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Sunday 15th April 2018 - Wendover Woods G/CE-005 Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Brick Lane Music Hall, London
I instructed my satnav to go via Aston Hill on my route home from Brick Lane Music Hall, London. After parking up I tried to solicit some potential VHF QSO partners using my mobile rig. I thought this might make for a quick and easy handheld-only activation once I’d made the short walk to the trig point. Just one station - 2E0ESU - was attracted. Meanwhile, Marc G0AZS surprised me by turning up at my parking spot! We had a natter then walked together to the trig point on Aston Hill, 1 km away from the true summit, but well within the AZ at only 1m lower.
2E0ESU was able to work me with me on the FT70D. Getting subsequent contacts was slow work though not too bad on reflection. I managed to qualify the activation in less than half-an-hour, with Marc himself providing the all important contact, having gone home after I made my second QSO. Marc then kept me company on 2m as I drove off and out through Aylesbury and towards Bicester. It was great to catch up with a good friend who I had not seen for ages.
Thursday 13th September 2018 - The Cloud G/SP-015, Gun G/SP-013 & Wendover Woods G/CE-005 Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: The Old Regent Ballroom, Stanford-le-Hope After Gun G/SP-013, it was time to get some miles in, and I made my way across to the A50. Somewhere near Coalville I found a portacabin cafe in a layby. The “4x4 breakfast” looked interesting. Four sausages, four bacon, four fried eggs, three toast, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, hash brown, black pudding, a pint mug of coffee, fresh orange juice and a Twix - for £8.95. Stuff the diet - this had to be done… What also needed to be done was to not eat another thing all day. No discipline was required - I was too full! Wendover Woods G/CE-005 was nicely on route without much detour, and I simply drove up the road to the trig point on Aston Hill - about 1km away from the true summit (Haddington Hill) - but only 1m lower! After a short walk across the field to the trig, I set up the 20m GP. Conditions weren’t brilliant, and just five QSOs were made on FT8. One of these was Fabio IK2LEY who chases me on practically every 20m SOTA activation I do at present, regardless of what mode I’m using. Another chaser was KK1W, so I did at least get over the “Pond”.
When we completed soundcheck, some of the band members went in search of food. That wasn’t required for me, so I volunteered to stay backstage and help out the first time dep guitarist who was on the gig that night - he wanted another look through the sheet music before the show. We had a successful concert, then drove in convoy to the Travelodge in Basildon where we were stopping for a couple of nights. My next SOTA would be Botley Hill G/SE-005 the next morning.
Saturday 15th September 2018 - Wendover Woods G/CE-005 Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Harlow Town Football Club Yeah, a stadium gig. Big time. Except that it wasn’t. We were playing in a marquee at one end of the ground. Not quite Live Aid. Before that, we had a day to kill. I didn’t have the stomach for another long day of driving hundreds of miles just to activate uninspiring hills - most of which are not even hill-shaped - plus I had that night’s late drive back to Cheshire to consider. I decided to repeat the Tollesbury sea wall 6 mile circular walk, just up the Essex coast. I persuaded the drummer, Andy, to join me for the pleasant route beside the River Blackwater estuary, including a view of the Radio Caroline ship, the Ross Revenge. I had been listening to Caroline a lot while driving around the past couple of days, tuned to the big 648kHz MW signal. Anyway, Andy really enjoyed the walk, as did I, and he mentioned that he might try and join me for more on future legs of the tour. Before setting out, we’d had a big “all-you-can-eat” buffet breakfast from the Toby Carvery opposite our hotel in Basildon - which cost just £3.39 each! As such, lunch and tea were again not required. We both killed some time between soundcheck and the show by reclining the seats in our respective cars and getting some sleep. Rock and roll. ( Think of the line in the movie “Wayne’s World” - backstage at an Alice Cooper concert with Alice himself carefully explaining the history of the city of Milwaukee - and Wayne exclaiming “Does this guy know how to party OR WHAT?”). Don’t worry though, outrageous behaviour is hardly unknown to M1EYP, and straight after the gig, I drove back to Wendover Woods G/CE-005 - well, Aston Hill really - to activate it again - for zero points again - twice! It was quite a gamble whether to go for 2m FM or 20m at “stupid o’clock” at night. I tested the water on 2m by calling CQ as M1EYP/M from the parking spot. My only respondent was another silly pirate. I left the handheld in the car, and walked with the rucksack and HF gear to the trig point. I tried and tried to get some contacts on FT8, as conditions seemed really poor, as though the band had closed - which I rather suspect it had. Like I said, quite a gamble at this time, but I didn’t have 40m or 80m with me. I could see activity on FT8, but none of the activity could see (hear) me. I nervously glanced at my clock which showed 2350z. I was fast running out of time to record an activation for the day! I tuned around the CW portion of the band and heard a couple of loud signals - but yes, just two of them. SK3W was calling CQ TEST. I didn’t have time to consult the excellent SM3CER contest resource, so just crossed my fingers that I would be a valid station for him to work. I put my call in, and was delighted to hear “M1EYP/P 599 334”. Yes. I replied with “599 001”. Back came “TU” - and relax!
