio (DAB and online). This was quite an amusing situation - the family sat in the lounge, around a portable radio (in fact a Pure One Flow - FM / DAB / internet - and for this purpose receiving via my broadband hub as the Liverpool DAB multiplex is inaudible here). Marianne said that she hadn't sat and listened to the radio like this since John Peel - and that Liam's programme of eclectic music rather put her in mind of those days too!

This meant that I missed the special programme on BBC Radio 2 - "Johnnie Walker Meets The Pirates" - but thanks to the iPlayer, I could relax and catch it in the next few days at my leisure. The next morning - Tuesday 15th August 2017 - I was on the road to do some tutoring down in the North Staffordshire area, and found I was able to listen to Manx Radio 1368kHz MW on my car radio, with (just about) adequate reception. Manx Radio was still relaying Radio Caroline at that time.

After arriving to meet my new student, I was told that the session was off, due to a family circumstance. I was intending returning home via an activation of The Cloud G/SP-015 anyway, so I simply brought that forward. It was a boring and tedious activation though. I knew it was very late in the season, in fact beyond the season in all reality, for 50MHz. But I wondered if JT65 might eke something out of the ether? Answer - no. A couple of weak and watery JT65 signals were heard, but not decoded, and none of my CQ calls attracted a response. One very flaky SSB CQ call was the only other thing heard on the band, except from a very weak beacon.

Upon returning home, I found that the last of my recently ordered items for my new portable datamodes set-up had arrived. So I was now hoping to properly get moving on JT65, but also have access to the other JT modes, FT8 etc, plus use higher grade software for PSK31, RTTY etc. But the Windows 10 tablet that had arrived - was faulty - and therefore would be returned the following day. So the new portable datamodes system would have to wait a bit longer. Bother. Botheration dot com.

The morning activation on Thursday 17th August 2017 was just a health-check on Jimmy's set-up (FT-817 + coax feeder extension + MFD) which had been showing the very occasional high VSWR, but that could be rectified with a 'random nudge'. The only thing I could think of was possibly the front BNC connector starting to show some wear and tear. Today I attached an adaptor to the SO239 connector at the rear of the set, changed over menu #7 on the 817, and connected the MFD to that. There were no problems whatsoever.

Of course, I hadn't solved or fixed anything. I hadn't even diagnosed anything as I didn't reproduce the problem. However, I imagine I'm along the right lines, and the system set up this way all behaved perfectly. Anyway, the summit was The Cloud G/SP-015 (surprise surprise) and six QSOs were made on 2m FM, with 2.5 wats. That's all I had time for as I had dropped Liam off in Congleton at 10.40am and needed to collect him again at noon.

Tuesday 5th September 2017. 31 QSOs on 2m FM, 89 on 2m SSB and one on 2m CW. Total 121 QSOs in the evening. In the FMAC I did quite a bit of running on 145.375MHz, while in the first half hour of the UKAC I had a good run on 144.196MHz. You can’t actually self-spot during the contests of course, though some of those who use the KST chats don’t quite seem to get that!

Time	Call	Band	Mode
18:00z	M6PGO	144MHz	FM
18:02z	M3HJH	144MHz	FM
18:03z	M0HGY	144MHz	FM
18:04z	2E0DIJ/M	144MHz	FM
18:04z	2E0SCX	144MHz	FM
18:06z	2E0DGP	144MHz	FM
18:08z	G0LGS/P	144MHz	FM
18:08z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM
18:10z	G0EIY	144MHz	FM
18:12z	GW3ATZ	144MHz	FM
18:14z	M5AGI	144MHz	FM
18:15z	2W0JYN	144MHz	FM
18:16z	2E0UAC	144MHz	FM
18:17z	M1MLM/P	144MHz	FM
18:18z	G8ZRE	144MHz	FM
18:22z	2E0EVB	144MHz	FM
18:24z	GW4SHF	144MHz	FM
18:25z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM
18:29z	G4DEE	144MHz	FM
18:40z	G3WCB/P	144MHz	FM
18:41z	M6AXN/P	144MHz	FM
18:46z	G3WJG	144MHz	FM
18:48z	M0RKX/P	144MHz	FM
18:51z	M0MTJ	144MHz	FM
18:52z	GW8ASD	144MHz	FM
18:53z	G4DFA	144MHz	FM
18:53z	G4RRA	144MHz	FM
18:54z	G0KYS/P	144MHz	FM
18:55z	G1ZAR/P	144MHz	FM
18:56z	M0BAO/P	144MHz	FM
18:58z	M6OOY	144MHz	FM
19:04z	M1MHZ	144MHz	SSB
19:05z	G3UBX	144MHz	SSB
19:06z	G3SQQ	144MHz	SSB
19:06z	G3WRA/P	144MHz	SSB
19:08z	G8MKC/P	144MHz	SSB
19:08z	G8EEM/P	144MHz	SSB
19:10z	M0XGS	144MHz	SSB
19:10z	2E0OLG	144MHz	SSB
19:11z	M3RNX	144MHz	SSB
19:11z	G8DIR	144MHz	SSB
19:12z	GW8ASD	144MHz	SSB
19:12z	G4AQB	144MHz	SSB
19:13z	G0CER	144MHz	SSB
19:13z	GW4ZAR	144MHz	SSB
19:15z	M0WBG	144MHz	SSB
19:16z	2E0DGP	144MHz	SSB
19:16z	G4ZWY	144MHz	SSB
19:17z	G3CKR	144MHz	SSB
19:18z	G3JDT	144MHz	SSB
19:18z	G2ANC	144MHz	SSB
19:19z	G7RHF/P	144MHz	SSB
19:20z	G3KAF	144MHz	SSB
19:21z	G4JLG	144MHz	SSB
19:22z	G4ZTR	144MHz	SSB
19:23z	G8XDD/P	144MHz	SSB
19:24z	G0FKW	144MHz	SSB
19:25z	G8OVZ/P	144MHz	SSB
19:26z	G8OMB	144MHz	SSB
19:27z	G0TAR	144MHz	SSB
19:29z	M0PNN	144MHz	SSB
19:32z	G8PNN/P	144MHz	SSB
19:33z	MM0GPZ/P	144MHz	SSB
19:42z	G8FUO	144MHz	SSB
19:43z	G1YBB/P	144MHz	SSB
19:45z	G1OFW	144MHz	SSB
19:46z	G3ZXZ	144MHz	SSB
19:47z	M0XMX	144MHz	SSB
19:49z	M0BRA	144MHz	SSB
19:50z	M1DDD/P	144MHz	SSB
19:50z	G4NTY	144MHz	SSB
19:52z	M0DXR/P	144MHz	SSB
19:53z	M0VXX/P	144MHz	SSB
19:55z	M1MLM/P	144MHz	SSB
19:56z	G0ODQ	144MHz	SSB
20:05z	GM0BKC/P	144MHz	CW
20:06z	M6KMB	144MHz	SSB
20:07z	G4HGT/P	144MHz	SSB
20:11z	G0BFJ	144MHz	SSB
20:13z	GM4ZJI	144MHz	SSB
20:15z	G0EHV/P	144MHz	SSB
20:16z	G4ASR	144MHz	SSB
20:18z	M0GAV/P	144MHz	SSB
20:19z	GW4SHF	144MHz	SSB
20:20z	G3UVR	144MHz	SSB
20:23z	M0NVS	144MHz	SSB
20:25z	GI4SNA	144MHz	SSB
20:26z	G8REQ	144MHz	SSB
20:29z	M0CGL	144MHz	SSB
20:32z	G3YDY	144MHz	SSB
20:34z	G3VCA	144MHz	SSB
20:36z	GM0RLZ/P	144MHz	SSB
20:40z	M0GTO/P	144MHz	SSB
20:42z	F4HRD	144MHz	SSB
20:48z	GW0FRE	144MHz	SSB
20:49z	M0MLZ/P	144MHz	SSB
20:51z	G8IVO/P	144MHz	SSB
20:56z	G0LGS/P	144MHz	SSB
20:56z	G3WRR	144MHz	SSB
20:57z	G6XHF	144MHz	SSB
20:58z	G8CLY	144MHz	SSB
20:59z	G0BNC	144MHz	SSB
21:01z	G8DMU/P	144MHz	SSB
21:02z	G8XYJ/P	144MHz	SSB
21:02z	G8ZRE	144MHz	SSB
21:04z	F1CBC	144MHz	SSB
21:05z	G0HEL/P	144MHz	SSB
21:07z	G4DBW	144MHz	SSB
21:09z	G8ONK	144MHz	SSB
21:11z	G3MEH	144MHz	SSB
21:13z	GM4JJJ	144MHz	SSB
21:16z	M0VAA/P	144MHz	SSB
21:18z	M6PWD	144MHz	SSB
21:19z	G8XVJ	144MHz	SSB
21:20z	M0RKX/P	144MHz	SSB
21:21z	G4DFA	144MHz	SSB
21:22z	G3WRA/P	144MHz	SSB
21:23z	G0GJV	144MHz	SSB
21:26z	G4DZL	144MHz	SSB
21:26z	GW8JLY	144MHz	SSB
21:28z	F1BHL/P	144MHz	SSB

I copped for a soaking on Cloud summit on Monday 11th September 2017! Mind you, back in the car with the heater on full and my quick-dry walking clobber was "doing what it says on the tin", so to speak. The rain was now incredibly heavy too, so I made the call to descend at the right time. Just used a VX7 handheld with its helical “rubber duck” antenna. 7 contacts on 2m FM. Got 3, then it started raining. But at that point it seemed I had a pile up! Fortunately it just turned out to be 4 more stations to work through.

Another low-effort activation on Wednesday 13th September 2017. I had some work in the northern suburbs of Stoke-on-Trent, so it was a “blast from the past” time with a nip up The Cloud G/SP-015 on the way home. There was some blue sky and the clouds didn’t look too menacing as I parked up on Cloudside. It was a bit breezy, but when I put my coat on I was too warm, so I removed it and chucked it back in the car.

