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Friday 1st January 2021 - New Year's Day Marianne and I had agreed to go out for a New Year's Day walk together.
It was pretty snowy on the hills, and so our route was very pleasant. I decided to walk from Fools Nook up to Sutton Common, then along the Wincle Minn ridge, before returning the same way.
Part of the idea for this was that it was tarmac or concrete road, or at least tractor track all the way - no mud to negotiate. It would follow the route of my Lockdown Walk 19 to the end of Wincle Minn, but then return the same way rather than completing the circuit via Stilesmeadow Farm, Bosley and the Macclesfield Canal. Marianne approved!
We took a haggis Scotch egg each - homemade by me and Jimmy M0HGY the previous day for our New Year's Eve buffet. these went down very well, as did the sandwiches and flask of coffee.
I went out again that evening for my first SOTA activation of 2021, not realising it would be my fourth last (at the time of writing)!
It was a bitterly cold and icy night, and I took the easy option of the VHF handheld only. Ample contacts made, including all three active SOTA couples in the workable area. Care was required on the descent because of the ice.
Saturday 2nd January 2021 I was up nice and early, and out for some radio fun on The Cloud.
I gambled on taking the 10m-12m groundplane antenna, hoping to eke some contacts out of the ether via the magic of FT8. Patience was required, and eventually five QSOs were made, four on 10m and one on 12m. All g stations though!
Eventually the cold got to me and I decided to pack up and get home.
Sunday 3rd January 2021 After a lethargic day at home, I forced myself out of the armchair and onto the hill after dinner on Sunday. The bitter cold encouraged me towards 2m FM handheld activating once again. And once again, plenty of contacts were made, and again including the SOTA couples of Pete 2E0LKC & Anne 2E0LMD, Steph MW6SHJ & Steven 2W0JYN, plus Karen 2E0XYL & Neil 2E0TDX.
Monday 4th January 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015
I activated The Cloud on my way home from work in Leek. During that activation, one of my chasers informed me of an impending government lockdown, with tight restrictions that would now specifically ban outdoor recreation. Going outdoors was to be for essential purposes or exercise only - but not recreation. This effectively meant that I would need to suspend my SOTA activities. While not explicitly outlawed in a legal context, it was clear that such actions would likely be viewed as antisocial and irresponsible by ones peers, and potentially by police officers.
So this was the last one - for now. Eight QSOs made, all on 2m FM with the handheld.
Sunday 21st March 2021 The Return of SOTA went fabulously well.
It was a beautiful day in Cheshire, perfect for a long walk. Which is what it was. Ten miles each way from home, following public footpaths, customary routes and canal towpaths.
I’ve walked from home to The Cloud before, and indeed from The Cloud to home, but never both in the same day, until now!
The summit was busy though, and I’m pretty sure I was the only one that had strictly observed current “Stay at Home” rules and not nibbled at the boundaries of the “short drive to open space” thing.
Still, when the Association Manager is watching and scrutinising your every move, what can you do?
Anyway, a pleasing 19 QSOs made with the handheld. 5 on C4FM and 14 on FM. S2S with Simon G4TJC/P on Kinder Scout G/SP-001 - he had also walked from home.
Another 40,000 steps recorded for my March the Month campaign by the time I had returned home, which had now raised over £800 for Prostate Cancer UK.
Monday 29th March 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013
I was in the habit of getting up increasingly early and going to bed increasingly early, in a bid to adjust my body clock ahead of an imminent overnight walking expedition. As such, I'd planned to get up for work at 2.30am on this Monday morning!
I headed first for The Cloud G/SP-015, where the summit was found to be extremely windy. Breakages to poles and antennas are rarely fun, but even worse in darkness! Therefore I dropped to the ledge to afford some shelter. It took me too long to get the 40m dipole up - I was obviously out of practice, although the narrow ledge and the darkness made it more challenging.
It was pretty slow going. Just three QSOs on 40m CW, supplemented by one on 2m FM. I then packed up and went over to Gun G/SP-013.
Tuesday 30th March 2021 - Shining Tor G/SP-004, Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015
I drove over from Gun G/SP-013 and made my way up to the summit. The "zoo" at Avona (the farmhouse halfway up) continues to grow. Rambo the wallaby now has a second wallaby companion, and there seemed to be yet more emus than before. I only saw two of the alpacas but presume the other two were still in their shed.
The mist filled the valley between The Cloud and the Staffordshire Moorlands. The sun rose over The Roaches and created a spectacular vista.
Five QSOs were made on 2m FM with the handheld, and it was time to go home. I was home by 8.30am - not bad after a three summit trip!
Wednesday 31st March 2021 - March the Month Final Day! For the last day of 'March the Month for Prostate Cancer UK', I wanted to go out with a big finish. I had a crazy idea to walk to work - Macclesfield to Leek - 26km via public footpaths, canals and disused railway lines, plus of course over the summit of Bosley Cloud for a SOTA activation! When I calculated that I would need to set off between midnight and 1am, I remained undeterred! I started out around 0045 BST and walked down Chester Road towards Macclesfield town centre. I then turned right onto the 'Flower Pot Greenway' - a path that runs from Bollin Meadow to the Moss Estate between housing estates, behind schools and through allotments, but thankfully, not besides roads! Almost the entire 26km route did not involve road walking. From the Moss Estate, I took the path onto Danes Moss, and carefully navigated and negotiated my way around the boggy paths in the woods until reaching a more established public footpath to a footbridge over the railway. From here, I joined the Macclesfield Canal and followed the footpath down to Bosley Locks - a flight of 12 locks. When at Fools Nook, a crossroads south of Macclesfield, and formerly the site of a well-known canalside pub of the same name, the phone rang. It was BBC Radio 5 Live, and I was to go live on air on national radio on the "Up All Night" show, presented on this occasion by Susanne Courtney, standing in for Dotun Adebayo.
