.jpg)
|
|
|
Tuesday 1st January 2019 - New Year’s Day - The Cloud G/SP-015 I was very organised during the day. This in spite of only getting in from the previous night’s gig in Milton Keynes at 7am, and later spending New Year’s Day afternoon at the football (Macclesfield 1, Tranmere 1). I got my rucksack packed ready, complete with rotating guying kit and SOTAbeams SB5. I had charged up my headtorch battery, and the Windows 10 tablet. Imagine my horror then when completing set-up on Cloud summit and discovering that the tablet had only about a quarter charge in it! I knew that the tablet would run out of charge before the hour of the MGMAC was through. I decided just to do as much as I could, then switch to the concurrent FMAC, before going to SSB for the main event at 8pm. Ten QSOs were made on 2m FT8. A potential eleventh contact was looking tasty - but alas that was when the tablet ran out of charge - during the commenced QSO with a PA station, but before completion. Thirteen minutes of the FMAC remained - and I made 13 contacts on 2m FM. On 2m SSB, I added 90 QSOs, making a total of 113 for the activation. Despite the battery issue, I won the MGMAC!
Sunday 6th January 2019 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Following Gun G/SP-013, and a warm-up in the car, I couldn’t resist popping over to The Cloud G/SP-015 on the way home. This time however, I left the rucksack and main portable gear in the car and just took a quick stroll up to the summit with the Yaesu FT70D handheld. First up was a S2W with Mark M0NOM/P who was on a subsidiary top of Top o’Selside (but not G/LD-048 itself, which he had done earlier). This had WOTA reference LDO-106. In total, 9 stations were worked, all 2m FM. SOTA from Cloud summit is pretty easy, I must admit!
Tuesday 8th January 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Well that "Fun Evening" wasn’t much “fun”. I was on summit and fully set up before 1900z. That was as successful as the night got. Despite a good VSWR indication, it was soon clear that signals both in and out were well down on what they should be. I couldn’t find any issues. I stumbled along making 8 QSOs on 70cm FM and then just 5 on 70cm SSB. It was now 8.20pm, and I was freezing cold, hungry and fed up. I suspected the coax extension might have a problem, so I thought I’d remove that and compare how things sounded with just the short length of coax to the croc clips directly between the 817 and antenna. As I set about doing this, one side of the coax freed itself from the crocodile clip! Looks like that was the problem. That meant I could go home early, get into a warm house, and have my dinner. I don’t think I’ve ever been so pleased to admit failure and have to abandon an activation early! Still, 13 contacts, so ignoring the contests, in purely SOTA terms, the activation was a rip-roaring success.
Dad’s Taxis was running with a 1930 drop-off and 2130 pick up. Time therefore for G/SP-015 & G/SP-013 in between - if I got my skates on. I invited the local FM chasers to be at their radios! Well Paul M0PLA in Telford got them both! I made 7 QSOs on The Cloud and 4 on Gun. All 2m FM with the handie. Pleasant couple of walks. The gales had calmed right down. Next, it was time for a different type of FM radio - my son Liam’s weekly programme on Canalside Radio 102.8. It’s a small scale station and the signal only covers Macclesfield, Bollington, Wilmslow and Poynton, but the internet means you can listen from anywhere in the world - so if you like proper old fashioned radio and good interesting music, have a click on the link.
A similar routine to the previous night - a bit of a time window between dropping Liam off at the pub (on this occasion) and picking him up. Remarkably, it was 7 contacts on The Cloud, then 4 on Gun. Again. All on 2m FM with the handheld.
I took the headtorch just-in-case, but in the end it wasn’t necessary. Again, I got four quick contacts, then no other interest, using the FT70D handheld. Back in Macc to meet J & L for a Burns Night themed tea in Wetherspoons. My Fitbit watch indicated just over 9000 steps - obviously setting out an 80m dipole makes the difference. I’d have to go for a “constitutional” later. Thanks to Pete 2E0LKC, Anne 2E0LMD and Greg M0NZO who worked me on all three summits.
Gig: Funktion & Co. Venue: Flying Horse Hotel, Rochdale So I got home from Shining Tor G/SP-004, caught up on a few emails, Marianne went out shopping, and Richard G3CWI messaged me suggesting an afternoon trip up The Cloud. I had nowt better to do, so I accepted, and this time he drove round and picked me up (I had driven for G/SP-004 earlier). The Met Office website indicated that we might have two hours to play with before getting a soaking. However, as we were setting up, we could see the grey bank of rain barely a couple of miles away - and advancing rapidly! We both set up on the lower ledge to the north-west of the main summit area, giving significant shelter from the strong wind. The rain arrived just as we both went QRV though, so we were soon both in our respective bothy bags to operate. Richard was on 40m CW with his very old longwire antenna, while I went on 20m with my newly refurbished groundplane aerial. Conditions were shockingly bad. Richard just about limped to four QSOs, but conditions were the least of my problems. My tablet was not hearing the FT8 signals through the cable, and was not keying the rig in the other direction. It was able to hear the signals - and indeed decode them - through the tablet’s built-in microphone, but not via the cable. I double checked all the audio settings and poked around, but to no avail. I concluded that another cheap OTG USB to micro USB converter lead had failed, so no FT8 for me. So, CW then. I got my Palm Paddle out of the Exped Drybag. Then I got the Palm Cube. And finally, I didn’t get the mini jack cable out - because it wasn’t there - it was still on the dashboard of my car - where I had sensibly put it after using it in the house for something else earlier in the week - and we’d gone to The Cloud in Richard’s car so it wasn’t there. Eek. SSB it would have to be. Still, with a self-spot, I’d surely have a pile-up in no time. I turned the radio on, and the band was so quiet I had to double-check the antenna was connected. It was. I then had to double-check the SWR. It was fine. Brilliant - highly unbrilliant conditions. I called CQ SOTA a lot, with a self-spot - but it was a waste of time. I replied to a powerhouse LZ contest station, who replied “Mike One Echo Japan?” - and that was as good as it got. The rain was coming down heavier. I could hear Richard chuntering something in my direction. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but got the distinct impression he’d had enough and wanted to call it a day. Me too, to be honest. I called on the handheld, got a couple of 2m FM QSOs so I could at least call it an “activation”, and swiftly packed up. Rubbish activation. But an activation nonetheless. Now it was time to cheer myself up by playing covers of Abba, Spice Girls, Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams, S Club 7, Dolly Parton, Shania Twain, Queen, Bon Jovi and Robbie Williams to a load of inebriated revellers in Rochdale…
Woke up at 1130. Went to big Tescos in Congleton to get the shopping for Sunday dinner. Via Bosley Cloud. Very windy and gusty. It was hard to stand up on the summit never mind write logs in the notebook. 2m FM HT - 4 QSOs. Thank you to the station that reported the wind noise to me. M0HGY and I would now be on cooking duties so that dinner was on the table when the Station Manager got in from work.
Last time out, my system didn’t work properly. I suspected the cheap USB female to micro USB male adaptor cable, as a previous one the same make had failed. While up town, I bought a new adaptor - one not involving a cable, so a very compact piece of kit. Lunchtime involved a visit to the SOTABEAMS factory where I met Richard G3CWI and Sean M0GIA, followed by Thursday Curry Club lunch and a pint with those two OMs at the local Wetherspoons. Very good it was too!
The walk to the summit was tricky with compacted snow on the path and steps turning to ice, and hard ice at that, with very low temperatures. It was subzero all day in this end of Cheshire. At the summit, a very icy wind would have made operating uncomfortable to say the least, so I dropped down to the north-facing ledge. After setting up the 20m GP, I hunkered down in the cave-like hollow beneath the rockface, for good shelter from the wind. With the new adaptor, the full tablet-WSJT-ZLP Mini SC Pro system was working flawlessly, so it appeared my diagnosis had been on the money.
It was, however, a good long time before I could be sure everything was working properly. Despite several self-spots, I couldn’t buy a contact when calling CQ. Ultimately, I resorted to answering the CQ calls of others, and scraped together the nominal four QSOs this way. No exotic DX, no rare DXCCs. It didn’t bode well for the DX S2S event coming up that next Saturday, but being on 14.092MHz, and away from the mush on 14.074MHz, would probably help us out in this respect. We could but try! The descent was a bit dodgy in places, with any earlier weaker parts of the ice now frozen hard again - plus the fact that the gradient was negative - which tends to be more slippery than positive! Same observations for the initial part of the driving - downhill, down Red Lane and down to the A54. I progressed very gingerly and slowly throughout that leg of the drive. Now I needed to get the gear on charge ready for Saturday.
5am get up and breakfast. A necessarily slow and careful drive to Bosley, negotiating the roads that were covered with black ice. I was on summit and setting up before sunrise. This was difficult with frozen ground but I found a way. It was -4 degrees Celsius - and I felt it! Use of the bothy bag soon added 3 degrees to my immediate climate, and the temperature actually rose as far as +6 degrees as the bothy bag soaked up the bright sunshine later.
It was a slow start on 20m FT8. Use of the non-standard QRG of 14.092 MHz made working chasers a more realistic prospect. I could see M0HZH/P and JI3BAP/P on the band activity window and receive their transmissions, but they didn’t hear my calls. A couple of FT8 SWL at least. Same goes for chasers GW0PLP, G4OBK and DL4FO - I heard them; they didn’t hear me!
It was turning into a stunning morning on The Cloud, and inevitably the summit was soon busy. A few chasers were worked, then I reverted to the more standard 14.074MHz FT8 frequency. A few stations responded to my CQs but it was very slow going. Plenty of JA, HL, HS, BA etc DX was now populating WSJT-X, but my level of success in working it remained “constant”. I made a total of 9 QSOs, all 20m FT8. No DX. No S2S. But we’ll try again sometime, maybe when it’s not so cold!
At least it was dry - no precipitation and very low humidity. Therefore, thankfully, I was able to collapse my SOTA Pole on the summit this time. Many thanks to all activators and chaser that took part. I intended to try this event again shortly.
Sunday 3rd February 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Stu Clark & Friends Venue: The Venue, Lymm It was still a winter wonderland on our local hills in Cheshire. No snow had fallen the past few days, but temperatures remained mostly subzero to keep the white stuff on the ground. On the popular paths though, it was getting very compacted, icy and slippery - so bring on that thaw that was due in the next few days!
It was the 70cm AFS event on the Sunday morning and my contest group (Tall Trees) was asking for participants in order to have at least one full team of four operators. I had a busy Sunday ahead - including the teatime gig above - and also didn’t fancy sitting out in the snow and subzero temperatures for four hours, knowing that three of them would be mind-numbingly slow! So I figured I’d just go out and do the first hour - I’d get at least 50% of all the contacts I was ever going to make then anyway!
My hands got very cold very quickly when I took my gloves off for setting up, but then warmed up during the setting up process. Then they got cold again when resetting the mast which had collapsed, and wouldn’t warm up again. So back on with the gloves, which were on and off frequently for the next hour! 23 QSOs were made, all on 70cm SSB. Squares worked were IO74, IO81, 82, 83, 91, 92, 93 and JO02. So a very modest contribution, but sufficient to keep the contest manager (Reg G3TDH) happy.
The descent was tricky in places, with the path down The Cloud resembling (and behaving like) a cresta run. I think the cold got to my brain as well. I was focused on safely negotiating a nasty patch of black ice on the hill down to the A54 (Congleton to Buxton) road. I then heard a strange noise from the roof of my car. I stopped and got out to inspect. And there was my SB270 antenna, set as a 6-element beam for 70cm, loose on the roof of my car. Quite remarkable that I had driven a mile from the parking spot and it was still there. I took a photo of it, as one does in this Facebook-obsessed age and got back into my car to resume the drive home. I heard the same noise again. I stopped again, got out of the car, took the antenna off the roof and actually put it away this time! Yes, previously, having taken the photo, I actually hadn’t bothered to then put the antenna in the car! What a spoon. It’s not really one of my gigs tonight, but my good friend and superb fingerstyle guitarist Stu Clark had invited Liam and I to perform a guest spot in his show later. That would be good fun, but first we were off out for a Chinese Sunday lunch. Yum.
I was looking forward to 2m contest / activity night. Then I spotted this:
I was still going for it. But I reserved the right to wimp out of the main UKAC before the 2.5 hours were up! I would try and stick it out for the duration of the MGMAC (1900-1955z), but couldn’t promise how long after that I’ll stick it out for. My headtorch, LifePO4 battery and Windows 10 tablet were all fully charged up though at least! I just about kept everything dry. With difficulty. Great difficulty. Even with a bothy bag. The wind and the rain, and the very damp mist that preceded the heavy rain, proved too problematic in the end and I abandoned the activation. I had problems with the interface again and kept getting error messages. Combine that with one wind-induced antenna collapse and a station incorrectly using the VHF EU Contest mode - causing it to be auto-enabled on my WSJT-X - causing more wasted time as I hunted for a way to disable it - and I made only 5 QSOs on 2m FT8 in the MGMAC. I squeezed a single contact in on 2m FM before 8pm, so there would be a token entry in the FMAC. The rain became heavy as the UKAC began at 8pm. The wind buffeted the bothy bag msking it noisy, and making it difficult to keep the damp out. I made 6 QSOs on 2m SSB before losing the will to live and deciding to call it a night. I got a bit wet during packaway and descent. A terrible contest effort, but at 12 QSOs, I guess a perfectly respectable SOTA activation! I was glad to be back in the car at the parking spot with the heater on. I was now thinking of popping into the Harrington Arms for a pint on the way home!
Good news. The FT8 system was all working perfectly again. I’d been having audio problems, traced to cheap adaptor cables, and then to a replacement adaptor that provided only a loose and wobbly connection. From Amazon, I ordered a USB-B (printer type) to micro USB cable, meaning adaptors would no longer be required. Well it all worked like a dream. The weather forecast had indicated 60mph+ gusts from the departing Storm Eric, in a WSW direction. I figured therefore that the NE ledge below the small cliff face would provide almost complete shelter. And indeed it did. I would have been unable to operate anywhere on the summit plateau with a fishing rod mast! 11 QSOs, all 20m FT8. YL, SP, ES, ER, RA and 6 x UR. A sunrise photographer took great interest in my activity and equipment, and asked if he could take photos. He took loads! I later learned that EU to VK opened right up about 0900 as I was driving back to Macclesfield! Oh well, never mind, another time!
