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) |
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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) |
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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) |
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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.