As it was forecast a hot day and I had been told LDW-210 wasn’t the easiest to get a lot of contacts from on 2m . This was just going to be a HF activation only, for a change and an easy climb , but I packed the hand held on second thoughts and plant pot antenna and got Derek straight away when I set up , second should have been Reg , Derek relayed the information that he could hear me but I couldn’t hear Reg, unfortunately, I think I might have done better with my beam , had I taken it , but it was good to get Lee, Dave in Ulverston and Mike and get the four for the SOTA on 2m as well .
The HF day was nearly over before it started . I find the EFHW is a bit quicker to set up for WOTA/SOTA and it always works fine and was OK a few days earlier, but was obviously kaput when I set it up and switched on ( a quick re soldering of the centre conductor on the So239 at the transformer sorted it back home , a poor job done when I built it on inspection) . Luckily I’d taken the linked dipole , another last minute decision, because I’d got more room in the new rucksack . I ended up with about 30 odd contacts mostly on 40m and a few on 20m from all over the UK and Europe, so that was OK . Never been up before and we found it an interesting little summit with nice views and features and had a look in the little church later too.
Cheers .
Richard .
2E0XGO
I was on FL/VO-001, Le Grand Ballon de Guebwiller in France at 1,424m when I heard you call CQ.
I tried several times but was not able to break the pile-up.
Hopefully next time.
That is a shame Robert . That would have been great to work you from there , but I expect you had a great day , and it looks an interesting site you were operating from .
Is the equipment and building aviation related I wonder similar to the one on Gt Dun Fell in the North Pennines?
Richard.
2E0XGO
This has become one of my favourite summits @2E0XGO Richard, and you did well to get 2m chasers. My favourite time to visit is when there is snow on the surrounding mountains.
I can see why Mark .It’s an interesting little summit , a bit like another of our favourites Sale Fell . Not the biggest but you can extend or shorten the walk using various routes and it affords good views of the other higher more famous ones .
Richard.
Indeed Richard. But there’s always a next time!
The structure on the summit is for civil aviation. There’s also a very large memorial (Monument des Diables Bleus) on the summit to commemorate the Chasseurs Alpins (The French Elite Mountain Infantry Force) who fought in WWI the the Vosges.
I did High Rigg in 2019 walking the short but steep route from the north starting at St John’s Church, St John’s in the Vale. Checking my log I see I got only three 2m-FM contacts and needed to do some HF CW to qualify the activation.
It was with some trepidation therefore when I did High Rigg again three weeks ago (20th. August) walking with my wife and sister-in-law knowing I would at best have a short time at the summit for a 2m-FM-only activation.
We took the much longer but more interesting route from the south starting on the A591 north of Thirlmere. It rained most of the time and my non-radio companions were already a bit fed up by the time we reached the summit area. While they sheltered below out of the cold wind I raced up to the summit to play radio. Contacts were slow coming and I was about to give up after 3 QSOs when I got a 4th one and narrowly avoided a failed activation. My advice: take HF if you can.
I was lucky to get my four on 2m before doing HF I realised there’s only a limited path from certain directions onto there isn’t there? Fortunately those that can work it and know the score will often if possible listen out for activators on the more awkward summits .
Richard