76 QSOs - 20 on FM then 56 on SSB. 5 DXCCs: F, G, GD, GI, GW. 12 QRAs: IN99, IO74, 80, 81, 82, 83, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, JO01, 02. 1 S2S: Simon G7WKX/P on Shining Tor G/SP-004.
It was slow going by 2145z, and I was feeling very cold. An early finish and a trip to the pub trumped the prospect of eking out another 5/6 contacts in that final three-quarters of an hour! I’m slacking in my old age.
The main walk of the day was a favourite of mine and Marianne’s. It’s a 12 mile circular via Macclesfield town centre, over the Hollins to Langley, then up over Tegg’s Nose to the cafe, before walking back down Buxton Road to town and then the remaining couple of miles home. The occasion was Valentine’s Day, and the Valentine’s afternoon tea event at Tegg’s Nose Country Park cafe.
And what a feast it was - soup, sandwiches, cakes, more cakes and even more cakes, scones with jam and cream, coffee, chocolates and shortbread - amazing! Red roses on the table, and decorated with rose petals. Add to this the fact it was a glorious sunny day with clear blue skies making hillwalking a total delight. Plenty of brownie points in my rucksack today.
But after 12 miles, and over 20,000 steps, I still hadn’t actually done any SOTA. That was to be rectified with an evening jaunt up The Cloud for the 6m MGM and UK activity contests. I was feeling perfectly organised, and arrived punctually at the parking spot with all batteries freshly topped-up. I inserted the rechargeable battery pack into the Petzl headtorch - but it wouldn’t turn on. I tried it with normal AAA cells instead, but it was the headtorch itself that had failed. Very disappointing - and infuriating. So my being a little ahead of time soon morphed into my running half-an-hour behind schedule, by having to drive down to Congleton, and pick up an Energiser headtorch from the big Tescos there.
I managed to get QRV on 6m FT8 just after 1930z. I had only about 40% of the full contest period to work with. As such, 11 QSOs was not too shabby, but it was annoying not to be able to do the full 55 minutes despite thorough preparations. In the main UKAC, I made 75 contacts, all on SSB except for one (MM0CEZ) on CW. At least the RSGBCC has done away with the silly requirements to use vertical omnidirectional antennas for the short contests ahead of the main UKACs, so I didn’t have to lose even more time by changing over aerials. So all QSOs in the maps above were made using 5w from the FT-817 and SOTAbeams SB6 (Moxon).
Sunday 17th February 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015
I was up with the 0500z alarm, but wasn’t really getting things done very quickly after that. By the time I’d got out of the house, drive to Bosley, walked up the hill and set up on the ledge beneath the cliffs (essential for shelter for the 10m mast & GP on such a blustery morning), it was gone 0730z. An hour later than my intended alert time, but still about right to hit any propagation that might be on offer. The new GP aerial, radio-wise, was working well. It received well, and got out well. But practically, it didn’t work well. I’d chosen to use some very lightweight wire - superb for dipoles, but not really robust enough for groundplanes, especially great big ones like this. I was concerned about the strain on this wire, particularly the radials, so I used a mast guying kit to try to get around that issue. That seemed to work on the GW/NW-043 activation a couple of days earlier, but I suffered several breakages on this morning.
The good thing was that I had now worked out everything I needed to do - and materials I needed to use - to rebuild the antenna, which I hoped to do that week. It was unfortunate that the first breakage occurred just as the signal from Andrew VK1DA on VK2/ST-053 was really starting to come up. I listened to him working John ZL1BYZ, who was a big signal with me. By the time I was QRV again, Andrew had QSYd to 20m, and I never found John again. The activation wasn’t a complete failure though. I made a total of 56 QSOs as follows:
30m FT8: 10 30m CW: 43 2m FM: 3 (including S2S with Bill G4WSB/P on Stiperstones G/WB-003)
The last QSO before taking down and packing away my crumbling antenna, was T45FM, a special event station for Punta Maya Lighthouse, Cuba. So there was a little bit of DX at least. Now to put the lessons learned into practice and rebuild the 30m GP so that it was more fit-for-purpose!
Friday 22nd February 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Nice activation lapping up the sunshine under the cliffs on the north-eastern ledge of The Cloud. Very happy with the new antenna and the design modifications I made after the first couple of outings. These were:
It was because of the wind that I went down to the sheltered ledge at the edge of the escarpment. The only issue here was space for the radials - this is a large antenna. I managed to deploy the antenna, but two of the radials were angled upwards from the feedpoint (ie pegging point on higher ground), not down as is customary, and three of the radials were all directed within a 90 degree angle! So far from the optimal groundplane, but it still did it’s job, and importantly, there was no windload on the mast. The main objective of working DX on 30m was met, with the bonus of working a DX S2S on 30m, and a S2S on FT8. Some DX on FT8 would have been the icing on the cake, but the phrase “water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink” springs to mind… 30m CW: 23 QSOs - DXCCs: DL, EA, F, G, HB, I, LA, OH, RA, SM, SP, VK, ZL 30m FT8: 29 QSOs - DXCCs: 9A, DL, EA, ES, F, G, HB, I, LY, OE, OH, OK, SM, SP 2m FM: 10 QSOs - DXCCs: G, GW Total: 62 QSOs 3 S2S: VK1DA on VK2/ST-053 - 30m CW F5LKW/P on F/AM-337 - 30m FT8 G7OEM/P on G/SP-014 - 2m FM An interesting thing to note as I was about to walk off the summit, there is a new marker post up there on one of the paths, designating it as a “shared trail” for walkers and mountain bikers. Cycling until recently was entirely prohibited on The Cloud, though a great many ignored that restriction. Other than that regrettable development, a very pleasing activation. I was feeling gruntled.
Sunday 24th February 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Biscuit Brothers Bandeoke Venue: Station Bar & Grill, Clitheroe Easington Fell G/SP-012 might normally be the obvious SOTA to bag en route to this one, but Marianne was cooking roast beef Sunday dinner, to be served at 4pm. I couldn’t miss that! So I nipped out mid-afternoon while she was busy in the kitchen for a rapid activation of the usual. On another glorious and amazingly mild day, it was no surprise that plenty were out on the hills. There was even a bit of enhancement too, and I received something French on my handheld as I scanned through the 145.350MHz FM frequency. So, just lolloped against the topograph with my Yaesu FT-70D handheld, I made nine QSOs on 2m FM. This included two S2S - Mike GW7HEM/P on Y Garn GW/NW-004, and Viki MW6BWA/P on Fan Nedd GW/SW-007. After dinner, I was on the road to Clitheroe to see what people wanted to get up and sing with the band. (The kids in this band - the other two are nearly 20 years younger than me - think they’ve invented this ‘Bandeoke’ concept. I haven’t the heart to tell them it’s been going for donkey’s years and used to be called ‘Free and Easy’…!)
Friday 1st March 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 I was on my way home from a day’s supply teaching in Newcastle-under-Lyme, and wondered about getting stateside on my newly built 30m GP vertical antenna. So I repeated my regular old trick of the past when teaching in the Potteries, and visited The Cloud G/SP-015 on the way home. There was only a light breeze, so I was able to set up this enormous antenna right on the highest point. There was no issue with windload, but the radials had to be carefully placed not to block any paths. I operated on FT8 on 30m, but I don’t think conditions were particularly favourable. DXCCs worked were EA, G, HA, OH, RA and several URs. I also put out a few calls on 2m FM with the handheld. A total of 17 QSOs were made in the activation, 10 on 30m FT8, and 7 on 2m FM. Many thanks to all chasers.
It was too windy for 17 candles for SOTA’s 17th birthday, so an activation comprising 17 QSOs it had to be (well not really, that was just a coincidence I noticed after getting home…) I had a couple of hours free between taxiing Liam to Congleton and back where he was meeting a mate for the afternoon. Obviously that would be spent on Cloud summit, doing FT8 on 30m - mainly. On the ascent, it was noted that the pathworks had progressed higher up towards the summit after a dormant few weeks. The reworked path, with tree-trunk borders, now extended just into the activation zone. I set up beyond the summit rocks, just above the north ledge. It was a little breezy, but not so windy as to feel the need to actually drop down to the ledge to set up. As it was, there was a “courting couple” down there who looked like they would prefer not to be disturbed. The only problem with erecting the huge 30m GP antenna where I did was that loads of walkers passed within a few metres of it, and without exception asked me to explain what I was doing. Of course, I was happy to oblige, even if it did hammer my QSO rate! Not that there was any potential of a mega haul in the log anyway. There were no signs of any proper DX, and the band was closed to North America. The first 25 minutes of operating saw me scrape to the nominal four QSOs in what was looking like a total yawnfest. It reminded me of those initial activations 17 years ago in 2002, using a 230mW Standard C108 handheld and taking half-an-hour to complete four good contacts! In protest at the embarrassment that is FT8, and its pathetic QSO haul, I switched to the entirely superior CW mode - and made three QSOs in the next twenty minutes… Maybe the 30m band wasn’t playing today? I started, out of sheer boredom, putting out occasional calls on 2m FM, but that was pretty quiet too. 30m FT8 then picked up at least, and the QSO rate actually increased to the dizzy heights of one every three minutes! Eventually the call came from Liam to say he was ready to be picked up. I told him I’d be at least half-an-hour, and to go in somewhere to sit down and have a hot chocolate while he waited. Total QSOs: 17 (as if by design for SOTA’s 17th birthday) 30m FT8: 12 30m CW: 3 2m FM: 2
I can do this walk with my eyes shut, so the darkness of night is not really a problem. Especially not with a fully charged Petzl headtorch illuminating the way. What I forgot to do was take any photos at the actual summit. At least my activation was on 2m FM though, so it was obvious I was up there! It was windy on The Cloud, but significantly less so than it had been on Gyrn Moelfre GW/NW-049, so maybe Freya had now passed through and heading north. Four QSOs made, all 2m FM with the handheld, before moving across to Gun G/SP-013.
Tuesday 5th March 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 As I arrived on summit, it was less windy and less damp than forecast. That was good of course, but the forecast was crystal clear that things would, at some point, deteriorate sharply. It was therefore a bonus I guess that the deterioration didn’t really start until around 2130z. But when it did, I knew things were only going to get very much worse from that point, so I called it a night and packed up. 2m FT8: 9 QSOs 2m SSB: 54 QSOs
Tuesday 12th March 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Went QRT at 1912z much earlier than even my most pessimistic scenario. This was due to a crocodile clip coming away in my hand as I was setting up, rendering my feeder next to useless. In nice calm conditions, I would have attempted to cobble a makeshift repair. But it was cold, windy and forecast to get much worse through the evening. I couldn’t be bothered. It was annoying and frustrating as this patch cable had been repaired/remade very recently, and tested. I’ve no idea how it could have deteriorated so quickly; it hadn’t come in for any “punishment” of which I am aware anyway. So I switched on the handheld, made seven QSOs in the 70cm FMAC, then descended. If it was a contest night, it was a disaster. If it was a Fun Evening, it was a damp squib. If it was just a SOTA activation, then it was a comfortable qualification. So let’s just say it was a normal activation shall we, and I may retain a little self-esteem.
Thursday 14th March 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015
Home early after 43 QSOs on 6m - 7 on FT8 and 36 on SSB. It was too cold, conditions weren’t great, neither were activity levels - and I was bored! I could see SOTA chaser ON4FI calling CQ on FT8, and tried to go back to Karel several times, but I didn’t get picked up, which was a shame as it would have been a nice contact. The SB6, SOTA Pole and rotating guying kit were absolutely untroubled in Storm Gareth - so that was a little “win” in an otherwise disappointing evening.
Sunday 17th March 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 I spotted alerts from Willis BU2EQ and Warren ZL2AJ for 0530z, on 20m FT8, SSB & CW. I wasn’t intending going out, but when I awoke at 0450z I thought I’d try my luck. Of course, with the end of the winter bonus season two days earlier, there was plenty of snow falling during this activation! My bothy bag provided effective shelter and a bit of welcome relative warmth, although I did notice a few holes in it. It is old and battered, and will be the next item of kit to be replaced. Anyway, I didn’t get any DX or S2S, perhaps not surprising having not planned in advance or organised skeds etc. Signals were being received from the Far East at times. I just worked 5 European stations, all 20m FT8. I tried for quite a while on CW, though it was difficult on a contest-congested band. I assume it was difficult for the chasers too; I didn’t receive any calls. I got picked up by the RBN, but that was it. When the snow stopped and the sun came out, I took the opportunity to get packed up. I made one additional QSO on 2m FM before descending and driving home for breakfast. I made myself what in Macclesfield we call “steamed egg”, known to others as “egg in a cup” or “chucky egg” - proper feelgood food!
Tuesday 19th March 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015
Bit of teaching work in Kidsgrove meant it was a very familiar route most-of-the-way home. Muscle memory therefore pulled my car onto Cloudside and I went for a stroll to the summit. One of the four main paths off the summit is now waymarked as a shared trail for walkers and cyclists, but a NT sign on the ascent still declares that cycling is not permissible on The Cloud. 2m FM handheld, 4 QSOs, including a mobile near Halifax.
Thursday 21st March 2019 - The Cloud G:SP-015 Basically, just read the previous report. That more or less covers it. Well, apart from the bit about a mobile near Halifax. And it was good to have a natter with Dave GW8NZN/P, who was on Moel Arthur activating for HEMA. I made a note of his HuMP in case things change sometime in the future.
Sunday 24th March 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Well that activation was a lot of fun! It was a beautiful sunny morning on The Cloud with not too much breeze, but it was a lot colder than the mild 9-12 degrees that had been forecast! I got up nice and early at 0425 and made myself coffee and boiled eggs, always a good start to the day. I dawdled a bit though, and by the time I was at the parking spot for The Cloud, dawn was breaking and my headtorch was not required for the ascent.