A quick walk to the top, with VX7R handheld in one pocket of my zip fleece, and my logbook and pencil in the other. First back to my CQ call on 2m FM was Ian G4IKP/A in Telford, and we ended up having quite a natter for ten minutes. As we were signing, I noticed a very sharp dark grey rectangle, about a quarter of a mile wide, dropping from the sky directly down onto Alsager. Further more, it was advancing towards me. The wind picked up - and I didn’t have my coat with me! I called QRZ, and worked Tony G4ERQ - ironically in Alsager - in seconds with a very “rubber stamp” QSO.

The rain started to fall. I gave one more QRZ call. It wasn’t answered within 3 seconds - so I switched off and began a rapid descent. Within metres I was back out of the rain, and actually escaped the anticipated soaking. Two QSOs on a 2m FM handheld with rubber duck. Another classic SOTA activation by M1EYP. I hoped for better weather for the following night’s 6m UKAC. But now I was off to listen to the Liam Read Show on Upload Radio - http://beta.uploadradio.com/player/wrexhamchesterliverpool/ - or on DAB across Liverpool, Chester & Wrexham.

Well no-one else was out for a 6m S2S on the evening of Thursday 14th September 2017. Just as well really, the weather was troublesome - too windy to keep the beam in any desired direction - all it ever wanted to be was NNE. Which was handy earlier on as there was a bit of aurora about and a CW contact with GM3POI on Orkney IO88 was made via this phenomenon early on. Otherwise conditions were pretty dire and activity on the low side.

I finished on 48 QSOs, which is bordering on disastrous for a UKAC. My list of squares worked is decidedly threadbare, and the pleasure that it includes IO88 is wiped out by the omission of a great many others that I would normally expect to work. That, and spending an age to finally work GI4SNA for IO64, and a doubly longer age in still failing to work MM0CEZ in IO75. The Harrington Arms at Gawsworth didn’t have any pies or Scotch eggs when I got there either. Just not my night at all.

The evening of Tuesday 26th September 2017 was another such occasion. I ambled up The Cloud by the light of my headtorch on a pleasantly mild late September evening, and set up my 20m groundplane antenna. In terms of value and efficiency (talking more practical concerns than scientific definition here), this is my favourite antenna. Light as a feather (the SOTA Pole will account for most of the weight of the antenna system), 5 minutes to set up, 3 minutes to pack away. As usual, I didn’t have long to operate, so I hoped for some conditions on 20m. If not, then I would just have to make the activation “good” by making a VHF contact or two on the handheld.

Called CQ on 20m CW. First reply - a big signal from ZL1BYZ. That I was not expecting - but as I say, I hadn’t done any research so I might well have just hit the greyline for all I knew! That was the first of 10 contacts I made in 16 minutes of operating. The others were 6 x USA, 1 x Canada, plus SV and DL. So, as quick low-effort, unprepared activations go, this was a rather good one! 5 watts and a few bits of wire cobbled together - satisfying! Inspiration to be more vigilant with my SOTA preparations in future? None whatsoever…

Thursday 12th October 2017. The Cloud G/SP-017. 1906 to 2123 UTC. 60 QSOs - 59 on 6m SSB, 1 on 6m CW.

DXCCs: G, GW, GD, GI, GM. QRAs: IO64, IO74, IO81, IO82, IO83, IO86, IO91, IO92, IO93, IO94, JO02, JO03.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
19:06z	GI4SNA	50MHz	SSB
19:07z	G0HC4FM/P	50MHz	SSB
19:09z	G8ZRE	50MHz	SSB
19:10z	G8DMU/P	50MHz	SSB
19:12z	M0WBG	50MHz	SSB
19:13z	G3TBK/P	50MHz	SSB
19:14z	M0RKX/P	50MHz	SSB
19:15z	G3WAG/P	50MHz	SSB
19:16z	M1MHZ	50MHz	SSB
19:17z	G4ASR	50MHz	SSB
19:18z	G4FZN/P	50MHz	SSB
19:20z	G4BEE	50MHz	SSB
19:21z	GW8ASD	50MHz	SSB
19:21z	G4JLG	50MHz	SSB
19:22z	GW4ZAR/P	50MHz	SSB
19:22z	M3RNX	50MHz	SSB
19:23z	M0HWO	50MHz	SSB
19:23z	G4ZRP	50MHz	SSB
19:24z	G8ONK	50MHz	SSB
19:25z	GD8EXI	50MHz	SSB
19:25z	G3UVR	50MHz	SSB
19:27z	G3TDH	50MHz	SSB
19:27z	G7RIS/P	50MHz	SSB
19:28z	G4OAR/A	50MHz	SSB
19:29z	G0CER	50MHz	SSB
19:29z	G8REQ	50MHz	SSB
19:31z	G8MKC/P	50MHz	SSB
19:32z	2E0VPX	50MHz	SSB
19:33z	G1YBB/P	50MHz	SSB
19:35z	G3MEH	50MHz	SSB
19:36z	M1DDD/P	50MHz	SSB
19:37z	G0TVM	50MHz	SSB
19:40z	G4ODA	50MHz	SSB
19:41z	M5DWI/P	50MHz	SSB
19:42z	G4EBK/P	50MHz	SSB
19:43z	2E0RET/P	50MHz	SSB
19:46z	G0JCQ	50MHz	SSB
19:46z	GI6ATZ	50MHz	SSB
19:47z	G8WPL	50MHz	SSB
19:49z	M1MLM	50MHz	SSB
19:52z	G7LRQ/P	50MHz	SSB
19:52z	G4CLA	50MHz	SSB
19:55z	G5UM	50MHz	SSB
20:01z	G0BFJ	50MHz	SSB
20:05z	G0EAK/P	50MHz	SSB
20:09z	G3VCA	50MHz	SSB
20:13z	GM4JJJ	50MHz	SSB
20:24z	G3WRA/P	50MHz	SSB
20:25z	G4FAD	50MHz	SSB
20:30z	M0GDX	50MHz	SSB
20:33z	M6KMB	50MHz	SSB
20:41z	M0VAA/P	50MHz	SSB
20:43z	G8FMC	50MHz	SSB
20:50z	G4YHF	50MHz	SSB
20:56z	M0CGL	50MHz	SSB
21:04z	G8YMW	50MHz	SSB
21:07z	G4DZL/P	50MHz	SSB
21:13z	G3SDY	50MHz	SSB
21:21z	M0NKR	50MHz	SSB
21:23z	G3PHO	50MHz	SSB

I was in Stoke-on-Trent on Monday 16th October 2017 - visiting a GCSE student for some maths tutoring. However, when I got there, she decided she didn’t want to do any maths and refused to engage with any activity. Reminded me of teaching in a nearby school in Stoke-on-Trent - just like the old days.

With a bit of spare time as a result, and no exercise since Thursday due to being constantly on the road for gigs, I decided to walk up The Cloud G/SP-015 on the way home - just like the old days. I didn’t have my logbook with me, so grabbed a piece of paper out of my glove compartment. Fortunately, I did have fleece, coat, hat, pencil and charged-up VX7 HT in the car! It was pretty breezy on Cloud summit, but this distant arm of Hurricane Ophelia was not at all disruptive. Then again, I probably wouldn’t have tried to erect a proper VHF antenna, or HF dipole or groundplane in these conditions.

It was good to work Bruce W2SE again. I always do return to CW after playing on other modes; it was only after I worked him that I spotted he had sent me an email requesting CW!

I love this particular antenna (20m groundplane). Very reliable at getting out, strong track record of working Pacific and other DX on QRP with it, weighs next to nothing (so often gets chucked in the pack as a back-up) and easy to repair in the field if required (providing I’ve got a little Philips in my radio bag!).

Wednesday 18th October 2017 - The Cloud G/SP-015 - 1609 to 1758 UTC: 23 QSOs

It was rather cold by the time I was packing up; winter is definitely on the way! I was pleased therefore to be wearing a great new fleece from a range of gear that I currently like - Tog 24. Why do I like it? Because it goes up to sizes that I can wear! (I’ve just also bought a new black suit for gigging in - from Jacamo…).

A little outing on the morning of Friday 20th October 2017, to check out the system ahead of the following morning's DX S2S event.. Hammering it down with rain in Macclesfield as I set off but only the very lightest of light drizzle when I set off walking up The Cloud G/SP-015. Once into the National Trust area, very firmly in the mist, and not raining - as such.

There was a new sign at this point, and another at the summit, declaring that work will take place throughout the Autumn and Winter on the path, restoring it to 4 feet width and restoring vegetation on the eroded areas either side. It would be interesting to follow this, as I’m sure I would over the following months. Anyway, a quick activation of 15 minutes duration saw me log 13 stations, all on 20m CW. There was a couple that didn’t make it into the log due to me not receiving the report as a result of other stations being too eager and QRMing. Still, serves them right for not hanging around to hear me confirm with a "CFM, “QSL” or “RR”. I didn’t, and went back with “RST?” - but they had gone. So if you’re not in the log…

I awoke with my alarm at 0400 UTC on Saturday 21st October 2017. I awoke again with my second alarm at 0405 UTC. I awoke for a third time without an alarm at 0530 UTC - drat. So I was always going to be late. While checking SOTAwatch in the kitchen over a mug of coffee, I saw that Rob G7LAS had switched his alert from The Cloud G/SP-015 to Bardon Hill G/CE-004 to escape Storm Brian. I took the opportunity to amend my own from Gun G/SP-013 to my favoured The Cloud G/SP-015.

I knew the prevailing wind was southerly, so I reasoned I could set up relatively comfortably just below the rocks at the north end of the summit. So why I didn’t stick to Plan A, goodness knows. Broadcast weather bulletins all day have been reporting that Storm Brian has not materialised in quite as destructive force as predicted, and I certainly felt setting up the 20m GP was viable when I reached Cloud summit. I did, with difficulty, and one running repair needed as a radial snapped away, but then made a few S2S QSOs.

