Six WOTAs, two SOTAs, one HEMA

Activation Reports
1

Decided to start our recommenced WOTA and SOTA with a decent trek including the two joint SOTA/WOTA summits of Stony Cove Pike and High Street with the WOTAs Thornthwaite Crag, Froswick, the joint WOTA/HEMA Ill Bell and Yoke.

I’d done this route with Alex last year, so knew that it was going to be a long old day. Not too early a start however. This was a linear walk - from the start point at Kirkstone Inn to the Church at Troutbeck. Total distance was around 13 miles.

image
image695×844 318 KB

Stony Cove Pike (Caudale Moor)

WOTA ID: LDW-055 Height: 763 m (2503 ft)
SOTA ID: G/LD-018 Grid ref: NY418099
HuMP ID: n/a QTH Locator: IO84NL
Book: The Far Eastern Fells Lat: 54.480975 Long: -2.898363

image

I’ve had some real adventures involving Stony Cove Pike - a couple of snow-filled winter fun days and an overnight camp where I got lucky with Tropospheric lift and worked two stations in Norfolk using the FT1XD with RH770 telescopic whip. The walk up today was uneventful. I had decided to bring the FT-817, SotaBeams Band Hopper IV 20/40/60/80m Inv-V dipole. I couldn’t find a VHF antenna, my Spectrum Communications Slim J has gone walk about, so VHF activations were with the Spectrum Communications 49cm whip on top of the FT817. I couldn’t find the handheld either (I have subsequently) so this was radio quiet apart from activation time. I did pack the JetBoil so enjoyed a porridge breakfast and a couple of wonderful coffees - with the water filter being filled on a couple of occasions, I didn’t bring any water with me.

P1010612
P10106124000×2248 1.04 MB

Top of Raven Crag

P1010613
P10106134000×2248 1.91 MB

Looking towards Stony Cove Pike Summit

P1010615
P10106154000×2248 347 KB

Ridgeline of Froswick & Ill Bell

P1010617
P10106174000×2248 482 KB

Snow on the Easterly side of Helvellyn

P1010619
P10106194000×2248 1.2 MB

Red Screes

A good set of HF contacts from Stony Cove Pike but I hadn’t yet mustered the courage to do morse code.

Date Time Call Band Freq Mode Grid Country Operator Name Comments
1 2021-03-31 08:27 GM6ZAK 80M 3.706 SSB IO86lh Scotland Andrew Sutton
2 2021-03-31 08:28 GI4OSF 80M 3.706 SSB IO65sc Northern Ireland John McNiece
3 2021-03-31 08:29 GI0AZA 80M 3.706 SSB IO64MW Northern Ireland Esther JM Harper
4 2021-03-31 08:31 G0VWP 80M 3.706 SSB IO93kx England Terry Sayner
5 2021-03-31 08:31 G4WSB 80M 3.706 SSB IO91vl England Bill Bowditch
6 2021-03-31 08:32 M0JLA 80M 3.706 SSB IO82pb England Rod M0JLA
7 2021-03-31 08:33 DG1NPM 80M 3.706 SSB JO31tc Germany Norbert R Patent
8 2021-03-31 08:33 G4OBK 80M 3.706 SSB IO94of England Philip (Phil) Catterall
9 2021-03-31 08:34 2E0FEH 80M 3.706 SSB IO70VJ England Karl Kruger
10 2021-03-31 08:37 G4TPJ 80M 3.706 SSB IO91vl England RW MEPHAM
11 2021-03-31 08:37 GI0AZB 80M 3.706 SSB IO64mw Northern Ireland Ian Evans
12 2021-03-31 08:44 SA4BLM 40M 7.153 SSB JP70lt Sweden Lars Markus
13 2021-03-31 08:45 SQ6WPM 40M 7.153 SSB JO71SD Poland Piotr Niżnik
14 2021-03-31 08:45 DL0IL 40M 7.153 SSB JO31mb Germany Fieldcamp-activity - by Operatorteam
15 2021-03-31 08:46 G4AFI 40M 7.153 SSB IO91og England Andrew CHEETHAM
16 2021-03-31 08:47 G0VWP 40M 7.153 SSB IO93kx England Terry Sayner
17 2021-03-31 08:51 M7NZI/P 40M 7.153 SSB England
18 2021-03-31 08:54 HB9DHA 40M 7.153 SSB JN47go Switzerland Reinhard (Ray) Siegrist
19 2021-03-31 08:54 DJ1SD 40M 7.153 SSB JO53ct Germany Joe
20 2021-03-31 08:55 DJ5AV 40M 7.153 SSB JN47pt Germany Michael Oerter
21 2021-03-31 08:56 SM5LNE 40M 7.153 SSB JO89bk Sweden Jan Skoldin

