Autumnal Cumbrian adventures (part 3) G/LD-013 The Old Man of Coniston 4/10/24

 Ok, quick apology right before we start, this report may contain more pictures than words! 😂😂

A few more days pass, and we did other stuff, but wifey could sense I wasnt satisfied with the 2 activations i had done so far, and she knew I wanted more... I had been eying a proper big one as a finale something over 800M to really push myself, the Old Man of Coniston ticked the box, at 802M! And being a peak district lad, anything over 500M is nosebleed territory! Anyhow, I got the ok off the boss, and headed up to Walna Scar car park. 

The old man is still a fearsome looking lump, even from the car park, this was going to be one hell of a trip! 

Parking paid, I was off up the track, this was a nice well made track that was clearly well maintained and kept in good condition for the 1000s of feet doing the trek every year. Now this was where I made my first mistake, I kept to the well made track, and I worked G4TJG/P who was already on the summit, which was a nice suprise and eventually ended up discovering I had trekked a good 20 mins in the wrong direction.. I ended up at a ridge at the head of Boulder Valley, overlooking Levers water, I could see a path marked on the map that would take me up to the summit, but it looked like a nightmareish scramble up the scree, something I wasnt equipped for in any way!

I had obviously expended alot of time, and energy by this point, and was very annoyed with myself, I was even considering giving up and going home.... but I couldnt face it! so I worked back to the path split, and went the right way! Straight away, its steep.. and unforgiving.... but the only way is up! now, what I didnt know is this slope was extensively mined for Copper, and Slate and evidence of these extensive working are EVERYWHERE, so this broke up the walk nicely, anyone that knows me, knows I am a massive fan of this sort of stuff, as a former "urbexer" im well into industrial archealogy so this was very distracting, but offered a welcome break from the uphill struggle!

One of the first clues you will find are the huge thick steel cables that run over the track in places, these are from the former cable car system that would have transported men, ore and equipment up and down the steep slopes.

you even have to duck under them, or climb over them in places! 

There are even flat carriers that would have been suspended under the thick cable lying on the waste tips.. its an AMAZING place! 

Then, just as you think it cannot get any better, there is a level with Railway lines and a saw shed! 

With the remains of a stone saw that I would think was used to cut the slate to the right size before dressing.

Anyhow, that enjoyment over, I was off to carry on up the never ending slope! More holes in the ground were passed, and bits of cable, and industril good stuff.... and then the icing on the cake, a toppled cable car pylon! this would have been one of the support structures for the thick cable, and the cars would have passed over the top!

Excitement over, I realised I had nerded out enough on this industrial goodness, and needed to crack on.. next stop Low Water!

I had a pause here, you can see the summit cairn from here away up to the left, but this is where the path gets seriously steep.. a look to the left and you can see what you are up against, its properly intimidating, I was already getting tired especially after wasting time and effort going the wrong way, and I was having second thoughts... I got some food in me a good drink and a few biscuits for energy, and decided to go for it.... up this we go!

From here on in, I gained height rapidly it wasnt long before Low Water was tiny, Dwarfed in the landscape! 

Sections of rocky scrambles, where you needed hands to continue, and some very narrow sections with some big drops aded to the excitement, and slowly, and carefully I made my way up, and up, and up... and then it was there, the summit Cairn! I was soo happy, but absolutely SHATTERED! I may not looking it, but im buzzing and over the moon in this selfie! 

I had a few mins to recover, then set about chucking the mast up, handily the trig point was well positioned to chuck a couple of bungees around, and got an antenna up! Spot away, and started calling... 21 2M contacts in half an hour so I was pleased with that! I had the intention of having a go on HF, but it had took me a LOT longer than I thought it would to get up to the summit, so I left it at the 23!

now, decision time, back down the steep way, or go down the longer but less steep way, I opted for the latter Via Goats water, and Walna Scar Road... as nice as it was, it was a bit of a slog on tired legs, and I kinda regretted it.. 

