GM4ZFZ/P - Mountain Adventures with a Radio

Creag Liath & Carn Dearg (Monadhliath)

24th December 2005

A great day out on this pair above Glen Banchor near Newtonmore. It was a touch windy but sun and blue sky made a change from Scottish clag.

GM/CS-088 - Creag Liath - 745m - NH 663008 - 4 points
6 QSOs: 80m CW - 2, 40m CW - 4

Left the car at the end of the public road at NN 692997 and set off with head torch across the river to the cottage and barn at Glenballoch. A right turn through the woods then spat me out onto the southern slopes of the hill. I took a fairly direct route to the summit turning the very steep ground on the left.

There were quite strange band conditions and I had trouble making my presence felt with a number of stations starting to call CQ on top of me. I rather think I had my antenna setup in the wrong direction which didn't help. However, Jack, GM4COX/M (in his car at the start of his route) and Mike, EI2CL were worked on 80m and then HB9AFI, G3TJE, G0VYR & MW0IDX on 40m. Photo below looks across to Carn Dearg from the summit cairn.

GM/CS-037 - Carn Dearg - 945m - NH 635024 - 6 points
15 QSOs: 20m CW - 4, 40m CW - 11

When planning I was in two minds whether to head around the high ground or cut across the corrie. However, the stiff wind made up my mind and I headed north to the col, down to the river which I followed to beneath the summit and then took the punishingly steep grassy gully directly between the two summit buttresses. Care was needed as high up the turf was hard frozen and quite icy in places.

Below are the two summit buttresses of Carn Dearg and the view back to Creag Liath.

Three friendly Ptarmigan high in the gully.

It was extremely windy when I reached the summit and there was no shelter to be had bar perching precariously on the east face (not recommend without belay!). I rapidly set up the antenna and sought refuge instead in my bivi bag and stayed tolerably warm which was good since I had something of a pile waiting for me. HB9AFI, HB9AGH, HB9DOT & G4OBK on 20m and then the following on 40m: G4OBK, PA0XAW, DL4ALI, EI7CC, G4ERP, G3PWS, EI2CL, LX1NO, G4ZIB, GM4UBJ & GM0AXY the latter two benefitting from a quick shortening of the skip towards the end.

It is a long walk back out from this summit. But with time on my hands I dawdled and enjoyed the views, the sense of space and eventually a glorious evening sun disapearing behind the hills west of the glen. Top tip: follow the Allt Balloch all the way to the main river (pleasant and picturesque) rather than try and cut across (boggy and laborious).

Geal-charn Mor

19th December 2005

CS-070 - Geal-charn Mor - 824m - NH 837124 - 4 points
10 QSOs: 80m CW - 4, 40m CW - 6

This hill is great for an uncomplicated day out. The 'Burma Road' is followed to its summit and then a left turn along the broad ridge to the top. I left the car at the gate of the Scripture Union centre at Lynwilg and was arriving on the top around dawn.  In constrast with my previous attempt at an activation, which was made exhausting by fresh snow, the route was clear. The sky was in dramatic mood with clear blue over the Monadhliath and brooding dark clouds over Speyside and the Cairgorms.

There was a brisk wind so I set up south of the summit. Being a little ahead of my activation time I gave a call on 7030 and worked PA0NQ & 2E0BGD before heading down to 80m for 10am. Here  I found G3CWI, EI2CL, GM0AXY & EI7CC. And back up again on 40m: PA0XAW, G3VQO, HB9AGH & HB9DOT. Used the long-wire with counterpoise. The photo below shows a minipole being used as an end support for the long-wire.

Beinn a'Chaorainn

8th December 2005

An evening grab of my local 8 pointer. It was cold, dark, misty and the skip was long...

GM/CS-012 - Beinn a'Chaorainn - 1050m - NN386851 - 8 points
5 QSOs: 80m CW - 5

The forest track from Roughburn takes you to a junction at NN372822 where a left turn very shortly leads to a little cairn and a way through the woods onto the hillside below Meall Clachaig. This is a good approach but the first section through the woods has now become almost intolerably boggy (swamp maybe a better word). In daylight this is just about avoidable by threading through the trees but in the dark it would potentially be horrifc. Made a mental note not to come back this way!

A straight forward plod eventually leads to the south summit. I arrived in clag and dark a little after 1800 and there was more snow on the summit than I expected so was very careful in moving across to the main summit. The cornice that forms here is a serious man trap that has claimed lives. The east face cuts into the path of the bearing between the two summits but is filled in by the cornice.