The drop down and climb out of Thornthwaite Gap would have been made much more tolerable if I’d had a couple of fast jets to entertain me. I’ve seen them take this route on several occasions recently from my view point on Queen Adelaide’s Hill whilst doing lunchtime SOTA chasing.

P1010623
P10106234000×2248 727 KB

Thornthwaite Beacon from Stony Cove Pike

P1010628
P10106284000×2248 1.69 MB

Looking towards Ullswater from Thornthwaite Gap

P1010630
P10106304000×2248 2.27 MB

Stony Cove Pike from the other side of the Gap

P1010631
P10106314000×2248 1.56 MB

The punishing ascent

P1010633
P10106334000×2248 1.09 MB

Thornthwaite Beacon

Thornthwaite Crag

WOTA ID: LDW-043 Height: 784 m (2572 ft)
SOTA ID: n/a Grid ref: NY431100
HuMP ID: n/a QTH Locator: IO84NL
Book: The Far Eastern Fells Lat: 54.482021 Long: -2.878319

image

Date Time Call Band Freq Mode Grid Country Operator Name Comments
22 2021-03-31 10:35 G1OHH 2M 145.475 FM IO84ob England Susan Griffin Unconfirmed by G1OHH
23 2021-03-31 10:38 GW4ZPL 2M 145.475 FM IO73wd Wales Colin John Barwell GRID: IO73WD Unconfirmed by GW4ZPL
24 2021-03-31 10:40 G8CPZ 2M 145.475 FM IO84of England AJ Barth Unconfirmed by G8CPZ
25 2021-03-31 10:43 M1AVV/M 2M 145.475 FM England Simon Unconfirmed by M1AVV/M
26 2021-03-31 10:44 G7WKX 2M 145.475 FM IO83ni England Simon Davis-Crane Unconfirmed by G7WKX
77 2021-03-31 13:41 G7CDA 2M 145.475 FM IO83qt England Douggie G7CDA Unconfirmed by G7CDA
78 2021-03-31 13:42 G0HIK/M 2M 145.475 FM England Unconfirmed by G0HIK/M

Good to get Sue in the log as first contact from this exclusive WOTA summit. The route I took meant passing this spot on the way back from High Street so I dug out the FT-817 for a few minutes to allow Douggie to work me.

High Street

WOTA ID: LDW-025 Height: 828 m (2717 ft)
SOTA ID: G/LD-011 Grid ref: NY440110
HuMP ID: n/a QTH Locator: IO84NL
Book: The Far Eastern Fells Lat: 54.491108 Long: -2.864617

image

High Street seems fairly close when looking at it from Thornthwaite Beacon but this look is deceptive, indeed the summit from either direction is a constant seemingly never ending false crest. Despite the slog I love this summit, my ‘field in the sky’.

I took the opportunity to fill the water bottle here from the trickle thatis the start of Hayeswater Gill, and ends up flowing into Hayeswater.