Eventually I made it back to the car Tired, thirsty but Elated, I had done it!! The Old Man of Coniston conquered AND thanks to G4TJG completed on the same day! WAHEY! but most of all my first big SOTA done..

Till next time! (some winter bonus action tomorrow) 73, Alan

Autumnal Cumbrian adventures (part 2) G/LD-049 Kirkby Moor 1/10/24

A couple of days recovery, and spending some time with my Wife she was having a tired afternoon, and wanting to do nothing more than relaxing in the recliner, with a the TV and a pile of snacks! "why dont you go and play some radio" she said, followed up with "you dont need to sit here and be bored beacuse im tired"! Well, I dont need asking twice! I already had an outline plan for Kirkby moor so the maps were studied, radio stuff thrown in the car and off I went! Now Kirkby moor is probably the nearest (by road) SOTA summiot to my parents house, so half an hour later I was parked up and staring at the quarries and Wind turbines of Kirkby moor.

I actually ended up taking the wrong path up, according to the map it was more direct.. According to the ground, it was a nightmare trudge through the waist high ferns, heading in the vague direction I thought I needed to go! This led to more navigational nightmares, and eventually I found a path, that led towards the quarries... hey ho, at least when I get to the quarries there is a track heading up for the wind turbines I can use! 

I actually enjoyed the Quarries, there was plenty of industrial stuff for me to poke around at, and the track heading up was good and well made, and the Views were fantastic!

 

As I rounded the track to the first turbine, I got a bit of a suprise, a metal road! they must have laid it to do some work on the turbines, but this led neatly to the summit cairn.

Not much up here to secure the mast too, so made something up using the cairn and wedging the pole with the rocks, quite typically for Cumbria it was again blowing hard, and getting it up much higher would have been a problem! 

Mast up, and spot away to SOTAwatch it was time to get down to business! Cals were somewhat slow, with 5 over 25 mins on 2M, somewhat dissapointing if im honest, and if I were to try it again I would definately be going straight onto HF, but 5 is enough and it was time to set off back to the car. Just beyond the 1st turbine there is a park bench laid in memorial, and accross the front of this is the path i should have taken! It takes you down through the old quarries on the inclines, and leads you round the waste tips and back to the road, definately will going that way if I go back up there again! 1 for 1 point, and Actually a pleasant little mooch.

Part 3 will be out tomorrow! 

73, Alan

Autumnal Cumbrian adventures (part 1) G/LD-030 Black Coombe 29/9/24

 My parents live in Cumbria, and this is useful! ok, they dont live in the national park, they live on the Furness peninsular, right at the bottom before you get wet! so its still one hell of a drive to alot of the summits in Cumbria! and this is not so useful. Black Coombe DOMINATES the bottom end of the peninsula, its visible from just about everywhere, and for years has tormented me.. I just wasnt fit enough for the climb! But now, I think I might be... A plan was formed, and a mission set.. Activate Black Coombe! 6 points and 600M dead, and 590 of which you have to climb as the start point is about 10M ASL.. this is a PROPER lump!

I parked in the usual spot, at the church at Whicham, headed down the little passhae and onto the lane, Black coombe is an absolute BEHEMOTH and towers over you as approach the bottom, the path however starts of fairly gently, but luls you into a false sense securuity! Make no mistake, these Cumbrian mountains are steep!

The number of false summits are probably the most annoying thing, that and the unrelenting steepness! its just up, up and more up requires some serious stamina, but I plodded on.. this seriously nearly broke me!

As I got higher the wind started off the Irish sea, properly blowing it was aswell, and as the path runs up that side, there is no let up from it.. certainly made things more difficult! as I got to the summit shelter, I realised putting the mast up would be nearly impossible as the wind was properly gale force by this time! I managed to get the spectrum Communications Slim G up, just above the summit shelter at a jaunty angle! That would have to do..... Spot sent, and away I went on 2M! 

Things were quite slow, I managed 8 in 19 mins, Matt M0MZB First, and Paul M0CQE (Just) to finish! not fancyng that wind any more than I needed too, it was time to go!

