Greetings, and best wishes to all for 2022. I have managed to do New Years Day activations for many years, and intend to continue the tradition tomorrow. As noted on the WOTA website, the plan is to do Lord’s Seat first, then Barf. A friend is in charge of the route (I haven’t seen it yet), about 9 miles around the forestry area and beyond. The weather forecast is more or less OK - we are staying away from the higher tops because wind gusts up there are forecast to exceed 60mph and the cloud base may be around 500m. I hope to pick up a few Chasers, but need to get my apology in now. Unlike quite a few activations nowadays, mine will be ‘on the fly’. I’ll be in a party of four, three of whom won’t want to hang about on top. Therefore I’ll only using a 2m handheld with loaded whip attached and will keep contacts very short. Hence the up-front apology. I know it’s a compromise, and will aim to do some more leisurely activations, including some with a decent antenna, as the year unfolds. 73, Phil.
I’m hoping to get out tomorrow to, probably just a local hop onto Gummer’s How.
Reviewing things here. It’s blowing a gale even at low altitude. Will go up to Whinlatter area and take a look, but if the weather is too crazy then the activation will be cancelled. P
Running an hour late.
I think I should just tie a bow around this one. Managed to activate Lord’s Seat on 2m yesterday - two contacts - GM4WHA and 2E0LDF. An hour late because of a longer walk in than in than I expected (my friend Mike picked a great route, taking in lots of the forestry tracks around Whinlatter). Anyway, my companions decided that the gale force winds on the tops that we were experiencing were best avoided, so I had to scrub the Barf detour. They had a point - with a following wind, I was blown at high speed up the last and steeper bit of Lord’s Seat, and could hardly stop at the top!
This was my 11th consecutive 1 January activation outing. Fairly extreme weather is quite common on 1 Jan! I experienced even stronger winds getting soaked in a storm on Eagle Crag one year (2015). It’s often a long way below zero (but not this year). Freezing temperatures and strong winds on Ullscarf (2016) made for a memorable Antarctic-type outing. WOTA can be a year round thing - so long as one keeps an eye on the most severe weather conditions, has good gear, and is prepared to switch to sensible Plan B! Onwards and upwards in 2022. 73, Phil.