All too soon though, the mast was on the ground again, the result of a second radial snapping. I had wondered during the earlier to drive whether to use my SOTAbeams guying kit to take the strain off the radials - how I wished I had! There was no rain forecast for this part of the day - but it was lashing it down as I made the second repair, and to be honest, I was a bit fed up. As I was making this second radial repair, the third radial snapped - and this was with the system lying on the ground and no part of it under strain or tension! At last I had some clarity of thought. I quickly completed the second and third radial repairs, but then packed everything down and back into the rucksack. I made the short walk to the sheltered “mini cave” operating spot below the rocks on the north end of the summit, and set up again there. As I set the GP up again, with not a breath of wind to contend with, I gave myself a good mental ticking-off for not doing this to start with - as I had originally envisaged when editing my alerted summit earlier!

The rest of the activation passed without incident! Well there was the usual nonsense when a station on an adjacent hill refused to work me and another who suddenly couldn’t hear me when I enquired on-air about my access to the HEMA Database - http://hema.org.uk/activatorLeague.jsp - but it was only what I was expecting.

When I got to the summit on Sunday 22nd October 2017, Storm Brian was still around, so putting a large beam 4m up a fishing rod was not viable. I dropped down 5m beneath the cliffs. I could set up at this point, although there was very little room for the guys on the guying kit. The problem now was a very poor take off, completely blocked to the west. But it was either that or no activation. I also only had about an hour due to working in Blackpool that night, so it was a very token effort. I made 14 QSOs, all 6m SSB, most of them sheltering from heavy rain in the bothy bag. Not quite sure why I went out at all; every factor was informing not to. But I felt like going out - and I’m glad I did!

Meanwhile, my GCSE student in Stoke-on-Trent did partake and fully engage in her maths tutoring today (Monday 30th October 2017), so that was an improvement. It was a lovely day, so again I returned home via The Cloud G/SP-015 and set-up my ultra-light 20m GP. 5 watts of RF from the FT-817 and 45 minutes’ operating landed 17 contacts, including KG3W from over the Pond.

15 of these minutes were wasted calling and calling on SSB, with not a single contact raised. Another couple of minutes were wasted calling on 2m FM. So it was 100% CW today, but I’ve lost track as to whether this is a revered, respected and supremely difficult mode of transmission like SSB, or something so easy and simple that it is akin to cheating, like the dastardly FT-8.

I did call Mike 2E0YYY/P who was on Gun G/SP-013, several times from across the valley on The Cloud G/SP-015 for the S2S on 2m FM, but he still wasn't responding to my calls. Still at least for every point I am denied in the chaser section, I pick up a point in the SWL section.

I did work Pete 2E0LKC and Anne 2E0LMD while on the VHF handheld, then I set up the 20m GP. 24 QSOs in twice as many minutes including seven from across the pond. Most pleasant - as was the weather. This was in-between a day of supply teaching in Crewe (first time I have been in a school this academic year!) and a private tutoring booking in Congleton. Many thanks to all the chasers that called in.

Five modes used on Thursday 2nd November 2017's activation of The Cloud G/SP-015.

I began on 20m SSB to grab a S2S with EA8/HB9TNF/P on EA8/GC-011. That was my one and only SSB contact, as I hadn’t intended doing any running on SSB. On 20m CW, there was then a quick run of 20 QSOs, including 6 into North America (TNX K2YGM, AB4PP, VE1WT, WA2USA, AC1Z, VE2JCW). Next up was 20m JT65, which resulted in four contacts. Finally, 20m PSK31 just added two more to the log.

Somewhere in the middle of that lot I worked Pete 2E0LKC and Anne 2E0LMD on the 2m FM handie. I managed to climb the staircase without stopping for a rest today, which was pleasing - this does tend to happen 3 or 4 days into a run of consecutive daily activations of The Cloud; now to try and keep it going as much as possible and continue my (slight) weight loss! It was also striking just how mild it was for November. The thing that I still haven’t got going yet is the “breathtaking simplicity” of FT8. I really should - I’ve got the appropriate tablet running WSJT-X, plus the cables/interface I need. Just need to set some time aside, read up properly, and get it working.

Just one mode used on the Friday 3rd November 2017 activation of The Cloud G/SP-015 - trusty old CW - though I’m not sure which side of the fence it lands on in terms of the proposed “Two Tier Scoring System”. On this experience, probably should be lumped into the Breathtaking Simplicity Section along with FT8 and the like.

I had extremely limited time due to needing to be in Liverpool for 4pm (soundcheck at the Epstein Theatre) - so 14 QSOs in 12 minutes was just the ticket. This included two S2S - HB9BCB/P on HB/BE-156 and HB9DBM/P on HB/SO-019 - and two contacts from across the pond - NE4TN and VE1WT. I would be gigging the Saturday and Sunday as well, so wouldn’t be able to manage a worthwhile entry in the 2m CW Marconi event - not even in the 6 hours section - but I was going to try to shoehorn a couple of activations in if possible - maybe 1400-1430 on Saturday, and 1000-1300 on Sunday.

A very tight window for me today. The 2m CW “Marconi” event didn’t start until 1400z - but I would have to go QRT at 1500z in order to make soundcheck at the Plaza Theatre in Stockport. Still, that would at least give me a bit of a start in the 6 hour section - and see how many more hours I could make up on Sunday morning - ahead of another gig in Blackpool! Ten QSOs made, including three into France. Some DLs heard too - but the didn’t hear me. Probably more chance tomorrow when they’re more likely to be beaming this way?

I had a bit more time available on the Sunday morning, but it was still pretty slow going. 16 contacts were made on 2m CW, including one into GM, another couple into France, and one into PA. I was able to hear three DL stations calling CQ TEST - DK9DQ, DR1A and DL0LN (from memory, didn’t write them down), the latter being very strong. However, I didn’t manage to attract the attention of any of them. My last contact - SN 026 for the weekend event - was G0MCV @ 1201. This was one minute after my intended QRT time - but you know how addictive this stuff is! I then “had a word with myself” and packed up before getting tempted for another nosey up and down the band! Work beckoned…

An hour or so to play with in-between a dental check-up, and some private tutoring in Stoke. Only one option…! I didn’t proceed all the way to the summit. TBH, I’ve been getting a bit fed up of the constant questions recently when I’m activating in the summit area, and even more bored of my own repetitive and formulaic responses! Don’t get me wrong - I welcome the opportunity, indeed duty, to enthuse and present amateur radio - and SOTA - in a good light to the general public - but sometimes I just want to get on with some operating.

So with it being fairly mild and little or no breeze, I went over to the grassy patch near the cliff edge, on the right before the final pull up to the summit. It’s in the activation zone, about 15m lower than the summit itself. It’s a quiet spot; no-one ever comes over here! Occasionally walkers will wave at me, but usually I just get ignored! Anyway, 20m GP antenna, FT-817, 5 watts etc etc etc:

20m CW: 12 QSOs, including S2S with EA8/G4ONL/P on EA8/FU-031, & 5 NA contacts.

I had a few SOTA chasers want to confirm the reference with me tonight - that was pleasing. I managed to stick it out for the full 3.5 hours - total - of the two back-to-back contests. Though it was nearly disaster and an “early bath” - twice! Shortly after powering up, it all powered down again! The culprit was an intermittent in the T-bar connector that couples to the Tracer 16Ah battery. I managed to (randomly) find a position where power was getting through, so I made a “Note to Self” not to disturb that arrangement. Of course, an hour later I accidentally kicked it, and so for a few minutes that was looking like “game over” too. Fortunately I managed to find that almost-elusive positioning once more - and this time managed to leave it alone until 2230z.

The T-bar was brought into the shack after getting home with the intention of opening it up and fixing it the next day. I made a total of 113 QSOs in the activation, all on 2m - 30 on FM, 1 on CW and 82 on SSB. DXCCs worked were G, GW, GI, GD, GM and F. A pint of Robinson’s “Dark Vader” ale and a pickled egg at the Harrington Arms, Gawsworth, rounded off the evening very nicely. The Met Office’s prediction of “feels like minus 3” was on the mark - it did!

