Top O'Selside SOTA/WOTA & 3 WOTAS

M5TEA · 5 February 2026 10:30

A favourite spot to bag four Wainwrights with a combined SOTA in a couple of hours!

The walk to Top O’Selside was via a permissive vehicle track that ascends from the centre of High Nibthwaite. They are currently renovating a large building just to the North of the track entrance and that has created a row of parking spaces.

The Northerly walk is very pleasant and consists of varying gradient of ascent, until you turn to the East, parallel with the summit. There is new fencing in this area but with plenty of pedestrian gates.

The weather was light drizzle on and off, clearing later as I proceeded off Top O’Selside South to the other WOTAs.

Views to the South of Coniston Water

New path marker with fence and gate in the distance

Summit Cairnstone Pile

The plan today was to do HF/VHF from the SOTA summit together with 2m from the WOTAs, attempting CW/SSB from all.

Top O’Selside

WOTA ID: LDO-064	Height: 335 m (1099 ft)
SOTA ID: G/LD-048	Grid ref: SD308918
HuMP ID: n/a	QTH Locator: IO84LH
Book: The Outlying Fells	Lat: 54.316937 Long: -3.063909

Today I was using the FT-817ND with my new 3D printed 18650 battery cell tray. That was to perform flawlessly which was great. On Top O’Selside I erected the SOTABEAMS 20/30/40m Inverted V dipole together with the Spectrum Comms Slim J for 2m. HF was lively with a good run of contacts on both 20m and 40m. It was great to be able to congratulate Esther GI0AZA over the air on her recent Mountain Goat achievement.

TIME	CALLSIGN	BAND	MODE	RST	RSR	OPERATOR	SIG	REF
11:53	SA4BLM	20m	SSB	59	57	Lars
11:53	EA3EVL	20m	SSB	55	51	PABLO
11:54	SQ9MDF	20m	SSB	59	52	Leszek
11:54	EA1DHB	20m	SSB	59	54	Ricardo
11:55	EA7GV	20m	SSB	59	51	JOSE
11:55	SQ9JYK	20m	SSB	59	57	Piotr
11:55	LY2NZ	20m	SSB	55	55	Rimantas
11:56	DD0VE	20m	SSB	59	58	Ralf
11:57	EA3HP	20m	SSB	59	57	Daniel
11:57	SP9PND	20m	SSB	55	31	Milosz
11:58	DL5HCM	20m	SSB	59	55	Michael
12:00	OZ1RD	20m	SSB	59	55	Rene
12:00	SV3IEG	20m	SSB	59	55	Dinos
12:01	DJ7NT	20m	SSB	59	59	Joerg
12:01	OM5TX	20m	SSB	59	59	Jozef
12:01	DL9NCI	20m	SSB	59	57
12:02	OE7RGF/P	20m	SSB	57	57	Reinhard	SOTA	OE/TL-050
12:02	DL7UJM	20m	SSB	59	55	Jürgen
12:02	S57ILF	20m	SSB	55	44	FRANCI
12:06	ON4CAS	40m	SSB	59	59	Egbert
12:07	GI0AZA	40m	SSB	59	59	Esther
12:09	G0FEX	40m	SSB	59	59	KEN
12:09	G0MHF	40m	SSB	59	58	JOHN
12:09	G4WHA/M	40m	SSB	55	44	G
12:10	G0RQL	40m	SSB	59	56	DON
12:10	M1AOB/M	40m	SSB	59	55	RICHARD	BOTA	B/G-0160
12:10	MW9WJS	40m	SSB	59	55	John
12:13	MW7MWZ	2m	SSB	55	51	Mike
12:14	G6AEK	2m	SSB	59	59	David
12:15	G7SXR	2m	SSB	51	41	Mark
12:17	G7CDA	2m	FM	59	58	Douggie
12:18	M0SSD	2m	FM	59	59	George
12:19	M0JFE	2m	FM	59	59	John
12:24	G6AEK	2m	CW	599	599	David

On 2m SSB the SOTA status of the summit definitely pulled in additional chasers, and everyone offered their Maidenhead without asking. Dave @G6AEK also provided me with a 2m CW contact, breaking my ears with his 59+++ signal

DX Contacts

Local Contacts

After packing up I remembered again that the traverse down to the other WOTAs was a boggy affair last time I was up here, and it was no different this time either. Enough to get the boots completely soaked. My Salomon boots are getting long in the tooth now, grip is almost gone on the bottom and definitely no longer waterproof! It’s about 30 mins to High Light Haw and you need to be careful to stay on course because the fellside is covered in trails in all directions (there is a ridgeline to the left, that isn’t where you want to be).

High Light Haw

WOTA ID: LDO-085	Height: 263 m (863 ft)
SOTA ID: n/a	Grid ref: SD303904
HuMP ID: n/a	QTH Locator: IO84LH
Book: The Outlying Fells	Lat: 54.304288 Long: -3.071268

I’d setup on the traverse with my rucksack mounted flowerpot antenna and waist mounted case, so for the remaining WOTAs I was able to get on air in about 30 seconds.

TIME	CALLSIGN	BAND	MODE	RST	RSR	OPERATOR
13:07	G7CDA	2m	FM	59	59	Douggie
13:09	M0SSD	2m	FM	59	59	George
13:10	M0SSD	2m	SSB	59	59	George

Low Light Haw is visible from here and about 15 mins walk.

Low Light Haw

WOTA ID: LDO-091	Height: 250 m (820 ft)
SOTA ID: n/a	Grid ref: SD301900
HuMP ID: n/a	QTH Locator: IO84LH
Book: The Outlying Fells	Lat: 54.300666 Long: -3.074248

TIME	CALLSIGN	BAND	MODE	RST	RSR	OPERATOR
13:22	G7CDA	2m	FM	59	59	Douggie
13:23	G6AEK	2m	FM	59	59	David
13:24	M0SSD	2m	FM	59	59	George
13:24	M0SSD	2m	SSB	59	59	George
13:25	G6AEK	2m	SSB	59	59	David
13:28	G6AEK	2m	CW	599	599	David

Top O’Selside-Brock Barrow

WOTA ID: LDO-106	Height: 229 m (751 ft)
SOTA ID: n/a	Grid ref: SD299898
HuMP ID: n/a	QTH Locator: IO84LH
Book: The Outlying Fells	Lat: 54.298841 Long: -3.077274

There is quite a large cairnstone pile here, but if you look backwards to the North you’ll see the actual summit marked by a much more modest pile of rocks.

TIME	CALLSIGN	BAND	MODE	RST	RSR	OPERATOR	SIG	REF
13:43	G0KUY/P	2m	FM	54	51	S	POTA	GB-5561
13:48	G7CDA	2m	FM	59	59	Douggie
13:49	M0SSD	2m	FM	59	59	George
13:51	M0SSD	2m	SSB	59	59	George
13:56	G6AEK	2m	CW	599	599	David

A decent contact with Steve activating a POTA GB-5561 at 110km using the flowerpot antenna, it’s definitely working!

You’ve got to be careful coming off Brock Barrow as the land drops off sharply to the South and South-West. Cut back to the East where the path is marked and you’ll drop down more modestly to the path next to the woods.

Thanks to all the dedicated chasing today, much appreciated!