Gun SP-013

The first activation, and of course the first point of 2011, took place for me at the relatively late stage of January 2nd, 2011. Jimmy M3EYP and I headed out at 11am on the Sunday morning, inspired to activate on two fronts - the Macclesfield club's New Year SOTA outing, and the VHF Fun Day. Joining us for the club multi-op activation were Greg 2E0RXX and Simon M0TGT. Knowing that those two, and Jimmy were all going to be on 2m, I decided to keep my nose out of the VHF Fun Day and concentrate on building my New Year score in the G3WGV UK CW Table.

Jimmy M3EYP

After meeting at the parking spot and ambling up the hill, Jimmy set up for 2m FM (vertical) while Greg and Simon set for 2m SSB (horizontal). I erected the halfwave dipole for 30m. Greg and Simon seemed to be doing good business on 2m SSB with several S2S QSOs, and the same appeared to be true for Jimmy. On 30m CW, I limped to 23 QSOs and 14 DXCCs on 500mW as I hadn't prepared properly and had a virtually flat SLAB!

Trig point, 30m dipole and Tittesworth Reservoir

Trig point, 30m dipole and Tittesworth Reservoir

What had been prepared properly was the flask of Baxter's Haggis Broth soup, which Jimmy and I shared while Simon and Greg ate their packed sandwiches. It was very cold, and the warming broth was very welcome. We were joined on summit by social visitors Ray M1REK and Richard G3CWI who walked up to exchange New Year pleasantries. (This was also the case on 30m where every QSO was appended by two-way 'HNY's). Richard had just completed his first activation of 2011, over on The Cloud G/SP-015. I must visit that hill sometime...

Tom M1EYP

Rushton Inn post-activation drinkies - Richard G3CWI, Greg 2E0RXX, Jimmy M3EYP, Simon M0TGT

After packing away, we drove down the hill to Rushton Spencer, where the five of us (M0TGT, 2E0RXX, G3CWI, M3EYP, M1EYP) reconvened at the Rushton Inn for a pint or two of Flowers IPA. Another enjoyable winters outing, thanks to all callers.

No matter how early I set my alarm, I always manage to wake up before it goes off. And it still happened on Friday 3rd June 2011, even though the alarm was set for 4am BST! It didn't seem like four o'clock in the morning, for it was bright and sunny outside, so it felt quite natural to be having breakfast - cereal, yoghurt and a smoothie for those that like to know. It was a slightly longer drive than usual, as I was heading for Gun G/SP-013 in the Staffordshire Moorlands.

The often watery boggy ascent path was dry as a bone, and I was able to walk up in my trainers. There was also hardly any wind, so I set the MM20 up right by the trig point on the summit. I was QRV twenty minutes ahead of schedule, and the first contact, with EA3FAG, went into the logbook at 0439z. I sat by the trig point, using one face of it as a backrest. This meant I had my back to a rising and very bright sun, which was providing natural lighting to the wonderful view in front of me - the Cheshire Plain stretching outwards between the distinctive pillars of Bosley Cloud and Sutton Common.

It was a very enjoyable and productive activation of 142 QSOs, with 137 on 20m CW and 5 on 2m FM. The highlights were contacts into California (W6OAR) and Japan (JA8RJE), especially pleasing as it was them that called into my running frequency.

To be honest, I had no idea how many QSOs I had made - I thought it was about 60 or 80. It wasn't until I counted them at home I realised it was just 8 short of my highest total! Not that I would or could have pressed on to set a new personal record. TV aerial contractors were booked to arrive at home at 10am, so the QRT at 9.05am BST was absolutely necessary. Quite a few of the callers were regular SOTA chasers - many thanks to all for entering the pile-up to work me.