Time	Call	Band	Mode
19:12z	G0UFE	144MHz	FM
19:13z	M6AIF	144MHz	FM
19:14z	G3TPP	144MHz	FM
19:14z	GW8ASD	144MHz	FM
19:15z	G8ZRE	144MHz	FM
19:15z	GW4SHF	144MHz	FM
19:16z	MW6ISV	144MHz	FM
19:17z	G4DZL	144MHz	FM
19:17z	M3SMK	144MHz	FM
19:17z	M0RTQ/P	144MHz	FM
19:18z	2E0PKS	144MHz	FM
19:19z	M3UFK	144MHz	FM
19:21z	2W0JYN	144MHz	FM
19:23z	GW3ATZ	144MHz	FM
19:25z	M1DDD/P	144MHz	FM
19:26z	M6OOY	144MHz	FM
19:28z	2E0DHN/M	144MHz	FM
19:31z	G8HQW/P	144MHz	FM
19:34z	M3HJH	144MHz	FM
19:35z	M0DSR	144MHz	FM
19:36z	M0PER	144MHz	FM
19:37z	M0TXX	144MHz	FM
19:46z	2E1SKY	144MHz	FM
19:48z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM
19:49z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM
19:53z	G8HXE/P	144MHz	FM
19:54z	G4PGJ	144MHz	FM
19:56z	G0SLR	144MHz	FM
19:57z	2E0MVH	144MHz	FM
19:59z	GW1UJU	144MHz	FM
20:00z	G4ASR	144MHz	SSB
20:03z	G8EEM/P	144MHz	SSB
20:09z	G3KAF	144MHz	CW
20:11z	2E0LKC	144MHz	SSB
20:13z	G0UUU/P	144MHz	SSB
20:17z	GM4JTJ	144MHz	SSB
20:18z	M0OMB	144MHz	SSB
20:20z	2E0DGP	144MHz	SSB
20:21z	G8BFF	144MHz	SSB
20:22z	M0ICK	144MHz	SSB
20:22z	G4JLG	144MHz	SSB
20:23z	M3RNX	144MHz	SSB
20:24z	M1MLM	144MHz	SSB
20:24z	MW6ISV	144MHz	SSB
20:25z	GW4SHF	144MHz	SSB
20:26z	G2ANC	144MHz	SSB
20:27z	M5AFG	144MHz	SSB
20:27z	M0XGS	144MHz	SSB
20:28z	GW8ASD	144MHz	SSB
20:33z	MM0GPZ/P	144MHz	SSB
20:34z	G3CKR	144MHz	SSB
20:38z	G4RRA	144MHz	SSB
20:40z	G3ZXZ	144MHz	SSB
20:41z	G1YBB/P	144MHz	SSB
20:44z	2E0MEY	144MHz	SSB
20:45z	G0CER	144MHz	SSB
20:48z	2E0YKC	144MHz	SSB
20:49z	M1DDD/P	144MHz	SSB
20:51z	G4AQB	144MHz	SSB
20:52z	G0CHO	144MHz	SSB
20:52z	G5UM	144MHz	SSB
20:53z	G4OAR/A	144MHz	SSB
20:54z	G8OMB	144MHz	SSB
20:55z	G3UBX	144MHz	SSB
20:57z	GD8EXI	144MHz	SSB
20:58z	G3WRA/P	144MHz	SSB
21:00z	G3VCA	144MHz	SSB
21:01z	G8EOP	144MHz	SSB
21:02z	G0EAK/P	144MHz	SSB
21:04z	G8XYJ	144MHz	SSB
21:11z	G8CUL	144MHz	SSB
21:12z	GW4ZAR/P	144MHz	SSB
21:13z	G8ZRE	144MHz	SSB
21:14z	M0WBG	144MHz	SSB
21:16z	G4ILI/P	144MHz	SSB
21:18z	F1BHL/P	144MHz	SSB
21:21z	M0GAV/P	144MHz	SSB
21:23z	G4ZWY	144MHz	SSB
21:24z	M0BRA	144MHz	SSB
21:26z	G4GFI	144MHz	SSB
21:29z	G3NPI	144MHz	SSB
21:31z	2E0LMD	144MHz	SSB
21:32z	G4FZN/P	144MHz	SSB
21:39z	M1MHZ	144MHz	SSB
21:40z	G3MEH	144MHz	SSB
21:45z	G8XDD/P	144MHz	SSB
21:46z	M0ICR	144MHz	SSB
21:48z	G4FAD	144MHz	SSB
21:49z	G0EFD	144MHz	SSB
21:49z	M0VSE	144MHz	SSB
21:50z	G4XTF	144MHz	SSB
21:51z	G0FKW	144MHz	SSB
21:52z	M0HWO	144MHz	SSB
21:53z	G8RBW	144MHz	SSB
21:55z	M5AML	144MHz	SSB
21:56z	G1HLT	144MHz	SSB
21:56z	G3XKT	144MHz	SSB
22:00z	M0MDY	144MHz	SSB
22:04z	M0DXR/P	144MHz	SSB
22:08z	G8HXE/P	144MHz	SSB
22:09z	G4ODA	144MHz	SSB
22:10z	G8DMU/P	144MHz	SSB
22:12z	G8ONK	144MHz	SSB
22:14z	G8BUN	144MHz	SSB
22:17z	G4FEV	144MHz	SSB
22:19z	M0VXX/P	144MHz	SSB
22:20z	2E0RET/P	144MHz	SSB
22:21z	GI6ATZ/P	144MHz	SSB
22:23z	G4HGT/P	144MHz	SSB
22:25z	G8REQ	144MHz	SSB
22:27z	GI4SNA	144MHz	SSB
22:28z	G0JCQ	144MHz	SSB
22:29z	2E0XJP	144MHz	SSB

This is my new slicker and quicker version of the old “Four and run” concept. The previous night I'd suffered intermittents on BOTH of my T-bar connectors for my Tracer battery - the newer one, and the older repaired “spare”. Today - Wednesday 8th November 2017 - I only had limited time between some a day’s supply teaching and a couple of private tuition appointments. Well, with no battery for the FT-817 it would have to be 2m handheld anyway. Thanks to M6XBQ and MW6ISV. Back home and I started to check out the connectors by doing continuity/short testing - yet it appeared everything is in order on both T-bars. Maybe there’s an unclean spot on one of the battery terminals? Anyway, that’s for tomorrow, I’m off to bed!

Thursday 9th November 2017 was a terrible night - conditions were really awful - and it was bitterly cold for all us* truly outdoor operators too. [* - OK probably just numbering the one daft bloke on The Cloud G/SP-015].

I was hopeful of some interesting activity with the forecast of the strong aurora. It seems others were too, many southern based stations beaming north more often and for longer than they normally do. Yet there was nothing. Nothing at all. Not even any GMs. I did hear MM0CEZ on SSB and CW - but he didn’t hear me on either. So just 62 QSOs. DXCCs: G, GI, GD & GW. QRAs: IO64, 74, 81, 82, 83, 84, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, JO02.

The repaired T-bar connector for the Tracer battery worked without any problems, so that was good. There was another near disaster though - well minor inconvenience, however you wish to interpret it. I probably wouldn’t have mentioned it, but elsewhere on the internet today, I saw that Rob and Mike derive great amusement from my tales of woe, so this one is especially for you guys! I arrived at the Cloudside parking area bang on 1900z and in good time for the contest. That was when I realised that I had not thought to pack a coaxial feeder cable to run from the SOTAbeams SB6 down to the FT-817. So I had to drive home to get it - and back again. First contact was recorded at 2008z, so I guess I didn’t do too bad. Hope you enjoyed that boys; thanks for the mention!

Time	Call	Band	Mode
20:03z	GI4SNA	50MHz	SSB
20:09z	M1MHZ	50MHz	SSB
20:10z	G4ASR	50MHz	SSB
20:10z	G0HEL/P	50MHz	SSB
20:11z	G3WRA/P	50MHz	SSB
20:12z	G0BFJ/P	50MHz	SSB
20:13z	G1YBB/P	50MHz	SSB
20:16z	G4SDM/P	50MHz	SSB
20:17z	M1DDD/P	50MHz	SSB
20:18z	G4CLA	50MHz	SSB
20:19z	M0PLA	50MHz	SSB
20:21z	G3SQQ	50MHz	SSB
20:21z	G0TVM	50MHz	SSB
20:22z	G8REQ	50MHz	SSB
20:24z	G3WAG/P	50MHz	SSB
20:25z	2E0RET/P	50MHz	SSB
20:26z	GW4BVE	50MHz	SSB
20:27z	2E0DXK/P	50MHz	SSB
20:28z	G3UVR	50MHz	SSB
20:31z	GW4ZAR	50MHz	SSB
20:31z	M3RNX	50MHz	SSB
20:32z	G4JLG	50MHz	SSB
20:33z	G0CER	50MHz	SSB
20:33z	G3TDH	50MHz	SSB
20:34z	2E0DGP/P	50MHz	SSB
20:35z	G7LRQ/P	50MHz	SSB
20:39z	GW8ASD	50MHz	SSB
20:44z	G4ODA	50MHz	SSB
20:47z	G0HC4FM/P	50MHz	SSB
20:49z	G8C4FMK	50MHz	SSB
20:54z	G4FZN/P	50MHz	SSB
21:06z	G3RKF	50MHz	SSB
21:08z	G1HLT	50MHz	SSB
21:09z	M0OMB	50MHz	SSB
21:10z	G4DZL	50MHz	SSB
21:16z	G3MEH	50MHz	SSB
21:19z	G4YHF	50MHz	SSB
21:32z	M0MDY	50MHz	SSB
21:33z	G3PHO	50MHz	SSB
21:35z	M0GAV/P	50MHz	SSB
21:37z	M0VAA/P	50MHz	SSB
21:38z	G3TBK/P	50MHz	SSB
21:40z	2E0MYS/P	50MHz	SSB
21:42z	MW6ISV	50MHz	SSB
21:44z	G8BUN	50MHz	SSB
21:45z	M0WBG	50MHz	SSB
21:45z	GW4SHF	50MHz	SSB
21:46z	G0UUU/P	50MHz	SSB
21:47z	G4YSS/P	50MHz	SSB
21:48z	M0HWO	50MHz	SSB
21:48z	G0CDA	50MHz	SSB
21:49z	G0NPI	50MHz	SSB
21:50z	G4VFL	50MHz	SSB
21:52z	G4BEE	50MHz	SSB
21:58z	G5UM	50MHz	SSB
22:01z	2E0OUT	50MHz	SSB
22:03z	M1BXF	50MHz	SSB
22:08z	M0RKX/P	50MHz	SSB
22:17z	M0KJR	50MHz	SSB
22:22z	G3VCA	50MHz	SSB
22:24z	G4DFA	50MHz	SSB
22:29z	GD8EXI	50MHz	SSB

I set off from home at 2315z. I returned at 0045z. Two activations were recorded! Friday 10th November 2017: The Cloud G/SP-015 2m FM - 1 QSO!

I was amazed at the lack of traffic on VHF. In years gone by whenever I have performed such a stunt, I’ve had plenty of takers on 2m, even at much later times! I don’t think we are contemplating the demise of VHF here in the North West though as several other channels were occupied by a QSO in progress. The weather was cold, with a bit of breeze and drizzle. A couple of patches of the path in between the big staircase and the start of the National Trust land were very muddy and treacherous. Many thanks to all the station that worked me

Sunday 12th November 2017. Panic over. Normal service resumed today with 5 easy QSOs in quarter of an hour from G/SP-015 - with a 2m handheld.

Monday 13th November 2017: I fancied a headtorch-lit walk up Bosley Cloud G/SP-015 in the evening, intending to be QRV with my VX7R and stock helical antenna from the summit on 2m FM. 6 stations were worked on 2m FM. Slow going in the chilly breeze. Nice views across Cheshire, Staffordshire and Manchester at night though.