At Lock 12, I crossed the metal footbridge over the lock and the climbed a small bank onto a disused railway line. I followed this south to the Wood Treatment works at Bosley, where I had to keep a look out in the dark for the exit route from the railway - down a bank between trees and onto the muddy path that passes back through a tunnel under the railway line. I now walked up the road as it gained height towards Bosley Cloud. A left was taken into the road marked as a dead end, shortly after which I climbed a stile on the right to climb two sloping fields. This path led up to Red Lane, which is the road up to the Cloudside parking spot. I didn't continue all that way, but turned sharp right onto a lesser used route up to the summit. This initially contour along the northern slopes of The Cloud G/SP-015 before turning into a couple of mild scrambles near the top. When on Red Lane, I turned my radio on and straight away was in contact with Martyn M7BIA/P, who was on the summit of Gun G/SP-013. I gave him a QSO as a pedestrian mobile station - M1EYP/M - and advised I would be on summit for the S2S contact in about a quarter-of-an-hour. Amazingly, when on summit, as well as Martyn I worked seven other stations. I was amazed to find that level of activity at 4 o'clock in the morning! I ended up resting for around 40 minutes on Cloud summit, enjoying a flask of spicy parsnip & carrot soup and a piece of Marianne's lovely homemade Victoria sponge.
I descended from The Cloud the more conventional way, following the Gritstone Trail route. I continued to follow the Gritstone Trail down towards Rushton Spencer. Some sections of this were surprisingly sparsely signposted, and in places tricky underfoot, somewhat unexpected for an established trail route. I had done the whole Gritstone Trail before, but it was over 13 years ago, and I didn't remember this section too well. As I dropped downhill, my phone rang again, and this was for the "progress report" interview on BBC Radio 5 Live. I spoke with the presenter Susanne Courtney from around 0453 up to the 5am news about my position, night hiking and how to donate.
As the route headed towards the village of Rushton Spencer, my headtorch picked out a railway bridge crossing at right angles. This would be my cue to climb onto the railway line, this time via a proper staircase rather than a muddy bank. Once on the former railway line, I noticed that the concrete edges of the bridge would be a suitable place to sit down for a rest. I had an enjoyable twenty minutes sipping my flask of coffee and eating the rest of Marianne's delicious Victoria sponge cake. It was 6am, just before dawn, and I felt great.
I checked the map, and it looked still quite a way to go! At least it was now almost entirely along this disused railway line, so very easy walking and negligible navigation required. I decided to set a brisk walking pace and try to maintain it at least to the dam at the other end of Rudyard Lake.
Perhaps the map resolution I had on my phone made things look worse than they were. It didn't seem too long before I'd reached Hunthouse Wood, the northernmost "station" on the Rudyard Lake railway. I was soon enjoying views across the lake on my right hand side, and trying to judge my progress from the features on the opposite bank.
Once I'd reached the dam, I could feel confident that I would complete this epic trek and be in plenty of time for work. From that point, I knew I only had less than half-an-hour left on the track and then a short walk uphill to the school. Shortly I was on familiar Lockdown Walk 36 territory, the route I would often do before a working day in Leek. Soon I caught my first sighting of my destination - Westwood College - which I could see atop the hill on the other side of the valley from the railway line.
I reached the exit onto Oakwood Road and I knew I was nearly there. I turned right into Westwood Park Avenue and climbed the hill to the school entrance (New Hall) on the right-hand side. This was seven-and-a-half hours after setting off from home in Macclesfield, and six-and-a-half hours of actual walking time. Despite not sleeping properly for over 24 hours before the walk, I felt great and alert, and confident of fulfilling my professional duties for the workday ahead. No doubt the heady cocktail of adrenaline and caffeine contributed to this!
Thursday 1st April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013
I wasn't necessarily expecting or planning an early start to work the day after my 26km overnight walk-to-work event. However, I was fast asleep before 8.30pm that night, and so was awake at 5am on the morning of All Fools Day. I was full of energy again as well, remarkably, and so I got up and set about doing a couple of SOTA activations on the way to work.
I arrived on The Cloud summit and put a call out. Regular SOTA chaser Peter 2E0LKC was first to reply - and last. It was a one-contact activation! Plenty of time to squeeze Gun G/SP-013 next anyway!
Easter Monday 5th April 2021
Jimmy M0HGY and I went out for an evening activation on Easter Monday. Here is Jimmy's report:
"On Easter Monday evening, me and my dad Tom M1EYP activated The Cloud G/SP-015. We arrived at the parking spot at Cloudside to find there were no other cars there. (There was one other car there by the time we arrived back later). This was a bonus as it meant we were unlikely to see anyone else on this walk, and this was indeed the case as we saw no one at all, and no social distancing needed to be observed. However, instead we saw two alpacas, one wallaby and an emu on the ascent, and a black cat on the descent.
The summit itself was very cold and windy so we dropped down and set up by a big rock below the summit, which was sheltered, and in the activation zone. My dad did his SOTA activation on 40m FT4 where he got 12 contacts and I did mine on 2m FM where I got 20 contacts. Towards the end of the activation I was wearing 2 fleeces and a coat, but despite this was feeling cold, so when the bands dried up we made the decision to pack up and descend."
