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Fast forward to Sunday 11th February 2018, and the year’s first gig of the 50th Anniversary Joe Longthorne tour. The drive to Blackpool made an early collection of the usually-annual point from Winter Hill G/SP-010 rather convenient. Not so convenient was the charge capacity of my VX7R playing up. I must admit I’d been somewhat surprised by the speed at which my handheld seemed to be charging back up to full. All was not well.
After only one, albeit ragchew style QSO, it powered down. Drat! Fortunately, the car was only a short walk away, and I had plenty of time to spare. Again, the rig seemed to charge up way too quickly, and the same thing happened, although I had easily qualified by now. I still had plenty of time though, so again I walked back to the car and did some more charging up. I had the 817 and Tracer battery available but by now I was interested to investigate the VX7’s behaviour a little further.
Five more contacts were made before I descended to the car for a third time and set off for Blackpool, taking the total to twelve for the activation. I put the handie on charge in the car, and this time it seemed to be charging properly. We would find out one way or the other later!
The second weekend in September proved to be a bit of a washout, both weather wise, and, uncharacteristically, energy wise for me personally. Those are the reasons that this happened: Saturday 8th September 2018 - no activation Gig: Motown Gold Venue: Malt Kiln Farm, Crewe That was an unacceptable fail and I hated myself. However, I was still tired on the Sunday, and still the rain came down during the daytime, so still no activation on the way to the next gig. Sunday 9th September 2018 - Winter Hill G/SP-010 Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Viva Blackpool Thankfully, it stopped raining during the gig and I was feeling unusually alert and energetic during the drive home. As I motored down the M61 and spied the familiar tower of red lights high on my left, I thought “Well hey, why not?” After a brief stop at Rivington services, I exited at the next junction and followed my way up onto the hill. Despite the late hour (after 2300 UTC), I made four contacts using just my Yaesu FT70D handheld. There were no breakthrough issues experienced, and I don’t think there were any desensing problems, though that is much more difficult to tell of course. I walked back down to where I had left my car and sat in there for a while listening to the US Open tennis final on BBC Radio 5 Live, on DAB.
As the clock ticked towards midnight UTC, I wrapped up again (it was pretty cold and windy), and went out for another wander along the summit roads and round the back of one of the compounds. Monday 10th September 2018 - Winter Hill G/SP-010 This time, only one contact was forthcoming, though I guess it was very late. It was a good contact though, and the station in question Mike M6XBQ - in Worsley, Salford - rejoined me later when I operated mobile on the remainder of the drive home.
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 Another great gig, although I think all the band were in “automatic pilot” mode by now after three consecutive gigs! Me being me, I had another crazy idea. Out of Blackpool, M55, M6, M61 - then off at Horwich - and up Winter Hill G/SP-010! I had a good chat with Tony 2E0UOG who I’ve worked many times over the years. He reported that I was a great signal to him - but no-one else came back to the call. So Tony and I continued the natter.
Monday 17th September 2018 - Winter Hill G/SP-010 I was having a rather pleasant early hours stroll around Winter Hill, chatting with Tony 2E0UOG. I wandered along the transmitter service roads, up towards the trig point, and around the back of a couple of the transmitter compounds, experimenting for best take-off for a handie with helical antenna. There wasn’t any breakthrough disruption that I could discern. Maybe the installations on Winter Hill are less RF-polluting than they used to be, or maybe the new Yaesu FT70D is more immune than earlier rigs. Either way, things have improved. Of course, desensing could have still been an issue - this is more difficult to tell - but I don’t think there were any callers that I missed. Stuart M0WSW gave me a second contact for the activation.
Sunday 23rd September 2018 - Winter Hill G/SP-010 I was very hungry after my thoroughly unfulfilling meal at Nandos earlier, so first stop was Rivington Pike services on the M61, for a diet-busting “meal deal”. I was cross with myself and felt guilty - but at least my belly stopped complaining. I parked on the road corner on Winter Hill and walked up onto the summit with my Yaesu FT70D. Just two QSOs were made, both on 2m FM. Thanks to John M0JFE in Fleetwood (long time no hear!) and Steven 2W0JYN in Rhos.
Monday 24th September 2018 - Winter Hill G/SP-010, Gun G/SP-013 & The Cloud G/SP-015 In contrast, my follow-up activation on Winter Hill was much busier, despite the even later hour. Six QSOs went into the logbook, five on 2m FM and one on 2m C4FM. My attempt to drive home was now seriously hampered by exhaustion. I stopped to recline the seat and sleep in the car not once, but twice, and ended up getting home just as Jimmy M0HGY was finishing his breakfast and about to head out to work! After a good sleep, Marianne “advised” me that it would be a good idea to take Liam out for lunch. So I did. We had a “reggae reggae” meatball vienna and a lemon bun each in Macclesfield, then went for a walk up Gun G/SP-013.
Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Viva Backpool
Back at the venue after an hour in the pub, I did the show, a quick pack up and got back on the road once again. I was quite liking my new habit of activating Winter Hill G/SP-010 - twice - on the way home from my Sunday night Blackpool residency gig. I hadn’t got round to doing a more interesting HF activation yet - the DX on 20m FT8 might be worthwhile at that time - and it was rapidly getting colder!
I left my car on the access road off Georges Lane, and had a wander with my handheld. Three QSOs were made, all 2m FM. I then walked back down to my car for a bit of a warm up before my next activation!