EA3FAG	20m	CW
OK2QX	20m	CW
HA6NW	20m	CW
RU4HD	20m	CW
RA4FBG	20m	CW
F5UKL	20m	CW
LZ1HDA	20m	CW
RD3AD	20m	CW
U3AZ	20m	CW
OE8SPW	20m	CW
HB9CGA	20m	CW
HA3LI	20m	CW
OK2BAQ	20m	CW
OK1DNZ	20m	CW
F9OQ	20m	CW
LZ2CF	20m	CW
I5FLN	20m	CW
HA7LJ	20m	CW
HA8TI	20m	CW
S51RV	20m	CW
DL1NKS	20m	CW
LY3BG	20m	CW
UX1IM	20m	CW
IT9IYZ	20m	CW
UA4ATL	20m	CW
LZ2FH	20m	CW
DL2JES	20m	CW
DL3JON	20m	CW
YO2BBX	20m	CW
SQ9DH	20m	CW
UT0MF	20m	CW
LZ2FH	20m	CW
UA1AVU	20m	CW
UR9MB	20m	CW
OK1QM	20m	CW
DL1AKP	20m	CW
RA9AC	20m	CW
OH2BLD	20m	CW
RV3LO	20m	CW
UA4LMV	20m	CW
R2DW	20m	CW
IK3DRO	20m	CW
RA3CQ	20m	CW
F5PLC	20m	CW
DF7UL	20m	CW
RA6AR	20m	CW
DL1EBR	20m	CW
R7NA	20m	CW
W6OAR	20m	CW
UA9ZC	20m	CW
OK2HI	20m	CW
IT9DVZ	20m	CW
UA3CS	20m	CW
SP2B	20m	CW
OK2RU	20m	CW
UA6JZ	20m	CW
LZ1XX	20m	CW
HA7UG	20m	CW
RV1CT	20m	CW
S58AL	20m	CW
UV5ERY	20m	CW
UA4LF	20m	CW
R3LB	20m	CW
IK1GPG	20m	CW
UF8T	20m	CW
ES0NW	20m	CW
UA9FGJ	20m	CW
F5MCC	20m	CW
F5IAE	20m	CW
R9AB	20m	CW
SP5KCR	20m	CW
UT5UKY	20m	CW
HA4XG	20m	CW
DH7KU	20m	CW
OK1PR	20m	CW
9A2N	20m	CW
OK1APV	20m	CW
ON4ON	20m	CW
JA8RJE	20m	CW
SQ5WWK	20m	CW
OH3OJ	20m	CW
SP4NKU	20m	CW
G4AYO	20m	CW
YU1GU	20m	CW
SM5CJW/3	20m	CW
YU7LS	20m	CW
RK1PWA	20m	CW
UA3LAR	20m	CW
GW7AAV	2m	FM
GW7AAU	2m	FM
2E0YLO	2m	FM
CT1BQH	20m	CW
HA8WV	20m	CW
S51ZG	20m	CW
HA5LV	20m	CW
DL3JPN	20m	CW
DL4JYT	20m	CW
EA1SB	20m	CW
LZ1HA	20m	CW
DL1DTF	20m	CW
HA2ESM	20m	CW
RK9DM	20m	CW
HB9IIO	20m	CW
G3WPF	20m	CW
SM0GNS	20m	CW
9A2TD	20m	CW
EA6UN	20m	CW
HA0LG	20m	CW
UR5WCA	20m	CW
DF1IAQ	20m	CW
EA5Y	20m	CW
DJ5RE	20m	CW
ES4RR	20m	CW
E77O	20m	CW
YU3A	20m	CW
YT2RX	20m	CW
HA0IH	20m	CW
SP2SWI	20m	CW
RV1OM	20m	CW
UA6FZ	20m	CW
EW4DX	20m	CW
DL2HWI	20m	CW
RD3R	20m	CW
SP9DLY	20m	CW
OH8LXT	20m	CW
OK1AVG	20m	CW
OM3MB	20m	CW
HB9DOT	20m	CW
OK1MNI	20m	CW
DJ7BA	20m	CW
EA8WH	20m	CW
UA1OIW	20m	CW
IK2GPQ	20m	CW
IK1DFH	20m	CW
UT2UB	20m	CW
EA4AYD	20m	CW
SP4GDC	20m	CW
HA5CW	20m	CW
LY3I	20m	CW
IS0LYN	20m	CW
GW0WTT	2m	FM
G3CWI	2m	FM

On Saturday 11th June 2011, it was a return to Gun G/SP-013, which unlike The Cloud G/SP-015, is within a WFF area - GFF-014. I was awake by 4.20am BST, so decided to go and have a play. The weather was lovely with bright clear views and only a breath of wind. It was rather chilly though. It was a return to 20m, and a productive activation of 1 hour 51 minutes saw 108 QSOs entered into the log - so the clock just about beat me! Best DX was JA, worked at 0627z. I couldn't stop any longer, for I had to be home by 9am for Liam's birthday trip to Waterworld.