I did the descent with the wind in my face, and that was a struggle.... but going down was definately quicker than going up! hahaha

My first taste of a Cumbrian mountain, Bloody hard work and very rewarding in the same bag! 6 points in the bag too (my biggest SOTA to date)! Would I do it again? Maybe! although there are other fells and Mountains in the area, I would try first..I can see myself becoming very acquanted with cumbrian fells in 2025!

73, Alan

6 SOTA Summit weekender (part 4). Return to Wales! GW/NW-051 Foel Fenlli 8/9/24

Sunday was upon us, and it was time to return to Wales to collect the girls from Towyn! Now I originally planned on doing a Welsh biggie GW/NW-012 Cadair Berwyn fitted the bill, a reasonably steady 8 pointer, and not too far out of the way for my return to Towyn, HOWEVER I decided against it, and went for GW/NW-051 Foel Fenlli and the intention of doing GW/NW-044 Moel Famau after it, both are accessible from ths same car park, and relatively easy, plus a good bit closer to Towyn!

I set off down to Wales, and the weather was still murky, the mountain Weather had given it clear by mid morning, so I stuck with the plan, on arriving a the top car park, the mist was thicker.... Here we go again I thought! still hopeful it would start to clear, I headed off in search of the summit of Foel Fenlli! well, the clag never cleared did it... it got thicker and thicker! I eventually found the summit cairn, and chucked the mast up..

10 contacts, 10 mins! then the rain started... balls! id activated and was off, I descended a different and shorter looking way but sill ended up like a drowned rat, I took one look at the path up to Moel Famau and thought stuff this!! and made my way to Towyn instead... and funnily enough the sun was starting to come out there! Welsh weather huh!

Anyhow, 6 activations & 9 points gained, I was happy enough with that! 

73, Alan 

6 SOTA Summit weekender (part 3) The Cloud G/SP-015, Shining Tor G/SP-004 & Black Hill G/SP-002. 7/9/24

Day 3 of the multi summit weekender, and we decided we would do the Cloud, Shining Tor and finish on Black Hill for a total of 5 points! We were omitting the Gun, as I had done that earlier in the year.. We had been keeping an eye on the mountain weather, and the front wa supposed to move to the South from the North of the South Pennines area through ghe day, meaning it would be horrible on Black Hill in the morning and nice on the Cloud! and Vice Versa in the afternoon, we were soon to find out this would not be the case..

Anyhow, an early start and off down to Macclesfield we went.. The cloud is a trial by a million steps (ok slight exageration but still...) but the summit is doable in 20 mins or less from the parking spot, as we were early, it was thankfully quiet! Chucked the antennas up, fired a spot off and away we went! First up, the ever faithful Paul, M0CQE, followed by 14 more on 2M including 2 S2S (Matt M0MZB/B on G/LD-025 Seatallan. And Duane 2E0DIJ/P on G/SP-017 Billinge Hill).. after I had exhausted 2M, i fired up the 4M handheld, sadly only 1 contact on 70Mhz, but 16 all told, in just under an hour on VHF.. happy with that!!

As can be seen from the Tshirt, it certainly wasnt cold, but the clag was looming in the background on the Cloud! 

Anyhow, Job done! Off to Shining tor we went.... The weather was intermittently Claggy as we got up to the Cat and Fiddle, but still fairly mild... we reckoned it being the crappy weather heading south, as we were heading North, passing us on the way! we kitted up, and set off, but noted the path up was decidedly damper compared to the Cloud... hmmmm.... in and out of the Clag we passed, and managed the summit in a fairly good time, although it was busy! the bench on the summit was clear, so up went the mast on the finger post, and the ever reliable Spectrum Communications Slim G, and we got on air. Again Paul, M0CQE was number 1 in the log, followed by a 14 more on 2M and 2 on 4M! 16 total in 35 mins, with the clag thickening... we were off! 

Note the thick claggy cloud behind us.... it was a taste of what was to come!