As is becoming annoyingly typical, the long radials and accompanying guylines on my 30m groundplane antenna got into an awful tangle, and it took me ages on summit to sort them out. [After getting home, and undoing another dreadful tangle, I introduced an extra wire winder to the antenna, something I should have done well before now. This will not be sufficient though, and next time out, after setting up the antenna I am going to add some coupling - probably very small cable ties - periodically along the radials, which run alongside the guylines. This is a large antenna, and this measure reduces strain on the radials at the centrepiece]. Total QSOs: 116 30m FT8: 27 30m CW: 73 2m FM: 14 2m C4FM: 2 DXCCs: 29 - 9A, CT, DL, EA, EU, F, G, GW, HA, HB, I, IS0, JA, LA, LY, OE, OH, OK, OY, OZ, S5, SM, SP, SV9, TF, UR, VE, VK, YO S2S: 10 - OK/OM6AN/P on OK/MO-024 HB9/F5HTR/P on HB/AG-010 HB9AFI/P on HB/BE-104 G7OEM/P on G/SP-014 M6BWA/P on G/WB-007 F/HB9DBM/P on FL/VO-101 HB9BIN/P on HB/BE-104 GW7WKX/P on GW/NW-053 S53OM/P on S5/BI-009 HB9DST/P on HB/SO-021 I did try PSK31 using Fldigi on the Windows 10 tablet and ZLP MiniProSC interface - exactly the same hardware as I use for FT8 via WSJT-X. I still had the problem of the PTT sticking on after transmission. I originally assumed this was due to RF, but I’m using the same set-up for WSJT-X with no issues whatsoever. I can’t work this one out at all!
A great surprise was being called by my good friend Sean M0GIA on 30m CW. Sean hadn’t done much CW for a number of years, but was getting back into it I was pleased to say, and it was great to have him call me from his canal barge about a mile away at Bosley locks! After the activation, I called in to see Sean and had a cup of tea with him on the narrowboat as he demonstrated the CBG (Cigar Box Guitar) he had built - and which sounds great! More music to look forward that night with Liam doing a bit of crooning on stage at one of our local pubs! It was a heat of a karaoke competition … which he won!
Monday 25th March 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 I was supply teaching in Kidsgrove again, and when school was out at 1505z, it was a bright sunny afternoon. As I had some private tutoring to deliver in Macclesfield at 1630z, I only had a short window of opportunity for an activation. G/SP-015 was conveniently en route though. Very quiet, just one QSO on 2m FM from the handheld. Kind of from one extreme to the other!
And the disturbing trend continued… Wednesday 27th March 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Liam Read Band Venue: Swan With Two Necks, Macclesfield Supply teaching in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Cloud on the way home. Called for ages. No replies. Found a SOTA activation in progress on 145.475MHz. Andy MW0TDY/P activating Moel Famau GW/NW-044. At least I now knew my handheld was working - 59 both ways for the 2m FM S2S contact. Andy actually credited me over the air for being the reason he got into SOTA, citing my many activation reports! That was nice to hear! OK, it was time to go. The Second Harmonic was hollering tonight at a pub in town - and wanted me to be in his backing band…
Thursday 28th March 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015
A 400% boost in QSO numbers and a gorgeous afternoon! Teaching in Kidsgrove so activation of the usual on the way home. What a fine afternoon. 5 QSOs on the handheld, all 2m FM. This was possibly a first for me - an activation report with photos written and posted while still on the summit! The NT have been re-engineering the paths up here for a couple of years, and the main route is now nearly complete to the summit.
Friday 29th March 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Work in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Cloud on the way home. Walked up with a man going up with his photography equipment. Said he was mainly interested in photographing UFOs. Reckoned that in Wiltshire he’s guaranteed at least one flying saucer photo per day because there’s a base there. He explained how the UFOs just go straight through the ground and don’t need an opening due to the advanced technology. Fascinating stuff. Anyway, I made five QSOs on 2m FM with the handheld, including one with an op who thought he was on the summit of GW/MW-004, but not SOTA qualifying, operating from his 4x4.
Time for a bit more of this… Saturday 30th March 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Motown Gold Venue: Thornton Manor, Wirral
Having got all the (very) North East GW summits done in the seasonal bonus period, and Raw Head G/SP-016 long since relegated from the SOTA scheme and no longer available to activate, it was, again, an unimaginative raid on The Cloud before heading out to the Wirral Peninsula. Another lovely day, albeit a bit nippy. Four x 2m FM QSOs including S2S with Jordan MW3TMX/P on Tal y Fan GW/NW-040. Next off to my gig, and good luck to Liam for the final of the Macclesfield karaoke competition (as mentioned in a previous activation report) that night.
Tuesday 2nd April 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 New signage was up on The Cloud detailing the newly permitted usage for mountain bikes up there. Until very recently, cycling on The Cloud was entirely forbidden, but arrangements are now in place allowing it. It is a very specifically defined route - and direction - though, and it looks like you have to be a member of Congleton Mountain Bike Club, who have a club licence to cycle on The Cloud.
A bit of light snow in the first hour. Otherwise no precipitation and only light winds - but bitterly cold for April. 102 contacts, all 2m: FT8: 11 - SSB: 87 - CW: 0 - FM: 3 - C4FM: 1
So five modes attempted, QSOs achieved on four of them. DXCCs: F, G, GD, GI, GM, GW, PA
Friday 5th April 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Because I was intending to use the big 30m GP antenna the following morning in the VK-ZL-JA DX event, I thought I’d better sort the tangle situation out. The best way to do that was to deploy the antenna on a summit, add 12/13 small cable ties on each radial and accompanying guyline (as the guys anchor to the centrepiece, not just the ends of the radials), then wind the antenna back in with each radial wound separately. Fingers crossed, with this now done, it should be a much easier and faster set up each next time out. On this afternoon, as anticipated, and as careful as I was when unwinding the antenna, there was still a significant amount of untangling to be done initially, so I really hoped the measures put in place prove to be effective! Of course, with the antenna fully set up on a qualifying SOTA summit, it would have been wasteful not to then conduct a SOTA activation with it! And it was good fun: 30m FT8: 18 QSOs 30m CW: 8 QSOs 2m FM: 2 QSOs Then back home for Irish stew and red wine - nice!
“'Til we have built Jerusalem, and made it look like Milton Keynes” - Spitting Image, 1983(?)
Saturday 6th April 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015
Gig: Simon Faulkner Band Venue: Bistro Live!, Milton Keynes After failing to make the planned early get-up for the DX S2S SOTA event, I spent the Saturday morning working on my website. With a couple of errands to run in town, time soon ebbed away, and I was left with another 2m FM handheld raid on my local summit as the only feasible possibility of getting a SOTA activation in before the gig. Four QSOs were made, then no further callers. I got on the road to Milton Keynes and checked into my digs in time to watch the Grand National on the telly.
Monday 8th April 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 I had a short window of time available between dropping Liam off in town and picking him back up again. I made for my usual local summit and set up the 30m GP. Since adding the clips made out of small cables ties to better manage the long guys and radials, and winding them back in individually rather than together, I have had no more trouble with tangles. So set up was now quite quick. What wasn’t quick was the QSO rate or response to my CQ calls on 30m FT8. Just two contacts made - HA2SK in JN86, and M0OJR - in IO92! It was very cold on The Cloud, and I packed up just after it went dark.
Tuesday 9th April 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 I spent much of the day contemplating whether to do The Cloud on this evening for the FMAC and UKAC events, or go to the crunch Macclesfield v Exeter League 2 football match. At least I had the best environment in which to contemplate - the sunshine-bathed and beautiful Macclesfield Forest, in which Marianne and I enjoyed a splendid 7 mile circular walk during the day. Upon returning home, I recalled the SWR problems with the 70cm beam (SB270) last time out. So I investigated - but drew a blank. All the elememts were the correct lengths. The same feeder was working perfectly with the SB5 2m beam. I focused on the driven element, using my multimeter to check for continuity indicating a good connection between the elements and croc clips, and to rule out any possibility of a short between each side of the driven element. All indications and tests were good - but the SWR was still unacceptably high. I couldn’t fathom where the problem might lie with this - but it certainly clarified my plans for the evening! I decided to pop up Cloud after dropping Liam off at his vocal lesson, do the first 20 minutes of the 70cm FM Activity Contest using just my handheld, then clear off and go to the match. In order to beat the queues, I called at the stadium to buy my ticket before heading to G/SP-015 - conveniently, it is located on the very main road south out of town I would be taking anyway. I was a little early on summit. It was still glorious - visually, but bitterly cold. Ahead of the 7pm start time for the FMAC, I made three QSOs on 2m FM. Between 1800z and 1819z, I made eleven QSOs on 70cm FM. Then, as planned, I descended and made the short drive up to the Moss Rose, the home ground of Macclesfield Town Football Club. The exciting 3-2 victory over Exeter City was definitely worth skipping the contest for.
Wednesday 10th April 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Liam Read hosting Open Mic Venue: Swan With Two Necks, Macclesfield So it was my youngest son’s gig this night, but I was on Dad’s Taxi duties, plus jamming in with a bit of bass guitar as and when required! I spent the day on supply, teaching history at a school in Chell, a northern suburb of Stoke-on-Trent. Disturbingly, one of the rooms there had a sign on the door stating “Big Brother Diary Room”. Reassuringly, lunch was a superb roast gammon dinner followed by treacle sponge pudding and custard. I also popped into the science prep room to catch up with Leigh M5GWH who works there. We had a pleasant chat. So, like the old days, an activation of The Cloud on the way home. At the parking spot, I met, for the first time, Graham G6TDJ. Strange, as he lives about half a mile from me in Macclesfield! He had just been to the summit, but not with a radio. Naturally, I tried my best to advertise SOTA to him! It was a weird activation. The weather looked stunning. It felt cold! I just took my VHF handheld. I called and called, but no takers, either on analogue FM or digital fusion. I was getting cold - and a bit fed up. Then Graham G6TDJ/M who I’d met earlier answered. He was now driving in Macclesfield, and we ended up having a lengthy ragchew. It wasn’t as though I was keeping a large pile-up waiting! Then I called and called again. Nothing - for ages - then eventually Dave M0FAZ/M called in. We too then had a long ragchew, covering all matters from the previous night’s 70cm FMAC through to spectator behaviour at junior football matches! So it was a strange activation. Just two contacts, two long ragchews, lovely-looking but uncomfortable-feeling weather. But a SOTA activation nonetheless. OK, it was now time to go and make some noise!
Thursday 11th April 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 I afraid to say I suffered several more “preparation fails” for this one, but relieved to say I “got away” with all of them! Fail one was just after picking up fish and chips for tea, for Jimmy, Liam and myself. The bag fell over in the car and 1.5 pots of curry sauce emptied themselves. Fortunately, this was all contained within a clean paper bag; it could have been much worse! Fail two was when I pulled the SB6 out of the bag and saw that it was damaged - a wire had broken off an acrylic insulator. I’d broken this last month and forgotten completely about it. I cobbled together a makeshift repair, tying the end of the wire (driven element) around a small cable tie loop, then connecting that via a longer cable tie to the rest of the antenna. It all worked, the antenna performed well and the VSWR was good. Fail three was when I went to turn on my Windows 10 tablet (for WSJT-X for the MGM activity contest 1800-1855z) - but discovered that it was already turned on! That meant that since I put it into my car two days ago, after recharging it, it had been switched on - doh! Anyway, I was pleased to see it still had more than enough juice to last the contest period of 55 minutes. In the 6m MGMAC, I operated exclusively on FT8 and made 16 QSOs into squares IO64, 70, 82, 83, 91, 93, 94 & JO02. In the 6m UKAC, I operated exclusively on SSB and made 67 QSOs into squares IO64, 71, 74, 75, 80, 81, 82, 83, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94 & JO01. The last half hour was hard work as it was bitterly cold up there.
Friday 12th April 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Stockport Plaza Theatre The 2019 Joe Tour starts on this date, and just up the road in Stockport. I’d be venturing out a bit further - and hopefully bagging some points-scoring activations in the following couple of days. But on this day it was another return to The Cloud with my current “pride and joy” (my homemade 30m GP antenna) for some FT8 and CW. The band was pretty uninteresting with just Central European stations, though that did mean a good number of known SOTA chasers in my log, both on FT8 and CW. After I made 9 QSOs on 30m FT8, I thought it would be interesting to see how quickly 9 would come on CW. Well 9 on FT8 took me 32 minutes, with the same number of contacts on 30m CW taking 8 minutes - exactly a quarter of the time. Datamodes certainly aren’t for anyone in a rush! Two QSOs were added on 2m FM with the handheld just prior to descent. The log rails redefining the main ascent path from Red Lane were now nearly at the summit. It was time to hit the road.
Saturday 13th April 2019 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Pelsall Community Centre, Walsall After Gun G/SP-013, I had a bit of spare time - enough to pop across the Dane Valley and also activate The Cloud G/SP-015 before going home. Six QSOs were made on this one, including S2S with GW7HEM/P on Creigiau Gleision GW/NW-028. A couple of other stations were operating portable on Ashurst Beacon. I’m unsure whether that has a reference in any scheme, but in any case, they were using a generator so it probably wouldn’t count anyway. Picked up pudding & chips x3 for lunch for the lads and myself, before heading down to Walsall for the gig
Wednesday 17th April 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: The Pete Shaw Trio ft. Liam Read Venue: The Moor Club, Heaton Moor, Stockport Well, wasn't actually my gig, but this great band asked Liam to do a guest spot with them. That was all the encouragement I need to shoehorn this activation report into the ‘SOTA on Tour’ threads! While Liam was sorting out his wardrobe and ablutions, I nipped out the record an activation. It was quick and easy, for I didn’t even have to suffer the inconvenient delay of putting a coat or jumper on. Handheld, logbook, pencil - and an 8 minute walk up to the summit. The familiar National Trust white jeep passed me the other way as I was driving through North Rode, and sure enough, when I got up The Cloud I found that the timber rails had been extended a few metres further. They now reached to the rough little stone stairway immediately before the trig point - so very nearly complete. The activation was easy on 2m FM, with six contacts coming in, mostly ragchew mode, one after the other.