LY5G	20m	CW
DL1DVE	20m	CW
DL9LM	20m	CW
UA2FT	20m	CW
U3AZ	20m	CW
UA3TCQ	20m	CW
UX1IM	20m	CW
OH3GZ	20m	CW
OK1US	20m	CW
UA6GG	20m	CW
RU6UR	20m	CW
RU4HD	20m	CW
EA1EYG	20m	CW
RK6J	20m	CW
SM0DXT	20m	CW
UA3CS	20m	CW
LZ4GL	20m	CW
SP2AOB	20m	CW
RW6MBC	20m	CW
OK1GT	20m	CW
UR3LM	20m	CW
IK1RQQ	20m	CW
RN7G	20m	CW
I1YRL	20m	CW
DK2AI	20m	CW
UY6IM	20m	CW
YO4ASG	20m	CW
S53AF	20m	CW
RV1CT	20m	CW
UA4QK	20m	CW
S51GL	20m	CW
OK1AFO	20m	CW
R3QJ	20m	CW
UX0IM	20m	CW
OK1FIM	20m	CW
US5VX	20m	CW
RW2L	20m	CW
UA4NAL	20m	CW
LZ1OJ	20m	CW
UA4UBW	20m	CW
UR3LM	20m	CW
OM3FR	20m	CW
YT1E	20m	CW
UT3UY	20m	CW
OK1APR	20m	CW
UR5CLN	20m	CW
UT5PI	20m	CW
UX5CU	20m	CW
EU4CK	20m	CW
UU7JD	20m	CW
HA3OD	20m	CW
DL7SBV	20m	CW
RA6AR	20m	CW
OE6WIG	20m	CW
9A3YT	20m	CW
YT1KS	20m	CW
Z35M	20m	CW
UA9YE	20m	CW
R2DO	20m	CW
OH1BLD	20m	CW
OK2PAY	20m	CW
UX1DC	20m	CW
OK1KRJ	20m	CW
EU1TX	20m	CW
OZ4RT	20m	CW
UT5PI	20m	CW
LY2ER	20m	CW
HA0IV	20m	CW
IT9XUA	20m	CW
IK2EKO	20m	CW
RA9LT	20m	CW
LZ1CY	20m	CW
YO3BAP	20m	CW
IK1GPG	20m	CW
YO3JW	20m	CW
RX3DBG	20m	CW
EA1DR	20m	CW
DK3DUA	20m	CW
SP9BRP	20m	CW
R2PA	20m	CW
OH1CM	20m	CW
IZ2MGN	20m	CW
UX3IO	20m	CW
SM5TSP	20m	CW
RX3AGD	20m	CW
F8BBL	20m	CW
JA8RJE	20m	CW
SP4NKU	20m	CW
9A1DX	20m	CW
UA4HY	20m	CW
9A3NM	20m	CW
UA4CTE	20m	CW
UV5ERY	20m	CW
DJ5AV	20m	CW
UA3AAM	20m	CW
UR8GM	20m	CW
SP9BGL	20m	CW
RM6J	20m	CW
SQ5STN	20m	CW
F6FTB	20m	CW
UT1IG	20m	CW
I1EEW	20m	CW
UX2IQ	20m	CW
9A4W	20m	CW
R7AA	20m	CW
RU4SO	20m	CW
HB9DPZ	20m	CW
SP9EWM	20m	CW

I was up giga-early at 4.00am on Saturday 18th June 2011, and set off to activate Gun G/SP-013 via a bowl of Coco Pops. It was a bit breezy at the summit, and the best shelter was on the face of the trig point that affords the least comfortable sitting position.

QRV on 20m CW, it turned out to be a quiet morning. Laci HA7UG was there as usual, but the other SOTA chasers or WFF collectors were not. After a slow-going 22 QSOs on 20m CW, I took the antenna down and replaced it with the 40m dipole. This garnered 23 QSOs on 40m CW, but none on 15m CW. Some interesting contest calls were heard on the latter, but try as I might, ZC4 and 3V did not hear me. Neither did Norby DL/LX1NO/P for a S2S on 40m, so that one will have to go in the SWL log.

I was back at home, as intended, at 8.55am BST. Weird to be feeling disappointed with 45 QSOs all before 0700 UTC! Thanks for the contacts. BTW, I keep winning all these votes with a vote of one, of my own, at present. I will continue to do so, because I only do requests when I am asked.