P1010634
P10106344000×2248 1.73 MB

High Street from Thornthwaite Beacon

P1010636
P10106364000×2248 919 KB

Ill Bell

P1010638
P10106384000×2248 2.64 MB

Filling up from Hayeswater Gill

P1010640
P10106404000×2248 945 KB

Hayeswater

P1010642
P10106424000×2248 1.18 MB

Gray Crag

P1010644
P10106444000×2248 1.81 MB

Trig Point with Ill Bell peaking in the distance

Whilst on High Street the Air Ambulance went over about 500 feet.

P1010648
P10106484000×2248 233 KB

P1010650
P10106504000×2248 281 KB

One of my CW Ops classmates S3IEI had messaged me to see if I was going to brave CW on this activation. I messaged him the frequency and called CQ. Having worked Stephen I was either spotted on SOTA Watch or someone noticed me and I worked a small pile up as best as my morse skills would allow!

Date Time Call Band Freq Mode Grid Country Operator Name Comments
27 2021-03-31 11:32 SA3IEI 40M 7.037 CW JP63oh Sweden Stephen Beaton
28 2021-03-31 11:36 F4WBN 40M 7.037 CW IN93hl France Christian SAINT-ARROMAN
29 2021-03-31 11:37 DL1FU 40M 7.037 CW JO40fv Germany Friedrich Winzer
30 2021-03-31 11:39 HB9AGO/P 40M 7.037 CW Switzerland
31 2021-03-31 11:40 F6GCP 40M 7.037 CW JN18lt France PATRICE GRISET
32 2021-03-31 11:41 OE6GND 40M 7.037 CW JN76sr Austria GERHARD GRUNDNER
33 2021-03-31 11:42 DL3GJ 40M 7.037 CW JO53et Germany Grzegorz “Greg” Jacykowski
34 2021-03-31 11:45 DJ5AV 40M 7.037 CW JN47pt Germany Michael Oerter
35 2021-03-31 11:46 ON7GR 40M 7.037 CW JO10xx Belgium Guido Rasschaert
36 2021-03-31 11:48 S57D 40M 7.037 CW JN76gc Slovenia Milos Dermota
37 2021-03-31 11:51 G8CPZ 40M 7.037 CW IO84of England AJ Barth
38 2021-03-31 11:54 9A2UI 40M 7.037 CW JN95eq Croatia Ivica-Iv Sasek
39 2021-03-31 11:55 OE1WYC 40M 7.037 CW JN88FF Austria Willy
40 2021-03-31 11:59 LA9DSA/P 40M 7.177 SSB Norway SOTA: LA/MR-692
41 2021-03-31 12:01 F4WBN 40M 7.182 SSB IN93hl France Christian SAINT-ARROMAN
42 2021-03-31 12:03 EA3/HB9EAJ 40M 7.160 SSB Spain SOTA: EA3/GI-038
43 2021-03-31 12:06 IW3AGO 40M 7.165 SSB JN56ps Italy HEINRICH PIXNER
44 2021-03-31 12:07 SQ6WPM 40M 7.165 SSB JO71SD Poland Peter
45 2021-03-31 12:08 EA1DHB 40M 7.165 SSB IN82fw Spain Ricardo Pena