Tuesday 6th April 2021 I got my timings mixed up and was all set to head out at the time I would normally for an 8pm UKAC start. I knew I was doing the FMAC as well, but forgot about needing to leave the house an hour earlier accordingly! In the event, being QRV just 13 minutes into the FMAC session was not too disastrous, but enough to take the edge off any possibility of winning my section. It was bitterly cold - "feels like" 9 degrees below freezing according to the Met Office. Somehow I made it through to the bitter end at 10.30pm, and then even continued a little to make a few more local FM contacts. 129 QSOs total for the activation.
Wednesday 7th April 2021 This was the MGMAC contest night - 2m FT8. 39 QSOs were made, with little in terms of genuine excitement until the last few minutes of the event, in which I worked a station in Belgium and two in the Netherlands. Not a bad activation. 39 QSOs, all 2m FT8, including those two into PA and one into ON. Usual “length and breadth” of G worked (IO95 to JO01, IO70 to JO02), plus GW and GI. Didn’t manage GM or EI though, despite several attempts. Not as cold as the previous night, but still very happy to be in my car after the descent, with the heater on full!
Thursday 8th April 2021 The weather forecast was for it to remain dry, but very windy, with gusts of up to 50mph. I was expecting to have to set up on the sheltered north-east ledge and accept very compromised performance to the south and west. When I walked onto the summit, it didn't seem quite so ferocious, so I gambled with setting up there. There were a few hairy moments with me hanging onto the mast, and I did quit early at 10pm, but it would still have been a superior performance to anything I could have achieved from the ledge. A nice round 50 QSOs made.
Saturday 10th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013
The original idea was to try some SSTV work on 2m from The Cloud. However, there was far too much hail coming down when I summited and I was worried about static. I bottled out and put out a call on the handie - working just one QSO - thanks Pete 2E0LKC.
I was about to slope off home in a sulk for a nice hot cup of tea. But the precipitation abated, and the wallabies hopped over to say hello as I descended. My mood lifted,and I drove over to Gun G/SP-013 for another try.
Tuesday 13th April 2021 Fantastic SOTA activity on 70cm on this evening! It was reminiscent of the SOTA Fun Evenings of yesteryear. I felt too cold and tired after 9pm local, so bailed out early. Before that I made 58 QSOs - 23 on 70cm FM and 35 on 70cm SSB. There were four SOTA activations on air (that I am aware of): M1EYP/P on The Cloud G/SP-015, G7WKX/P on Billinge Hill G/SP-017, G4AZS/P on Long Mynd-Pole Bank and G/WB-005 and G1ZAR/P on Bardon Hill G/CE-004.
Saturday 17th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 It was very pleasing that five stations went out with the intentions of activating on SSTV this morning. That three got it working and the other two diagnosed their issues ready for another try in the coming days has to go down as a success I feel. The usual welcoming committe were out in force as I ascended!
I was very pleased to make 4 QSOs on 2m SSTV. I am grateful to Ian @GW8OGI for his advice to use PKT mode selection on the 817 for data in FM mode (as opposed to DIG for data in SSB mode). Switching from DIG to PKT meant that one chaser could suddenly decode me having not been able to do so despite receiving a strong signal. Two of the SSTV QSOs were S2S which was very satisfying. There was a lot more S2S action to be enjoyed as well. What with having a horizontal 2m beam in place for the VHF SSTV attempts, I hoped for a bit more activity on 2m SSB than my previous non-contest effort (zero). It was a lovely morning, and I ended up staying two hours longer than planned, and well into the afternoon. The activation comprised 61 QSOs: 2m SSB: 11 QSOs 2m SSTV: 4 QSOs 20m SSB: 8 QSOs 20m CW: 4 QSOs 20m FT4: 4 QSOs 2m FM: 23 QSOs 2m FT8: 7 QSOs SWL: 4 - G6WRW/P on G/CE-002 (2m SSTV), YO8SDF/P on YO/EC-584 (20m SSB), F4VPX/P on F/MC-183 (20m CW), OE6FEG/P on OE/ST-371 (20m CW). S2S: 14 2m SSB: G6WRW/P on G/CE-002 G4YTD/P on G/LD-015 GW8OGI/P on GW/NW-051 2W0BTR/P on GW/MW-002 M7LCX/P on G/SP-009
2m SSTV: GW8OGI/P on GW/NW-051 MW0NLG on GW/NW-002 20m SSB: SV1RHJ/P on SV/AT-014 IV3NGF/P on I/FV-153 EA5INS/P on EA5/CS-044 MW0UCL/P on GW/SW-007
20m CW: HB9AFI/P on HB/VD-039
2m FM: 2E0HQS/P on G/LD-004 MW0NLG on GW/NW-002 Some SSTV images from the activation:
Monday 19th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 A new working week, and I got up promptly at 6am local in order to get some SOTA in before work. Activity was surprisingly buoyant for this early hour, and five QSOs were made from Cloud summit. I was ahead of schedule so made the decision to also visit Gun G/SP-013 before heading into Leek.
Tuesday 20th April 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 A quick nip up The Cloud with a VHF handheld radio on the way home from work. Four QSOs made.
Wednesday 21st April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Back to the routine of activating both The Cloud G/SP-015 and Gun G/SP-013 on the way to work. Just one 2m FM QSO on The Cloud, followed by three on Gun.
