After winding up some narrow country lanes, this summit is behind a metal metal gate tied shut with rope. A rutted (and at the time muddy) dirt road leads back from the gate towards a cluster of commercial antennas that are on a bit of land only marginally higher than the flat plateau around it. I did walk to that site, but decided that I would do better to work from just across the road where I had parked.
I did not have a lot of time on the way back from Exeter towards London, so I thought I would try my luck on VHF before throwing the HF antenna up over a tree branch. I scrambled up a low wall, held the radio up, and made calls on 2m FM. I got two quick responses from stations about 25 km away and they also worked me on SSB. I continued calling on 2m until I landed my four stations required to make this an official activation. Towards the end, my arm was getting tired, so I rested the bottom of FT817 on my head to the amusement of passing drivers.
I swapped in the FT817’s 6m vertical antenna and tried calling for about 10 minutes, both voice and CW (try working CW with paddles magnetically mounted on the radio which is on top of your head — it is a challenge). No 6m contacts have been logged from the peak, so I was hopeful, but it wasn’t to be.
Any idea where the trig point is? I’m there now but receiving no callers! G1TCH/P
Hi Clyde. I don’t recall seeing a trig point. When I worked my way back behind the field, there was a commercial antenna site surrounded by a fence. I believe my GPS indicated that the SOTA coordinates were either in that antenna site or the hedge to the side of it. Either way, the ground was a bit mucky, and since the ground is so flat there, the whole surrounding area is in the activation zone. I had very limited kit with me and decided to stand on a stone wall for a bit more elevation and luckily I reached a few people on 2 meter FM simplex. 73, Jack 5B4APL / AI4SV
Hi Jack. Thanks for the reply. I googled something like “missing trig point on Christ Cross hill” and discovered that several people have reported that there is a trig point up there but that it is hidden in bushes! I mean to go there again some time to activate the hill again, and I will look for it.
About actually contacting anyone. I was active about 30 years ago and I have recently come back to the hobby at the tender age of 73. In them days, I used a FT290R (amongst other rigs), which I still have. With it yesterday, I heard almost nothing; I even tried a few local repeaters – still nothing. I decided that either (i) there is something wrong with my rig and I was transmitting into a dummy load; or (ii) there really was nobody operating yesterday. I said ‘almost’. I heard a beacon from the west on about 144.466 MHz but unfortunately could not deecipher the Morse (that’s because I’m no good at it!) Later, at home, I discovered that that was at St Austell in Cornwall. So this seems to point to (ii) above. So where are all these people? I was told that by doing SOTA I would have a pile-up! Clyde
I’m hoping to activate this summit on 2 January but it will be down to the weather – although it looks as if this is a hill which can be done between showers!
To answer Clyde’s question “Where are all the people?” the answer is they are there but not on 2m especially outside of weekends. It just isn’t a band used much in the south unlike some places further north. I recently activated Hardown Hill near Bridport on 2m and had 11 QSOs but I had advertised the activation on the SOTA forum and posted an alert and of course spots when actually on the hill. I was successful on SSB, FM and FT8 but failed on CW. Using a 5 element Yagi I was reaching France, Wales and the South Pennines and I think the antenna was key. You need your signal to reach to where there are 2m users. This doesn’t mean it can’t be done with an HT and a rubber duck antenna but it will need a degree of luck and patience.