G/LD-018 & G/LD-017

Countdown to Mountain Goat

G/LD-018 & G/LD-017

Stoney Cove Pike & Red Screes

11/04/2016

The Lake District is only a short drive from Blackpool so the plan was to visit the NARSA Blackpool radio rally on Sunday and head to LD in the afternoon for an assault the following day on a few high pointers to reach my 1000 points and Mountain Goat status for Summits On The Air.

Blackpool Tower

Another fantastic radio rally...pic shows just one of two halls with 

Bring & Buy in another room.

We had booked into our favourite B&B in Ambleside with Stephen and Jeanette at 2 Cambridge Villas…it was so nice to see them again.

Stoney Cove Pike

The weather forecast had promised a nice day but with wind speeds of 35 to 50 mph on high ground…we would be on high ground :(

On our way past the Kirkstone Inn wind farm..3 turbines

Looking back down from St.Raven's Edge

Our next summit - Red Screes across the valley

With a ‘belts and braces’ approach to the activations I followed the routine of 2m followed by 60m and 40m. Now the HF bands have not been friendly of late so I was also packing the 80m extensions as well. The wind was not too bad on Stoney Cove Pike and I managed to put up the HF antenna, however a couple of extensions were left in the main tube.

It was lovely to hear and work a few callsigns that I had not worked since last year so a few ‘Happy New Year’ were the order of the day:) I reminded quite a few that I would be on Red Screes later in the day and hoping they would be around to fill my log :)

10:25z	G1OHH	144MHz	FM	Sue
10:26z	M3LIU	144MHz	FM	Iain
10:28z	GW4ZPL/P	144MHz	FM	John
10:29z	G4WHA/A	144MHz	FM	Geoff
10:30z	G1HSO	144MHz	FM	Mark
10:31z	M6OXO	144MHz	FM	Brian
10:32z	G0TDM	144MHz	FM	John
10:32z	G4RQJ	144MHz	FM	Rob
10:34z	M0WBG	144MHz	FM	Neil
10:34z	G6LKB	144MHz	FM	David

Behind the wall

60m was working well with a steady flow of chasers and a few brief chats, however, it was soon necessary to move to 40m as the chasers soon dried up.

10:48z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
10:49z	G6TUH	5MHz	SSB	Mike
10:50z	G4AFI	5MHz	SSB	Andrew
10:50z	EI9GLB	5MHz	SSB	Jim
10:50z	G8MIA	5MHz	SSB	Andy
10:51z	G7AFM	5MHz	SSB	Phil
10:52z	G4IAR	5MHz	SSB	Dave
10:52z	G0TDM	5MHz	SSB	John
10:52z	G3XKT	5MHz	SSB	Tony
10:53z	G0VWP	5MHz	SSB	Terry

40m worked well enough for me but I knew there were many that could not hear me and that would be the story over the next few days as band conditions gradually got worse.

10:58z	G6TUH	7MHz	SSB	Mike
10:59z	2E0KVJ	7MHz	SSB	David
11:00z	ON6ZQ	7MHz	SSB	Christophe
11:00z	M0IML	7MHz	SSB	Barry
11:01z	DJ5AV	7MHz	SSB	Michael
11:01z	G4WSB	7MHz	SSB	Bill
11:02z	G3VCG	7MHz	SSB	Don
11:03z	EA2CKX	7MHz	SSB	Pedro
11:03z	PA2CVD	7MHz	SSB	Cor
11:05z	G4FGJ	7MHz	SSB	Gordon
11:06z	EI2KD	7MHz	SSB	Rodney
11:07z	G4OIG	7MHz	SSB	Gerald
11:08z	G0RQL	7MHz	SSB	Don
11:10z	G4OBK	7MHz	SSB	Phil
11:12z	M0FMF/P	7MHz	SSB	Andy s2s

I was pleased to get an s2s with Andy at the end of the activation...thanks Andy.

Red Screes

My GPS track

Kirkstone Inn below

A cup of coffee back at the car and we were soon on our way up to Red Screes with the wind speed increasing as we climbed higher. 

Turn left here...remembering Colin G4UXH

I was worried that I would not be able to operate on HF on the summit….those worries were soon confirmed as we hit the top…it was a problem to stand up properly so we hid in the cairn by the trig. A text to Mike G6TUH to say that I had scrubbed the visit to HF I was soon ‘on air’ with Val holding only a few sections of pole and the 2m dipole peeping out above the cairn.

Hang on Val

14:33z	G1GDB	144MHz	FM	Derek
14:35z	G6LKB	144MHz	FM	David
14:36z	G0TDM	144MHz	FM	John
14:37z	G4WHA/A	144MHz	FM	Geoff
14:38z	MM0GZZ	144MHz	FM	Duncan
14:38z	MW0OTH	144MHz	FM	Alex
14:39z	M3ZEG	144MHz	FM	Gez
14:41z	2E0DGP	144MHz	FM	Phil
14:42z	G6ODU	144MHz	FM	Bob
14:43z	G0CTR	144MHz	FM	Peter
14:46z	G0HRT	144MHz	FM	Rob
14:46z	M6LKB	144MHz	FM	Clifford
14:48z	M0TXP	144MHz	FM	Paddy
14:50z	G4MKT	144MHz	FM	Barry
14:52z	G0PJY	144MHz	FM	Peter

Quite a few chasers made the log including Bob G6ODU back on air after a long absence….thanks Bob. Some of the regulars also posted saying that I would not be on HF…thanks again. 

Automatic page turning :)

From the cairn

It was a precarious journey down as the wind tried to pluck us off the side...not one of my more pleasant visits to Red Screes. 15 points to go....

My activation set up today:-  (HF) Yaesu FT817 (5 watts) (4Ah LiPo),  3 band link dipole (60/40/20 (+80m extensions),  (VHF) Yaesu FT270 (5watts) & cable tie dipole for 2m - 7m Fishing pole.

Thanks everyone for the contacts and the spots.

73 Allan GW4VPX