Friday 23rd April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 And the same again on Friday - Cloud and Gun en route to work.
Saturday 24th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 The Inaugural SOTA 2m Multimode Super Saturday Total QSOs (all 2m): 120, including 17 S2S 2m FM: 68 2m SSTV: 4 2m FT8: 10 2m CW: 1 2m SSB: 10 2m AM: 6 2m C4FM: 21
2m FM S2S: 7 GW8OGI/P on GW/NW-054 G4YTD/P on G/LD-004 G6WRW/P on G/WB-004 MW1HAX/P on GW/SW-001 G2DS/P on G/SP-017 M7AQX/P on G/SP-004 M7TKL/P on G/SP-010
2m SSTV S2S: 3 GW8OGI/P on GW/NW-054 G4YTD/P on G/LD-004 G6WRW/P on G/WB-004
2m FT8 S2S: 1 G4YTD/P on G/LD-004
2m CW S2S: 1 G4YTD/P on G/LD-004
2m SSB S2S: 2 G6WRW/P on G/WB-004 G4YTD/P on G/LD-004
2m AM S2S: 2 G4YTD/P on G/LD-004 G6WRW/P on G/WB-004
2m C4FM S2S: 1 M7AQX/P on G/SP-004
Highlights:
Lowlight:
Sunday 25th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Over breakfast, I deliberated over what band to go for on my activation. At one point I was going for 2m CW, to really try and force up the activity levels in anticipation of the proposed 2m CW SOTA Day. Then again I saw that Mickey 2E0YYY was being heard weakly in VK on 20m - so 14MHz was tempting - though the more I deliberated, the later it got and the less chance I would have of that kind of success, especially with QRP. I opted ultimately for 30m which I’d not done for a while. There was no DX to be had on 10MHz - there wasn’t even any outside-EU tantalisingly showing up in the band activity window on WSJT-X, let alone any actually being heard by me. However, it was very pleasant to be sitting operating on 30m, first on CW and then on FT8, in the sunshine. 42 contacts made as follows: 30m CW: 20 QSOs 30m FT8: 19 QSOs 2m FM: 3 QSOs 3 S2S: GW4OBK/P on GW/NW-035, 2W0TDX/P & 2W0XYL/P on GW/NW-039. Next, over to Gun G/SP-013.
Monday 26th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Another working week, and another decision to do both summits with a handheld on the way to work.
Tuesday 27th April 2021 - Kinder Scout G/SP-001, The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 I wasn’t home long from Kinder Scout G/SP-001 before it was time to head out again. Earlier on, I’d seen the note of intention from Heinz OE5EEP to activate on 2m CW from 1600z. It was a very long shot, but I couldn’t resist a try. In the event, I didn’t hear Heinz at all, nor work any other station on 2m CW.
Action on 2m FM was decent though: 2m FM: 20 QSOs S2S: M0GQC/P on G/SP-013, 2W0TDX/P on GW/NW-044, MW0NLG on GW/NW-020 & M7GHW/P on G/SP-017.
Wednesday 28th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 My local pair of summits activated on the way to work in Leek. 2m handheld with rubber duck.
Thursday 29th April 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 My local pair of summits activated on the way home from work in Leek. 2m handheld with rubber duck.
Friday 30th April 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 My local pair of summits activated on the way to work in Leek. 2m handheld with rubber duck.
Saturday 1st May 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 The morning’s results from The Cloud: 30m FT8: 10 QSOs 30m FT4: 11 QSOs 30m CW: 21 QSOs 2m FM: 11 QSOs 2m CW: 4 QSOs 2m C4FM: 3 QSOs 2m SSB: 7 QSOs 2m AM: 1 QSO 2m FT8: 3 QSOs 2m SSTV: 2 QSOs Total: 73 QSOs I overheard several walkers telling their hiking buddies that I was “testing the weather” today. I’m not even sure what that means. Some much more sensible walkers simply asked me what I was doing!
Wednesday 5th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 After avoiding SOTA-style participation in the previous evening's 2m FM and UK activity contests due to the awful weather, it was good to be back operating portable from Cloud summit for the Wednesday night 2m FT8 activity contest. 34 QSOs were made with 5 watts, FT-817, SOTAbeams SB5, Fusion 5 tablet and G4ZLP MiniProSC interface.
Wednesday 12th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Another try on 15m after a disappointing early morning session on that band earlier in the day. Some DX worked - sort of...
Thursday 13th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 For 25 minutes I was frustrated that I didn’t get any replies on 6m FT8 despite the band activity window being full of stations from across Europe - and even the occasional US station being received on The Cloud G/SP-015! Then I spotted my issue - the 817 was set to USB and not the required DIG mode when using an interface connected to the rear DATA DIN socket! I changed the mode and immediately worked a DL station on 6m… In the contest, I made a sluggish 56 QSOs, but an E’s opening in the final hour brought in SM, OH and LA. There was a couple of TF stations, very loud, but too near the end of the contest for my 5 watts to stand any chance of getting through the pile-up.
Friday 14th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 The Cloud on the way home from work after a staff Friday football match! Not much energy or indeed time to spare, so just nipped up to the summit with my VHF handheld.