46 2021-03-31 12:10 G0VWP 40M 7.165 SSB IO93kx England Terry Sayner
47 2021-03-31 12:11 EA2DT 40M 7.165 SSB IN92et Spain Manuel
48 2021-03-31 12:11 ON5SWA 40M 7.165 SSB JO21if Belgium François (SWA) Gorremans
49 2021-03-31 12:12 LA5WNA 40M 7.165 SSB JP41vo Norway Odd Harald Holumsnes
50 2021-03-31 12:17 G4WSB 80M 3.710 SSB IO91vl England Bill Bowditch
51 2021-03-31 12:18 MM0XPZ 80M 3.710 SSB IO85hr Scotland SW Groves
52 2021-03-31 12:19 GW4VPX 80M 3.710 SSB IO72va Wales ALLAN JONES
53 2021-03-31 12:21 M0KOV 80M 3.710 SSB IO93hx England Stephen
54 2021-03-31 12:21 GM6ZAK 80M 3.710 SSB IO86lh Scotland Andrew Sutton
55 2021-03-31 12:22 G3TQQ 80M 3.710 SSB IO94pf England J . DAVID ( DAVE ) BOTTOMLEY
56 2021-03-31 12:25 M0SDP 80M 3.710 SSB IO92iw England Sean
57 2021-03-31 12:26 GI4OSF 80M 3.710 SSB IO65sc Northern Ireland John McNiece
58 2021-03-31 12:32 OA3GZ 20M 14.310 SSB Peru
59 2021-03-31 12:34 IZ3NVR 20M 14.310 SSB JN65ep Italy Stefano Menon
60 2021-03-31 12:34 S55VN/P 20M 14.310 SSB Slovenia SOTA: S5/BI-004
61 2021-03-31 12:35 EA4BQG 20M 14.310 SSB IN80aj Spain GUILLERMO ALCALA DEL OLMO
62 2021-03-31 12:36 OE6GND 20M 14.310 SSB JN76sr Austria GERHARD GRUNDNER
63 2021-03-31 12:37 SV3IEG 20M 14.310 SSB KM08vg Greece DINOS KRASSAS
64 2021-03-31 12:39 EA8/HB9HCS 20M 14.310 SSB Canary Islands Stephan SOTA: EA8/LA-003
65 2021-03-31 12:40 EU2MM 20M 14.310 SSB KO33if Belarus Vladimir N. Kovalev
66 2021-03-31 12:50 G4UGE 80M 3.530 CW England
67 2021-03-31 12:57 M0ROL 80M 3.530 CW IO81sc England Andrew de Mora
68 2021-03-31 13:00 G4OBK 80M 3.530 CW IO94of England Philip (Phil) Catterall
69 2021-03-31 13:03 G8CPZ 80M 3.530 CW IO84of England AJ Barth
70 2021-03-31 13:04 GW4VPX 80M 3.530 CW IO72va Wales ALLAN JONES
71 2021-03-31 13:08 G4BLH/M 2M 145.525 FM England
72 2021-03-31 13:09 G0HIK/M 2M 145.525 FM England
73 2021-03-31 13:10 G1PIE 2M 145.525 FM IO83qr England Mark
74 2021-03-31 13:13 M7MCG 2M 145.525 FM IO91vl England Micah C Godfrey
75 2021-03-31 13:13 G1OHH 2M 145.525 FM IO84ob England Susan Griffin
76 2021-03-31 13:13 G7CDA 2M 145.525 FM IO83qt England Douggie G7CDA