Absolutely terrific morning! Plus I’ve had a gig that night too, so it got the “SOTA on Tour” treatment! Good Friday 19th April 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Lyceum Theatre, Crewe I was exhausted when I got in from my matinee gig the previous day, so I was in bed before 10pm the night before this early morning event. As a result, I awoke naturally at 0430 BST, half-an-hour before my alarm was due to go off! As such, for once, I was actually early for one of these events, and QRV shortly after 0530 UTC, with my FT-817 running 5 watts, and homemade 30m groundplane antenna with elevated radials. I heard Mike 2E0YYY/P calling CQ from Shining Tor G/SP-004. I attempted the S2S, but as anticipated, it went into the logbook as a SWL entry. I then made five early 30m CW QSOs around Eastern Europe, and I could see that my set up was all working well. I would normally have spent longer on my initial mode choice, but with the time approaching the nominal 0600z event start time, I decided it would be a good idea to get going on FT8. I started on the suggested QRG of 10.132MHz, and worked three chasers almost immediately. The next QSO was a 30m FT8 S2S with YO6PIB/P on YO/EC-367 - so that was highly satisfactory! Then the next station to call me on FT8 was none other than Ron VK3AFW - so I was now feeling somewhat delighted!
I could now hear VK3BYD/P calling on 30m CW from VK3/VE-178, but he wasn’t copying my replies, so that would be my second SWL entry of the day. I didn’t have to wait long for my first VK S2S though, with a surprisingly strong and easy contact with VK1DA/P on VK2/ST-053. This was followed by Ian VK5CZ. I continued on CW, adding a further six QSOs culminating with another DX S2S - VK1CT on VK1/AC-042. I now switched back to 30 FT8, and worked nine European stations quite rapidly. A spot appeared which suggested a viable S2S opportunity though, which caused me to return to CW. S53XX/P on S5/CP-024 was worked first call, followed by two more chasers. 15 stations were then added on FT8, before returning again to CW to record 16 QSOs including S2S with OK2SAM/P on OK/JM-026 and HB9DBM/P on HB/BE-169. It was now a gorgeous hot and sunny morning, and as we neared 11am local, I suspected there would be S2S opportunities on 2m FM. I managed to work MW1HAX/P on Snowdon GW/NW-001, and Dom MW0BLF/P on Y Garn GW/NW-004. Five more stations were added on 2m FM, including a welcome return to my logbook for the King and Queen of Heald Green - Pete 2E0LKC and Anne 2E0LMD. As I was getting ready to descend, I decided to do a quick head count on The Cloud summit. It was very busy - and there were over 80 people up there at that very moment! Total QSOs: 67 30m CW: 31 30m FT8: 29 2m FM: 7
SWL: 2 S2S: 8 DXCCs: 22 - 9A (1), DL (10), E7 (1), EA (7), ES (1), F (4), G (7), GW (2), HA (2), HB (2), I (5), OE (1), OH (2), OK (3), OM (3), OZ (1), RA (1), S5 (4), SM (2), SP (2), VK (4), YO (2) So a massive thank you to all the activators and chasers that took part this morning, it was a very enjoyable fun event. There was an enforced 40 break in my operating 0751 to 0831z when an old friend from my teaching days at Brownhills turned up on summit. He was out for a morning jog and was as surprised to see me as I was to see him! We had much to mutually catch up on!
Easter Monday 22nd April 2019 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 This was a completely unplanned pair of activations. I was walking out of the Moss Rose football stadium after watching a goalless draw in the League 2 match between Macclesfield Town and Newport County. I suddenly felt some sense of guilt that I’d spent much of the day plunging calories down my throat, but not particularly exercising. I made the decision there and then to undertake two SOTA activations on the way home! It was a beautiful sunny and warm April early evening, and shirt-sleeve order ruled again.
On Gun G/SP-013, I made four QSOs on the VHF FM handheld, all on 2m, and all with stations beginning with the number ‘2’! The same four stations were worked again over on The Cloud G/SP-015, with the addition of an M0 and an M6. So 5500 steps recorded on my Fitbit watch and submitted to the MyFitnessPal app via the magic of Bluetooth - unfortunately still wholly sufficient to balance the calories consumed in the form of beer and curry.
Tuesday 23rd April 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 I was starting to decode US stations on 30m FT8 towards the end of my activation around 1930z. None worked though. Maybe I need to try this at a later hour next time. Anyway, it was a nice way to pass the time between dropping my son off in town and picking him up again.
21 QSOs made - 12 on 30m CW, 7 on 30m FT8 and 2 on 2m FM.
Thursday 25th April 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015
Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Prince of Wales Theatre, Cannock
Hmm, Cannock. Not many mountains round there. ISTR it’s one of the furthest possible places from coastline in the UK too - didn’t a couple of blokes from Cannock go on Bullseye once and win a speedboat? Anyway, The Cloud G/SP-015, handheld, rubber duck, 2m FM, four contacts. The pathworks by the NT are very nearly completed with the log rails now on one side of the steps at the summit and lots of good work level the surface of the path and improving drainage. Top marks. Back out into more classic mountain country for the following night’s gig - in Retford…
Saturday 27th April 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015
Gig: Motown Gold Venue: Nunsmere House Hotel, Northwich …via Port Vale v Macclesfield Town, Vale Park, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.
If I wanted to meet my old Brownhills teaching mates and then see the game ahead of my gig, I needed to be out shortly after 10am. The weather was atrocious - wind, cold, rain. Ascended The Cloud, made 5 QSOs on 2m FM, descended. Emptied pockets. Where was my logbook? Nowhere to be seen. Ascended The Cloud again and found it just off the summit! Phew - especially as it had around 40 activations worth of QSOs in it not yet submitted to the Database!
Now I was hoping for 3 points - and of course a good gig that night before heading to Cumbria the following day.
Wednesday 1st May 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013
Gig: Liam Read (Open Mic) Venue: Swan With Two Necks, Macclesfield With the likelihood of doing supply teaching work, I needed to put in an early morning walk in order to attach an activation to a gig! I put my suit and tie into the car and got off to the usual hill. During the journey I got asked for, and accepted jobs at three different schools in Norrh Staffordshire. One by one, each cancelled! I kept my phone on as I walked up The Cloud in case of any further offers, but none came through, so it was looking like a day off from maths teaching!
Three QSOs on 2m FM. It then transpired that Jimmy M0HGY needed a lift to work in Wilmslow so I thought I’d collect some brownie points by sparing Marianne that task. Still no supply work transpired so off to the Staffordshire Moorlands for Gun G/SP-013.
Saturday 4th May 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 I somehow woke up at 4.30am BST, so decided to go for an early walk. I went for my current favourite of 30m vertical with FT8 mode. Plenty of VK received, but none in my logbook on this occasion. 30m FT8: 20 QSOs 30m CW: 7 QSOs 2m FM: 3 QSOs
S2S with Paul MW0PLA/P on Cadair Berwyn GW/NW-012
Later on, I attended the Moss Rose stadium to watch the 1-1 draw between Macclesfield and Cambridge, a result that ensured my home town team remained in the Football League for next season. I would be back on the road gigging the following day, so looking forward to activating a little further afield - and scoring points!
Sunday 5th May 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Simon Faulkner Band Venue: The Great House at Sonning, Reading When the enquiry came in for this, I thought it said it was a reading gig. Turned out it was a Reading gig! To my surprise, the only feasible SOTA summit on the 180 mile journey was The Cloud! 2m FM handheld - 9 QSOs.
Very busy summit. Cloudside car park full, so had to park down Red Lane a bit. After descending, two lambs in the opposite field were not at all camera shy! Now to get some miles in. Will be calling on 2m FM while /M.
Tuesday 7th May 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 QRV 1806 to 2202z. 2m FT8 - 13 QSOs 2m SSB - 83 QSOs 2m FM - 7 QSOs Activation total - 103 QSOs, all on 2m. DXCCs: EI, G, GD, GI, GM, GW QRAs: IO63, 70, 72, 74, 75, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, JO00, 01, 02. I did use KST on my phone a bit more which was handy for adding new bonus squares. But it also caused distraction as I increasingly kept an eye on the Liverpool-Barcelona score around 9.45pm BST.
Wednesday 8th May 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 This day’s work was the “old work” - teaching maths in the Potteries. So Bosley Cloud on the way home (the hill, not the beer). 2m FM handheld - 5 QSOs.
Sunday 12th May 2019 - Shining Tor G/SP-004, Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015
As anticipated, there was no parking available at Cloudside, so we had to park a little way back down Red Lane. It was Jimmy’s first walk up the now completed re-engineered path. The summit was busy, but Jimmy has his spot and I have mine, so we made immediately for those favoured positions. These are generally quiet spots that avoid most others on the summit even in busy times, but mine was rather close to a very enthusiastically courting couple. I hoped that my presence, and 10m mast and the sound of CW might be an effective turn-off, but to my surprise they carried on snogging for a further ten minutes. Eventually, they needed to breath, and so they went.
A chap came and introduced himself as Dave M3KWZ from nearby Congleton. Finally we called in on our local pub the Weston, and watched the conclusion of the Premier League football season while necking back some welcome cold beers. Between the two of us we made 146 QSOs on the day: M0HGY: 70 QSOs - 66 on 2m FM & 4 on 30m FT8. M1EYP: 76 QSOs - 23 on 30m FT8, 31 on 30m CW & 22 on 2m FM. 21 S2S QSOs (between us):
MW3TMX/P on Arenig Fach GW/NW-027 ON4UP/P on Bois Haut ON/ON-017 G4TQE/P on Billinge Hill G/SP-017 CT7ABE/P on Serra do Socorro CT/ES-007 G4TJC/P on Baugh Fell-Tarn Rigg Hill G/NP-012 MW3TMX/P on Mynydd Nodol GW/NW-048 2E0IXM/P on Moel Gyw GW/NW-053 MW3TMX/P on Mynydd Rhyd Ddu GW/NW-073 G0HIK/P on Black Combe G/LD-030 MM6BWA/P on Pibble Hill GM/SS-232 MM0JLA/P on Pibble Hill GM/SS-232 ON4UP/P on Les Aisances ON/ON-016
Tuesday 14th May 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Well, the weather was lovely. And at last on this Tuesday evening we had quite a turn out from the SOTA activators: M1EYP/P on The Cloud G/SP-015 GW6KLQ/P on Y Garn GW/NW-004 GW7WKX/P on Great Orme GW/NW-070 M0VXX/P on Titterstone Clee Hill G/WB-004 I ended up making a total of 83 QSOs: 70cm FM: 17 70cm SSB: 60 70cm CW: 1 2m FM: 5 My results were quite pleasing given the less-than-pleasing SWR indicated. With the 6-el 70cm beam from the SB270 still out of service, I tried using the MFD. VSWR was showing 5 bars on the FT-817. I’m sure I’ve had much better than this when using the MFD before on 70cm. When I used the MFD on 2m later, all was fine. I couldn’t find a fault with the SB270, and the MFD was perfect on 2m - and used to be good on 70cm. So maybe there was something in Andy MM0FMF’s suggestion that there could be an issue with the feeder that causes issues on 70cm, but not on 2m.
Wednesday 15th May 2019 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Liam Read Venue: Swan With Two Necks, Macclesfield After Gun G/SP-013, Paul HB9DST and I drove in convoy over to The Cloud G/SP-015 where I was amazed to find plenty of available space for us both to park. I didn’t expect that on such a glorious afternoon. The summit was unusually quiet too, with the NT path workers outnumbering the walkers! I was actually intercepted by a NT ranger up there who mentioned something about taking care not to block paths with guylines. I said I thought I’d done that but I’d take the antenna down if he wanted me too. He took another look and said “No actually you’ve done a pretty good job there considering four paths all meet here”! That was a pleasing outcome to that situation!
HF conditions were awful and I made just two contacts on each of 20m FT8 and 20m CW. I added three on 2m FM after packing away. Paul struggled to six QSOs on 40m with his KX2, but then took advantage of the VHF opportunities in this part of the world, and worked a good number on his handheld. We walked down together and said goodbye. I wished Paul a safe drive up to Cumbria and a great few days in G/LD. He presented me with a kind gift of some delicious Swiss chocolate to take home, which was gratefully accepted (and very much enjoyed by my XYL Marianne)! A most enjoyable afternoon, followed by a good evening performing a few tunes with Liam at our local open mic night.
Friday 17th May 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 I completed five consecutive days of teaching for the first time in many months. From the school in Crewe it was an obvious diversion to activate Bosley Cloud on the way home. I needed some exercise even though I was very tired. I just walked up with my handheld and worked four - three keen chasers and one occasional activator. A sked was made with the latter to meet 35 minutes later in the pub. HGY was home from work do he joined me and CWI at the Bull’s Head.
Regular SOTA followers will have been aware that I had been reporting on the progress of a completely refurbished / re-engineered main path up The Cloud G/SP-015. Many years ago, I made and published a video online of my then 8 minute ascent up SOTA’s most activated summit. With the new path complete, I thought it was high time to remake the ascent video! Tuesday 21st May 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 So Liam had a singing lesson in town, and I was on taxi duties. Marianne advised me that the traffic around Macclesfield was very bad and it would be inadvisable for me to try to come home before going to collect Liam 45 minutes later. She suggested I go to the pub for a pint. I wondered if I could actually squeeze a SOTA activation in…! Remarkably, I did.
I dropped Liam off for his lesson at 1815 BST. I drove down the Leek road to Bosley Crossroads, and then down the A54 and up to Red Lane (Cloudside). For years I’ve used the time of 8 minutes when quoting how long it takes to climb to the summit of The Cloud. That is because my old video was just that. I was heartened this time to make the summit in just short of 7 minutes.