This cairn offered a little shelter from the wind but it was very cold - this was going to be a swift activation. With long-wire set up I called CQ on 80m. I was grateful to the following chasers who were worked fairly quickly: G3VQO, G3TJE, HB9DOT, DL4FDM & HB9AFI. The nearest were south UK so with long skip I was not able to work some other UK stations who I knew were waiting. A quick call on 40m went un-answered.

I took a direct bearing off the summit and this wonderfully gave me a quick descent on firm névé to about half way down by linking large snow patches. After this the crust was collapsing so went for linking the heather patches after that! Now out of the clag I was able to set my bearing to the twinkle of house lights at Inverlair which guided me down to the Allt a'Chaorainn. I tried diluted tomato soup in my flask which turn out to be great food but lousy drink so I quenched my thirst at the river before heading back through the woods to the road.

Beinn a'Bhacaidh

5th December 2005

GM/CS-104 - Beinn a'Bhacaidh - 555m - NH 431119 - 2 points
7 QSOs: 80m CW - 1, 40m CW - 6

There are several things I will do differently the next time I activate this fine hill:

1) I'll probably try and walk in from the north rather than from Loch Tarff avoiding much bog and deep heather
2) I'll choose a clear day rather than clag so to get nice views of Loch Ness
3) I'll take a 1:25,000 map not a 1:50,000 which in the clag proved useless on this complex multi-knolled summit.
4) I'll try and take my gloves rather than my wife's and hopefully send half decent CW as a result.

After doing away with several impostors I eventually ended up on the true summit in thick clag at about 1500. This summit is perfect for a long wire antenna and I had only just got one set up between the summit and a nearby knoll when I heard G3CWI calling me on 80m. I immediately started to reply and then realised you need to tune the ATU with a long wire! So after working Richard and then tuning up properly on 40m the following stations were worked amid heavy QRM and with very squashed fingers: HB9AFI, G3VQO, EI7CC, DL1AUU, DL4FDM & MW0IDX.

After picking the wrong way off the summit I stumbled back to the car in the dark, in much bog and in next to no visibility contemplating my seeming lack of hillcraft and eventually blamed a heavy week in London, a long drive home and general lack of sleep, rest and time off! Made a commitment to escape to the hills a little more often this month and chase down G3CWI's CW score!

Beinn Teallach - 3rd Activation

18th November 2005

GM/CS-044 - Beinn Teallach - 914m - NN 361859 - 6 points

I felt like an uncomplicated plod on this rather cold day so chose Beinn Teallach which is just up the Glen from home. I got away after lunch and thoroughly enjoyed the increasing views up the otherwise boring ascent of the south side of this 'only just munro'. The northern aspect of this mountain is much more interesting and was my route of ascent last time after Carn Dearg.

Right is Beinn Teallach from the Allt a'Chaorainn which one has to cross shortly after leaving the woods from Roughburn.

Below is the view across to the Aonach Beag ridge which along with Ben Alder will complete all of Region 4b of the Relative Hills of Britain for me. It's a big expedition I've been saving up for quite a while - maybe this winter??

The sunset was nice but my photography skills failed me so I haven't pained you with my rather poor efforts!

At the summit, it was getting dark and very cold so I every layer including down jacket was emplyed before putting up the dipole. Pictures below show the dipole in place with the Minipoles as previously described and 80m loading coils in place (click for larger image).

G3CWI, GM0AXY, EI7CC & G4OBK were all worked in quick succession on 80m followed by G3XJS & DL4FDM on 40m. Nothing on 20m. I was logged into the SOTA IRC channel on my phone and arranged a sched back on 80m with G4OWG who was on channel. I could hear him just in the noise but unfortuantely he couldn't hear me. The temperature was about -4deg C with a breeze and I was getting a little chilled despite all layers so I didn't hand around much longer than necessary and strided back down with a full moon lighting my way.

The Bogtrot - Gairbeinn & Meall na h-Aisre

Friday 26th August.

This walk in the West Monadhliath turned out to be somewhat more time consuming than I had planned with peat hags, bog and swamp meaning a return to the car at 1am after a slow 2.5hr descent navigating down in the dark & clag. I took 3 Minipoles this time!