HA7UG	20m	CW
RA9XU	20m	CW
RU3EJ	20m	CW
I1EEW	20m	CW
RU4HD	20m	CW
UA6AGE	20m	CW
HA7UW	20m	CW
UA1CE	20m	CW
LZ1GC	20m	CW
EU4CQ	20m	CW
LZ1BJ	20m	CW
UA1ZZ	20m	CW
OK1US	20m	CW
RU3QR	20m	CW
SP9UPK	20m	CW
IK1GPG	20m	CW
OK1PR	20m	CW
IT9IFI	20m	CW
S53AF	20m	CW
SP2AOB	20m	CW
IK1RQQ	20m	CW
OM3SX	20m	CW
S51NR	20m	CW
DL6UNF	40m	CW
IK3GER	40m	CW
HA5TI	40m	CW
DL2EF	40m	CW
DL1FU	40m	CW
LA1ENA	40m	CW
S52ON	40m	CW
I2CZQ	40m	CW
DJ5AV	40m	CW
F6FTB	40m	CW
ON7RN	40m	CW
F4CTJ	40m	CW
DL5WW	40m	CW
ON4ON	40m	CW
SM1CXE	40m	CW
F8NUH	40m	CW
F5SQA	40m	CW
SP9DLY	40m	CW
DL8DXL	40m	CW
9A1DX	40m	CW
HB9CEX	40m	CW
9A3NM	40m	CW

Up at 4am on Sunday 19th June 2011, and out promptly after a couple of rounds of toast. Sadly, the rain intensified throughout my drive from Merebrook Road to the lay-by above Meerbrook village. So I donned full waterproofs, and thenset about the pleasant early morning stroll to the summit, noticing that the rain was drying up gradually.

It was quite windy right on the summit, but with a dipole rather than a vertical to deploy, there was no compulsion to remain by the trig. I dropped between the tree and bush that was the EYP-GIA campsite for International SOTA Weekend 2010. Attempts to send a spot via Spotlite failed from my position; I really must get that text number for SMS Spot and put it back in my 'phone! (Hmmm, just checked, and I think it is in there, just that I haven't labelled it with something sensibly obvious!).

In any case, I doubted it would take long to be found if I mentioned WFF GFF-014 (Peak District) in my calls as well as SOTA G/SP-013 (Gun), and sure enough, the first QSO was made with UA3U at 0429 on 10.108MHz CW. I am now looking at the Russian prefixes more critically after learning (yesterday) that there are now callsigns with the numbers 2, 8, 9 and 0 issued to stations in European Russia, and that they do not necessarily indicate Kaliningrad or Asiatic Russia! How irritating!

Within ten minutes, I had worked RU2FZ, a station located in Kaliningrad! In just over half an hour, I had worked 18 stations on 30m CW, but then things went quiet. I listened across the 10m band, which sort of works on the 30m aerial, but nothing doing. However, a few strong contest stations could be heard on the 6m band. I worked two of them, both in nearby IO82 on 50MHz SSB. Also heard was GJ6YB/P, but they couldn't hear me!

I was just about to revert to 30m CW when the SLAB ran out of juice and the rain restarted. So at the unexpectedly early time of 6.20am, I found myself packing away. Calls on 2m FM at the trig point did not elicit a response, so I descended and decided to add an item to the itinerary. With a good 2.5 hour window remaining before I needed to be home, I decided to drive across to The Cloud G/SP-015 and take a walk up there. Thanks to:

UA3U	30m	CW
OM3YCA	30m	CW
RN3DAO	30m	CW
OK2BAQ	30m	CW
OM7OM	30m	CW
OM6PR	30m	CW
RA3BQ/3	30m	CW
SP5KCR	30m	CW
UT3UY	30m	CW
RU2FZ	30m	CW
SQ5WWK	30m	CW
RA3EF	30m	CW
RX3AMW	30m	CW
IK4PKK	30m	CW
HA3OD	30m	CW
OK1DAV	30m	CW
RO3P	30m	CW
DL3APO	30m	CW
G5FS/P	6m	SSB
G3Z	6m	SSB

A revision to the plan was required on Tuesday 21st June 2011. The FT-817 had been driven up to Glossop the previous evening, to have the power socket fixed by Ken G8BEQ. This meant that HF, and CW were both off the menu. In order to accommodate longer pre-work early morning activations, I had been getting up at an early hour. I didn't really want to get out of this habit, so needed something else to occupy my time. I knew that 2m FM from a handheld and rubber duck wouldn't do that!