On 2m FM, with the handheld, I made four quick contacts, all with Intermediate licence holders.
Wednesday 22nd May 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Another stroll up on the way home from teaching in Crewe. Strange activation. Called CQ on 2m FM on the handheld, but it was very quiet. I made just one QSO. Switched to 70cm FM and called on there. Made eight QSOs. I was not expecting that!
Saturday 25th May 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015, Gun G/SP-013 & Winter Hill G/SP-010 Gig: Liam Read Band @ Swanload Festival Venue: Swan With Two Necks, Macclesfield
Gig: Simon Faulkner Band Venue: Rivington Hall, Bolton
Well what a busy day this turned out to be. My son Liam had the honour of being the opening band for this year’s Swanload Festival. That was a 3pm slot, so I nipped out during the morning to get my exercise in. It was a very nice warm sunny ascent of The Cloud G/SP-015 to kick off with, and five 2m FM contacts on the handheld when I got to the summit. Next it was over to Gun G/SP-013.
Tuesday 28th May 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013
Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Bellavista Restaurant, Milnrow
It was chucking it down as I drove from home to Cloudside. By the time I’d arrived at the parking spot it was quite a nice day, albeit somewhat cooler than recent days. Anyway, it was pretty quiet on the radio. Just one contact from each summit on 2m FM. I could have broken into other ongoing QSOs to try to further populate the logbook, but decided not to bother. I suspected many radio amateurs in the North West were becoming pretty bored by my CQ SOTA calls from The Cloud on S20, and one or two actually somewhat irritated I don’t doubt! I should probably be trying to get on 6m FT8 at this time of year though really.
Wednesday 29th May 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015
Gig: Liam Read - Open Mic Venue: Swan With 2 Necks, Macclesfield
Limited time window meant I had no choice but to exit the parked car into heavy rain. I had been sat at Cloudside listening to BBC Radio 5 Live and hoping for a break in the weather. It didn’t happen. So, wet I got, but my gig day activation obsession was maintained. I operated for three minutes on my handheld from the summit, and actually made six QSOs on 2m FM. It’s clearly too easy this SOTA business…
Saturday 22nd June - The Cloud G/SP-015
Gig: Serious Hat Band Venue: Swanley Hall, Burland, Nantwich Back to my “home” summit after another few days on the road. Lots to do ahead of the Benelux trip and another gig, but I was determined not to allow another SOTA-free gig day; I dislike it when that occurs!
Gorgeous sunny lunchtime. A new waymarker post appeared since my last visit. 2m FM handheld- 4 QSOs - including the King and Queen of Heald Green - standard. Then in town to get my car valeted ahead of the Benelux road trip. Stumbled across some live music - The Caribbeans, from Leeds - so parked myself and enjoyed a bit of calypso. Three sets of pretty up-to-date pop music to perform later that evening, then finally time to contemplate some much anticipated holiday time. Of course, the SOTA would continue on holiday!
Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Empire Theatre, Consett I had hoped to activate something more interesting up north en route to County Durham, but it took me too long to secure overnight digs, and this after sleeping in until 0930 local. So The Cloud, in drizzle. Four QSOs, all 2m FM on the handheld. My digs were in Newcastle-upon-Tyne so I would see if I could remember any of the Geordie lingo I picked up in my student days! After the overnight stay, I made my home slowly via Burnhope Seat G/NP-003 and Cross Fell G/NP-001.
Monday 8th July 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Gig: no gig, but Late Night Liam was coming up on Canalside Radio 102.8FM / streaming online, that night around 10.15pm. Four contacts. Trouble was they were split between two activations! Not that I tried very hard - I was in a rush to get off the first summit in order to squeeze a second activation in before picking Liam back up, and I quit on Gun when it started raining - I was in shirt sleeves and no coat! Still, two SOTA activations nonetheless.
It was the 70cm activity evening. I was still compromised on this band having not yet fathomed why my 6-el bean wasn’t working. So, again I would be “getting by” on 70cm with the SOTAbeams MFD. Not optimum on this band, but usable, and with the advantage of the design that allows rapid change of polarisation. It was a good turn out for Fun Evening, with at least four SOTA activations involved. As well as myself, there was 2E0MDJ/P on Cleeve Hill G/CE-001, GW0KLQ/P on Rhialgwm GW/NW-046 and G7WKX/P on Shining Tor G/SP-004. In total I made 76 QSOs - 5 on 2m FM, 26 on 70cm FM and 45 on 70cm SSB. Then home for my tea, which I’d missed earlier!
I really didn’t like the look of the weather forecast as I contemplated heading out for the 6m contest evening. My summit was just inside the western edge of a Met Office weather warning for thunderstorms with a “risk to life”. I nearly didn’t go. By taking the decision to venture out though, I had to make certain I was constantly monitoring the weather and signs of electrical activity very vigilantly. As I drove south from Macclesfield, there was a very heavy downpour - a proper “cloudburst” job. I was very pleased that this coincided entirely with when I was inside the car! After that there were a few promising gaps of blue sky opening up, abeit with heavy grey skies still dominating, particularly to the East. I ascended in light drizzle and damp mist, and set up the SOTAbeams SB6 Moxon antenna. The weather conditions remained calm and stable during the first hour when I was operating FT8 in the MGM event. The band was open and two Italian and one Polish station were worked on 6m FT8, as well as seven G stations. A bit more persistent light rain returned as the main 6m UKAC commenced, and I retreated inside the bothy bag. There were still some E’s kicking around, and I worked Italy and Spain in amongst my 52 contacts. The heavy bank of grey to the East gradually got closer and closer, but never actually got to me. Periodically I was checking the lightning maps website on my smartphone and keeping an eye on where things were at. Occasionally I would hear a static crash through my FT-817, and there was a short period (seconds) of the noise associated with static rain. Reassuringly though, the lightning maps were showing a rapidly reducing amount of electrical activity, and that there was moved from the Sheffield area, down towards Derby and away to the East. I completed the activation with 62 QSOs: 6m FT8: 10 6m CW: 6 6m SSB: 46
DXCCs: 8 - EA, G, GD, GI, GM, GW, I, SP QRAs: 17 - IN53, IO64, 70, 71, 74, 75, 80, 82, 83, 85, 91, 92, 93, 94, JN52, 54, KO02 Frustratingly, I heard, but never worked, IO81, IO84, JO01 and JO03. It was raining heavily during the last minutes of the contest, and I wasn’t looking forward to packing up the antenna. But it seemed luck was on my side. While I was still in the bothy bag packing up the radio kit, the rain suddenly stopped, so it was completely dry for breaking down the antenna and descending. As I reached my car, my Fitbit watch advised me that my day’s teaching work in Newcastle-under-Lyme, plus my Cloud activation, had totalled 7000 steps - so still 3K short of my daily target. Only one thing for it then - a quick nip across to Gun G/SP-013!
Gig: Biscuit Brothers ft. Liam Read & Bandeoke Venue: Broken Cross Club, Macclesfield Afternoon gig, so I had a very restricted time window to nip out and get a walk/activation in during the morning. Especially after getting up late following a rotten night’s sleep. It was deathly quiet on 2m FM - but this was to bring about an unexpected bonus. Just one contact - G1PHN from Cleehill - was made on the analogue mode.
In desperation / exasperation, I QSYd down to 144.6125MHz - the nominal C4FM centre of activity QRG. To my astonishment, there was a loud and clear station chatting away. The display on my Yaesu FT70D told me it was G6PJZ. I then heard mention of SOTA - this was an activation in progress! Andy G6PJZ/P was on Old Man of Coniston G/LD-013 - and despite only having the rubber duck at my end, a C4FM Fusion S2S QSO was made easily. Andy had done really well and actually managed to qualify his summit on Fusion. I had no such luck and had to call it a day on two contacts - but the second was a belter!
So to the milestone. That afternoon’s gig was actually for my own party - to celebrate the Silver Wedding Anniversary of my XYL Marianne and myself. It was a fantastic occasion with all our friends old and new, work colleagues old and new, family (mainly old) and, as usual for one of my events, a licensed amateur/SOTA activator count into double figures. It was a little bit amazing when I reflected on 25 years of marriage and realised I’d spent over 17 of them doing SOTA!
I had a time window of 45 minutes between dropping Liam off at his vocal lesson in Macclesfield, then picking him up again. I now know that I can - just - drive to Cloudside, ascend, activate, descend and drive back to Macclesfield in exactly that time. And that's exactly what I did. Three QSOs made on 2m FM with the handheld.
Wednesday 17th July 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 The next looming item on the SOTA agenda was a trip to Sark (GU) where Marianne and I would be celebrating our actual silver wedding anniversary date. As we would be flying from Manchester to Guernsey, thoughts turned to batteries. I decided that I would conduct any activations leading up to the trip with the same working conditions as I would have available in GU. I got rid of the Tracer LifePO4 16Ah battery from the rucksack, and inserted the FNB85 NiMH 1400MAh pack in the FT-817. The rig powered on, so I thought I'd use it until the charge was depleted then put on a charge cycle. Up on The Cloud on a pleasant warm morning, this enabled me to make four QSOs on 15m CW - SP, DL, LY & SM. During the last of these QSOs - with top SOTA chaser Mike DJ5AV, the rig ran out of charge and powered off. I managed to turn it back on, and dropped the RF power from 5 watts to 0.5 watts. I was able to complete with Mike quickly. Before packing away, a lady walker introduced herself to me as Eileen G1SIB, but explaned that her licence had lapsed many years ago. I brought her up-to-date with free licence for life, no morse test for HF and SOTA - she was fascinated. I returned home and put my FT-817 with FNB-85 on an eight hour charging cycle.
Sunday 21st July 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Ben's Band With No Name Venue: Swan With Two Necks, Macclesfield I needed to be down at the venue for loading in, setting up and soundchecking around 1345 BST, so I pretty much got on with getting out to do a local activation as soon as I woke up! This was not particularly early, but around 9am after getting-in late from a gig in Middlesbrough the previous night. Three contacts made on 2m FM. Then down to the afternoon gig in Macclesfield. This was a showcase that my son Liam was compering. I wasn't performing with Liam, but depping in to help out a local band whose bass player was not available. It was a good fun set though including tracks from Green Day, Jimi Hendrix and Foo Fighters. Following this, Jimmy, Liam and I walked down the road to a curry house for our Sunday tea.
Monday 22nd July 2019 Doing all sorts of bits and bobs. Writing music arrangements and bass guitar transcriptions. Doing housework. Picking up take-away for tea. Going swimming with Liam. Answering QSL requests for his radio programme on Canalside Radio (Monday nights 10.15pm-ish, 102.8FM and online). Picking up new ink for the printer. Shoehorned in somewhere amongst that lot, a smash-and-grab four-and-run low-budget activation of The Cloud.
Tuesday 23rd July 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Lunch date out in Manchester with Marianne, spending some of the "Dining Out" vouchers we received as gifts for our silver wedding anniversary. So just another quick raid up Bosley Cloud, this time a morning one. Three QSOs on 2m FM with the Yaesu FT70D. Much later in the day, the other side of the Manchester outing, I also activated Gun G/SP-013.
Wednesday 24th July 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Liam Read Venue: Swan With Two Necks, Macclesfield So this was getting a bit daft now. I had a gig that evening, so I was compelled to do an activation. Actually not that daft - for it enforced a modicum of exercise on an entirely otherwise slovenly day. I guess that's a good thing really.
I got all my work (transcribing bass parts, updating my bass guitar transcription website, marketing etc) completed by mid afternoon, then drove out to Bosley Cloud. Despite the previous night's huge and spectacular electrical storm, it remained suffocatingly hot and humid, rather uncomfortable. The walk to the summit was made less enjoyable still be the now very overgrown ferns and nettles almost blocking a couple of mid sections of the main ascent path.
Four QSOs were made on 2m FM with the FT70D handheld. Next, it was a quick tea of Singapore fried rice from the local Chinese take away, then out on Liam's gig.
Thursday 25th July 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Key Theatre, Peterborough With the next gig after this being Saturday in Milton Keynes, I had been toying with the idea of booking theatre digs for a couple of nights and staying out. The utter lack of summits in the Peterborough and Milton Keynes areas, or anywhere in-between, encouraged me to not bother, and just drive back home. As such, I just wandered up my two local summits as I commenced my drive over to Cambridgeshire. On Cloud I made four contacts on 2m FM, including S2S with Tim G4YBU/P on Worcestershire Beacon G/WB-009. On both summits I contacted Alistair MW0TYM/P who was activating Cadair Berywn GW/NW-012. After Gun, a long drive over to Peterborough, soundcheck in the Key Theatre, and burger and chips on a barge on the River Nene. An excellent show with Joe on sparkling form, and a long, tiring drive home, culminating with a lightning storm as I drove over the Cat & Fiddle road. This would turn out to be my final gig with the great Joe Longthorne. He sadly passed away in his Blackpool home just nine days later.
Friday 26th July 2019 After Gun G/SP-013, I made the familiar short drive across the Dane Valley and up onto Cloudside. The overgrown sections on the middle part of the path were starting to get trodden down a little, but care was still needed to dodge the nettles. It seems faster to reach the summit now that the path is lined by pine trunk rails! I'm not sure why that is! Anyway, just two QSOs were made on the 2m FM handheld, despite extensive calling. But that was fine; it wouldn't make any difference to the points anyway!
Saturday 27th July 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Gig: Simon Faulkner Band Venue: Bistro Live!, Milton Keynes Little in the way of imagination for summit choice here, not that there was really any scope for creativity! An unpleasantly wet lunchtime as I activated my two local hills on the 2m FM handheld. The rain seemed to have caused a major growth spurt in the vegetation either side of the path, which was now quite thick and right across the width of the path. This resulted in wet shorts as I pushed through! Two contacts made then off over to Gun G/SP-013.
