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