P1010654
P10106544000×2248 1.64 MB

Walking back to Thornthwaite Beacon

P1010658
P10106584000×2248 966 KB

The Approach to Froswick

P1010662
P10106624000×2248 1.81 MB

Froswick Summit

Froswick

WOTA ID: LDW-077 Height: 720 m (2362 ft)
SOTA ID: n/a Grid ref: NY435085
HuMP ID: n/a QTH Locator: IO84NL
Book: The Far Eastern Fells Lat: 54.468585 Long: -2.871858

image

Date Time Call Band Freq Mode Grid Country Operator Name Comments
79 2021-03-31 14:12 G1OHH 2M 145.575 FM IO84ob England Susan Griffin Unconfirmed by G1OHH
80 2021-03-31 14:13 G8CPZ 2M 145.575 FM IO84of England AJ Barth Unconfirmed by G8CPZ
81 2021-03-31 14:13 GW4ZPL 2M 145.575 FM IO73wd Wales Colin John Barwell Unconfirmed by GW4ZPL
82 2021-03-31 14:16 G7CDA 2M 145.575 FM IO83qt England Douggie G7CDA Unconfirmed by G7CDA

No spot required here, thank you to the chasers!

Ill Bell

WOTA ID: LDW-060 Height: 757 m (2484 ft)
SOTA ID: n/a Grid ref: NY436077
HuMP ID: G/HLD-035 QTH Locator: IO84NK
Book: The Far Eastern Fells Lat: 54.461407 Long: -2.870163

image

Date Time Call Band Freq Mode Grid Country Operator Name Comments
83 2021-03-31 14:39 M3UST 2M 145.575 FM JJ00aa England Derek Unconfirmed by M3UST
84 2021-03-31 14:41 G7CDA 2M 145.575 FM IO83qt England Douggie G7CDA Unconfirmed by G7CDA
85 2021-03-31 14:42 G1OHH 2M 145.575 FM IO84ob England Susan Griffin Unconfirmed by G1OHH
86 2021-03-31 14:43 G0MHF 2M 145.575 FM IO83lj England JOHN L BISSON Unconfirmed by G0MHF
87 2021-03-31 15:05 G0RQL 80M 3.706 SSB IO70uv England DON ROOMES Confirmed on 2021-04-01 21:35:02

After working 2m I wanted to give the HEMA chasers the opportunity to work me on this summit on HF, however, through a combination of no phone service and my LifePo4 quitting on me I only managed one contact with Don on 80m using 2.5 watts!

I suspected one of my LifePo4’s had been hammered too hard recently and this was confirmed with it finally quitting on me here.

P1010666
P10106664000×2248 1.12 MB

One of the two impressive Cairn Stones marking Ill Bell summit

P1010667
P10106674000×2248 1.52 MB

Two Cairn Stone piles on Ill Bell

Yoke

WOTA ID: LDW-085 Height: 706 m (2316 ft)
SOTA ID: n/a Grid ref: NY437067
HuMP ID: n/a QTH Locator: IO84NK
Book: The Far Eastern Fells Lat: 54.452431 Long: -2.86843

image

Date Time Call Band Freq Mode Grid Country Operator Name Comments
88 2021-03-31 15:40 G1OHH 2M 145.575 FM IO84ob England Susan Griffin Unconfirmed by G1OHH
89 2021-03-31 15:52 M7MCG 2M 145.575 FM IO91vl England Micah C Godfrey Unconfirmed by M7MCG
90 2021-03-31 15:52 G7CDA 2M 145.575 FM IO83qt England Douggie G7CDA Unconfirmed by G7CDA

P1010668
P10106684000×2248 1.36 MB

Yoke Summit

P1010664
P10106644000×2248 772 KB

Kentmere Reservoir

P1010669
P10106694000×2248 968 KB

Long walk down with Windermere in the distance

The final walk down to Troutbeck is a good two hours with sore feet at the end, but a fun combination of walking and radio thanks to everyone who makes this such an enjoyable experience by being at the other end of the radio!

5 Likes
2

Fantastic writeup @M0NOM. Great photos too. I’ve yet to venture out, when I do I anticipate very sore legs!

1 Like
3

An epic mark - a goodly hike with lots of successful radio. Great write-up. 73, Phil

4

Nice report Mark! @M0NOM

Were all those HF contacts at 5 watts from the 817?

I’m very tempted by the SB BandHopper - I’ve got their end fed long wire at the moment, but of course I’ve got to drag along the LDG tuner to make it usable.

Thanks for the tip on the LiFePO batteries the other month - I used them in anger on Billinge Hill last week and they were great. I had one running the laptop inverter and the other doing the radio/10w amp for 2m and they worked well for almost 2 hours of contacts. Way better than the 11.1v 3S LiPo batteries I had been struggling with. :slight_smile:

Best 73,
Simon

5

No, I was using the MiniPA50 successfully on Stony Cove Pike and High Street, the battery quit before I got to Ill Bell. Having said that this is the first time I’ve taken the amp with me, all activations last year with the FT-817 were barefoot.

Good news about the LifePo4, they are just so damn convenient.

Regards, Mark.

6

What a marvellous satisfying day Mark! Enoyed the read. Well done.

73 Phil

7

I was a bit disappointed initially with this MiniPA50 (I had one previously that I sold on) as it only puts out 30w but actually it is the sweet spot.