Sunday 28th July 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 These activations were really on the way home from the Milton Keynes gig rather than part of the Sunday in traditional terms! It was a late finish on the Saturday night, and a drive through the night back home, with a couple of lay-by naps included! As I drove from Stoke-on-Trent to Congleton and nearing the end of my journey, I decided to get my SOTA in for the day right then, rather than try and squeeze something in later on the way to the next gig. Problem was it was raining very heavily. Well I just put on full waterproofs and did a couple of activations anyway! Three contacts on 2m FM on The Cloud G/SP-015, then just one on Gun G/SP-013.
Saturday 3rd August 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Liam Read Band Venue: Urmston Musical Theatre
This was a very sad day. I awoke to a message from Joe Longthorne's P.A. Christine, advising me that Joe had passed away during the night. To say I was heartbroken and devastated is to understate it. I was absolutely distraught. I had a gig to do that night though, and it was with my son Liam's band. Furthermore, it was for the silver wedding party of our great friends Keith and Julie, who actually got married on 30th July 1994, the same day as Marianne and I.
So the show HAD to go on - and Joe would have expected nothing less. I went out for a walk, if only to try to clear my head. Six QSOs were made on 2m FM with the handheld. I needed to get back home and complete preparations for the gig.
The evening was a very pleasant occasion with a great crowd who all really appreciated the band. It was the perfect thing for me to throw myself into, given the circumstances on the day.
Tuesday 6th August 2019 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 I'd activated Gun G/SP-013 earlier in the day. Later on, I headed up The Cloud G/SP-015 for the 2m UK activity evening. I’d done all* my prep with kit packed - and charged up (Tracer battery, headtorch, Windows 10 tablet), for the FT8 (MGMAC) in the first hour and the SSB (UKAC) thereafter. *except one bit. I’d forgotten all about all about the lead that goes from the back of my 817 to a Powerpole connector to connect with my Tracer LifePO4 battery. I had remembered however to remove the 1400mAH NiMH internal pack from the 817 after the GU trip - and this meant I had no way whatsoever of powering on the radio on summit! What a wally. At least the Contest Manager of the TTCG would be pleased. He doesn’t like me doing the MGMACs because they are not club contests, whereas the concurrent FMACs are. And I now had one option - make a few QSOs on the FMAC using my FT70D handheld. I rummaged around my coat pockets and drybags to see if I had a BNC to SMA adaptor enabling me to use the SOTAbeams SB5 which was already set up - but no joy. So I just had to make do with the rubber duck. I was worked by the current custodian of HEMA, who kindly offered his condolences. I wondered if this was a sign of improved relations and asked if I might be allowed to enter this chase of his HEMA summit, but the response was silence, so I guessed not. Then I fell over into a horrid patch of sticky mud which managed to attach itself to most of my clothes and much of my exposed skin. Steven 2W0JYN/P was giving out reference GW/NW-062 Hope Mountain, but he wasn’t in the activation zone, so any such “chases” wouldn’t be valid. Some stations were heard operating on frequencies that are “out of bounds” for this contest.
Wednesday 7th August 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Gig: Liam Read Venue: Swan With Two Necks, Macclesfield Still trying to rediscover my good habits of getting my steps in every day, like the previous day, while out and about running errands, I squeezed in visits to my two local summits. I was, I'm afraid, similarly lazy still when it came to working conditions. I just took the 2m FM handheld again!
I was determined not to repeat the disasters of my previous activity contest activation of two evenings earlier. I doubled-checked all my packing and preparation, and thankfully, this time I didn't mess up. Not sure I could say the same about my actual operating performance though, with only mediocre scores (in my opinion) recorded in both the MGMAC and the UKAC. A total of 71 QSOs made in the activation, so not too bad an evening, but certainly unlikely to be competitive in the contests.
Friday 9th August 2019 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Liam Read Band Venue: Swan With Two Necks, Macclesfield It was a gig day, so my compulsive nature dictated that it was also a SOTA day! A swift afternoon round of my local two summits ensued! An unfortunate moment came later on my way to the gig when a Ford Fiesta ran into the back of me causing damage to my car. The other party's insurance is taking care of all that, but nonetheless, a nuisance that I could have done without.
The gig was great, with Liam in top form and delivering two excellent sets to a very enthusiastic and appreciative crowd.
Gig: Simon Faulkner Band Venue: Bistro Live!. Milton Keynes A bit more of a drive for the following day's gig, but a fairly straightforward one down the A50 and M1. Nothing en route that would score me any SOTA activator points, nor really anything significantly more interesting than my two local hills - so I just did those two at the start of my journey south! A certain Alan M1DCG from Bentilee, Stoke-on-Trent was putting out a monologue on S20 for seemingly hours and hours! This was disrupting the CQ calls from Richard G3CWI, operating as G8SRS/P (Stockport Radio Society) from Avro, Woodford.
Sunday 11th August 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 I had no reason nor motivation to head out on the Sunday, other than to get a few thousand steps into my Fitbit tracker. I activated my local two SOTA summits yet again. Alan M1DCG was still announcing his views on world matters on S20, but this time I called him to see what would happen. He actually QSYd and worked me on both summits, but seemed to be trying to manufacture an argument with me on the second QSO! I declined to participate in the attempted escalation, thanked him politely and moved on! Very pleasing QSO numbers with 20 shared between the two summits, despite me only operating with a handheld.
Monday 12th August 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Gig: Joe Longthorne's Final Show Venue: Sacred Heart Church, Blackpool Well I was going to be setting off to Blackpool for my final duties as Joe Longthorne's bass player, so it was entirely appropriate to conduct a couple of summit activations beforehand. He'd always interview me on stage in the shows about what I'd climbed earlier that day. This was desperately sad though; I loved working on this gig, and I will miss Joe's company and friendship hugely. He was a wonderfully inspirational man.
Just one contact on 2m FM, a big contrast to the QSO bonanza of the previous day. But it was a good one - that resulted in a new active SOTA chaser being recruited. After the two activations, Marianne and I drove up to Blackpool, checked into the Imperial Hotel, and met my bandmates for a meal and drinks before a larger get-together at Joe's house later. The following day - Tuesday 13th August 2019 - saw a lovely service - a full requiem mass - at Blackpool's Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, followed by a wake at Viva, the venue at which we were scheduled to be doing every Sunday July to November again with Joe this year. As Joe's band, we had the very great honour of carrying him into the church for his "final show".
Gig: Liam Read Open Mic Night Venue: Swan With Two Necks, Macclesfield The weather was truly appalling with constant heavy rain. This had persisted all day from Blackpool from where we set off home that morning. Nonetheless, I had a gig that night, so activations needed to be done. Five QSOs on each hill - and two very wet socks.
Friday 16th August 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Liam Read Band Venue: Harrington Arms, Bosley We had a late invitation to perform - in arguably the closest pub to The Cloud G/SP-015! It had been hammering it down all day, and still was throughout the drive over to Bosley. So no activation on the way to the gig. Afterwards, the rain had stopped and I did the actvation on the way home. Jimmy and Liam waited in the car at Cloudside. Jimmy M0HGY/M operated on the mobile rig in the car and was one of my three chasers.
Sunday 1st September 2019 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Stu Clark & Friends Venue: The Venue, Lymm As is customary, after Gun G/SP-013, I made my way over to The Cloud before going home! Well, sometimes it's the opposite order of course, but I hardly ever do one of these summits without the other one these days! Just three QSOs made with the 2m FM handheld, but that was a 200% increase on my earlier activation! Off home, then back out with Liam to Lymm, for a nice curry tea before gigging with our good friend Stu Clark at The Venue.
Monday 2nd September 2019 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 As is customary, after Gun G/SP-013, I made my way over to The Cloud before going home ... hmm, experiencing a little dejavu there...! Well that sense of things repeating themselves continued, as like yesterday when I followed up a one QSO activation of Gun with a three QSO effort on Cloud - I recorded three QSOs again on this one! Perhaps it was always meant to be thus!
Tuesday 3rd September 2019 - Shining Tor G/SP-004, Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 I was all set to have fun taking part in two VHF activity contests from Cloud summit - but ended up doing a different one entirely! I ascended and set up the SOTAbeams SB5 Yagi antenna. I checked the SWR - and it seemed to be infinite. I could only deduce that the Aircell 7 feeder cable was in a poor state. No amount of wiggling or squeezing would bring it back to life, so I admitted defeat and packed everything away.
So instead of the 2m MGMAC (FT8) and 2m UKAC (SSB), I went on the Yaesu FT-70D handheld and compiled a token entry in the 2m FMAC. I made 13 QSOs, including Rob G7LAS/P who was on HEMA summit Mow Cop. After 1830z, it was clear I wasn't going to be getting much more with just the handheld, so I took the opportunity to drive over to Mow Cop to see if I could sort out the issues restricting my access to the HEMA scheme.
After Rob, who was with Mike 2E0YYY, descended from the trig point area, I went over and offered to buy them both a drink in a local pub and have a talk. The offer was refused immediately, and I was left in no doubt whatsoever that my presence was most unwelcome. My idea was to extend the hand of friendship and build bridges, but unfortunately, it didn't work. At least I tried.
Monday 9th September 2019 - Gun G/SP-013, The Cloud G/SP-015 & Shining Tor G/SP-004 After Gun G/SP-013, I made my way, as I often do, to Cloudside. I walked up to the summit in good quick time, then made five QSOs on the handheld, matching the result from the earlier summit. When I returned home, Liam advised me that he had an activity that evening and requested a lift. With 7pm and 9pm drop-off and pick-up times, I figured I could squeeze an activation of Shining Tor G/SP-004 in too.
It was another contest night that was enthusiastically anticipated, but merely contrived to disappoint. Getting quite a few such instances of late, some disasters being of my own making. This was just one of those nights with pretty poor conditions, and no real pace or rhythm getting going with my operating. In the 70cm FM contest, I made 19 QSOs, including Simon G7WKX/P on Shining Tor G/SP-004 who was really setting the pace. In the main UKAC, I added 38 QSOs - 37 on SSB and one on mixed mode - CW at my end, with SSB coming back. At around 9.30pm local, the contacts were coming very slowly and it started to rain. I gave up! Only a few seconds into me packing away, and the rain stopped! But I'd had enough and was more focused on getting home for some supper now! Three QSOs were added on 2m FM with the handheld, making it a total of 60 for the activation.
No supply teaching work came through first thing, so it was another "day off" in store. With calls for teaching work being unlikely in the first half-term of an academic year, and the passing of Joe Longthorne the previous month, my work and income prospects were starting to look somewhat bleak! I reflected on this briefly with a little concern - then set out to activate my two local summits on the way to returning the courtesy car and collecting my Dacia Duster which was being returned to Macclesfield after having the accident damage repaired. Just one reply came to my several calls of CQ SOTA - that from Bill G4CFP in Horwich. Needing to return to hire car at 2pm, and wanting to give it a quick vacuum first, I descended and drove over to Gun G/SP-013.
Thursday 12th September 2019 - Shining Tor G/SP-004, The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 This turned out to be a terrible contest night effort. I was all set up for the 6m MGMAC, operating on FT8 via WSJT-X running on my Windows 10 tablet. I was transmitting OK, but not receiving (decoding) anything at all. After inspecting everything, I found that one of the pins in one of the DIN connector plugs on the data cable was missing. So that was that then - no FT8 for me. Instead, I made three contacts on the 2m FM handheld while waiting for the main event to start. As we got going at 8pm local BST, the wind really picked up and I was getting bashed about in my bothy bag shelter. The din (no pun intended) and discomfort really slowed my QSO rate down - a hazard of the outdoor portable approach to VHF contesting I guess! There was a period of heavy rain and my bothy bag got saturated. I managed to keep it in a position such that none of my gear got wet, but half of the trouser on my left leg did not escape! When a huge gust of wind blew my aerial over at 9.30pm, I'd had more than enough. I didn't bother re-erecting it. I packed up and descended. In a huff. Then went over to activate Gun G/SP-013.
I knew that Marianne was coming out for a big walk in the Peak District sunshine later on. That would likely include Shining Tor G/SP-004, so I wanted to get the other two local summits activated before we set off. I nipped out first thing and activated The Cloud G/SP-015 then Gun G/SP-013, achieving a grand total of just three QSOs across the two activations! I returned to the home QTH, the Marianne and I went out for lunch an a long walk that has the summit of Shining Tor along its route.
Saturday 14th September 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015, Gun G/SP-013 & Shining Tor G/SP-004 I fancied trying for some early morning greyline DX, so hauled myself out of bed at 5am.
Set up for 30m on the summit of The Cloud, but the propagation conditions were not all that great. This was compounded by the fact that I still didn't have a working cable for my data interface, so no FT8 was possible!
It was definitely worth making the effort to get out though. I was treated to a spectacular sunrise, the stages of which I tried to capture on camera. Here are the results of my dawn photography session.
So just 16 QSOs made. I made my way over to Gun G/SP-013 for a quick VHF activation before heading home.
Sunday 15th September 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 While I was out on the Saturday, the replacement data cable had arrived in the post. Therefore I was keen to get back to chasing DX on 30m FT8, early on the Sunday morning. While I was on summit, I received the screenshot below from Roger F5LKW via Facebook Messenger, showing the FT8 contact we'd just made.
As it was, there wasn't any DX up on offer, but I still had an enjoyable activation with plenty of QSOs on FT8 and CW. A flurry of S2S contacts came right at the end of the activation, culminating in a rare one on C4FM (Fusion) mode with Matt G8XYJ on High Vinnalls G/WB-012. And then over to Gun G/SP-013.
Monday 16th September 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 I had some supply teaching at Poynton High School during the day, but it was an early (1.20pm) finish. I checked in at home, and then went out to liase with some old friends from the Macclesfield club who were having a a group activation on Gun G/SP-013. I had a bit of spare time, so went via The Cloud to get a quick handheld activation in there first.