Sunday 16th September 2018 - Wendover Woods G/CE-005, Gun G/SP-013, The Cloud G/SP-015 & Winter Hill G/SP-010
Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Viva Blackpool There was no hotel stop between these two gigs. The soundcrew went home to Warwick. Andy and Andy (piano player and drummer) drove all the way back to Blackpool. The guitarist stayed with his nanna in Epping. I just decided to do some SOTAs on the way home and sleep in my car as and when, and then catch up on the rest of my sleep once back home! So, starting early, just a couple of minutes after midnight UTC (1am BST) on Wendover Woods G/CE-005, I went back to the contest call of OG7A for a quick exchange. It was mild and peaceful on Aston Hill, so I allowed myself a few more minutes to try to add some more 20m QSOs, whether they be FT8 or CW. I failed to do so, so reluctantly accepted a second consecutive one-QSO SOTA activation, packed up, and completed the gruelling descent to the parking spot. A really terrible thing has happened in recent years. Motorway service stations have started employing the services of companies like Parking Eye, to photograph vehicle registration numbers and automatically send parking charge notices of £60 or £100 through the post to anyone that dares to rest any longer than two hours. The result of this on me, as a tired late-night driver coming home from gigs, is that I no longer pull into the services for a break. I exit at the next junction and find a dark layby instead. I am at a loss as to why disincentivising road safety is even a thing. Anyway, dark laybys it was, and I had a two hour kip in one, and a one hour kip in another. I have no idea where they were. What I do have is two new pillows and pillowcases that are kept in my car for exactly this purpose - and they really do make the difference. Next thing I knew, I was awake, alert, refreshed, and driving along the A50 towards Stoke-on-Trent as the sun rose behind me. I followed the increasingly familiar roads through Leek and up to Gun G/SP-013.
Sunday 21st October 2018 - Wendover Woods & Winter Hill G/SP-010
Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Viva Blackpool After another great show in Romford, I packed up quickly and got on the road, aiming to do a before-and-after-midnight-UTC “double” activation of Wendover Woods G/CE-005 on the way home. Problem was, when I did get there and set up, despite there being activity on both 20m FT8 and 2m FM, I couldn’t get any of it back to me. So when the “deadline” of 1am BST came and went, I packed up the radio stuff and carried the rucksack back to the car which was parked at the highest point of the road on Aston Hill - so very close by. I left the 20m GP antenna set up and placed the BNC connector end of the feeder in a drybag, so I could just go again in the morning. It was my first time ever to have set up on a summit and not recorded some form of activation! I keep two pillows in my car as layby sleeps are virtually an inevitability in my current work pattern. I reclined the seat in my motor and got about four hours sleep. After waking up, I carried my stuff back over to the antenna and plugged in again. Activity had picked up with dawn just around the corner, but still slow going. I made three QSOs on 20m FT8. I completed the journey home, aided by a few good natters on 2m FM along the way. Later, I was back on the road again for that night’s show in Blackpool, with the possibility of a late SOTA activation afterwards on Winter Hill G/SP-010.
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