Monday 1st October 2018 - Winter Hill G/SP-010
The car was warm, and I’d reclined the seat. The killer was resting my head on the pillows. You can guess the rest… The result was that my second activation of Winter Hill in a short space of time occured after 0015 UTC, rather than the intended 0000z. Still, the quarter-of-an-hour snooze had been most welcome! It seemed I wasn’t the only radio amateur to go to sleep as the bands were very quiet. Thankfully, Dave G7RYN in Winsford was still up, so I worked him for a single contact activation. I tried to add to that, but no joy. As soon as I got back to the car and turned on the FT8800 mobile rig, there was Dave in QSO with two other really strong stations - I must have just missed them. Still, too late now - it was time to drive home.
Sunday 7th October 2018 - Ward’s Stone G/SP-003 & Winter Hill G/SP-010
Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Viva Blackpool
As was becoming usual for me, after the Blackpool gig I drove home via the M61, with a little detour to Winter Hill G/SP-010. A short walk on the access roads on the summit with my handheld resulted in a 2 QSO activation on 2m FM. I then returned to my car with the intention of taking a 30 minute nap then walking back up to activate again after midnight UTC (1am BST).
Ha! Some “half-hour nap” that was - it was past 6am when I woke up! I wandered back up to the summit with the handheld, confident of there being a bit of activity from the early risers. I was wrong. There was hardly any. There was at least a regular chap often on at that time of a morning. I managed to manipulate an exchange of callsigns and reports between his observations of all that is wrong with the world. So another leg of the tour was complete, but the next one would commence the very next day. I was now quickly running out of summits. The radius of pointless repeats was set to extend to unprecedented levels…
Sunday 14th October 2018 - Gun G/SP-013, The Cloud G/SP-015 & Winter Hill G/SP-010 Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Viva Blackpool As usual on a Sunday, it was the 71 mile drive to Blackpool for the residency gig. Following that, also now usual for a Sunday night, I made my way home via a lengthy stop near Bolton to activate Winter Hill G/SP-010. I was on summit earlier than usual, and the weather was relatively mild, so I decided to erect the 20m groundplane and see if there were any last signs of life on the band. There were - I could see CQ calls on FT8 coming from Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic - but I didn’t manage to work any. To my own CQ calls, I got one reply - from EC7ZR - and that turned out to be my only contact of the activation.
As we went into the new UTC day, all the traffic died out from the WSJT-X display. There was nothing anywhere else on the band - CW, SSB etc - apart from some tones possibly coming from the many nearby masts on Winter Hill. I packed up the HF station and called on 2m FM with the handheld. I worked Steve M6HGR in Swinton and Mike M6XBQ in Salford for a two-QSO activation. I then continued the chat with the two of them during my drive home. Not only were they still on frequency after I’d packed up and walked down to my car, they were still QRV as I backed onto the driveway at home - so it was a journey that flew by with a bit of company. After a bit of sleep, the rest of the Monday morning and into early afternoon was consumed with filing my self-assessment tax return. With that out of the way, I headed for Gun G/SP-013.
Sunday 21st October 2018 - Wendover Woods & Winter Hill G/SP-010
Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Viva Blackpool After a great weekend of shows in Essex, I was back on the road again for the regular show in Blackpool. After the show I quickly packed up my gear and headed home - via Winter Hill! Two contacts were made on 2m FM with the handheld.
Also two contacts made on 2m FM with the handheld. The same two stations I’d worked from this hill “the previous day”. On the drive back to Macclesfield, I joined a late night net on 2m FM with Dave G7RYN and Ron G7GQF - who were the same two stations yet again!
Sunday 9th December 2018 - Billinge Hill G/SP-017 & Winter Hill G/SP-010 Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Viva Blackpool The usual ‘variety show’ style opening to the show didn’t happen, so it was just the stand-up comedian then Joe. So work for the night was finished before 10pm and I had plenty of time to do a “double-bubble” activation on Winter Hill. I enjoyed getting above the fog and going for a late night wander along the service road under starlight - and of course the red lights of the very tall mast. My fingers didn’t enjoy the biting cold though! Just using the handheld, I made 4 QSOs on 2m - 3 on FM and 1 on C4FM.
Well, no gig to append to this one, though I guess I was still on the way home from the last gig! A very early morning activation with four QSOs on 2m FM.
Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: Lytham Hall The last Joe gig of the year, and a belter it was. Joe was in great voice and was received warmly by a super audience. This was the second of a two-nighter at this venue, so I stayed over in Blackpool at the musical director’s house. Fortunately he’s a football fan and has Sky Sports PL HD, so that was the afternoon’s entertainment taken care of. For lunch we found a local cafe that did a lovely three course meal. Leek soup followed by roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and all the trimmings, then ginger sponge and custard. £4.75 each. Yes, I couldn’t believe it either. A place called WE5 at Squires Gate - an excellent food option for Norbreck 2019. I hadn’t intended doing my Sunday night activation of Winter Hill thing, assuming the uplands would be submerged in the white stuff from the forecasts I’d seen on Friday. That didn’t materialise, and so I made a last minute decision to go for it. 2m FM handheld activation - 2 QSOs.
Well I was there anyway. Two QSOs on 2m FM. No further replies to my CQ calls. Cold and wet, and very thick fog. Thankfully, no sign of snow or ice. Coming up later, on that Monday evening, all ears would be on my son Liam (M0HGY’s brother) who would be active on the 3m band - 102.8MHz FM in North-East Cheshire, or online via Canalside Radio.
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