Saturday, 16 April 2016

G/LD-004 Skiddaw & Mountain Goat

Mountain Goat here I come :)

G/LD-004 Skiddaw (10 points)

14/04/2016

The 13th was a washout so we decided to do some sightseeing and take a  trip through Hardknott Pass investigating some future SOTA summits on the journey.
Weather fit for ducks on the 13th..you might spot one?
We were due to go home on the 14th so even with a long 230 mile journey ahead of us Skiddaw was my nominated Mountain Goat summit as it would be easy to pick up the M6 and head for home later in the day.
My GPS track..Skiddaw
Little Man was covered by low cloud so it would be the same for Skiddaw and sadly Val would not see the wonderful views across to Scotland from the summit. 
Low cloud on Little Man
Monument to two Shepherds 
It’s about 3 miles to the summit but we made good progress arriving more or less on alerted time. There were texts flying around on my way up asking where I was so I knew there would be chasers listening for me and hoping the bands would be in reasonable shape. 
Thirsty work
Misty summit
A very cold breeze was blowing on top so we dropped down into a cairn below the trig. As per usual I started on 2m and within 4 minutes I was a Mountain Goat for SOTA with Rob G4RQJ being my fourth contact….a really wonderful moment after a ‘tad over 3years’ of activating.
11:32z
G4WHA/A
144MHz
FM
Geoff
11:34z
G6LKB
144MHz
FM
David
11:36z
GW4ZPL/P
144MHz
FM
John
11:36z
G4RQJ
144MHz
FM
Rob
11:37z
G1OHH
144MHz
FM
Sue
11:38z
G1KLZ
144MHz
FM
Doug
11:39z
GI4TUV
144MHz
FM
Roy

MG moment
Mountain Goat and XYL :)  ..'
An announcement on 2m that I was moving to 60m brought a spot on Sotawatch with 8 chasers making the log despite poor band conditions and multiple repeat reports….everyone I heard made the log thankfully.

11:41z
G6TUH
5MHz
SSB
Mike
11:42z
GI4ONL
5MHz
SSB
Victor
11:43z
G8MIA
5MHz
SSB
Andy
11:43z
G7AFM
5MHz
SSB
Phil
11:44z
G4IAR
5MHz
SSB
Dave
11:45z
G3XXR
5MHz
SSB
Roger
11:46z
PA7ZEE
5MHz
SSB
Geert
11:47z
GW4BKG
5MHz
SSB
Steve
A move to 40m brought an instantaneous reply from Barry M0IML who along with Steve MW0BBU had accompanied me on so many activations over the years…thank you both…oops ..better include Val here as well :)  Not many chasers made my log on 40m which is sad as I know there were so many trying desperately to get a contact but the band was just not working.
11:51z
M0IML
7MHz
SSB
Barry
11:52z
M3FEH
7MHz
SSB
Karl
11:53z
G6TUH
7MHz
SSB
Mike
11:54z
PA2CVD
7MHz
SSB
Cor
11:55z
G0RQL
7MHz
SSB
Don
11:56z
DK7ZH
7MHz
SSB
Manfred
11:58z
PA7ZEE
7MHz
SSB
Geert
As with all summits I look forward to at least one s2s but as I was packing up I left the FT270 plugged into the 2m dipole for as long as I could as I knew Jim MM0GLM/p was out and about in Scotland and not too far away….we made it so that finished off the perfect SOTA day for me….thanks Jim.
12:16z
MM0GLM/P
144MHz
FM
Jim s2s

Happy MG and XYL leaving the summit
Heading down...mist clearing
Derwent Water and Keswick

Thanks everyone for the contacts and the spots including those chasers that have ‘looked after me’ whilst I’m on a summit or travelling to and from a summit…you know who you are…thank you.

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.


73 Allan GW4VPX

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