GM/CS-052 - Gairbeinn - 896m - NN 460985 - 4 points
5 QSOs: 20m CW - 3, 40m CW - 1, 80m CW - 1

The drive from Laggan to the end of the Garve road seems to go on for ever cutting deep and remote into the hills towards the Corrieyairack Pass. Parking at the end of the metalled road, I left the car at around 3.30pm (all times in this report BST) and took a direct approach to the summit which had me operating by 5.15pm a little earlier than planned. It's a nice summit which offers good shelter from the wind which was still quite strong.

I had the combo pole (5m) and the multi-band dipole with a minipole (2.5m) propping up each leg towards the end which worked out well. This is probably the best antenna I have yet operated with. The Minipoles are extremely quick and easy to work with. F5UKV, DL4ALI & IK6JRJ were worked on 14060, DL6BCS on 7029. I then spent about 10mins calling CQ on 80m at about 6pm (my announced activation time) with no reply so with a good 9km hike to the next summit, I started to pack up. With the antenna on the ground and the pole being dismantled, I heard my callsign faintly in the noise. I quickly reaffixed the Minipole to the walking poles and hoisted the antenna back into the air and worked G3CWI at about 449 both ways. Remarkable I heard him with the antenna in the heather!

GM/CS-059 - Meall na h-Aisre - 862m - NH 515000 - 4 points
4 QSOs: 80m CW - 3, 40m CW - 1.

Well, this was somewhat of a miscalculation!! I thought that if I pushed it I could do the 9km and re-ascent in about 1.5hrs, but that was not allowing for the dodgy underfoot conditions for a good proportion of the way. There were significant sections of fairly serious bog and peat bags. As it happens it was after 9pm before I was operating from the top of this remote hump.

Mainly due to busy bands, QSOs were quite hard to come by but eventually qualified the summit with G3VIP, G3YHO & GM3JUD on 80m and DL8BDF on 40m and was finished by about 10.30pm. I packed up and phoned the XYL and told her not to wait up! I had to make a decision between a fairly straight forward descent and a 5km+ hike back a long the road or a longer more direct line back the car. I chose the latter and was glad I did but it was quite a challenge. Pitch dark, clag and confusing and quite complex terrain made it a stern test in night navigation. My altimeter broke a while ago and I haven't yet invested in a GPS so it was compass, timing and pacing all the way with a liberal portion of peat hags and bog thrown in for fun! I did get lost once and with no visibility to speak of I sat on my rucsac at a bit before midnight munching on an apple feeling like Gandalf in the mines of Moria. A wrong turn would be very expensive, time-wise! Anyway, I got a good strategy sussed out and found the right river which led me back to the car by 1am and home and bed by 2.

A later night than planned but quite enjoyable being my first decent trek in a few weeks.

(For anyone else interested in these hills at this time of year, they are on Glenshero Estate and the Stalker is on 01528 544222 and the Lodge on 01528 544267)

 

Epic on Creag Bheag (Kingussie)

Friday evening 19th August 2005

GM/CS-111 - Creag Bheag - 487m - NH745017 - 1 point
7 QSOs: 20m CW - 4, 80m CW - 3

We were experiencing hot sunny weather in the West Highlands so I didn't think to study the weather too much when I headed east to Kingussie. However, the east was not so benign. I parked in Kingussie and wandered up a very pleasant path for about 30 mins to the top of Creag Bheag. For the next hour and a half I was alternately drenched by very heavy downpour and then mobbed by clouds of biting midges. It was horrendous and had I not taken the midge net I wouldn't have lasted 2 minutes. This has got to be the most unpleasant activation conditions I have experienced! I remember considerably more pleasant conditions in the grip of full-on winter storms on a 10 pointer!

However, it was a good test for my new 'combo pole' which is made up of my normal walking poles with one of G3CWI's new Minipoles attached to the top giving me a fairly robust 5m+ pole. The wonderful thing about this is that it all fits in the rucsac unlike the normal SOTApole. And it is considerably lighter as well. The connection is made up of a piece of overflow pipe padded with neoprene to fit snugly on top of the walking pole and then slides up inside the Minipole - solid.

First up was 20m where I worked DL7JSM, DL7UKA, DL4ALI & DL9VSB to qualify the summit, then GM4CXP, EI7CC & G3CWI on 80m. All good signals. My flask was enjoyed on the trip back in the car. I had absent mindedly tried to both drink tea and eat sandwiches through the midge net ... didn't work!

 

The Twin Carn Deargs

6th & 7th March 2005

These two hills are situated at the head of Glen Roy.  All contacts were on 80m CW.

