Another Ham Radio Outing

[DBK]

I'm off on another MH propelled ham radio outing this weekend to Bodmin Moor. I will be setting up my portable HF kit on top of the wondrously named Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall. This seems a good weekend to go as the G7 is being held in Cornwall so when I get to the top I will be able to say all the G7 leaders are beneath me. I will be driving there on Saturday afternoon and overnighting on the disused Davidstow airfield. Anyone in the area would be most welcome to join me on the airfield and of course the hill next day if they bring their boots. The walk is less than two miles but to get to Brown Willy you have to go over Rough Tor first.

I can't give exact frequencies yet but I will post them online on this website:

https://sotawatch.sota.org.uk/en/ Look for the "Spots" tab if it doesn't take you there directly.

They should also appear on here:

https://sotl.as/spots/sotawatch Where you can also find a map.

My callsign will be M0WIV/P. The timings on the website are UTC so 10:00 local will appear as 09:00. I will try and start earlier if I can get up in time.

I will start on SSB at 80m then work down through 40m and 20m and possibly down further to 17m and 10m but it will depend on the band conditions at the time. Each change of frequency will be preceded by a "spot" on the above websites. However, there is an RSGB 2m contest on Sunday morning so I plan to call on 144.300 MHz SSB at the start of the contest which is 10:00 local and see if I can get any replies. I'm dragging a 3 element Yagi up the hill for this.

This is not a "rag-chewing" opportunity as I am doing this under SOTA (Summits On The Air) so an RST report, exchange of names (and MHF usernames where applicable ) and a final 73 is all that is expected.

 

[DBK]

It was a mixed morning. I'll give a longer report probably tomorrow but I had some success on CW (using morse code) which I've been practising hard on recently. The highlight was a "summit to summit" with an operator on a summit in Switzerland. Only a handful of CW QSOs before my brain melted but they have left me with a warm glow - although that might be sunburn.

The G7 was on this morning so with this shot of me on the highest summit in Cornwall I can say with certainty all the leaders of the G7 were beneath my boots.

<Broken link removed>

 

[DBK]

This is one for the hams only. It's a slide show with the audio recorded from my radio of Sunday's little expedition.

Warning: Its in Morse Code - or my clumsy idea of it anyway.

 

[TheBig1]

When I heard you were enjoying yourself stuck up a big brown willy, I thought you were "coming out of the closet" after all those years in the army

 

[DBK]

When I heard you were enjoying yourself stuck up a big brown willy, I thought you were "coming out of the closet" after all those years in the army

It's a bizarre name for a hill but Cornwall is famous for wierd place names. But Brown Willy may be a corruption of Bronn Ewhella which means Highest Hill in Cornish. There are a few other theories but this one seems the most plausible.

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[drpeej]

This is one for the hams only. It's a slide show with the audio recorded from my radio of Sunday's little expedition.

Warning: Its in Morse Code - or my clumsy idea of it anyway.

Very pleased to find that I could still copy that CW quite easily despite not having been active for over 30 years. In my time I could manage 24wpm.

Peter (G3WHO)

 

[DBK]

Very pleased to find that I could still copy that CW quite easily despite not having been active for over 30 years. In my time I could manage 24wpm.

Peter (G3WHO)

I haven't done much CW for a few months and though I can still read it I think my sending skills have got a bit rusty. I'm in France now and hoping to activate a SOTA summit tomorrow but I'm going to use the "phone". My French callsign of F/M0WIV/P is tricky to send in CW!