Whitfell, Burn Moor & the Barrows

[M5TEA]

On the advice of Nick G0HIK, a native of these parts, I parked on Corney Fell Road (marked with the star). The plan today was to do a SOTA/WOTA activation of Whitfell and then the three other Wainwrights on the way back, and try and do 2m CW on each one. It was about an hour and 20 mins to reach Whitfell from the parking position.

Whitfell

WOTA ID: LDO-005	Height: 573 m (1880 ft)
SOTA ID: G/LD-032	Grid ref: SD158929
HuMP ID: n/a	QTH Locator: IO84IH
Book: The Outlying Fells	Lat: 54.324568 Long: -3.294776

I was using my FT-817ND and SotaBeams 20m/30m/40m Inverted-V linked dipole supported by a 6m lightweight travel mast. All 2m contacts were made with @g7kse Alex’s flowerpot antenna, rucksack mounted.

TIME	CALLSIGN	BAND	MODE	RST	RSR	OPERATOR	SIG	REF
11:31	2E0LBI	2m	FM	59	59	Leslie
11:34	G0HIK/P	2m	FM	59	59	Nick
11:35	G6AEK	2m	FM	59	59	David
11:36	M7GTU/P	2m	FM	59	59		SOTA	G/NP-005
11:37	G8KBH	2m	FM	59	59	D
11:37	G6LKB	2m	FM	59	59	David
11:40	G0HIK/P	2m	CW	599	599	Nick
11:42	G6AEK	2m	CW	599	599	David
11:46	G4WPS	2m	CW	589	599
11:58	EA1DHB	20m	SSB	59	54	Ricardo
11:59	CT7AQP	20m	SSB	53	33	Luis
11:59	M8BIA/P	20m	SSB	57	57	Martin	SOTA	G/SP-004
12:01	SQ9JYK	20m	SSB	59	57	Piotr
12:02	EA7ANC	20m	SSB	59	55	antonio
12:06	2E0AGB	40m	SSB	59	59	Allen
12:07	M0MDA	40m	SSB	59	57	Michael
12:07	GM5ALX	40m	SSB	59	59	Alex
12:08	MM9STM	40m	SSB	59	59	Stu
12:09	GI0AZA	40m	SSB	59	59	Esther
12:09	GM6ZAK	40m	SSB	59	58	Andy
12:09	M0KOV	40m	SSB	57	55	Stephen
12:10	M5RJC	40m	SSB	59	57	Rick
12:10	GI0BFD	40m	SSB	59	57	Alwyn,
12:11	EJ8JCB	40m	SSB	59	59	Cormac
12:12	MW9WJS	40m	SSB	59	56	John
12:12	G4HQB/P	40m	SSB	58	55	Phil	SOTA	G/WB-013
12:13	M0OVW/P	40m	SSB	58	58	Gillian	SOTA	G/WB-013
12:14	M0RSF	40m	SSB	59	57	Chris
12:17	G4TGJ/P	2m	FM	59	59	Richard	SOTA	G/LD-052
12:19	M8XGO/P	2m	FM	59	59	Richard	WOTA	LDW-041
12:24	I1WKN	20m	SSB	58	57	BEPPE	SOTA	I/LG-020
12:27	OE6RCD	20m	SSB	59	55	ROLAND
12:28	EA7GV	20m	SSB	59	56	JOSE
12:29	S57ILF	20m	SSB	59	57	FRANCI
12:29	EA3EVL	20m	SSB	55	57	PABLO
12:29	IN3ADF	20m	SSB	55	55	Markus
12:30	EA2DT	20m	SSB	55	52	Manuel
12:30	DB4SNK	20m	SSB	59	57	Tomas
12:30	CT7AWH	20m	SSB	52	41	Manuel
12:31	SQ9CWO	20m	SSB	57	57	Jan
12:32	SV2RUJ/P	20m	SSB	57	55	Stavros	SOTA	SV/EP-107
12:33	SV4SWQ/P	20m	SSB	57	55	Ioanna	SOTA	SV/EP-107
12:34	SH6JOA/P	20m	SSB	57	54	Jonas
12:44	2E0VCA/P	2m	FM	59	59	Antony	SOTA	G/LD-030
12:50	2E0MIX	2m	FM	59	59	Derek

European Contacts

G/EI Contacts

Local Contacts

Burn Moor

WOTA ID: LDO-010	Height: 543 m (1781 ft)
SOTA ID: n/a	Grid ref: SD151924
HuMP ID: n/a	QTH Locator: IO84IH
Book: The Outlying Fells	Lat: 54.319959 Long: -3.305395

Burn Moor is about 20 mins walk down from Whitfell. As it is a very flat ‘summit’ there are a few places you might consider activating, however there were a few stones that stood out near where the GPS indicated the summit should be.