I was off out again on Tuesday 14th November 2017. Not quite night-time, although it wouldn’t be long before it started getting dark! It would be with a VHF handheld again though as I was very pushed for time between bits of work. Just trying to keep my run of daily activations going, though it would likely come to an end at the weekend when back on the road with the band. This would be my 14th consecutive daily activation of The Cloud G/SP-015.

Four contacts in six minutes were sandwiched between a walk up the hill, and a walk back down again. Thank you.

Wednesday 15th November 2017. 20m was pretty quiet for my activation in the afternoon. It was yet another case of nipping up The Cloud G/SP-015 ahead of some maths tutoring work in Stoke-on-Trent, although I had a bit more time to spare on this occasion, hence the HF. As I was walking up, I noticed a National Trust working party loading equipment back into their van, which was parked in the grounds of the upper farmhouse. There are signs up about work to repair the footpath and also the vegetation to its sides, so I presume they were making a start on that, although the only difference I noticed was the establishment of a rough path from the farmhouse grounds across to the main path to the summit, just after the NT signs. I operated for 15 minutes and made just 4 QSOs - one into Italy, one USA and two Canada.

Another two-QSO SOTA activation for me on Thursday 16th November 2017. Liam was at the theatre in Congleton with his mates, so rather than going home in-between taxi runs, I went up the nearby G/SP-015. I knew it was pushing it a bit going for 20m after 2000z in current HF conditions, but I couldn’t be bothered giving it much more thought - plus I had my trusty 2m handheld with me as back-up!

As it was, I rather enjoyed sitting alone on a peaceful summit, under a clear starlit sky, as the Palm Cube repeatedly churned out my CQ call in beacon mode. This also gave me plenty of time to create the poll about reflector thread post limits. I needed it too - my first couple of attempts failed due to errors in the settings I used. Just two stations came back to my calls on a very quiet band - OK2BZ and YU1SY - but reports incoming and outgoing were all 599. I could hear N9XG activating W5T/CI-001, and AC1Z working him, but only quietly.

It wasn’t happening for me on the evening of Friday 17th November 2017, on The Cloud G/SP-015. Called and called on 20m CW. Several US and Canadian skimmers got me - but no chasers. I then tried my luck at JT65 but again no takers despite constant activity. The activation comprised just a single QSO on 2m FM. I hoped my son Jimmy M0HGY fancied a pint later…!

It was an early finish for me on Saturday 18th November 2017. Mind you I wasn’t expecting to be involved at all in the EU-NA SOTA event. But with the cancellation of all the weekend’s gigs, I decided to make a rare visit to the Moss Rose to watch the football, and beforehand, an activation. Conditions weren’t exactly sparkling, but 43 QSOs on 20m was 43 more than I got the previous night!

The propagation over the pond was just getting going and I thought about sticking around, but I decided to stick to Plan A and go to the match.

Time	Call	Band	Mode	S2S
12:00z	CT2HOV/P	14MHz	SSB	CT/MN-040
12:05z	SM0CUH	14MHz	CW
12:07z	OZ7JZ	14MHz	CW
12:08z	OK2PDT	14MHz	CW
12:08z	S52CU	14MHz	CW
12:09z	LY2BNL	14MHz	CW
12:10z	SP9AMH	14MHz	CW
12:11z	EA2DT	14MHz	CW
12:16z	HA7WA	14MHz	CW
12:18z	GB1BSW	14MHz	SSB
12:21z	G4OOE/P	14MHz	CW	G/TW-004
12:25z	9A6CW/P	14MHz	CW	9A/DH-036
12:29z	YO2BP	14MHz	CW
12:30z	OH9XX/P	14MHz	CW	OH/JS-066
12:33z	EA3GHZ	14MHz	CW
12:35z	G4OOE/P	14MHz	SSB	G/TW-004
12:39z	HA7WA	14MHz	SSB
12:42z	HA6OD	14MHz	SSB
12:47z	SV2HWH	14MHz	SSB
12:50z	G4OOE/P	18MHz	CW	G/TW-004
12:51z	M0RSF/P	14MHz	SSB	G/NP-029
12:56z	LZ3RN	14MHz	CW
12:58z	LZ1QN	14MHz	CW
12:59z	US7IY	14MHz	CW
13:05z	UA3QGT	14MHz	CW
13:06z	LZ5W	14MHz	CW
13:08z	UT0U	14MHz	CW
13:09z	UR5R	14MHz	CW
13:12z	OE6FEG/P	14MHz	CW	OE/ST-248
13:15z	M1BUU/P	14MHz	CW	G/NP-017
13:19z	EA1AER	14MHz	CW
13:25z	NS1TA	18MHz	CW	W1/EM-001
13:36z	OE6FTE	14MHz	SSB
13:36z	OE6SWG/P	14MHz	SSB
13:37z	SV3IEG	14MHz	SSB
13:38z	EB5AG	14MHz	SSB
13:38z	SQ9OZM	14MHz	SSB
13:39z	YO6PIB/P	14MHz	SSB	YO/EC-599
13:40z	S57ILF	14MHz	SSB
13:41z	N1GB	14MHz	SSB
13:42z	M1BUU/P	14MHz	SSB	G/NP-017
13:49z	LZ1GJ/P	14MHz	CW	LZ/RO-172
14:03z	2E0DIJ	144MHz	FM
14:06z	M0WBG	144MHz	FM
14:07z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM
14:07z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM
14:08z	G0SLR	144MHz	FM
14:10z	G0BJK	144MHz	FM

With yet another cancelled gig and hundreds of miles not to drive, I fancied another 20m activation. It was a beautiful clear and bright morning, though pretty cold. I knew The Cloud G/SP-015 would be busy, so I set up on my occasional perch - a grassy patch in a sea of heather, close the the escarpment edge, about 25 yards from the main path and around 15m lower than the actual summit.

Anyway, today’s results were not that dissimilar to yesterday’s, even 17 hours after the NA-EU S2S event - except there wasn’t a DX S2S!

As I was walking down the hill, a walker ascending with his family stopped me and asked if I was doing SOTA. He'd spotted the fishing pole in my rucksack - but not the SOTA logo on my hat! It turns out it was Paul, someone who was out on SOTA's very first day - 2nd March 2002. He wasn't operating that day - he was unlicensed and just out for the walk with Richard G3CWI, although he did later go on to acquire a Foundation licence.

Time	Call	Band	Mode	S2S
09:25z	OH8UL	14MHz	CW
09:28z	RA1TU	14MHz	CW
09:33z	YL5X	14MHz	CW
09:35z	RK3AW	14MHz	CW
09:41z	OK2EA	14MHz	CW
09:45z	SP4W	14MHz	CW
09:49z	SE2T	14MHz	CW
09:51z	LY2TS	14MHz	CW
09:53z	HA3LN	14MHz	CW
09:55z	LZ1RW	14MHz	CW
09:56z	RM2L	14MHz	CW
09:59z	LZ5EE	14MHz	CW
10:00z	LY2AJ	14MHz	CW
10:03z	UX7QD	14MHz	CW
10:04z	IZ3SQW	14MHz	CW
10:11z	CT2GSN/P	14MHz	SSB	CT/MN-005
10:14z	MW0XRT/P	144MHz	FM	GW/NW-048
10:17z	2E0DIJ	144MHz	FM
10:30z	OM1AX	14MHz	CW
10:31z	YO2BP	14MHz	CW
10:42z	YO8SBR/P	14MHz	SSB	YO/EC-467
10:44z	OK4KOP	14MHz	SSB
10:46z	EA5DNO	14MHz	SSB
10:58z	SA4BLM	14MHz	SSB
10:59z	YO8SSB	14MHz	SSB
11:00z	HA7WA	14MHz	SSB
11:10z	LZ/SV2RUJ/P	14MHz	SSB	LZ/KV-001
11:19z	OZ7JZ	14MHz	PSK31
11:32z	US5IMX	14MHz	PSK31
11:41z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM
11:41z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM
11:42z	M/VK4MHZ/P	144MHz	FM
12:07z	G8XYJ/P	144MHz	FM	G/WB-014
12:14z	RN6AM	14MHz	JT65
12:21z	G0HIO/P	14MHz	CW	G/SP-001
12:26z	LB8IG/P	14MHz	CW
12:27z	EA2DT	14MHz	CW
12:28z	OK2PDT	14MHz	CW
12:29z	DL8DXL	14MHz	CW
12:29z	EA2DPA	14MHz	CW
12:30z	RV9DC	14MHz	CW
12:31z	M0TGT/M	144MHz	FM
12:34z	N1GB	14MHz	CW
12:35z	LZ2OQ/1	14MHz	CW
12:37z	EC2AG/P	14MHz	SSB	EA2/BI-009
12:39z	UR4UC	14MHz	CW
12:41z	RW3XZ	14MHz	CW
12:45z	LA4WIA	14MHz	CW
12:46z	DL1FU	14MHz	CW
12:47z	LA2FDA	14MHz	CW
12:49z	UR9QW	14MHz	CW
12:53z	E70AA/P	14MHz	CW	E7/BO-055
13:01z	S52AU	14MHz	CW
13:02z	OH9XX	14MHz	CW
13:03z	EU2MM	14MHz	CW
13:04z	S56RPJ	14MHz	CW
13:06z	HB9DBM	14MHz	CW
13:07z	DL2DXA	14MHz	CW
13:11z	F8FEO/P	14MHz	CW	F/AM-671
13:17z	TC10S	14MHz	CW
13:19z	OM7AW	14MHz	CW
13:20z	I5ECW	14MHz	CW
13:50z	2W0ISV	144MHz	FM
13:51z	2W0JYN	144MHz	FM
13:52z	MW6SHJ	144MHz	FM
13:53z	G4RRM	144MHz	FM

The morning’s intention to do a multimode 20m activation, had been dampened by the weather. I would still go up G/SP-015 for the 20th time in 20 days - but just with my 2m handheld in my pocket. The sequence was due to end on 17, but my weekend tour dates all got cancelled. It would end today on 20 though as we were off to GI that evening.