Saturday 15th May 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 2m Multimode Saturday - Rather damp and miserable meaning that I was inside the bothy bag for most of the summit time. Most of the 2m Multimode disciplines were similarly a damp squib. Nonetheless it was overall an enjoyable activation. 2m FT8 - 2 QSOs 2m SSB - 4 QSOs 2m SSTV - 1 QSO 2m FM - 16 QSOs 2m CW - 3 QSOs 2m C4FM - 3 QSOs
S2S: G4YTD/P on G/LD-008 - 2m SSB G8CPZ/P on G/LD-058 - 2m CW
Sunday 16th May 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 A bit of Sporadic E around, so I took the 6m Moxon for a spin. Plenty of stations worked around Europe.
Monday 17th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Two 6m FT8 SOTA activations today, one from Gun on the way to work in Leek, and another from The Cloud on the way home!
Tuesday 18th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Two 2m FM handheld SOTA activations today, one from Gun on the way to work in Leek, and another from The Cloud on the way home!
Wednesday 19th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 A 6m CW & FT8 activation on The Cloud on the way home from work.
Thursday 20th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 I wasn't working on this day, so I could afford to take things somewhat more leisurely than usual in the morning. Gun and Cloud activated, on 6m FT8 and 2m FM respectively.
Friday 21st May 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 I didn't really have the enthusiasm for playing amateur radio, but did have the yearning to walk up two hills before work. Cloud and Gun both activated, extremely low effort style, with a handheld and low QSO numbers!
Sunday 23rd May 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 6m was wide open across Europe. My logbook is filled up quickly, on CW and FT8. 5 watts seemed to be plenty; I was even getting pile-ups in response to my CQ calls!
Monday 24th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Handheld raid on the way home from work. Four stations worked, all Intermediate calls.
Tuesday 25th May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 Swapped the order this morning, and cannot remember why! Both handheld activations.
Thursday 27th May 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Both summits before work again, and back to the conventional order! Both summits activated on 2m FM with the handheld.
Saturday 29th May 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 27 QSOs & 3 SWL (GW4OBK/P on GW/MW-012 - 60m CW & incomplete ‘QSO’ on 2m FM, plus 2W1PJE/P on GW/NW-076, 2m FM). 5 S2S, all 2m FM - 2W0IXM/P on GW/NW-053, MW3TMX/P on GW/MW-004, M7DST/P on G/WB-005, MW6BWA/P & MW0JLA/P on GW/MW-002. 2m FM: 11 QSOs 6m FT8: 12 QSOs 6m CW: 4 QSOs
2m DXCCs: G, GW 6m DXCCs: G, HA, OK, OM, SP
Sunday 30th May 2021 Unusually (for these days), The Cloud G/SP-015 was my only SOTA activation today. It’s rare that if I activate either this or Gun G/SP-013, that I don’t follow it up with a visit to the other one. Today I needed to get back home to meet Marianne and Liam for a walk into town, visit a pub and the Treacle Market, and loop back via the Bollin Valley and Prestbury for a long walk back home - about 9.5 miles. Cloud was great this morning. I’d gone out with thoughts of 2m multimode and taking advantage of the lift conditions. As it was, 2m FM kept me busy and entertained, and SSB, CW and FT8 never got a look in! 42 QSOs were made on 2m FM, including no less than 9 S2S. It was nice to bump into (not literally) Mateusz 2E0MTG as he arrived on summit as I was leaving.
Monday 31st May 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 I had a bit more time available with it being a Bank Holiday Monday and no work to get to, However, I ended up just doing low-effort handheld VHF activations anyway!
Tuesday 1st June 2021 - Gun G/SP-013, The Cloud G/SP-015 & Shining Tor G/SP-004 The main focus of the day was the 2m FMAC and UKAC VHF contests, for which I planned to be on Shining Tor G/SP-004. With time to spare during the day ahead, I also activated my usual two local summits as well.
Wednesday 2nd June 2021 Another 2m SOTA activation on The Cloud - but this time with every contact in FT8 mode as part of the RSGB MGMAC event.
Thursday 3rd June 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 I got close to my personal debut 6m DX tonight! The band was wide open and the FT8 frequency brimming with activity.
I made 8 QSOs on 6m FT8 and 3 on 6m CW. Best DX was CT3 Madeira. However the band activity window was full of the Americas all evening - in particular HC, HK, HI, PY and VO1. At one point I was called by a WA2 station - but we didn’t complete the contact.
I was now full of determination and planning to be out at forthcoming teatimes for targeted evening sessions designed to net some transatlantic DX on 6m. As I ascended, two of the wallabies were wrestling, and there was a splendid sunset from the summit!
Friday 4th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 It was very slow going initially on 6m, with EI my furthest west DX. However, the band activity window began to be dominated by NA - so my fingers were crossed! I intended to try some CW too, and maybe even a call on 2m FM…
Mission accomplished … followed up by a 6m CW QSO with K1DT. Very pleasing - especially with 5 watts from the FT-817. Then a drive over from Cloud G/SP-015 to Gun G/SP-013,.hoping to celebrate with some 2m FM QSOs!
Saturday 5th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 There seemed to be plenty of Sp.E kicking around atm. Did 15m on Cloud this morning and 10m from Gun. 10m QSOs from Gun were FT8, CW, SSB and FM. Heard 59 sigs from VK and ZL on 10m FM - but that turned out to be a gateway in Manchester/Bolton!
Monday 7th June 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 I was pretty tired after the previous day's day-trip and triple activation in the Dumfries area. As such, it was more handheld-only activations today - Gun on the way to work, and Cloud on the way home.