So I decided to do two activations before work! I set off from Macclesfield shortly after 6am and drove across the country lanes from Gawsworth to Bosley. Then it was down the Leek road to Rushton Spencer, taking care to watch the speed by the several sets of speed cameras, and up the hill to the parking area for Gun G/SP-013 at SJ967609.

No longer is it necessary to climb the stile to access the path. The gate is no longer locked, and the ribbon holding it closed can be lifted off and replaced. The more slender activators like Richard, Steve, Jimmy etc have always been able to squeeze through a gap between the gatepost and the stile anyway, but I have only ever been able to do that on a very good day!

Despite the torrential rain that inevitably arrived on the first day of Wimbledon fortnight, the path up to the summit was surprisingly dry underfoot. I reached the trig point and was greeted by a light breeze. No rucksack had been carried, for all my gear was in my coat pockets - pencil, waterproof notepad and VX-7R hand-portable.

It took a while of calling to generate four contacts, and attempts to mug folks on the GB3MN repeater failed. This was always the gamble in doing G/SP-013 first, before most amateurs in range were out of bed. But I got there and strode down the hill, realising that a time window remained to move onto The Cloud G/SP-015, but without any slack left. Thanks to:

M0RCC/M	2m	FM
G7GQF	2m	FM
G4VXW	2m	FM
GW7AAV	2m	FM

Wednesday 22nd June 2011 followed pretty much the same pattern as Tuesday 21st June 2011. Gun G/SP-013 followed by The Cloud G/SP-015, both activated on 2m FM with the VX-7R handheld. I had to be fully waterproofed, as the rain was heavy throughout. Most of those worked expressed surprise that I was out! This did not prevent a six minute over about one gentleman's hearing aid history, but then I did break into their QSO when nothing was happening on S20, so fair enough.

It was just three QSOs on Gun, and then two on The Cloud, so both one down on the previous day. But the FT-817 is now repaired and collected, so HF will resume on Thursday morning - cast your votes (if you promise to be up). It was now 792 activator QSOs since I last earned my self an activator point...! Many thanks to:

G4VXW	2m	FM
G7GQF	2m	FM
G0MNY	2m	FM

Keen observers of the SOTAwatch Spots will have noticed that I just couldn't seem to hold my QRG on the morning of Saturday 25th June 2011. I would find a clear one, listen for a couple of minutes, call QRL?, spot myself then start calling CQ. And everywhere I tried, it seemed that within seconds there was another station calling CQ on the same frequency or incredibly close.

It was a damp old morning on Gun G/SP-013, but not as bad as during the early morning drive out from Macclesfield, at which time the rain was quite heavy. I tried to configure a way to have the 40m dipole and 20m vertical erected simultaneously on the same pole, but this proved fruitless, and one-at-a-time was in order. Eventually, I managed to keep 14.018MHz to myself, and at last the WFF pile-up arrived. It wasn't a spectacular effort with 30 QSOs on 20m CW (the vast majority of them into Russia) and 9 on 40m CW and only about five regular SOTA chasers, but it was nice to have an A6 (United Arab Emirates) station call me in the pile-up.

I had a listen on 15m, but nothing was happening there, and I forgot to make a call on VHF after packing away. I did, briefly, consider nipping up The Cloud G/SP-015 with the handie on the way home, but in the end I couldn't be bothered. Thanks to:

RA4AAJ	20m	CW
UA6YH	20m	CW
EA3FAG	20m	CW
RA3TSM	20m	CW
RX3DBG	20m	CW
UA6FZ	20m	CW
UY6IM	20m	CW
RU3QR	20m	CW
RA3BK	20m	CW
UR3LM	20m	CW
OH2BLD	20m	CW
EU4CK	20m	CW
HA8BE	20m	CW
HA5BSW	20m	CW
A65CA	20m	CW
UA9CES	20m	CW
HA9SU	20m	CW
UA3CS	20m	CW
RA1OW	20m	CW
UX1IM	20m	CW
RV4LX	20m	CW
SP9ODY	20m	CW
RU4SO	20m	CW
R9AB	20m	CW
UA3YJE	20m	CW
RA3CQ	20m	CW
R6AD	20m	CW
SP4NKU	20m	CW
RA3TIO	20m	CW
S58AL	20m	CW
DK6ZZ	40m	CW
S52ON	40m	CW
DL1FU	40m	CW
F6ARL	40m	CW
F6FTB	40m	CW
DL1ZAL	40m	CW
OH6NPV	40m	CW
IK3GER	40m	CW
DL5YCI	40m	CW