Lastly we set off to Black Hill, and this is where things would get fun! the Clag was thicker than ever, but still thin enough to be able to sensibly navigate, the path these days is pretty well marked and obvious, so we decided to have a go.... there are 2 streams to ford on the way along the pennine way, and these would be make or break, if they were even remotely raised, we would be calling the trip off.... but thankfully there were ok!

 William on the ford crossing! Note the thankfully low water levels..

Anyhow, the clag got thicker and wetter, wetter and thicker as we climbed the Pennine way to the summit plateau, by the time it levelled off we were RIGHT in the thick of it, already soaked we decided we may as well find the trig, and get the activation done. Now I have NEVER had much luck on Black hill, its a bogey summit to me, but the mast went up, this time on the William mount and we got too it... I literally managed 6 contacts in 5 mins, mast down, and gone! 

One day im going to do black hill in glorious weather! 😂😂

The way down was claggier, and wetter and more miserable.. but we safely got back to the car.. What a great day! and some plans for the next day on my return to the Girls in Wales! and that will be the subject of my next piece.... for now, 73 everyone!

Alan & William

6 SOTA Summit weekender (part 2) Mynydd Y Cwm GW/NW-076. 6/9/24

Friday was soon here, and the weekends plans could begin properly, I had to be in North Wales to drop the XYL and her friend off at a caravan in Towyn, they were having a girly weekend in the Towyn area. once dropped off and mindful of the traffic I decided on a quick one, and Mynydd y Cwm fitted the bill. the weather was superb, not a breath of wind and lovely warm sunshine I was hoping the rest of the weekend would be like this!

I parked in the usual spot on the lane, and headed up the track into the forest. last time I went up Mynydd y Cwm the forestry people had just been in, and there were piles of chopped logs everywhere and alot of open ground, now its very overgrown with tall ferns and brambles in amongst the rotting brash. I managed to find the left turn up to the pond, spana right and heded up the wider track, its another right turn off here to the summit memorial..

I set up in a clearing just before the memorial, got the slim G up the pole and gave a call..

not a fast activation with 12 contacts in just over half an hour, had a decent chat with a mountain biker too.. nice bloke! he was quite interested in what I was doing, and amazed i was getting contacts into Manchester!

With the contacts drying up, and this being a Friday evening I decided to call it a day, get ahead of the traffic, so I packed up and headed down. summit 2 done.... tomorrow was going to be the main event! with 3 summits planned....

as usual, thanks to the chasers!

Alan - 2E0JWA

6 Sota summit weekender!! (part 1) G/SP-010 Winter hill. TP0701 Rivington 4/9/24

 Ok, ok I know the 4th september wasn't a weekend day. I did however have this planned for the weekends adventures, its just I was working in the area, and I managed a dinner time finish..  the weather was decent so I thought what the hell! 

My plan was always to ascend from the Belmont side, the path seems to be a decent balance between steep and walkable! 

If im honest, it looks alot worse than it actually is the path is well made and in reasonable condition, and I was soon on the top.

once up top, You arrive at the tarmac service road for the transmitters and swing to the right  a few more 100 yards walk, and you will find the trig point, The Trig isnt named after the hill, and is called Rivington TP0701. this seems to cause much confusion amongst trig enthusiasts and baggers alike!

the feelings of antenna inadequacy over, I set to activating. given the fact it was an opporunist activation, i had none of my usual kit, infact I ascended in steel toe work boots, and a luminous yellow work coat! this meant, it was the handheld a Nagoya rubber duck, and luckily the SOTAbeams filter for 2M band! Game on!

Got on the air for 1330bst 1230utc and quickly got M0CQE - Paul in the log. followed by 7 more QSOs giving me 8 in the log. but a storm was brewing and threatening rain, so I decided to quit while I had a chance of getting down in the dry! so I headed for the car, quick selfie and away back to the car!

A great activation for a weekday afternoon, as usual thanks to all the chasers without you guys we couldnt do what we do!

To be continued in part 2!