Tuesday 17th September 2019 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 The original idea was to bag The Cloud straight after Gun G/SP-013, on the way home. My wife Marianne had other ideas. She phoned me on my mobile and "advised" me that I was, in fact, going to go straight home. Instead, my plan now was to run Liam to and from his vocal lesson, then go to the Macclesfield Town v Newport Country football match - then go and do a late evening activation. After watching the entertaining 1-1 draw at the Moss Rose Stadium, I ascended to the summit. As I arrived by the trig point, it dawned on me that I hadn't actually brought a radio up with me! What a wally! I descended, got my rucksack out of the car, and reascended! I set up for 30m FT8. Nothing very exciting in the log, although K9NP from Wisconsin was quite nice. I could see plenty of South and Central American stuff on the band activity window, but I didn't manage to work any of it.
Wednesday 18th September 2019 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Liam Read - Open Mic Venue: Swan With 2 Necks, Macclesfield With a full day's teaching in Poynton during the day, and a gig in Macclesfield in the evening, I needed to be pretty efficient if I was also going to squeeze in any SOTA. But I was, and I did. Three 2m FM QSOs made on Gun G/SP-013, shortly followed by another four on The Cloud G/SP-015.
Liam had a great gig hosting Open Mic at the Swan With 2 Necks that evening. He was well supported with a good turnout of talented and original performers. Plus, of course, he sang a few songs himself.
The event was supported by Macclesfield's Labour parliamentary candidate Neil Puttick. I might send an invitation through to our Conservative MP for the next one, but I am certain it would be ignored - like most of the letters he receives from constituents!
Saturday 21st September 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Liam Read Band + Dan Toft & guests - Open Mic Venue: Harrington Arms, Bosley The gig was actually on the Friday night, and I didn't manage to squeeze an activation into the schedule for that day. It was an unusual pleasure for me to be in the audience for some of Liam's performing, rather than accompanying him on stage! I did play bass for him - and other artistes - at other points in the night though.
The activation on the Saturday was a really pleasing one. Sixty QSOs were made: 30m FT8: 43 5T, CT, DL, EA, EU, F, G, HA, HB, JA, LA, LX, LY, OK, OZ, RA, S5, SM, SP, SV, VE, VK - 5 continents: EU, NA, AF, AS, OC 30m CW: 12 S2S: DL/HB9EKO/P on DM/BW-235, IK2LEY/P on I/LO-197, HB9AFI/P on HB/VS-240 2m FM: 5 Nice morning’s radio. Warm and sunny but quite breezy. Running 5 watts to my homemade 30m vertical with elevated groundplane for HF, HT with rubber duck for VHF! We had plans for another walk on Stanage Edge for the Sunday - then we saw the Met Office weather warning!
Friday 27th September 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Gig: Simon Faulkner Band Venue: Leigh Cricket Club I had a a few hours supply teaching in Poynton ahead of me. I couldn't be 100% that I would manage to take in Billinge Hill G/SP-017 between school and gig in Friday rish hour traffic, plus the venue wasn't all that near to that summit anyway. However, I wasn't needed in the school until 11am, so I took the opportunity to get my walks and activations in first thing. Just one QSO was made from each summit!
Gig: Elvis & All The King's Men Venue: Derbyshire County Cricket Club, The Pattonair, Derby It was a long time since I last played an Elvis tribute gig, so I was looking forward to this! Usual pairing of Cloud and Gun as I headed out to Derby. Interestingly I worked Viki S2S from both summits, even though she remained on the single summit as I transferred from one to the other.
Gig: Liam Read Band Bandeoke Venue: Swan With Two Necks, Macclesfield The first SW2N Bandeoke hosted by the Liam Read Band was eagerly anticipated by musicians, singers and audience members alike. During the daytime ahead of the gig, I got Cloud and Gun activated for the third time in three days!
The Tuesday evening activity contest evening produced a total of 107 QSOs on the 2m band. This comprised 12 on FT8 in the MGMAC, 91 on SSB in the UKAC, then 4 non-contest QSOs on FM before leaving the summit.
I thought it might be interesting to try some late evening work on 30m FT8 - but it didn't turn out to be all that interesting. Plenty of South and Central American stations were received on the WSJT-X activity window, but I failed to make any DX contacts, just recording three QSOs into Europe. I added another three on 2m FM before returning home.
Gig: Funky Doctors Venue: Styal Lodge A highly organised approach was necessary for my Saturday. I had a gig in the evening. I wanted to go to the Macclesfield Town v Port Vale "oatcake derby" football match before that. My friends and former work colleagues from Stoke-on-Trent are all Port Vale supporters, so a lunch and pint meet-up was arranged with them for the lunchtime. And before that, obviously, I needed to activate a couple of local SOTA summits!
Just the 2m FM handheld was taken, and a pleasant walk up The Cloud was followed by two quick QSOs. Then over to Gun G/SP-013.
Wednesday 16th October 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Gig: TribFest Bahrain - The Cream of Clapton & U2 Tribute Venue: Bahrain Rugby Club
Well I simply had to contrive a way to record this gig in my "SOTA on Tour" activation blog! With no M0HGY in tow, and with no SOTA association in A9, there was no prospect of operating in Bahrain. So I just needed to activate my local ones before setting off for my flight! Again, they were low-effort handheld activations. I just went for the walks really - and to record a SOTA activation!
Marianne dropped me off at the railway station, then I caught the train down to London Euston. Here I met Katy (picture to the left of me above) who was one of the performers on the show. She had got the train down from Runcorn - also Cheshire, but a separate line to that from Macclesfield. We then travelled on the tube to Heathrow Terminal 4 where we met the rest of the 27-strong travelling party. This was a tribute show, so I found myself in Caffe Nero in Heathrow with David Bowie, Katy Perry, Freddie Mercury, Bono, Jamiroquai, Stevie Wonder and the Arctic Monkeys!
The photo above left shows me on stage with the Eric Clapton tribute set. The festival got busy after sunset - hardly surprising, as it was then very much more comfortable! The photos below show my view from the stage just ahead of the U2 set I played, and then me working with the Coldplay tribute shortly afterwards.
There are more Bahrain photos on my activation report for Gun G/SP-013, which I did after The Cloud.
Tuesday 22nd October 2019 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 After Gun G/SP-013, it was, somewhat predictably, over to The Cloud. I walked up to the top fairly quickly, feeling in good shape despite recent indulgences in Bahrain! Five QSOs were made, all with regular SOTA chasers.
Wednesday 23rd October 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Gig: Liam Read - Open Mic Venue: Swan With Two Necks, Macclesfield A quick nip out to bag activations of my two local summits. Just two QSOs made on the VHF handheld from The Cloud, then over to Gun G/SP-013.
Thursday 24th October 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 The main walk of the day was a five mile circular around Wildboarclough with Marianne.
We started from Clough House car park then followed a really good old drovers' road track along the east side of Shutlingsloe, emerging at the Crag Inn, Wildboarclough. We went in here for a lunch of beef hot pot and a beer (Hobgoblin Gold). We then resumed our walk by crossing the footbridge and heading up through Berry Bank Farm to the A54.
We followed the A54 for about a kilometre (not intended, but due to me taking the wrong path out of Berry Bank Farm!) before turning right onto the excellent and picturesque footpath and byway up to Three Shires Heads. After this came the only slightly stiff climb of the day, as we walked up a steep field to the ladder to climb back onto the A54.
We crossed straight over the main road onto another byway up to Danethorn Hollow, from where we turned left to follow the track down to Clough House, completing the circular route. After getting home, Marianne cooked up a feast of an "All Day Breakfast" for tea, which adequately replaced all the spent calories! With treacle tarts and roulade to follow, I considered it prudent to get out to do a couple of activations - and about 4000 steps!
So a late night outing to The Cloud. I noticed the light of a headtorch coming in my direction as I approached the NT boundary beside the top farm. I exchanged a polite "Good evening" with the other walker, who then a few seconds later called me back with "Tom?". It was Simon G7WKX who had just activated! He was in shirt and tie, and was squeezing a SOTA in between work and meeting his XYL at Manchester Airport! We had a very pleasant chat for about twenty minutes before he resumed his descent, and I completed my ascent. I'd sent a "QRV in ten minutes" spot from the parking spot - so I quickly went onto SOTAwatch on my phone and sent an updated spot - with apologies! The 2m FM frequencies were extraordinarily busy, with all but one of the 25kHz channels from S9 to S23 occupied! I made five QSOs, but could have made a whole bunch more if I'd been brash enough to inviting myself onto all the chats that were in progress! But I was keen to get Gun G/SP-013 activated and still be home to watch Question Time, so I descended.
Watching telly late the previous night, the weather forecast told me I needed to get any activating done early doors - otherwise I would likely be getting very wet! With this in mind, as soon as it was clear that no supply teaching work was coming in, I drove down to The Cloud. The band was very quiet - no active frequencies, and just one response to my CQ SOTA calls - a total contrast to the previous evening. No problem, so long as I got my walk in and was able to record "an activation" (of sorts), then my objectives were met. Over to Gun G/SP-013.
Saturday 26th October 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015, Gun G/SP-013 & Shining Tor G/SP-004 Gig: Motown Gold Venue: Ye Olde Bell Hotel, Barnby Moor, Retford I had been up for the Rugby World Cup semi-final match on TV, and had a fair old drive to and from a gig over Retford way to contemplate in the evening. Nonetheless, I found myself bursting with energy on this Saturday, possibly inspired by England's stunning demolition of the New Zealand All-Blacks. The weather was somewhat less inspiring, and the heavy rain that morning had caused several bad floods on the roads, requiring great care at the wheel - and a couple of diversions! I heard on the radio that Macclesfield Town's home game had been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, which was unsurprising. I telephoned Marianne to advise her to allow extra time to get to her work that afternoon up in Chinley.
The rain eased for my swift activation of The Cloud, and it was a misty rather than wet ascent. Just two stations were worked using the handheld, but I didn't try very hard, or stay very long! With no points on offer, my selfish focus was on the walks, not the points. With that, I went over to Gun G/SP-013.
Sunday 27th October 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Gig: Liam Read Band - Bandeoke Venue: Swan With Two Necks, Macclesfield A rather lazy day commenced with me watching the World Cup Rugby semi-final between Wales and South Africa. Nothing much more happened until I finally hauled myself off the sofa mid-afternoon, keen to record an activation or two before the next gig. As it was the weekend of the CQ World-Wide SSB contest, I set up the 20m GP on Cloud summit, and worked through 49 contest exchanges for my activation. DX of note included 5B4, VE, EA9, CN, 3V, EA8 and five US stations. Time was running short ahead of that night's gig, so I resolved to just do 2m FM handheld-style for the next activation, which was, of course, Gun G/SP-013.
Monday 28th October 2019 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 AI didn't have a gig on the Monday - unsurprisingly. More unexpectedly, the phone never rang for any supply teaching work. That meant I could head out at my leisure for another couple of SOTA actvations - well, almost. I did have a couple of A-level maths private tutoring sessions booked between 4pm and 7pm in the Holmes Chapel area, so that became my "deadline". Like the previous day, I was very sluggish at actually getting round to leaving the house, so both activations ended up being on 2m FM only via the HT. Although I didn't have a gig on the Monday night, I did have a fantastic radio programme to listen to - the 50th edition of my son's "Late Night Liam" show on Canalside Radio 102.8 FM. This special extended two hour programme included tracks from many of the artistes Liam has featured on the show over the past couple of years, all of whom appeared on this special 50th show to say a few words - including some big names. If you missed the show, you can listen "on demand" from Liam's website.
Tuesday 29th October 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013
Marianne and I took ourselves off for a walk during the day. Looking at my OS Maps, I thought that Miller's Dale looked interesting. We parked at Monsal Head and walked the Monsal Trail (disused railway line) through the Cressbrook and Litten tunnels to Miller's Dale. Here we took the footbridge over the river to the Angler's Rest public house. We had lunch here, and the food and beer was first class - we will definitely return!
After returning home, it got to around 9.30pm, and I fancied another walk, so went out to activate my two local SOTA summits by headtorch and handheld! Four QSOs on The Cloud, and then three on Gun.
Wednesday 30th October 2019 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: Liam Read - Open Mic Venue: Swan With Two Necks, Macclesfield
After Gun G/SP-013, I went over to The Cloud. There was yet more incidence of selfish inconsiderate parking, something I am growing fed-up of at this location. Skipped up to the summit and made three QSOs on the handheld. Then to Pets At Home for tortoise bedding and a heat lamp bulb, then home.
Thursday 31st October 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Gig: Omega Big Band Venue: Winwick Leisure Centre, Warrington
Same again really. No teaching work during the daytime, so nipped out in the afternoon for a couple of SOTA activations ahead of my evening gig.
Friday 1st November 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Marianne advised that the kitchen was closed and that I was required to organise the provision of an Indian take-away. Upon learning this devastating news, M0HGY and I immediately factored in a pint and a game of pool into the logistics. Upon the demolition of the "India Chef Set Banquet for Four", Marianne commenced watching Boring Things on the television set, and so I went out for a couple of SOTA activations, as one does.
Four of the usual suspects were worked in a four minute operating spell on Cloud summit, before I nipped across to Gun G/SP-013.
Saturday 2nd November 2019 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 I was up out of bed at 8am in order to watch the Rugby World Cup Final between England and South Africa. Sadly that did not go the way I hoped, but to be fair, South Africa played an outstanding game and deserved to be crowned World Champions. I should have really set off for the hill immediately after the final whistle, but I wanted to watch the trophy presentation. This turned out to be not too bad an idea as it meant some of the heaviest of the rain had passed by the time I was ascending and setting up.
Set up took three times longer than usual due to me taking the backpacking tent, but it was definitely worthwhile. The rain came back quite heavy for a couple of hours once I was inside the tent, and I was glad not to have to be protecting the radio gear from it - as well as keeping dry myself. It also meant I could lie down while operating, something quite pleasant in itself!
The radio event - designed for S2S QSOs between North America and Europe - was pretty good. Not in the same league as a similar event a couple of years earlier when there was a lot more activity and much better RF conditions, but nonetheless, enjoyable and worthwhile. I made a total of 53 contacts, including 16 S2S and 15 DX contacts into the USA or Canada. Three of the S2S QSOs were with North American SOTA activations.
