Took a wrong turn this morning up Walna Scar Road following a teacher and some teenagers, turned too quick and ended up at a no-entry gate. Not sure what happend to the kids!
I decided to follow the fence (on the left) around the Burlington Slate compound and picked up a path that ended at the other side. I realised when I got to the gate I wasn’t going to end up on Dow Crag but The Old Man first, so flipped the order of the activation.
Although it was a bit punishing towards the end, I only saw the teenagers, probably going the wrong way, and a couple of people coming down - compared to the usual highway, so that was good!
Coniston Old Man
| WOTA ID: LDW-030 | Height: 803 m (2634 ft) |
|---|---|
| SOTA ID: G/LD-013 | Grid ref: SD272978 |
| HuMP ID: n/a | QTH Locator: IO84KI |
| Book: The Southern Fells | Lat: 54.370355 Long: -3.120712 |
I was in the mist on the way up, that turned freezing with Rime Ice on the foliage.
On the Old Man I setup the FT-817 and HF SOTABeams Band Hopper IV quad-band dipole and the VHF Spectrum Communications Slim-J on the SOTABeams Tactical Mast. I just about managed to fit the HF antenna between the main path and a smaller path. Took a bit to find a frequency on 20m and worked most of the regular chasers and a couple of S2S. No chance of finding a frequency on 40m with a contest on! There seemed to be a lift on 2m with some really good contacts from all three summits, although some folk did notice my signal going up and down as the pole bent and the Slim-J was blown 45 degrees!
| TIME | CALLSIGN | BAND | MODE | RST | RSR | OPERATOR | SIG | REF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12:56 | EA3EVL | 20m | SSB | 55 | 55 | PABLO | ||
| 12:56 | EA2DT | 20m | SSB | 55 | 44 | Manuel | ||
| 12:57 | DL2DXA | 20m | SSB | 59 | 57 | Bernd | ||
| 12:57 | F6FTB | 20m | SSB | 59 | 57 | CHRISTIAN | ||
| 12:57 | EA1DHB | 20m | SSB | 59 | 55 | Ricardo | ||
| 12:58 | S52AU | 20m | SSB | 51 | 55 | Borut | ||
| 12:58 | SQ9CWO | 20m | SSB | 59 | 57 | Jan | ||
| 12:59 | CT2IWW | 20m | SSB | 55 | 55 | Paulo | ||
| 12:59 | EA3ARP | 20m | SSB | 53 | 54 | Joan | ||
| 13:01 | DL/HB9EVF/P | 20m | SSB | 55 | 55 | Thomas | SOTA | DM/BW-193 |
| 13:01 | DL/HB9HXJ/P | 20m | SSB | 55 | 55 | Tabea | SOTA | DM/BW-193 |
| 13:02 | SQ9MDF | 20m | SSB | 59 | 55 | Leszek | ||
| 13:02 | DL/PA3FYG/P | 20m | SSB | 57 | 53 | Hans | SOTA | DM/RP-180 |
| 13:04 | DG6CA/P | 20m | SSB | 53 | 53 | ARMIN | ||
| 13:06 | G8CPZ | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | Andy | ||
| 13:08 | 2E0MIX | 2m | FM | 59 | 57 | Derek | ||
| 13:09 | M6KWB | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | Kelly | ||
| 13:11 | G6AEK | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | David | ||
| 13:12 | G4WAM | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | Mike | ||
| 13:13 | GW4TJC/P | 2m | FM | 51 | 52 | Simon | SOTA | GW/NW-014 |
| 13:14 | GW1SGG | 2m | FM | 55 | 57 | MERVYN | ||
| 13:15 | M6KWB | 2m | FM | 51 | 51 | Kelly | ||
| 13:16 | 2E0FNM | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | Matt | ||
| 13:16 | G4CPA | 2m | FM | 55 | 55 | Geoff | ||
| 13:17 | G0HIK | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | Nick | ||
| 13:18 | MW3YNK | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | Gerry |
Longest DX on 2m FM was with GW4TJC/P on SOTA GW/NW-014 at 167 km.