This might be the ‘summit’ cairnstone pile (looking back at Whitfell)

Sellafield in the distance

TIME	CALLSIGN	BAND	MODE	RST	RSR	OPERATOR	SIG	REF
13:14	G6AEK	2m	FM	59	59	David
13:17	G6LKB	2m	FM	59	59	David
13:19	G8CPZ	2m	FM	59	59	Andy
13:20	2E0MIX	2m	FM	59	59	Derek
13:27	G8CPZ	2m	CW	599	579	Andy

Buck Barrow

WOTA ID: LDO-009	Height: 549 m (1801 ft)
SOTA ID: n/a	Grid ref: SD151910
HuMP ID: n/a	QTH Locator: IO84IH
Book: The Outlying Fells	Lat: 54.307379 Long: -3.304997

TIME	CALLSIGN	BAND	MODE	RST	RSR	OPERATOR	SIG	REF
13:53	G6AEK	2m	FM	59	59	David
13:54	G6LKB	2m	FM	59	59	David
13:55	2E0MIX	2m	FM	59	59	Derek
13:59	G7CDA	2m	FM	59	59	Douggie
14:01	GD5MUP/P	2m	FM	59	59	Mark	SOTA	GD/GD-001
14:02	GM1VCA	2m	FM	59	55	John
14:07	M1AVV	2m	FM	59	59	Simon
14:08	M6KWB	2m	FM	59	58	Kelly
14:11	G8CPZ	2m	CW	599	599	Andy
14:14	G6AEK	2m	CW	599	599	David

Nice to have a chat with GD5MUP who had ventured up Snaefell.

Kinmont Buck Barrow

There is a wall in the way when traversing between these two summits, but there is a gate that can be used. When traversing back from Kinmont Buck Barrow to the wall that leads back to the cars the path is a lot more obvious.

WOTA ID: LDO-012	Height: 535 m (1755 ft)
SOTA ID: n/a	Grid ref: SD146909
HuMP ID: n/a	QTH Locator: IO84IH
Book: The Outlying Fells	Lat: 54.306397 Long: -3.312652

TIME	CALLSIGN	BAND	MODE	RST	RSR	OPERATOR	SIG	REF
14:32	G6LKB	2m	FM	59	59	David
14:33	G7CDA	2m	FM	59	59	Douggie
14:34	MW6IQF	2m	FM	59	59	David
14:35	G6AEK	2m	FM	59	59	David
14:36	M7HNS	2m	FM	59	59	John
14:38	2E0MIX	2m	FM	59	59	Derek
14:46	G6AEK	2m	CW	599	599	David
14:50	G0CMQ	2m	FM	55	57	MARK

2m CW Experience

This outing was an excuse to try my setup for 2m CW. The rucksack mounted flowerpot meant I didn’t need to deploy an external antenna. It is also fairly rugged. I bought a PowerPole case for my FT-817ND a few years ago, expensively shipped from the USA, but it is a well made case designed to support pedestrian mobile. The case is waist mounted with a large strap and clip and gives access to the front of the FT-817ND. It worked fairly well, except some issues with the Palm Pico Paddles which turned out to be me taping the lead that comes out of the back of the paddles too tight, so they were unable able to fully extend. It was an altogether positive experience.

The FT-817ND hip-mounted in the PowerPort case

Alex’s signature orange flowerpot 3d printed design

Spotting App

It was also the first time I was able to use the WOTA Spotting Application which worked beautifully, there are only a few niggles to sort out. I need to decide how best to host it moving forward, as it is currently hosted at home and it needs specific requirements.

[g7kse]

Nice antenna, I bet it knocks the socks off everything else

[PhilM0AYB]

Congrats on an amazing and high quality report, Mark. New Year’s resolution to try 2m SSB in WOTA mode. P

[2e0ldf]

I like the idea of the radio in the pouch it saves a lot of time getting it out and setting up, I may just nick that idea

Reg