Introduction
This page details an activation of Cleeve Hill, SOTA summit G/CE-001, which I made on September 30th 2010.
Cleeve Hill is a popular hill in the Cotswolds area of southern England. In the Marilyn's programme the summit is located at the OS Trig Point at NGR SO997246 and is at an altitude of 330m (1083 ft). SOTA allows operation anywhere within 25m vertically of the summit, which in the case of Cleeve gives quite a large activation zone as the top is fairly flat. However most people operate very close to the trig point as this is just as convenient as anywhere else.
Cleeve was a convenient diversion on a trip I was making to visit my brother who lives near Chipping Campden. So I set off from home around 9am and fed the SOTA POI location into my Tom Tom. The car park adjacent to the summit, used for the POI, is accessed via a narrow lane from the south - there is an alternate starting point from a car park near the golf club off the B4362, which would have been far more logical for my trip, but that involves a 2 mile walk up the hill and I was a bit short of time to do that.
Having negotiated the narrow country lanes that the Tom Tom took me down I arrived at the car park by the communication towers slightly ahead of schedule just after 11am (1000z). Adequate free parking in the small area adjacent to the masts, not too many people about. After taking the station out of the car I had my first little scare - where have my car keys gone? It took me several minutes to find them tucked under the drivers seat where I had accidentally dropped them, presumably when I slid the fibreglass pole off the back seat. So panic over, I went through the gate and followed my way to the right along a fence where the trig point could be seen a couple of hundred yards away.
The K2 Station at the summit
Station Set Up
My station consists of an Elecraft K2 with built in ATU, which I normally use at 5W. For these portable trips it is powered by a 4AH gel cell, which can power the K2 for 6-8 hours, plenty for a short SOTA activation. For an antenna a 90ft centre fed inverted V doublet is used, fed with 300 ohm ribbon cable and a 1:1/4:1 switchable balun at the rig end. Support is a 10m DK9SQ fibreglass pole, slightly longer than most SOTA activators use and is possibly a bit bulky for a long trek, but fine for these easier activations like Cleeve Hill.
I had read in other SOTA reports that the trig point at Cleeve is missing its centre boss (or whatever, not sure what they should have in the middle) and sure enough I found a nice hole in the centre deep enough to hold the pole securely without need for guys (and I didn't have any of those with me anyway). I thought at first I could extend the pole section by section once I had dropped the pole in the hole but I wasn't tall enough to do that... So the pole was extended on the ground, the antenna centre attached, and then the extended pole lifted the 1m or so height of the trig point and into the hole. The ends of the antenna (gardening twine) were then secured to convenient fence posts - a fence runs a few feet behind the trig point (and there were some sheep the other side). I hadn't got the tension on the two ends balanced and the pole was bent well over to one side, but so what...
On the Air
The K2, keyer and battery were then set up close by and checked out working. Just at that point a couple of chaps wandered past and stopped, and one of them took something out of his pocket. At first I thought it might be a handheld and it was another SOTA activator, but no, it was just a camera. They were interested in what I was doing, and after they took some pictures of themselves in front of the trig point (not upset by the thing sticking out of it!) I asked them to take a snap of me 'operating' the station. Not the best of photos, but sets the scene. I thanked them, and they proceeded on their way. I saw only a few other walkers all the time I was there, very quiet indeed.
The Antenna and mast
On the Air
Now down to business. Quick CQ SOTA on 7.032MHz and a stream of callers appeared. The SOTAwatch spotting network seems to work pretty well and it was soon clear that I had been 'spotted'. 20 minutes brought 20 QSOs on 40m including DL8DZL/P on DM/SX-029, my very first Summit to Summit (S2S) QSO in SOTA, along with a fair mix of European and G stations. Had to move a little when DL8DZL/P started up close by and the two pile-ups merged! Great, many 599 reports, the doublet is clearly getting out.
After a while I decided it was time to have a look at 30m so changed over to 10.118, the SOTA watering hole on 30m. Nothing there, but found HA5LV/P calling CQ a kHz higher so gave him a call and worked him - on HA/ND-008, another S2S QSO. He then asked me to listen for his friend HA5MA/P who was with him, so a third S2S in the log (but no extra chaser points for me for that one...). I tried a few more CQs on 10.118 but got no replies and the band seemed very quiet so decided to return to 40m (in fact I had been spotted on 10.118 so maybe I would have worked some folks if I had stayed around a bit longer). 7.032 brought another half a dozen QSOs by 12 o'clock (1100z) but it seemed the pile-up had now worked itself out so decided to call it a day.
Another view of the antenna
Communication Towers
Afterwards
The station was soon dismantled and packed away. I was pleased with my effort and promised myself I would do some more SOTA activations soon. Bredon Hill G/CE-003 is even closer to my brother's so I have that pencilled in for a future trip, possibly next spring. Set the Tom Tom to guide me to my brother's house and took its second suggested route. This turned out to involve some VERY narrow roads up to the B4362, including one where I met an oncoming vehicle and had to do a hill start in reverse up a very steep slope to allow her to pass. Maybe I should have taken Tom Tom's first option.... SOTA is fun.