Alan

The Fear - Kinder scout G/SP-001 TP6378 (the Edge) 8/6/24

With hog roast weekend nearing closer, and fancying a piece of the S2S action, I spoke with my good friend Andy M7BOA and we decided to have a go at Black Hill (G/SP-002) this was, however, despite my posting an alert going to be the subject of a Denby Dale RC Field day station, that was announced with a week to go to activation day… Denby dale were very polite about it by the way, but We decided to step aside and re-plan for another summit. so plans were changed, and alerts altered! we decided in G/SP-001 Kinder Scout!!

Now, many of you will remember, last time I attempeted Kinder Scout, I ended up throwing myself in a gully on Ashop moor and having to be rescued by mountain Rescue with a smashed leg! this is something that weighed heavily on my mind, in more ways than one, its what kept me off the hills for most of 2023, and left me with a feeling of unfinished business… but this also stirred a new feeling in me, something I have never experienced going onto the hills… The Fear! but with a week to go at this point, I put it to the back of my mind and we made our plans…

The plan was, myself and my lad William would go via the route I came a cropper on 18 months ago. Snake pass summit, over Ashop moor and up the corner of Kinder, then follow the path along towards Kinder downfall, turning left just after Sandy Heys, to activate at the trig poinf at SK077893 - The Edge! for this walk i Reckoned about 1 hour and 20 mins (big mistake, more later) And after the activation follow the same route back. Andy M7BOA was travelling by train and was going to Solo up from Edale via Grindslow and Crowden tower, accross the downfall then meet us at the trig, with a return straight down the P/Way via Jacobs ladder and Upper Booth. All we needed now was the weather!!

the morning of the activation was upon as, and with an early start to collect William from his Mum’s we were up at snake pass head for around 0800, we were met with a heavy mist and wet weather with poor visability and miserable conditions, now if i hadnt read the mountian weather reports and knew it was going to clear up, at that point the activation would have been off, we agreed to re-asses the weather the other side of Ashop moor before we made the ascent onto Kinder! now i reckoned on half an hour for Ashop moor, its fairly flat going on stone slabs, and with the fear hanging haevily on me we gingerly set off along the slab pathway that was literally my downfall last time…

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The slabs are endless and punishing made more so by the conditions, but we were soon past the gully I came a cropper on, pausing for thought as we went it was at this point the fear ws at its wost, but i gingerly stepped accross the gully, and made it to the other side safely… just like that the fear lifted, like a weight coming off me, I finally felt free of the curse of 18 months ago! at that we pressed on, in pretty horrific conditions. Driving rain and a proper wind chill mader this feel like a winter bonus activation, I kept having to remind myself we were in June! But slowly, and thankfully the cloud began to lift and we could see the Behemoth that is Kinder Scout looming out of the mist.

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Ashop Moor was a huge underestimation on my part, i think the ZigZagging of the stone slabs robbed time, and added un-neccecary distance it had took us over an hour to reach the Tee junction at Mill Hill, but with the weather improving as predicted we decided to press on, cross the Col to the bottom of the ascent to Kinder, and then up the steep Scramble to the top! by this point the P/Way path has been joined by other paths coming up the hill, and its got alot busier with other walkers, which is re-assuring! we pressed on up the Charged Rocks and were rewarded with fantastic views! Notice how the clouds have gone… quite a contrast!

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By this stage we were well late for our alerted time, but making good progress on tired legs we located the fences that marked the way up to the trig, and after a bit of an awkward navigation we located the trig, sat on its plinth! by now, over an hour late, I decided due to time constraints to forget the HF, and concentrate on VHF so the Slim G was deployed and the FT4X hooked up and the activation was on!

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Straight into the S2S contacts from North wales I rapidly got the 4 needed to Qualify the activation, and ended up with 13 S2S and 17 all told, not massive, but i only had about 25 mins, as we needed to get back! I was a bit gutted not to have more time, i could have easily doubled that total I would have thought but hey ho! We needed to get back!

M7BOA (left) and myself

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Some idiot on a trig!

