Potentially Qualifying Activation

Hi,

I recently rejoined the CT forum after an extended absence, I am liking the sounds of the CTX group.  Hiking and radios are two of my favourite things.  I am hoping to qualify for a CTX call sign however, my planned activation is a little short notice so might have to save it for another time.  Also, if this has any impact, I will struggle for anything 'Extreme' over the next 6 or so months.  I am based in North London and there is very little terrain that I would qualify as extreme in an easily accessible distance. I will be more active with a change of homebase in the not too distant future, so if that is going to prove an issue, no worries.  I can always got for the qualification another day.

My current plan is due to an un expected visit from the inlaws, I will am going to have an afternoon to myself this Weds.  I am staying up in Manchester to am planning to duck out the Peak District to play a little radio. All plans are obviously weather dependant.

The plan is to activate from Bleaklow Head, it is 633m ASL and approx 1 hours hike from the nearest car park timings TBC.  I am anticipating a couple of hours at the summit but that will depend on a couple of factors and I will be field testing my CB setup, so things could always go sideways

Equipment List.
Usual Hiking Kit
- Boots, hiking clothes etc.
- Fleece or down jacket depending on likely temps.
- Waterproof jacket and trousers
- Hat and gloves incase of unexpected temp drops
- Water bladder (3L if full)
- Snacks (cereal bars and jelly sweets)
- OS Maps on phone (primary source of navigation)
- Paper map and compass as backup

Safety Kit
- Lite first aid Kit
- Emergency Storm Shelter
- Water filter
- Torch
- Whistle
- Mobile phone

Radio Kit
- Anytone AT6666
- Handy for 2/70cm and PMR
- 7AH LiFe Battery Pack
- T2LT antenna and support pole
- Slim Jim or Telescopic Antenna
- Notebook and Pen for logging

I think that about covers it.  My safety kit generally just lives in my hiking bag so might be a few items I have missed but I feel I have got it faily well refined so am comfotrable that I will have everything I need.

Please let me know if there is anything else I need to provide.

Pete
26CT355/2E0PNW

Good luck with all that on your back.
Sounds like you enjoy your hiking and a very sensible hiker at that.
Where i live we used to see the chopper setting off to rescue walkers of Snowdon and the amount of them just in shorts and trainers was a joke.
22 squadron relocated now so we don't notice the same.

Hi Pete,


I've passed on your details and posting to the admin team as we currently do not have anyone dealing with CTX activations.

However I do wish you good luck with your ventures.


All the best,
Victor

Victor wrote:

Hi Pete,


I've passed on your details and posting to the admin team as we currently do not have anyone dealing with CTX activations.

However I do wish you good luck with your ventures.


All the best,
Victor

Thanks Victor,

Appreciate it.  No worries either way.  I will be out on the hills anyway (life permitting).  Let me know if there is anything I can do to help in that regard.  I am a big fan of portable ops and would like to help support.

Thanks

Pete

Alan Pilot wrote:

Good luck with all that on your back.
Sounds like you enjoy your hiking and a very sensible hiker at that.
Where i live we used to see the chopper setting off to rescue walkers of Snowdon and the amount of them just in shorts and trainers was a joke.
22 squadron relocated now so we don't notice the same.

Morning,

Thanks, I know it sounds like a lot but it is not actually to bad to carry.  I would rather take extra kit and know I has some resilience.  I used to live down in Plymouth and new some of the mountain rescue guys that covererd Dartmoor, some of the stories they told were mad.

Thanks

Pete

Hello Pete,

I would say that your plans more than meet the requirements to be allocated a CTX call sign.

Let me know when you've done the activation, it would be great if you could post some pictures or video for the benefit of our members and I will add the coveted CTX to your call sign.

Good luck with your adventure stay safe!!

73's Gary.

C.T. Admin.

GaryWilson wrote:

Hello Pete,

I would say that your plans more than meet the requirements to be allocated a CTX call sign.

Let me know when you've done the activation, it would be great if you could post some pictures or video for the benefit of our members and I will add the coveted CTX to your call sign.

Good luck with your adventure stay safe!!

73's Gary.

C.T. Admin.

Awesome thanks, Gary.

I will let you know once I have completed it and will add some pics and a brief write-up to this thread.  Fingers crossed for the go-ahead tomorrow.

Thanks

Pete

Sounds like a great setup Pete, if you can, post up a time you are likely to be on air here, I'll certainly have a listen out for you.
Good conditions on 11m lately to, hope the weather is not to bad

Hi,

Unfortunately, due to some minor family issues I have had to postpone the activation. There won't be enough day light to do it safely.
I will update this thread when I get another opportunity, hopefully tomorrow or the day after.

Pete

Keep us posted, family and safety first always Pete, always another day for radio

Good luck with it, Pete.

Morning,

Thanks guys.  A day later than intended but I am heading out today.  I will be on the summit around 2-2:30 hopefully so should be about on 11m from 3 onwards.  Gonna have a play on 2 meters first.  I will give a call around 27.555 depending on how mullered it is and if time permits will have a go on some FM probably channel 14 uk.

Not sure what conditions are doing but hope to catch some of you on the air, trying out my new CTX call sign.

Pete

Hi All,

I thought I would post a quick update on how I got on.

Firstly, here is the kit I took.  I ended up switching out the T2LT in favour of an EFHW.  It is lighter and has a much lower profile in the wind, which was still looking pretty high on the summit.  The trade-off for a slight loss of efficiency seemed worthwhile to allow me to actually activate and saved the need to faff about with guys.



I parked at the snake pass summit and hiked in from there.  Only about a 5mile round trip but it was reasonably technical and took me about an hour each way.

The WX was dry and not cold, feeling about 6 degrees on the summit.

I set up the HT first to do a HEMA activation of the Summit and was quickly able to get half a dozen contacts in the log.  I then set up for 11m and had a listen round on the band before having a go at calling CQ.  I didn't have much luck calling and getting a response, I suspect only running about 10W I was getting swamped by people running higher power.  I did however have a fair bit of luck, both local and DX coming back to people's CQ calls.  Conditions over the pond were a bit up and down, with signals fading in and out so I wasn't able to make any contacts stick to the other side of the pond.

I also sat for a while and enjoyed listening to all the stations coming in.  Being away from man-made noise really helps with the Rx.  I did put out a couple of calls on FM but got no response.  I didn't get a huge number of contacts in the log, but I was pretty satisfied with those I did and had a great afternoon hiking and playing a spot of radio.

Thanks for reading, back in the big smoke now so nothing too adventurous for me for a little while now.

Pete
26CT355/2E0PNW

Excellent stuff Pete, I very much appreciated reading about your activity. Looking forward to seeing some more as and when you do them.

73's Gary.

C.T. Admin.

Hi Pete,

I agree with Gary in that your postings with your outdoor radio adventures are absolutely excellent!

Look forward to more and would like to thank you for sharing with us all. 


All the best,
Victor

Thanks very much, guys, glad you enjoy them.  

Will post some more when I am out and about.  Just need to find some high ground for Wednesday now.....

Pete
26CT355/2E0PNW