First views were had on the way down to Goat’s Hawse.
Dow Crag
| WOTA ID: LDW-047 | Height: 778 m (2552 ft) |
|---|---|
| SOTA ID: n/a | Grid ref: SD262977 |
| HuMP ID: G/HLD-016 | QTH Locator: IO84KI |
| Book: The Southern Fells | Lat: 54.369313 Long: -3.136078 |
Dow Crag was great, I stopped just before the summit as I was completely out of the wind so took the opportunity after the activation to have some lunch. I’m always terrible at taking food - I never bring sandwiches for example - but I’ve found that tinned mackerel (that I eat a lot of to help with the arthritis) is great - full of calories.
Whilst appreciating that there was a bit of a lift on for VHF I was really happy to get so many folk in the log for a WOTA, especially as I was mostly sitting with the FT1XD and RH-770 antenna.
| TIME | CALLSIGN | BAND | MODE | RST | RSR | OPERATOR | SIG | REF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14:07 | G6AEK | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | David | ||
| 14:08 | G4MYU | 2m | FM | 59 | 56 | Art | ||
| 14:10 | M7HNS | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | John | ||
| 14:11 | M0ALA | 2m | FM | 55 | 55 | Andrew | ||
| 14:12 | 2E0MIX | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | Derek | ||
| 14:13 | M0RSF | 2m | FM | 59 | 55 | Chris | ||
| 14:14 | M6KWB | 2m | FM | 57 | 59 | Kelly | ||
| 14:16 | G4WAM | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | Mike | ||
| 14:17 | GM4WHA | 2m | FM | 55 | 33 | GEOFF | ||
| 14:18 | G1CLT | 2m | FM | 57 | 52 | Ray | ||
| 14:19 | GM8ORE | 2m | FM | 55 | 56 | RUSSELL |
Longest 2m DX was Russell GM8ORE at 157 km.
Walna Scar
| WOTA ID: LDO-001 | Height: 621 m (2037 ft) |
|---|---|
| SOTA ID: n/a | Grid ref: SD257963 |
| HuMP ID: n/a | QTH Locator: IO84KI |
| Book: The Outlying Fells | Lat: 54.356659 Long: -3.143424 |
As you reach the cross-roads after Brown Pike you have to ascend another 50m or so to reach the summit of Walna Scar. Again some excellent contacts from this summit, belying it’s lower point.
| TIME | CALLSIGN | BAND | MODE | RST | RSR | OPERATOR | SIG | REF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15:05 | G7CDA | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | Douggie | ||
| 15:05 | M7HNS | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | |||
| 15:06 | M3LNN | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | Jack | ||
| 15:07 | G1OHH | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | Sue | ||
| 15:09 | M6KWB | 2m | FM | 59 | 59 | Kelly | ||
| 15:10 | M0RSF | 2m | FM | 59 | 54 | Chris | ||
| 15:10 | M6NSV | 2m | FM | 59 | 54 | Neil |
Very impressive contact with M6NSV from this lower summit at 194 km using the FT1XD and RH-770 antenna. He told me his location was elevated but he was only using a Diamond X50!
There were glimpses of the fells now with some gaps in the mist, with one walker proclaiming ‘finally the inversion they promised us!’ - unfortunately the MWIS forecast of 70% chance of cloud-free summits didn’t include any of mine today! As soon as I started descending back down Walna Scar Road the views disappeared again.
Some very atmospheric views of Harter Fell before the descent - it has always been a very photogenic summit for me!
APRS Tracking
My LoRA APRS tracker was picked up very early by @G8CPZ Andy’s new iGate and I also hit several other local iGates including G0HIK and M5TUE - comprehensive coverage, although mine being low down and in a couple of valleys along didn’t seem to catch me.