Tuesday 8th June 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 I had a mixed evening on 70cm from The Cloud G/SP-015. The FM hour (55 minutes really) was reasonable with 24 QSOs. The SSB main contest was awful. Conditions seemed dreadful - either that or my 817’s RX had gone deaf! I made just 25 QSOs and quit early at 10pm. The SOTA Fun Evening aspect was good though. Several S2S worked … but sadly not G4YSS/P who I couldn’t hear at all.
Wednesday 9th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 A 20m CW activation for a change, but reminiscent of what I used to do habitually before work a decade ago! Good fun!
Thursday 10th June 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 A 6m contest night absolutely dominated by Sp. E conditions. Far more CW activity than would normally be expected, and far more DX too. In fact many of the 'regular' 6m UKAC UK stations were never found.
Friday 11th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Handheld activations on Cloud and Gun on the way to work in Leek.
Saturday 12th June 2021 Remarkable stuff. I nipped out for a morning activation. 5.5 hours on summit. 112 QSOs including 63 S2S!!! To coin a phrase … “No FT8 required”. I’ll be honest, it’d had been a busy few recent weeks and days for me and I didn’t really look at this HB SOTA weekend event in any detail. However, the S2S action on this morning was simply extraordinary! I intended to go out again the following morning, and again use just 20m.
Saturday 13th June 2021 Another good morning on G/SP-015. For the second consecutive day, an activation with over a century of QSOs (103) and half a century of S2S (50). Plus, for the second consecutive day - “No FT8 required”. 113 S2S in two mornings this weekend - that’s ridiculous!!!
Monday 14th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Back to VHF handheld activating - Cloud on the way to work, and Gun on the way home.
Tuesday 15th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 A play on 20m, mainly FT8, on the way to work.
Wednesday 16th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Cloud and Gun before work with a 2m FM handheld.
Thursday 17th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Cloud and Gun before work with a 2m FM handheld.
Friday 18th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Another early morning activation of The Cloud before work. Good choice to deploy the 20m groundplane, with lots of QSOs made on FT8 and CW, even including a S2S. A couple added on SSB and another couple on 2m FM.
Saturday 19th June 2021 - Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 With the best 6m Es season in recent memory coinciding with the 50MHz Trophy Contest this weekend, I had a cunning plan! After the evening Euros football match on the telly on the Saturday night, I headed out for The Cloud G/SP-015. First job was to pitch the backpacking tent. I walked along the cliff edge path on the summit area and looked for a tent-sized patch of flat grass on which I camped and had a great night’s sleep last time I overnighted on The Cloud. I got to it and it was all bumpy and lumpy, to my abject disappointment. I quickly scouted around for alternatives, but there weren’t any to be honest, so I pitched my Karrimor backpacking tent in that same place. I then set up the SB6 (SOTAbeams 6m Moxon) on a SOTA Pole with an old guying kit. Too old as it transpired. As feared, it was pretty uncomfortable in the tent, and for the next 12 hours or so I failed to adopt a comfortable position either while sitting or lying down. I was QRV by 2253z and immediately worked GM2T who was very strong on 6m CW. Soon after, I then worked 9A9R, also on CW, and then GW4D. This only raised false hopes though, as the band was rapidly closing down. A couple more were worked and then nothing could be heard anywhere on 6m - not even on 50.313MHz (the FT8 frequency). It was very windy outside, and my heart sank when I heard the unmistakable sound of the mast crashing over. It had just started raining quite heavily too, so I was going to have to put my boots back on, get cold and get wet - not part of the grand plan. The issue was quickly diagnosed, but not quickly solved. One of the guy strings had come away from the guying ring. Problem was it then took me over ten minutes to find where the errant string had gone. Searching amongst heather at night in rainy mist - when you’re colourblind - is taxing to say the least! I did, more than momentarily, consider abandoning the plan and returning home to my warm comfy bed! Eventually I found it, made the repairs, and got the antenna back up again. Back in the tent, I now needed to remove all my outer garments, which were now damp, and got into my sleeping bag. I placed all the removed clothes into a large drybag and fastened it up. This might not do anything to get them much more dry, but it would certainly protect them from becoming a lot wetter as a result of the coming dawn’s condensation! (Yes, that’s a mistake I’ve learned from!) I tried to get off to sleep, but the bumpy ground beneath my foam sleep mat had other ideas. I decided to try my trick I do at home (if going to bed earlier than my wife) - listen to BBC Radio 5 Live, and the conversations about issues in the news, with listeners calling in to contribute. The presenter on air was Jim Davies. I didn’t want my FT-817 shining its backlight or playing broadcast audio all night though, so I went into the main F menu to turn the backlight off, and to look for an APO feature. I’d never used APO on an FT-817 before, but sure enough, the feature was there, and I set it for one hour, which was the shortest available option.
