Saturday 16 April 2016

G/LD-020 Dale Head

Misty then wet and windy

G/LD-020 Dale Head

12/04/2016

I’d planned quite a few different activation strategies for the trip to LD to take into account the changeable weather. Today was one such variation. Usually Dale Head is the first of a ‘double’ with Robinson following on afterwards either as a linear walk with a car each end or coming back the same way to your start point. The weather forecast had promised a dry morning with wind and rain following in the afternoon…..we would bag at least one of the summits. Starting from the Honister Slate mine (£5.00 for parking) we headed up into the mist along the fence line which you can follow for most of the way…well worn tracks very much in evidence.
Dale Head..my GPS track
Honister Slate mine, carpark, cafe and shop
Into the mist
Setting up..convenient post on summit
With Mike G6TUH having put up a spot to say that I would be QRV shortly on 2m I qualified the summit immediately with 4 contacts but despite repeated calls nobody else made the log.
12:08z
GW4ZPL/P
144MHz
FM
John
12:08z
G6LKB
144MHz
FM
David
12:10z
G0TDM
144MHz
FM
John
12:11z
G4ZRP
144MHz
FM
Brian
Band conditions were different today on 60m and only 3 chasers made the log despite a spot by Mike. Once again after repeated calls I decided to move to 40m and asked Mike to spot me on a given frequency…thanks Mike.
12:16z
G6TUH
5MHz
SSB
Mike
12:17z
G0TDM
5MHz
SSB
John
12:18z
G4APO
5MHz
SSB
Roland
This frequency was working but after Geert cleared with me I was stamped upon by a station calling CQ a few Khz below..once again despite numerous calls I went QRT as I heard a ‘CQ SOTA’ call on 2m.  

Qualifying on 2m...no view today into the valley behind me


12:24z
G6TUH
7MHz
SSB
Mike
12:25z
G4OIG
7MHz
SSB
Gerald
12:26z
PA7ZEE
7MHz
SSB
Geert
That CQ call was from Caroline and Martyn on The Cloud G/SP-015. They had told me at the Blackpool radio rally that they would be out somewhere so thank you both.
12:36z
M1MAJ/P
144MHz
FM
Martyn s2s
12:36z
M3ZCB/P
144MHz
FM
Caroline s2s
Thinking it was odd that there were so few chasers on 40m earlier I sent a spot with a new frequency. Don RQL came back immediately saying he was sorry but he was gardening earlier on and had missed me :) It was nice to get a few more in the log but as Karl FEH told me he had suffered very rapid QSB with my signal and I had disappeared completely earlier. Thanks to those who did make the log....band conditions are making it tough.
12:41z
G0RQL
7MHz
SSB
Don
12:42z
G0FEX
7MHz
SSB
Ken
12:43z
M3FEH
7MHz
SSB
Karl
12:43z
ON6ZQ
7MHz
SSB
Christophe
12:44z
PA0SKP
7MHz
SSB
Sake
12:44z
M0NTC
7MHz
SSB
Gez
12:45z
PA0B
7MHz
SSB
Rob
12:46z
DL2EF
7MHz
SSB
Franz Josef
The wind was picking up and it had begun to rain so a quick ‘pack up’ was the order of the day and we headed down hill. Our outer garments were soaked by the time we reached the car but our inner garments were dry. We had a coffee in the Honister Slate café hoping we could get a rebate on the parking fee…it transpired you had to buy a piece of slate to get a refund..pricey!  9 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

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