Failed first attempt at HF

I thought i would give HF a try and Binsey was an easy choice for the first one. I set up the antennas, got settled down and then discovered in my haste to get out i had forgotten the power lead for the G106 radio.I thought to my self what a stupid thing to do i have 2 bags one with a linked dipole 40/20 meters and a linked end feed for 40/20 meters and cables, the other with the radio.I had also made a vertical after seeing a post on Sota reflector and decided to give it a go,and so left the bag with all the connectors in.
![IMG_4238|666x500](upload://xsnfbw0Rjp1sNoHMMNW2IaNfpcL.jpe

it was bright on the top but with wind speeds of 20/30 miles an hour and chile of -3 the HF vertical would have been a go choice.Quick and easy to deploy

8 radials 2 and a half meters long


I did manage 5 contacts on 2 meters
GM4WHA GEOFF
G4VFL ANDREW
GM3VMB PETER
MOLLC LEE
DEREK 2E0MIX

Well you got some nice pictures at least and a few stations on 2m , your HF set up at least looked the part up there on Binsey ! You can remember to pack everything sometimes and the HF bands can either be dead or full with contest stations at the Weekend as happened to me a couple of times . I always take the 2M gear fortunately like you do.
Richard.

the camera battery flashed red and needed to be switched on and off to get get those pictures
It all goes to to show how unorganised i was

reg

I keep doing this Reg! In fact on Sunday I activated Loughrigg with my FT-817 that I haven’t used for quite a while, and last minute threw in a MiniPA50 amp and LifePo4 4S battery. As it turns out the amp doesn’t amplify and I spent a fair bit of time working that out, before proceeding with 5w barefoot.

Hi Reg, forgetting a crucial bit of kit happens to all of us and a lot when I first started SOTA & WOTA. So I made and used checklists of what I needed for different types of activation, e.g. 2m FM only, multi-band HF.

Nowadays, I keep related items in separate bags ready to go. I have bags for the HF rig/morse key/mic, the 2m FM HT/whip ant, the HF antenna components, etc. I get in the habit of checking that each bag has the expected contents before it goes in the rucksack. I also check each bag’s contents before leaving the summit to ensure I don’t leave something up there. It seems to work.