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The way back was relatively uneventful, just very busy with walkers till we got to Ashop moor, the slog across the moor was even worse on the way back, on extremely tired legs and bad cramps… but eventually 2 hours and 10 mins after leaving the trig we were safely back at the car EXHAUSTED!!

I really did underestimate the scale of this walk, I reckoned on an hour and a half up but it took 2 1/2 hours almost the same back… but I conquered it! I also realised I had made the same mistake the day I fell, and maybe the fall saved me from a worse fate, as I would have been benighted in a snowstorm on Kinder… not good! but it doesnt do to dwell on these things…

Thanks to everyone I worked, and the usual Chasers, without you guys we wouldnt do what we do!

Alan & William

Freeholds top - G/SP-011 TP4100 - WABsq SD92. The ONLY operator in England!

The sister in law had a pre planned visit to the Rochdale infirmary for a small procedure, that was going to take about 4 hours.... hmmmm.... Freeholds top! G/SP-011.

Its only about a 20-25 min run from the infirmary at rochdale to Sharneyford, and the start of the track up to freeholds top so it was cracking idea!.... except for 1 thing..... the weather! The hourly weather was hastily pulled up on the PC and what do you know? dry from 1300 :laughing: :laughing: its VERY unusual for the WX gods to act favourably on me, but hey.. ill take it!

The start of the walk is a nice made up track called Limers gate, in the Village of Sharneyford a couple of miles East of the town of Bacup, but be warned it somewhat luls you into a false sense of security! and I somewhat understimated the time it would take me (and my still gammy ankle) to get up the track to the trig point! further up the track its made up of huge bricks and full of holes and chunks, that in the wet made the track quite hard going in places, with water completely covering the track over for large parts, facilitating the need to either wade or find an alternative! The path veers right near the end, and climbs steeply onto the moor plateu, with the wet weather this was by far worse than the track, and "bog hopping" was the order of the day, for the final tortuous 200M to the trig!

Just as i opened the gate to the trig area, lady luck ran out.. the heavens OPENED! So a quick operation on the "rubber duck" was called for, I fired up VK portalog, spotted gave it a min or 2 and then called CQ, Quickly Paul @M0CQE came back to me, for number one in the log.... "you know my friend, you are the only operator out in England today according to the spots" he informed me! Mind you, i wasnt suprised with the weather! it soon became apparent that paul was the only person who could hear me on the rubber duck, so with the rain pouring i stuck the trusty mast and Spectrum slim G up, and made another call.... BOOM! Straight into 3 more M7ELO - John, G1JPV - Tony and G6XBF - Walt! gotta admit it was a releif to hit the 4 mark, it was more of a releif for the rain to be stopping too! I added 6 more to the log for a total of 10, that'll do!

Anyhow the descent was more of the same, bog hopping, ankle crunching fun and it thankfully stopped dry! if i go again, i might try it from Shawforth next time.. steeper, but shorter!

Oh, and im now on 20 Activator points! haha

Thanks to all the Chasers and those taking the time to read.

Alan

Battling Gun - G/SP-013 - TP3538 29/03/24

My lovely Wifey decided that she wanted to go to Bingo, with her pal and wanted to be dropped off in Manchester near Belle Vue at 1715… given that it was now 1500 that didnt leave me alot of time. So a plan was hastily formed to have a quick trip up the Gun, i should be able to drive there, activate, and get back to the car before we lost complete daylight. and given its a fairly straightforward half mile wander up a well defined track a headtorch descent wasnt the end of the world! the weather had been fairly decent here all day, and so I reckoned the going would be ok, with no major issues!!

Quick activation gear was packed, and the Girls dropped off to (try) and win us some money I was on my way to the Gun! G/SP-013. all was well, as I passed through the town of Macclesfieldbut as we drove up the Leek road, the heavens OPENED! proper biblical rain… ooooohhhhh i was chatting with my mate on 4M FM at the time and distinctly remeber saying “if this doesnt clear up soon, im calling it off” anyhow, as quickly as it started was as quick as as it stopped, with warming spring sunshine and blue skies behind it, I decided to press on.