There were several SOTA activators that I attempted to work but couldn't get through the pile-up, or where my 5 watt signal was too weak for them to receive. Those that I did get are highlighted in yellow in the table below.
Sunday 3rd November 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Gig: Stu Clark & Friends Venue: The Venue, Lymm
Good intentions to get out earlier and do some FT8 operating on 30m were no more than that - good intentions - when I didn't manage to get around to leaving the house until gone 4pm. Needing to be on the road to a gig by 6.30pm reduced my opportunity to that of rapid 2m FM handheld activations only. Pleasingly, despite the short operating times, five contacts were made from each of my two summits.
Monday 4th November 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 I had a lot to do. I had plans to complete my 18-19 tax return, do a couple of hours bass practice, deliver a booked private maths tutoring session, and then be all settled in to listen to Late Night Liam on Canalside Radio 102.8 FM as we do every Monday night. All those objectives were met, and I managed to shoehorn in a two-summit outing between 7 and 9pm. This would again only permit 2m FM handheld activating, and it was a good job the number of QSOs was not relevant!
Tuesday 5th November 2019 2m contest night! Operated from G/SP-015 for just over four hours this evening (1904 - 2306z), entirely on 2m. Made 125 QSOs. 2m FT8: 15 2m SSB: 94 2m FM: 16 The 16 2m FM QSOs were all non-contest and took place 2240 - 2306z.
Tuesday 12th November 2019 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 After getting back off a leg of the tour on the Monday afternoon, and about to go back out on the road again on Thursday, I awarded myself a "day off" from any potential teaching work. I did a short handheld activation on Gun G/SP-013 in the afternoon, but made for The Cloud as usual for the 70cm contest night.
Wednesday 13th November 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Another day off before hitting the road the following day on the 60s Gold Tour. So another morning round trip of my two local summits.
Thursday 14th November 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 Gig: 60s Gold - Mindbenders & Steve Ellis Venue: Guild Hall, Portsmouth
Despite the long distance to drive, I had already done pretty much every remotely feasible summit between Macclesfield and Portsmouth at some point during 2019! So I simply nipped up The Cloud shortly after commencing the journey. After the show, all four of us in the band (Mindbenders - but also the backing band for Steve Ellis) drove up to Croydon where we had been offered three nights free accommodation by a friend of the keyboard player.
Saturday 23rd November 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 A rare Saturday without a gig, but it wouldn't be without SOTA. It was the weekend of the CQWW CW contest, and I fancied trying out 15m to see what might happen. Crete and Cyprus were the slightly noteworthy yet still unremarkable QSOs - but it was still enough of a taster - together with the fact that I could hear VK3 - to make me decide to give it another go on the Sunday when I would have more time available. Just six QSOs on 15m CW, then over to Gun G/SP-013 to complete my modal summit pairing.
Sunday 24th November 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Gig: Liam Read Band Bandeoke Venue: Swan With Two Necks, Macclesfield It was much more like it today. I decided to persist with 15m and have an afternoon session on The Cloud G/SP-015. DXCCs / IOTAs worked: Canary Islands AF-004, Ghana, Curacao SA-099, Mauritius AF-049, Brazil, French Guiana, Barbados NA-021, Antigua NA-100, Bonaire SA-006, Azores EU-003, Crete EU-015, Israel, Aruba SA-036, Crete EU-015, Dominican Republic NA-096, England EU-005, Namibia, Madeira AF-014, St Kitts & Nevis NA-104, Cameroon & St Helena AF-022. Not bad with an FT-817 running 5 watts into a homemade GP antenna, on a cold SOTA summit! I was just slightly pleased! I finished with 4 QSOs on 2m FM before going over to Gun G/SP-013.
Gig: Mindbenders & Steve Ellis, 60s Gold Venue: Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
It was a shame that Paul G4MD ran out of computer power and Andy MM0FMF couldn’t get his system working, so no FT8 S2S. To be fair, I myself struggled with both those issues back at the start of my FT8 SOTA activating experience, so can empathise. It’s something that seems easy and straightforward in theory, but only actually doing it on a summit will throw up the issues that still need to be ironed out, issues that you probably didn’t even previously think about! Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. You just need to show some stickability and keep on with it.
Nonetheless, I still had a great activation. I received and decoded Paul G6GGP/P on Walton Hill G/CE-002 no problem, so it went in the SWL log at least. I made 26 QSOs on 30m FT8, including several recognised chasers, and three JA stations. 6 QSOs were added on 30m CW, followed by 6 on 2m FM and 3 on 70cm FM making a total of 41 for the activation.
It was a cold but beautiful morning on Cloud summit - a delight to be out in the fresh air. Later that day I had the thrill of performing at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall for the first time in my career, and even better that I was able to get my XYL Marianne and sons Jimmy M0HGY and Liam on the guest list.
Also on the guest list was my mum Kate, who was a fan of all these bands (Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders, Steve Ellis & Love Affair, The Marmalade, The Merseybeats, Herman’s Hermits) back in their 60s heyday. Little did she suspect back then that the next time she saw these bands perform live, her yet-to-be-born son would be in them!
I wasn't too bothered about the radio when I arrived on Cloud summit well before dawn. I had the idea of recording the sunrise - which is something I absolutely adore about being up here this early.
I got the first photo taken while it was still completely dark, and then set up my 30m GP antenna. I was a bit obsessed with this antenna at this time!
The sun began to hint at rising from behind the eastern horizon. FT8 was a perfect choice for the operating mode as it gave me loads of opportunity to track the sunrise and take plenty of photos. Even so, a pleasing number of stations responded to my CQ calls and went into the SOTA log, including stations from Gabon and Morocco.
It was very cold, but that was good for the photography, as the air was crisp and clear. A total of 14 QSOs were made on 30m FT8, then I made the decision to switch the mode to CW.
On 30m CW, nine QSOs were added, and I continued to track the sunrise with my iPhone's camera.
Obviously it was pretty bright for a good while before the sun actually lifted itself above the horizon. But when it did, it created a new visual spectacle of its own.
So there it is - sunrise over The Cloud. As usual, I now went over to Gun G/SP-013 for a simple 2m FM handheld activation before returning home.
Monday 2nd December 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 There was some chat on the SOTA Reflector about use of C4FM (digital Fusion) mode and its appropriateness as a simplex SOTA mode. I decided to nip out for a couple of evening activations using solely C4FM. This turned out to be both a success and a failure! I was able to record a C4FM activation on both summits - but only managed one contact on each hill!
More evidence collected in support of my claim that "VHF is alive and well". Tuesday evening SOTA activation on The Cloud G/SP-015 - 1905 to 2356z: 155 contacts, all on the 2m band. 19 on 2m FT8 103 on 2m SSB 1 on 2m CW 29 on 2m FM 3 on 2m C4FM (these 32 C4FM / FM contacts all after 2230z) DXCCs worked: 9 (but no EI, F or GI) DL: 1 G: 126 GD: 3 GM: 4 GW: 13 ON: 1 OZ: 3 PA: 3 SM: 1
Wednesday 4th December 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 It was less than four minutes before midnight after I'd completed the last of 155 QSOs on Tuesday evening's activation, so I figured I might as well stay around and record another activation in the new UTC day. Three QSOs were added - and then I went home for some sleep. But I would be back out again in the morning, over on Gun G/SP-013.
Sunday 8th December 2019 - Shining Tor G/SP-004, The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 After getting home from Doncaster - via Shining Tor G/SP-004 - I remembered that it was the AFS Superleague 2m contest, running until 4pm. I wouldn't be able to make any kind of substantial entry, but I figured i could make the last 45 minutes and submit a contribution that would be appreciated by my contest group - Tall Trees.
As I arrived on summit, I was surprised to meet Alistair M0TYM, who was just finishing off his own SOTA activation. We chatted for a while before I went to set up my 2m beam. I managed to log 21 QSOs before the contest end time (4pm). After packing away the main kit, I logged a further two contacts on 2m FM with the handheld before making the short drive across the Dane Valley to Gun G/SP-013.
Tuesday 10th December 2019 I was forced to abandon my evening activation on G/SP-015. Six QSOs on 70cm FM were in the log when the storm intensified and took down my mast and antenna. It eased later, but immediately after that incident my enthusiasm evaporated, and so I descended, got in the car and drove home.
Thursday 12th December 2019 It was another disaster activation on the 6m activity contest night. My SB6 needed a refurb! It’s a brilliant antenna, and I’d done around 100 activations with it. But it was worn out! As I was setting it up on G/SP-015, sections of the wire were breaking off. I managed to cobble it all together to some extent, but the VSWR was far from optimal - due to the shortened length of wire of course! Conditions weren’t the best either, and together with my antenna issues, I wasn’t getting heard as I normally would by the more distant stations. After just four 6m FT8 and eighteen 6m SSB QSOs, I bailed out and went home to watch the election results with Jimmy M0HGY and Liam. All the other hardware in the SB6 was in good nick, so I reckoned it should be a relatively simple task to replace the wire elements - something I should have done before really. I immediately started to think about repairing this antenna, and I came across this: https://www.sotabeams.co.uk/content/6m%20Beam%20Instructions.pdf Absolutely brilliant! It told me exactly the lengths of wire I need to cut - no calculation required. (I couldn’t use the old wire to measure as it’s been repaired several times so probably somewhat shorter than it started out!). Couple of spare parts required that should be easy enough to source. I just needed to (a) find some time to do it and (b) remember to do it before the next 6m activity session!
Monday 23rd December 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Christmas was nearly here. This is always an enjoyable period in my SOTA year as I try to get out everyday and enjoy my activations in a festive manner. I still had a number of things to sort out in preparation for Christmas, so I just had a quick nip out with the handheld. Not so enjoyable was discovering that cyclists were now officially allowed to ride on the main access path to the summit. Dreadful developments. The design of the path means that, in itself, it is not a desirable site for cycling. Its popularity with cyclists can only be in the appeal to annoy walkers, which it would seem they like to do almost as much as they do motorists. After The Cloud - over to Gun G/SP-013.
Enthused by the festive season, as I always am, I decided to make a bit more of an effort and set up and do a more substantial activation for Christmas Eve. I took the Travelmast and set up my big 30m groundplane antenna. A good number of contacts was made on CW and FT8, but no DX.
After packing away, I added a few calls on 2m FM with the handheld, then made the highly predictable journey over to Gun G/SP-013.
I naughtily set my alarm for 0500 UTC Christmas Day morning. I strongly suspect my XYL Marianne is not a fan of me doing this, but I'm always well prepared - I turn the alarm clock off very quickly and get downstairs where I have my clothes waiting! I scoffed a mince pie, made a flask of coffee, and set off for The Cloud. I set up my “monster” 30m vertical with groundplane antenna and had the summit to myself - initially. You’re never alone for long on Cloud summit, any time of day, any date in the year, and by the time I’d descended, I must have exchanged festive greetings with around 30 people!
I was on summit and setting up nice and early, well before daybreak. I was in plenty of time for any exciting greyline propagation on 30m - if there was going to be any! Well there was a 'hint' - on FT8 I had one contact into Japan - plus, while not DX, nonetheless a rare DXCC in the form of San Marino. At the other end of the DX scale, a pleasant FT8 contact was with my friend Damo virtually beneath the hill in Congleton. He used his free text message to say “SEE YOU ON FM”. When no replies were received to my next CQ call on 30m FT8, I picked up the handheld and gave Damo a shout - and worked him on 2m FM.
While the WSJT-X was calling but not getting any replies, I put out some calls on the 2m FM handheld. This kept the logbook moving steadily as we approached daybreak. Despite the fact I was sitting on the ground hunkered down beneath the topograph, and only using a handheld with rubber duck, and despite it being before 8am on Christmas Day morning, three more stations quickly followed Damian into the logbook on 2m FM.
Back on 30m FT8, 11 more contacts were added, the highlights of which were T77BL (San Marino) and JA1NCZ (Japan). I was now running well behind schedule as I wanted to activate a second summit before returning home to inspect the overnight deliveries, but I didn’t want to pack up without giving CW an airing. This added seven further QSOs, mostly well-known SOTA chasers. In the end, with the combination of 30m FT8, 30m CW and 2m FM, I made a total of 28 QSOs. I was conscious that being Christmas Day, I would be expected home earlier than the typical lunchtime return from this pairing. Nonetheless, I couldn't miss out Gun G/SP-015, so went over there as usual - but made it a swift one!
Boxing Day - Thursday 26th December 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Although it was the start of the RSGB Christmas Cumulatives VHF contest series, I'd made the decision to go to the football at the Moss Rose. As such, it was back to low-effort quick 2m FM handheld operating for Boxing Day. Five QSOs were logged on The Cloud before moving over to Gun G/SP-013.
Friday 27th December 2019 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 I was up early, and set-up on Cloud summit similarly early. Too early. The 30m band provided some traffic, but it was slow going. I would try again over on Gun G/SP-013 next.
A very low effort double of Cloud and Gun, early on this Saturday morning. I'd headed out with the intention of deploying some HF, but the unpleasant wintry weather upon arriving at Cloudside made me reconsider. So 2m FM handheld only it was - and the same when I went over to Gun G/SP-013 afterwards.
Sunday 29th December 2019 74 QSOs on this day’s G/SP-015 activation, all 2m. 2m FT8 - 4 QSOs 2m SSB - 51 QSOs 2m FM - 19 QSOs DXCCs (11): DL: 2 EA: 2 EI: 1 F: 7 G: 49 GD: 1 GI: 2 GJ: 1 GW: 7 OZ: 1 PA: 1 QRAs (27): IN53, 83, 87, 89, 93, 98, 99, IO63, 64, 70, 74, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 91, 92, 94, JO01, 02, 03, 32, 42, 55, JN05, JO22 S2S: Mario DL4MFM/P on DM/NW-148 (2m SSB) ODX: EA1FDI in IN53tf - 1199km
Good fun that! Not bad from a cold hilltop with an 817 running 5w into a battered old SOTAbeams SB5.
|
|
|