2 lengthy ragchew QSOs on 2m FM. Breezy, cloudy, but dry. I would not be activating G/SP-015 the next day!

The Cloud G/SP-015, evening of Sunday 26th November 2017. After all the rain, I wasn’t expecting the bad middle section of the path to be any better - and indeed it was worse. Very deep mud and dangerously slippery. The next problem was my newly repaired 20m GP antenna. I carefully unwound it from the kite wonder and started to assemble it. Next thing, it’s all in an almighty tangle that took me 20 minutes to unravel! Oh well, this can sometimes happen, albeit thankfully very rarely. But I didn’t need it in nearly freezing temperatures when I didn’t know for how long the 20m band was thinking of staying open!

I was QRV around 1910z and started S+P’ing up and down the band. This wasn’t as easy as I was hoping with a good many big contest stations unable to receive my puny 5 watt signal! There was some nice stuff about too - ZF, TI, P4, PY etc - but none of these could hear me. In the end, 22 stations were worked before I went QRT, all 20m CW: 6Y: 1 9A: 1 HA: 2 S5: 3 VE: 2 W: 13

Monday 27th November 2017, and another low-effort activation of The Cloud G/SP-015. Well there was a bit of effort involved in driving the 7 miles to the parking spot in heavy rain, and a bit more in making the decision to climb to the summit, even with just handheld in pocket. A bit of effort (that I’m used to) climbing the big concrete staircase, and then rather more in negotiating the short section of path alongside the farm that has become a worse mudplug than the first part of the Gun G/SP-013 path!

There have been no sightings of the NT working party since they were seen loading tools back into their van after making their access path from the farm to the summit path. What I was wondering was if their work would be limited to the summit path from the signed NT land only - ie, after the really awful section past the farm. Those concrete steps needed a lot of mud clearing from them too. There was erosion damage to the main path, and erosion damage to the vegetated areas either side. I presumed these were the main foci for the NT working party - but the concrete steps and connecting path were the most treacherous.

Once on the eroded summit path, it was fairly easy going, and I didn’t need to worry about “effort” until I returned to the NT boundary again on the descent. At the summit, regular chasers Pete 2E0LKC and Steve 2W0ISV were worked on 2m FM, but not Anne 2E0LMD who was out at the shops. Every chance I’d activate it again the next day...

There would be double points for any keen local chasers late on Tuesday 28th November 2017/early on Wednesday 29th November 2017. I hadn’t been for my walk up The Cloud G/SP-015 during the day, so I’ll decided and do it before bed! Chaser points therefore would be available before and after the midnight UTC threshold.

And just under 90 minutes and two SOTA activations later, I was back in the house. Pleasant crisp, clear, but very cold night. I thoroughly enjoyed the ascent, and my fitness continued to improve. Total of 8 QSOs made. Not bad for around local midnight with 5w from a VHF handheld with rubber duck. Probably impossible in most other parts of the world!

7 QSOs on 2m FM with the handie, on Thursday 30th November 2017. Not bad. It was desperately cold up there - brrr! What made it worse was each and every one of my seven contacts describing their in-shack heating arrangements. I hadn’t even asked. Why, just why? But every cloud (excuse the pun) and all that. The good aspect of the bitter cold was that the increasingly treacherous swampy “path” on the middle section, between the top of the concrete staircase and the National Trust land, was frozen solid. I could walk right over it without fear of dirty shoes, wet socks or slipping over and hitting the deck. So that cheered me up. A bit. Now I needed to be hitting the road to downtown Rawtenstall for the night’s giggery pokery.

I decided to do it again late on Friday 1st December 2017 - if only for a much needed constitutional after a family take-away tea from the Weston Balti Raj. So keen chasers in the Midlands / North Wales / North West, if monitoring 2m FM after 11.30pm could grab a point. And if really keen, stick around until after midnight, and grab themselves a second point for tomorrow … well you know what I mean…

The Cloud G/SP-015, Friday 1st December 2017 - 2351 to 2359 UTC 2m FM - 4 contacts Weather: a little chilly breeze on the summit, some ice down on parts of the track, but seemed overall milder than the recent activations. Bright moonlight, and clear far-reaching views.

The Cloud G/SP-015 - Saturday 2nd December - 0001 to 0011 UTC 2m FM - 6 contacts

Sunday 3rd December 2017 The ‘chief whip’ of our contest group had been ‘encouraging’ members to get on air in the 2m AFS event. A Sunday night gig in Blackpool ruled a full effort out of the question, but I got on for the first couple of hours from The Cloud G/SP-015. I was fully set up in good time, so began with some ‘normal’ SOTAing ahead of the AFS period. It was nice to catch SOTA stalwart of previous years Tony G1JPV as a result.

Around 1000z, some pretty persistent rain started, so I got inside the bothy bag. It was amusing for the next half hour, eavesdropping on families walking by: “What is it?”, “That’s new since last time” and “I think there’s someone in there” among the remarks heard. Around midday, I pulled the plug and packed up. 51 contacts made - 49 on 2m SSB and 2 on 2m CW. Just G, GW and GM worked, although good signals were noted from F and PA. Squares worked: IO74, 80, 81, 82, 83, 91, 92, 93, JO00, 01 & 02.

I wrote this report over a late lunch at Rivington Pike Services M61, nestling underneath Winter Hill G/SP-010. 6" sub + coffee = £3 - bargain - for a motorway services! Now it was onto Blackpool to play some nice minims.

I gave my youngest son Liam lifts to the Job Centre and Remploy for his appointments, but before going home, I decided that I wanted some fresh air - and he needed some! Knowing the mudbath on the middle section of the route, I changed into my walking boots at the parking spot. Liam pointed out that he only had his normal shoes with him. I offered him the option of taking the track right up to the farm for the longer, wider route to the summit, which I suggested wouldn’t be as mucky. Indeed it wasn’t; it was worse. Still it was a nice change.

How I’d love to live in that farmhouse at the top of that track there. Or even just acquire some of the land behind it and convert the old barn/bothy that stands there! Three contacts on 2m FM with the handheld, then a unanimous agreement to descend via the normal direct route - which turned out to be nowhere near as muddy as anticipated anyway.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
19:15z	2E0MVH	144MHz	FM
19:15z	GW8ASD	144MHz	FM
19:16z	M5AGI	144MHz	FM
19:16z	2W0ISV	144MHz	FM
19:17z	G4PGJ	144MHz	FM
19:18z	G0VOK	144MHz	FM
19:18z	G0EAK/P	144MHz	FM
19:19z	2E0HFE/M	144MHz	FM
19:20z	M6KNS/P	144MHz	FM
19:23z	2W0JYN	144MHz	FM
19:24z	M6XOO/P	144MHz	FM
19:25z	M6OOY	144MHz	FM
19:26z	G0NWY	144MHz	FM
19:28z	M0KEA	144MHz	FM
19:30z	GW3ATZ	144MHz	FM
19:32z	M0RTQ/P	144MHz	FM
19:35z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM
19:35z	G8EEM/P	144MHz	FM
19:43z	G5UM	144MHz	FM
19:45z	M6JRK	144MHz	FM
19:47z	G4DEE	144MHz	FM
19:48z	2E0DGP	144MHz	FM
19:52z	G0SLR	144MHz	FM
19:53z	M1MLM	144MHz	FM
20:06z	GW0GEI	144MHz	SSB
20:09z	G8OVZ/P	144MHz	SSB
20:10z	G0SKA	144MHz	SSB
20:10z	G1MZD	144MHz	SSB
20:11z	G4CLB	144MHz	SSB
20:12z	M0ICR	144MHz	SSB
20:13z	G4BKF	144MHz	SSB
20:14z	G4NTY	144MHz	SSB
20:15z	G3TDH	144MHz	SSB
20:16z	G4JLG	144MHz	SSB
20:17z	G8DIR	144MHz	SSB
20:17z	G4OAR/A	144MHz	SSB
20:18z	G0VOK	144MHz	SSB
20:18z	G3KAF	144MHz	SSB
20:19z	G4IOQ	144MHz	SSB
20:20z	G8ZRE	144MHz	SSB
20:21z	GW8ASD	144MHz	SSB
20:21z	2E0EJN	144MHz	SSB
20:24z	G0EAK/P	144MHz	SSB
20:25z	G4YHF	144MHz	SSB
20:26z	GW4ZAR	144MHz	SSB
20:29z	G4LDL/P	144MHz	SSB
20:30z	G4JED/P	144MHz	SSB
20:32z	GM4AFF	144MHz	SSB
20:33z	M6PWD	144MHz	SSB
20:35z	GW6TEO	144MHz	SSB
20:36z	M0OMB	144MHz	SSB
20:37z	G2ANC	144MHz	SSB
20:37z	M3RNX	144MHz	SSB
20:38z	G6SPG	144MHz	SSB
20:38z	2E0LKC	144MHz	SSB
20:39z	M0XGS	144MHz	SSB
20:40z	G3CKR	144MHz	SSB
20:43z	GM4JJJ	144MHz	SSB
20:44z	G4CLA	144MHz	SSB
20:46z	M3RYL	144MHz	SSB
20:47z	2E0SCX	144MHz	SSB
20:49z	G7RHF/P	144MHz	SSB
20:51z	G3ZIG	144MHz	SSB
20:52z	G1YBB/P	144MHz	SSB
20:54z	G4ODA	144MHz	SSB
20:56z	G7ULL	144MHz	SSB
20:57z	G3ZXZ	144MHz	SSB
20:59z	G8PNN/P	144MHz	SSB
21:01z	GD8EXI	144MHz	SSB
21:02z	GM3SEK	144MHz	SSB
21:04z	G8XYJ/P	144MHz	SSB
21:05z	GI4SNA	144MHz	SSB
21:06z	G8EEM/P	144MHz	SSB
21:07z	G8BCG	144MHz	SSB
21:09z	M6YGL/P	144MHz	SSB
21:10z	G3UVR	144MHz	SSB
21:12z	G4HGT/P	144MHz	SSB
21:14z	G4ILI/P	144MHz	SSB
21:15z	G6UBM	144MHz	SSB
21:17z	G0HEL/P	144MHz	SSB
21:19z	G3YNN	144MHz	SSB
21:20z	M0GAV/P	144MHz	SSB
21:23z	G3NPI	144MHz	SSB
21:25z	G0NRL	144MHz	SSB
21:26z	G3WRR	144MHz	SSB
21:27z	G6NUM	144MHz	SSB
21:27z	G8CLY	144MHz	SSB
21:28z	G8ONK	144MHz	SSB
21:29z	G4VYP	144MHz	SSB
21:30z	G4APL	144MHz	SSB
21:31z	2W0JYN	144MHz	SSB
21:32z	G4LPD	144MHz	SSB
21:32z	G4SWY	144MHz	SSB
21:33z	M0SPS	144MHz	SSB
21:39z	M0WYB	144MHz	SSB
21:41z	G7LRQ	144MHz	SSB
21:43z	G8EQD	144MHz	SSB
21:45z	M0BRA	144MHz	SSB
21:49z	M0WGF	144MHz	SSB
21:50z	G4IRC	144MHz	SSB
21:51z	G0ODQ	144MHz	SSB
21:52z	GI6ATZ	144MHz	SSB
21:57z	G6KWA	144MHz	SSB
21:59z	M1TZR	144MHz	SSB
22:02z	G0CER	144MHz	SSB
22:02z	G8DMU/P	144MHz	SSB
22:07z	G4BEE	144MHz	SSB
22:08z	2E0DGP	144MHz	SSB
22:12z	G3YDY	144MHz	SSB
22:13z	2E0DXK/P	144MHz	SSB
22:14z	M0ORY	144MHz	SSB
22:22z	GS8VL/P	144MHz	SSB
22:24z	M0NVS	144MHz	SSB
22:25z	M0WBG	144MHz	SSB
22:28z	G4ERO	144MHz	SSB
22:29z	G3PYE/P	144MHz	SSB
22:29z	M6OME/A	144MHz	SSB