As I arived at the parking area, I could see the remnants of a hail storm settled on the road, but it was fast dissapearing, but there was ALOT of water on the road… i had a quick look at the track and the bottom bit by the gate was a quagmire, but the rest form this position looked easy going, so the gear was grabbed and off i went! Quagmire was an UNDERSTATEMENT it was a horrible wet mud pit that tried to suck my trekking poles into its black depths, but after some careful footwork i was accross and on the track proper. Now this was to be the HARDEST virtually flat 1/2 mile i have EVER walked, the mud and water was constant and never ending, and what should have been a 10 min bounce to the top turned into a half hour battle with the bog!! however, i would come oput triumphant!

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud…

Anyhow, the twighlight was fast approaching and in the distance in incoming squall, I needed to do this and do it FAST! I chucked the roach pole up on the trig point, whipped the Slim G up on it, and cracked on… 10 contacts in 11 mins, that’ll do!

Everybody loves a Slim G!

Selfie time!

With the rain spit spotting as i packed my final bits, and donned my head torch we were off to do battle again! unsuprisingly things hadnt improved much, but the descent was slightly quicker (about 20 mins) than the ascent! after again crossing the mud pit of doom, I was elated to be back at the car! gear packed and off to find food…

Muddy…

Great little evening out, and ill be back on the Gun, i can see it being a great little spot on a nice summers evening in the dry!

Thanks to all the Chasers, with a special mention to Paul @M0CQE First in the log, and for later checking I was down safe by whatsapp. thankyou buddy!

73 all, till next time!

Alan

First HF activation G/SP-004 Shining Tor TP5950 25/11/23

No idea why i forgot to post this one.. Anywhoo!

As pretty much all of you know by now, I have been off the mountains since my unfortunate accident on the way to Kinder Scout at the beginning of the year. Having missed pretty much all of the summer SOTA season and with my leg much improved, I have been ITCHING to get out! I also reckoned it was time to test the Little Xeigu G106 out on a proper activation…

A window of opportunity presented itself, and after spending most of the week watching the mountain weather, Saturday looked suprisingly pleasent! it also had the advantage of being a weekend when i had my son, so he could be roped in to help!

The day was pleasant and although it was cold, it was lovely in the sunshine. I couldnt have asked fr better walking conditions although imnot going to lie, I was nervous… conditions were spookily similar when it all went so wrong on Kinder! but I put this to the back of my mind as we set off up the track from the Cat and Fiddle. Now i must confess, I did cheat slightly, William was my Sherpa!

Anyhow, summit reached and time was knocking on… we were late (as usual for me) so we rapidly set up the EFHW to the summit finger post and got the G106 hooked up to the SLAB, found a peaceful frequency on 40M… chucked up a spot on SOTAwatch, gave it 2 mins and put a call out…

9 contacts later,i got wiped out by QRM and loads of stations suddenly deciding to use my frequency,sometimes QRP has its drawbacks! Either that or some people are just plain ignorant, but hey ho, I was not too dissapointed though! 9 contacts meant for the first time it was activation complete on 40M… happy days!

I left William packing up the HF gear, and decided on a quick VHF activation on the handheld with the NR770 antenna, mainly because I wanted a 10th contact for the POTA! This lead to another 7 in the log, but I soon had to call time on the activation, honestly i could have worked stations all day!

The sun was fading RAPIDLY as by now it was 1530 and i didnt fancy a walk off by head torch we gathered the gear and made our way back to the Cat and Fiddle just in time for the sun to set.. Perfect!

This is fantastic SOTA mountain I reckon ill be back to spend a whole afternoon up there in summer playing radio and making contacts. It was honestly such a fantastic feeling to be working contacts form a SOTA summit again, after the fat end of a year off the hills... Thanks to everyone for their ongoing support, and the Chasers I worked, you guys make SOTA what it is!

Till next time, 73 - Alan & William!