Sunday 20th June 2021 I woke up as it first started to show some signs of getting light around 0245z. This wasn’t too bad a result, as it indicated I’d actually had around 2.5 hours sleep - a fact later confirmed by my Fitbit tracker watch. I turned on the FT-817 (yes it was off - so the APO function had worked) and had QSOs with F4FET/P in JO00 and G8T in IN79 - always nice to get that continental-sounding square from The Lizard! Other than those two, the band was silent - including 50.313Mhz - so I switched off again and tried for a little more sleep. I managed another 20-30 minutes - all “money in the bank”! I was ready to operate again by 0440z and G8XVJ/P was putting in LOUD CQ calls from Meryton Low IO93ad - practically above me! However, I tactically waited 9 minutes before picking up the microphone - that then gave me the full hour of “off-time” since my last operating session, so wouldn’t have to count the time as part of my six hours if entering the 6O section - whereas 50 minutes would have been wasted if I’d had called XVJ straight away. Even so, things were really slow over the next three hours. A good variety of squares was worked - IO81, 86, 90, JO01 etc - but at the super-sluggish rate of four QSOs-per-hour! Enthusiasm was briefly restored with a couple of Ukrainian stations going into the log, but then evaporated - I was halfway through the contest exchange with YT1X in Serbia when loud splatter from 2kHz LF broke that QSO. A non-contest station in North Manchester was calling CQ in AM, and grumbling (perhaps with tongue-in-cheek!) about all the contest stations coming and wrecking the band! I decided to work the 6m AM station and log it as a SOTA contact, but also take the opportunity to request he allow me to complete with the YT station. He kindly agreed, but I didn’t get opportunity to finish the QSO before the AM calling resumed two minutes later.
Fortunately, later on, I found YT1X again and we did complete. Plenty of Eastern Europe stations were now getting worked, and my logbook started to look a little healthier. I found UW8SM running - a call I recognised as being a very regular current chaser in my HF activator logs. When I called in, he recognised my call too. I judged that he would appreciate my summit reference as well as contest exchange, and this proved to be correct. The QSOs were now manily SE Europe, particularly the Balkans. I’d calculated that for my entry to be good for the 6O section, I needed to cease 6m operation at 1014z. As it was, my last three 6m contest QSOs - EA, CT and I - were at 0955, 1000 and 1006z respectively. The 6m FT8 was now buzzing louder than ever - but I couldn’t be mithered. I started the laborious pack away process - rucksack, antenna, tent, sleeping bag, rollmat etc etc. This took around 40 minutes, and is another aspect that should put me off overnight SOTAing, along with discomfort and sleep deprivation! Six 2m FM QSOs were added on the handheld before descending from the summit. I returned home to a warm Fathers’ Day welcome from Jimmy @M0HGY, with card, mug of hot tea and a FB gift of a presentation box of fine bottled ale and posh pork scratchings! Just the ticket for watching the Wales Euro match later in the day! 48 QSOs Don’t calculate the hourly QSO rate - it’s too depressing!
Monday 21st June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Two more 2m FM handheld activations, Cloud on the way to work and Gun on the way home.
Tuesday 22nd June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Cloud on the way to work and Gun on th way home again. Gun on 2m FM handheld as usual, but a nice 20m CW activation on Cloud.
Wednesday 23rd June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Both local summits activated handheld-style on the way to work.
Thursday 24th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Both local summits activated handheld-style on the way to work.
Friday 25th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Both local summits activated handheld-style on the way to work.
Saturday 26th June 2021 You too can visit The Cloud G/SP-015 … because I’m giving it a wide berth for 4/5 months. And all SOTA activating for that matter. I’ll do a few more local activations this week, then I’m off to work as a cruise ship musician until the end of November. Obviously I’ve started to look into /MM operating possibilities, and very grateful that G3CWI has lent me his Alexloop. I took that to The Cloud this morning to familiarise myself with it.
I enjoyed using it. It reminded me of when I first used an ATU for shortwave broadcast listening, although this was much easier to use, and the peak/resonance point for each frequency was very sharp - and narrow! Anyway, I worked easily on CW on 20m, 15m and 40m. Regular chasers, HF S2S, even a reappearance after a long time of Les G3VQO! After the successful experiment with the Alexloop, I made a few QSOs on the 2m FM handheld. People continue to be astounded to learn that the FT70D is a handheld with a rubber duck when I tell them! This little session included another S2S, more active chasers and even a hook up with Stockport Radio Society doing an open day event from the Knott Inn, Rushton Spencer!
Sunday 27th June 2021 I went up The Cloud to take part in the three hour 6m CW contest. After all the recent Sp.E conditions, I was looking forward to it.
What a damp squib! There were no enhanced conditions whatsoever, and activity levels seemed very low. Still, nice to bump into Dave G2DS up there!
Monday 28th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Both local summits activated handheld-style on the way to work.
Tuesday 29th June 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015 & Gun G/SP-013 Both local summits activated handheld-style on the way to work.
Saturday 3rd July 2021 - The Cloud G/SP-015
Gig: Viva Band Venue: Saga Spirit of Adventure (cruise ship) My last activation report for some considerable time, the 3551st activation I've done in SOTA! Today’s schedule included getting a “Fit to Fly” PCR test (to go on a boat), dispatching a batch of QSL cards to the Buro (thus finally clearing the shack for M0HGY’s exclusive use in my absence), a bit of shopping, legal paperwork, getting to a football match (pre-season friendly - Macclesfield FC v Ashton United) and calling in on my mum.
Oh, and another football match on the telly later. Shoe-horned into that lot, a “farewell” activation of the World’s most activated SOTA summit. Chucking it down with rain, so an underwhelming activation with 2m handheld and rubber duck. 3 QSOs. Over and out.
Saturday 20th November 2021
The /MM adventure had concluded on the Monday just gone, with 4265 QSOs and 103 DXCCs worked from on board the MV Spirit of Adventure. Working conditions were 5W from FT-817 + Alexloop or FT70D handheld (with rubber duck). It took me longer than I, and indeed everyone predicted, but five days later I activated The Cloud G/SP-015. 20 QSOs made on 2m FM (817 + MFD) and 30m/20m CW (817 + Alexloop). S2S with Martin M7BIA on Shining Tor G/SP-004, and with Alex YU0W on Kavgalija YU/CS-009.