Friday 8th December 2017

Quick activation on my day off before hitting the road again the following day.

Tom M1EYP Cloud summit

Considerably colder than the previousday - my hands were hurting less than two minutes after taking my gloves off at the summit. Just two contacts on 2m FM. I’m sure a S2S called in as well, but they didn’t materialise on the QSY channel, and I never heard them again.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
16:33z	G6DFD	144MHz	FM
16:34z	MW0XRT	144MHz	FM

Well, I’ve made it to the parking spot on roads that were icy but drivable with care. I’ll operated on 2m FM as M1EYP/M from the car until around 2325z, then began the ascent.

It was “fun”. Tuesday 12th December 2017: The ice on virtually all sections of the path was really problematic. Each step of the ascent needed time and care; a painstaking process! More straightforward was the activation on 2m FM with the handheld and rubber duck. Between 2350 and 2359z I worked six stations. Easy, even with the handheld and the late hour.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
23:50z	MW6LQW	144MHz	FM
23:50z	M6EFP	144MHz	FM
23:50z	MW3HRE	144MHz	FM
23:52z	G0KNK	144MHz	FM
23:56z	M6YCE	144MHz	FM
23:59z	G7RYN	144MHz	FM

Wednesday 13th December 2017 - G/SP-015 VHF clearly alive and well. Again with just the hand-portable, I worked seven stations this time, all between 0000 and 0012z. So 13 QSOs around midnight (8 unique stations). Now came the most important challenge - descending the treacherously icy path. This was twice as painstaking as the ascent, and what is normally a five minute descent took nearly half an hour. But, importantly, I got back to the car without any mishaps. Now I needed to observe similar vigilance for the drive home on some very icy lanes!

Time	Call	Band	Mode
00:00z	G7RYN	144MHz	FM
00:07z	MW3LQW	144MHz	FM
00:07z	M6EFP	144MHz	FM
00:08z	MW3HRE	144MHz	FM
00:10z	M6YCE	144MHz	FM
00:12z	2W0JYN	144MHz	FM
00:12z	MW3GWP	144MHz	FM

SOTA would be back on tour with me that coming weekend. On Thursday 14th December 2017, the plan was to do the 6m UKAC from The Cloud G/SP-015. I ascended to the summit and set up the SB6 beam and station. At that point, the mobile rang. It was my XYL advising me that, in fact, I was not contesting this evening. I packed everything away unused, and made three QSOs on the 2m FM handheld.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
20:05z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM
20:06z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM
20:17z	M0HGY	144MHz	FM

I couldn’t wait to get back up The Cloud G/SP-015 and exorcise the demon of the previous night’s debacle. I set my alarm at 6am on Friday 15th December 2017 - that is a sure-fire way of avoiding XYL QRM to my plans. It was a slow and extremely careful drive - mainly 20mph, and rarely out of 2nd gear - up to Red Lane (Cloudside), Bosley. The roads were very treacherous with the ice that had formed overnight. I was half expecting to get stuck at one of the several steeper sections of road and be forced to turn back in defeat, but I made it to the parking spot, accompanied by Test Match Special on BBC Radio Five Live Sports Extra - oh the luxury of having DAB radio in the car!

Tom M1EYP Cloud summit

Fortunately, the ice down underfoot was not smooth and glassy like a few days ago, and was quite easy to walk on at normal pace. Some fresh snow had fallen, and certainly added some grip potential, but I wore my big boots anyway. The footprints before me indicated that despite the early hour (0700), two humans and one canine had ascended the hill ahead of me. The snow was increasingly deep as I ascended, but never prohibitive to progress. I imagine it would have been over on Shining Tor G/SP-004 though. The summit was like a winter wonderland scene, and I appreciated it greatly. Later, after a bright sun rose above the horizon, it was even more spectacular - fabulous!

Beautiful - but cold morning The ascent route from Cloudside

I operated on 20m using the FT-817 (5 watts) and the GP antenna. This aerial is incredibly light, but it is definitely showing signs of age (or rather, showing signs of intensive use) now, and plans to replace it with a heavier duty version are at an advanced stage. It still does the bizzo though, and I had a nice short pile-up of 10 QSOs, all CW. One of which was John ZL1BYZ again. Excellent. I called for ages on 20m SSB, but didn’t get a single taker. Neither did I on 2m FM, though I didn’t call for “ages” on VHF - just twice in fact - and then I wanted to go.

The view from the 'shack' Sunrise

Things to do. Run Liam to the hospital for his regular volunteering with the early stage dementia patients (an activity that he absolutely loves every week), round to my mum’s new flat to continue the decorating for five hours, then meet Liam again to get our Christmas shopping finished. And YES - it’s FINISHED! Woo hoo - I normally only achieve this around 5pm on Christmas Eve!!! So now Liam and I celebrated by going to the local pub for a couple, then returning home with a curry take-away. Jimmy M0HGY would not be joining us - he was out on his work Christmas do, and already had a belly full of food and ale! The “SOTA on Tour” would continue from around 8am the following (Saturday) morning, as I headed off down south again for a couple of gigs with Mr Longthorne.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
08:19z	SM0CUH	14MHz	CW
08:20z	SP9AMH	14MHz	CW
08:25z	RW3XZ	14MHz	CW
08:26z	HA4BLM	14MHz	CW
08:27z	ZL1BYZ	14MHz	CW
08:29z	SV2OXS	14MHz	CW
08:33z	YO2BP	14MHz	CW
08:35z	9A2UN	14MHz	CW
08:39z	G0VOF	14MHz	CW
08:40z	LY2BNL	14MHz	CW

I set off from Lowestoft for the long drive home along the A14 and M6. On 2m FM, I called and called - but there was no one to talk to in the vicinity of the A14 in the early hours of Monday 18th December 2017. I started the journey reasonably well, but soon became very tired, and pulling over for a 5 minute power-nap whenever I felt I needed it, rather impaired my progress (but probably enhanced my life expectancy).

When one such “5 minute power-nap” actually took two hours, and included a most entertaining dream, I reawoke feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. It was now around 6am and I finally got an answer to one of my /M CQ calls. Arthur G0OHY kept me company from SE of Leek through to Cloudside, and then throughout the ascent of G/SP-015 with me on the VX7R. Arthur was first into the logbook on the summit, soon followed by Dwayne 2E0DIJ/M, but there were no other takers on 2m. I set up the 40m dipole and made a handful of contacts around Europe, 9H Malta probably being the pick. C3 Andorra was CQing too - but wasn’t hearing me. I was finally home from this leg of the tour at 0845.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
07:05z	G0OHY	144MHz	FM
07:08z	2E0DIJ/M	144MHz	FM
07:31z	S52CU	7MHz	CW
07:33z	9A2GA	7MHz	CW
07:35z	IK1QFP	7MHz	CW
07:37z	S52AU	7MHz	CW
07:43z	9H3CW	7MHz	CW
07:44z	UR4EZ	7MHz	CW

So back at home on Tuesday 19th December 2017, and back to the mundanity of helping my mum get ready for her flat move in a couple of days. Going through her stuff for packing / tipping, and I come across this… …a 1988 album from the very guy I’m currently touring with! Not only that, but looking at the credits on the back, the pianist/MD was Dave Arch (currently leading the band and singers on BBC’s “Strictly Come Dancing”, and the album was recorded and produced at Cottage in Macclesfield - on the very same estate where I live currently!