GM/CS-073 - Carn Dearg - 815m - NN349967 - 4 points
4 QSOs: 80m CW - 4

I set off from Brae Roy Lodge and walked up to the head of Glen Turret with the hill tops glowing in the evening sun. I chose to climb up to the 350m Parallel Road and contour around into Gleann Eachach and follow the south bank of the river up towards the bealach before striking off for the summit. This had the advantage of staying below the snow line but I think normally I would recommend crossing a bridge at NN332940 where the river forks and heading up Teanga Mhor. The coutouring was a bit tiresome and the river sides very steep giving no opportunity for crossing until quite high.

Once out of Gleann Eachach it was hard going in soft deep snow covering at times potentially treacherous peat hags and bog. I employed liberal prodding with the walking poles! Towards the top the visibility fell dramatically in the dark, clag and snow; it took me a while to locate the true summit.

I set up the Slinky Special and worked EI7CC, G0NMD, GM0AXY & LY2FE (Lithuania) giving me good reports from 85m to 1000m distant on 80m CW.

It was a very dark night and, rare for me, I felt quite isolated and alone admidst the snow and wind. I hurriedly packed up headed steeply down to the bealach, firm snow on this aspect allowing me to stride down swiftly.

GM/CS-085 - Carn Dearg - 768m - NN357948 - 4 points
5 QSOs: 80m CW - 5

I plodded back up the other side and before too long approached the summit of Carn Dearg #2. With a mammoth feat of will power I constructed the antenna before hitting the sac and reaped the reward first thing in the morning of being able to operate without getting out of my sleeping bag!

G4DUC, GM0AXY, EI7CC, HB9AFI & DL3KOG were worked between 0700z and 0800z giving fair reports from Edinburgh to Switzerland.

The photo shows the Slinky Special. It comprises two walking poles, a few sections of fibreglass tents pole on top, a slinky and some wire. It is shown without the 10m wire for 80m inv L config but with a 2.5 top for 5/8 wave configuration on 20m. I'll try and get some better photos next time! I use a 20m counterpoise lifted a foot or two off the ground for 80m and 2 x 5m radials for 20m.

Click on the photo for a larger image and you can *just* make out the slinky on the walking poles!

After packing up I had a most pleasant walk down in increasingly fine weather -  stark contrast to the intimidating feeling of the previous night.

Beinn a'Mhonicag

2nd March 2005

SOTA Ref GM/CS-101 - Beinn a'Mhonicag - 568m - NN287854 - 2 points
8 QSOs: 80m CW - 3, 40m CW - 2, 20m CW - 2, 2m FM - 1

This is my fourth time operating from this convenient hill in Glen Roy (and second successful activation). I was up and running with the Slinky Special well before schedule at about 0745z. The weather conditions were pretty wild - a very cold gale with frequent blizzarding. However the ground drops away sharpish just south west of the summit giving almost perfect shelter so I was quite comfortable!

A call on 20m CW raised Martin SP5JNW in Warsaw and a shout on 2m FM caught Robin, GM7PKT/M on his way to work in Fort William (line of sight into town!). On 80m CW I worked GM0AXY, EI7CC & G0TUE getting fair reports and then G3VQO (Sussex) & DL2IAD on 40m CW on long skip. A final call on 20m got OK2MSS in the Czech Republic.

Geal-charn Mor

17th February 2005

GM/CS-070 - Geal-charn Mor - 824m - NH837124 - 4 points
1 QSO: 40m CW - 1

Thanks for anyone who may have been listening out for me on CS-070. It was quite wild wx condx and this made it difficult to do anything very constructive with antennas. On arrival, I couldn't get in my bivi bag fast enough and in the morning after a few calls on 40m at 0730 all I had in mind
was getting off the hill and out of the wind!

A grand total of 1 QSO with EC2AHL/QRP in Northern Spain at a little after 2130. He didn't hear me call when on the dipole (in fact he started calling CQ on top of me doing the same) but came back straight away when I switched to the vertical (which was only the slinky stretched about 2.5m, the top part of my vertical was abandoned because of the high wind). So only one data point for my experiment! On receive, however, I thought the dipole was better.

The hill is an easy and accessible one with a very good track (almost road) from near Aviemore (NH875110) leading to within 125 vertical metres of the 824m summit, then a straight forward wander to the top. Deep snow made it hard going .... oh how I envied those ski tracks running along besides me as I floundered along! This is classic back country skiing territory.