The activation fell in between the above photos, which depict a Friday night out with Jimmy M0HGY and a Saturday night out with Liam.
Monday 22nd November 2021 Gig: Peter Pan the Musical Venue: Brookdale Theatre, Bramhall I spent the week working down t’ pit! On just one of the seven show days, I managed to squeeze a SOTA activation in too. An unremarkable one at that, comprising just a couple of 2m FM QSOs.
Saturday 4th December 2021 Gig: Matt Philips & the Detroit Band Venue: Detroit Preston A tight schedule and less-than-pleasant weather influenced a handheld raid. Just three QSOs made on 2m FM before heading to the Moss Rose to watch, for the very first time, the newly formed Macclesfield FC, in North West Counties League action against Barnoldswick Town FC.
After the 2-0 victory, straight up to Preston for a gig with a great 8-piece soul and Motown band.
Monday 20th December 2021 Twenty days into December, and it was starting to feel a little Christmassy. Plus I’d no gigs scheduled until New Year’s Eve. Nowt special this one. A zero point repeat of the world’s most pointlessly repeated SOTA summit. No plans to "play radio" on any interesting band or mode. It was just that we were planning to recomplete Wales GW the following day, and Jimmy M0HGY asked that I give his system (FT-817 & MFD) a check out, as he seemed to keep getting intermittent high SWR on his activations. I was somewhat miffed upon arrival at the Cloudside parking spot. Two vehicles had parked at 45 degrees, meaning there was no further space to park. If everyone parks perpendicular to the road, you can get six cars in there. I had to drive down towards the Shooting Club and make-do with roadside parking, and costing me around 30 seconds of extra walking time in each direction. Bah humbug. Anyway, I erected the MFD, and connected it to my FT-817, and later Jimmy’s FT-817 (we have one each). Everything worked perfectly on both radios. 13 contacts were made on 2m FM, some with 5 watts on my rig, and some with 2.5 watts on Jimmy’s. No problems at all. I nudged a few things around, but I could not recreate the intermittent fault.
Christmas Eve, Friday 24th December 2021 The Christmas Eve “warm-up” went reasonably well. 15m CW: 1 QSO 20m SSB: 13 QSOs 40m SSB: 3 QSOs 2m FM: 5 QSOs
Total: 22 QSOs
S2S with IN3ADF/P on I/AA-154 (20m SSB) & MW7RJO/P on GW/NW-002 (2m FM)
SWL (or in other words called-but-didn’t-get-heard) with EA8/LB8CG/P on EA8/TF-009 and EB2GKK/P on EA2/NV-073. My Mini Palm Paddle/Palm Cube was playing up, making funny noises, and stuck at 40wpm. I managed to fumble one contact through, but then gave up and resorted to SSB. I suspected either or both of a bit of damp getting in and a CR2032 battery that needed replacing. After getting home, I installed a new battery and gave the paddle and Palm Cube a good airing in the warm dry shack.
Christmas Day, Saturday 25th December 2021 Disappointingly, the mild, calm and dry conditions of recent days had vanished, to be replaced by a cold, damp and blustery Christmas morning. I set up on the north-eastern slope just off the summit for what meagre shelter it offered. Just three HF contacts made using the Alexloop - SP9NLI and LY5O on 30m CW, and OM1AX on 40m SSB. Twice that many added on 2m FM with the handheld, culminating in a pleasing S2S with Alistair M0BKQ/P on Pen-y-ghent G/NP-010.
I was back home around 8.30am. Santa had been - but no there were still no signs of life from the XYL or the harmonics....
Boxing Day, Sunday 26th December 2021 Boxing Day commenced in traditional fashion with a very nice turkey sandwich for breakfast. The experimental layer of cold mashed potato in the turkey sandwich turned out to be a triumph. I now understand why Americans do that, and I will be doing it again! Boxing Day then continued further in traditional style with me visiting a shop in the town centre for an exchange on a Christmas present. Marianne had bought me a pair of walking trousers from Mountain Warehouse. They were the ones I do usually buy - but I think Marianne had forgotten that I'd lost 30kg in recent years - and they were rather too big! The store didn't have them in my size - so I put the refund value against a brand new pair of Latitude Extreme Vibram boots. In fact I've got a decent supply of walking trousers already, but desperately needed a new pair of boots. Obviously, to break them in, it was necessary to drive a few miles south and conduct a SOTA activation of The Cloud G/SP-015. A quick wander up a busy summit today, and ten QSOs on 2m FM with the handheld. In addition to the stations logged below, I heard Karen 2E0XYL calling in multiple times. I did go back to her at least three times but I don't think she heard. Other stations on frequency were advising her that she was being received and called by me, but she seemed to disappear completely! On the descent, I'd walked back past the emus and was nearly at the bottom of the staircase when out of the blue appeared Sean M0GIA. This was not an arranged meeting; neither of us knew that each other was going to be there! I'd not seen Sean for ages, so I decided to walk back up to the summit with him and have a natter. It turned out that Sean had not brought any radio kit with him, but he readily accepted when I offered him my handheld to use at the summit. This was actually Sean's first SOTA activation for over eight years! Back home for roast gammon with all the trimmings followed by Christmas pudding. As Marianne had to work the previous day, this was our "official" family Christmas meal.
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