Joe Longthorne album SOTAbeams in Macclesfield

I needed an activation after that bombshell (although I was actually going for one anyway), so off up The Cloud G/SP-015 it was. Just me, the VX7R, the logbook and pencil. Four QSOs on 2m FM, culminating in S2S with MW0PDV/P on Moel y Gamelin GW/NW-042. Ahead of returning to the mothership, I called in at the new premises of SOTAbeams to pick up some strong military specification wire for a new antenna project. This inevitably resulted in a lunchtime couple of pints with the proprietor - Richard G3CWI - a bad influence that man…

Time	Call	Band	Mode	S2S
12:06z	G7RYN	144MHz	FM
12:08z	G7GQF	144MHz	FM
12:14z	M3CRV	144MHz	FM
12:17z	MW0PDV/P	144MHz	FM	GW/NW-042

Wednesday 20th December 2017. That morning’s Macclesfield Express printed my ‘snowy Cloud’ photo (which is also above in this thread), but didn’t print my reply to the angry Mr Davies on the letters page. So I cracked on with transferring all my mum’s hoarded rubbish from her flat to landfill and recycling. Some music arranging and guitar practice to do that afternoon, and a little local gig that night, so I needed to squeeze my daily activation into a tight window of opportunity. That meant a 2m FM handheld job, and just two QSOs were attracted. Still, it still constituted a SOTA activation, and I rather enjoyed the summit in thick mist which reduced visibility to 80 yards horizontally - and only about 20 yards vertically down! “SOTA on Tour” would spread its wings a bit more again the following day, on the road to Falkirk for a Joe gig. Lambrigg Fell G/LD-046 the inevitable target.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
11:59z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM
12:02z	M6NSV	144MHz	FM

In the daytime on Friday 22nd December 2017, it was yet more tip runs as part of my mum’s flat move, and a visit to my 102 year old Nanna with Jimmy M0HGY. We then went up The Cloud G/SP-015 to check out our 2m set-ups which had some issues.

Ascending Bosley Cloud at dusk Trig pillar on The Cloud

We managed to pinpoint the problems to the feed point of Jimmy’s antenna, and the coax feeder of mine. Next job would be to fix (or replace) them. We both made several contacts each on 2m FM.

Time	Call	Band	Mode	Op
17:20z	2E0JCM	144MHz	FM	M1EYP/P
17:22z	M5AGI	144MHz	FM	M1EYP/P
17:23z	2W0JYN	144MHz	FM	M1EYP/P
17:24z	MW1ISC	144MHz	FM	M1EYP/P
17:25z	G0BUB	144MHz	FM	M1EYP/P
17:32z	G3NFC	144MHz	FM	M0HGY/P
17:33z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM	M0HGY/P
17:34z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM	M0HGY/P
17:35z	G7OEM	144MHz	FM	M0HGY/P
17:36z	2E0IXM	144MHz	FM	M0HGY/P
17:37z	M6NSV	144MHz	FM	M0HGY/P

I was with a different band (Biscuit Brothers - http://www.biscuitbrothers.co.uk ) on the evening of Saturday 23rd December 2017. Oswaldtwistle is another of those places I learned about as a by-product of SOTA, passing by that area to get to some of the further SP, or nearer NP summits. Therefore, several summits around Central Lancashire could have been on the agenda, but time had beaten me - so it was a walk up The Cloud G/SP-015 with the VX7 if I was going to keep the run of daily activations going. I hoped some chasers would be monitoring S20!

Fortunately, they were. I enjoyed five QSOs on 2m FM, including some nice chats.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
16:19z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM
16:20z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM
16:24z	G0OHY	144MHz	FM
16:27z	2W0JYN	144MHz	FM
16:32z	G4RRM	144MHz	FM

I carried the full pack with battery, 817 and 40m dipole to the summit on Christmas Eve, Sunday 24th December 2017. On arriving at the top, and feeling how windy it was, I decided just to do 2m FM handheld anyway! A mystery was the car parked on Red Lane. It was already there when I got there, and had an aerial on a magmount until on the roof, and a rig inside. It had a sign stating “SOT 2017” in the windscreen. I was therefore expecting to meet another activator at the summit. I didn’t though, and no other spots for The Cloud G/SP-015 have appeared. The car was still there after I descended.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
15:41z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM
15:44z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM
15:46z	2W0JYN	144MHz	FM
15:48z	MW6SHJ	144MHz	FM

Oh dear. That was rubbish. Monday 25th December 2017 - Christmas Day Ascended in the dark. Descended in the dark. Very windy, but no rain forecast.

I have no idea what this is a picture of - maybe one leg of the 40m dipole getting seriously iced up? Cloud summit, pre-dawn, on Xmas Day

Called and called on 40m CW. Eventually got one call from YT7M. An Italian station then immediately called in - but at that moment, the pole broke in half, and the dipole broke as well. Ten minutes later I managed to get the antenna up again though not quite as high. No further callers though. One contact made on 2m FM.

Tom M1EYP The portable kit

Then some heavy rain hit, most unexpected, and most unpleasant. Daybreak was just beginning as I dried off in the car. And I’ve still got the speed calibration issues with the Palm Cube as well. Merry Christmas? Bah humbug.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
06:48z	YT7M	7MHz	CW
07:02z	G0OHY	144MHz	FM

The Boxing Day activation was again a walk up The Cloud G/SP-015. Beautiful day with stunning views. I made six contacts on 40m CW before my pole snapped in half. I then went onto 2m FM, adding three QSOs. QSY to the Moss Rose Stadium for the footy, and the supporters’ bar. Happy Boxing Day.

Time	Call	Band	Mode	S2S
12:27z	G3RDQ	7MHz	CW
12:28z	ON6ZQ	7MHz	CW
12:29z	G0RPA	7MHz	CW
12:30z	EA2DT	7MHz	CW
12:32z	HB9BAB/P	7MHz	CW	HB/ZH-015
12:34z	OK1ZE	7MHz	CW
12:56z	M6KRV	144MHz	FM
13:02z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM
13:04z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM

Wednesday 27th December 2017 Today’s Cloud G/SP-015 activation was bolted onto yet another tip run as part of mummy’s downsizing. After dismantling, breaking and removing a huge double wardrobe from my mum’s old flat, loading it into my motor and disposing of it in the chipboard recycling skip, I was absolutely exhausted! But nothing stops me from doing my daily SOTA activation, and in fact I really felt the benefit of my improved fitness on the ascent. Cloud summit was covered in a light dusting of snow, and it was much colder than it has been recently. Four contacts on the 2m FM handheld, and straight back down.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
13:28z	G6ZAK/M	144MHz	FM
13:29z	G7HWK/P	144MHz	FM
13:32z	MW0ISC	144MHz	FM
13:33z	2E0OAI	144MHz	FM

Thursday 28th December 2017. Still no new pole, waiting for bits for a new 20m GP, and limited time before an evening’s work all conspired to dictate that any activating would again have to be handheld + rubber duck style, 2m FM. This was fine from The Cloud G/SP-015, which was very popular on this fine sunny, frosty and cold lunchtime.

The Cloud G/SP-015 Approaching Gun G/SP-013 (but inside the AZ)

Four QSOs were made, all, interestingly, with 2E0 stations! Thanks to Dwayne 2E0DIJ, Pete 2E0LKC, Anne 2E0LMD and David 2E0IXM/M. The QSOs were timed at 1307, 1311, 1313 and 1314 UTC respectively, and took place on 145.450MHz FM. I then navigated across the rather icy lanes to Gun G/SP-013.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
13:07z	2E0DIJ	144MHz	FM
13:11z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM
13:13z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM
13:14z	2E0IXM/M	144MHz	FM

Well, carrying on with my daily walking-up-a-hill regime through the week between Christmas and New Year. This has always been my favourite bit of Christmas; plenty of downtime to play with presents and toys, people in a good mood, still a general “Christmassy” feeling and decent stocks of nice food and drink in the house. It took some doing getting out on Friday 29th December 2017. I spent most of it lazily lounging round after my gig the previous night.

Lethal icy ground At Cloud summit

By the time I managed to leave the house, it had already gone dark! The walk up and down The Cloud was tricky to say the least. Some of the ice had thawed, while more was in the process of thawing - but facing up to the inevitably of refreezing as night set in. That triple layer of ice-slush-running water was lethal to walk on, and my overall walk time was doubled as I concentrated on remaining vertical! Anyway, up to the summit, 4 VHF amateur radio contacts, and back down to the car with no slips. Result.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
17:54z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM
17:55z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM
17:57z	G1EGE	144MHz	FM
17:58z	M6IYU	144MHz	FM

Penultimate Christmas season activation of the year. Well I know Christmas runs traditionally to January 5th, but from the 1st it always feel more like New Year than Christmas! A bit slow out of the blocks again, though not as late as the previous day. I was going to the Macclesfield Town vs Sutton United match at the Moss Rose at 3pm, and set off there, via The Cloud G/SP-015 just before 1pm on Saturday 30th December 2018.

Getting a mouthful of abuse from these two pleasant chaps No cycling!

I noticed a group of five lads with mountain bikes at the parking spot. I wondered if they would notice the signs, or indeed comply with them. After a short brisk walk to the summit, I made only 2 QSOs. 2m FM was very quiet. It will pick up again in the New Year. Halfway down, I met the five mountain bikers all riding up the muddy paths. I pointed out to them that cycling was not allowed on The Cloud. They claimed not to have seen any of the five or six signs pointing out the prohibition, and quickly descended into giving me a torrent of foul-mouthed verbal abuse. Delightful young men.

Time	Call	Band	Mode
13:33z	2E0LKC	144MHz	FM
13:34z	2E0LMD	144MHz	FM

Anyway, so I managed to track down the identity of the main protagonist, and established a channel of communication with his mum. Apology received and accepted, so drawing a line under the incident. Turns out though it wasn’t the penultimate activation - it was the one before that. The penultimate was back up The Cloud G/SP-015 on the lunchtime of New Year's Eve, Sunday 31st December 2018, where it was very busy with walkers. Just three contacts made on 2m FM. Hoping for at least one more than that later for my final activation for 2017 - Billinge Hill G/SP-017 - on the way to Blackpool for a New Year’s Eve gig with Joe Longthorne. I’ll be QRV /M from now to around 3pm, then the SOTA activation, then QRV /M again around 4pm to 5.30pm the rest of the way. SOTA friends - come have a chat!

Time	Call	Band	Mode
12:16z	MW0ISC	144MHz	FM
12:19z	G4RRM	144MHz	FM
12:24z	M0TGT/M	144MHz	FM