Brough Castle G-047 Activation

Hi to all


Well alarm clock set for 0600 hrs which duly went off at the appointed
time and down stairs to make first brew of the day and to charge the
flasks. Once washed & shaved time to wake XYL & grandson Kallum (8 YOA)
from slumber and while they attempted to change from zombies to
something resembling human beings I packed the car.

After some brekkies, all on board at 0810 hrs and we aimed C4 XTR
towards the M6, well at least I did, the other two in company still
imitated wax looking alien like figures . WX was not looking great,
slight drizzle, mist turning to fog over the Trough of Bowland but the
good news was the outside temperature was showing 4 degrees and of which
I was sure would rise a few degrees more.

Light traffic on the M6 but between Jct 36 & 38 we encountered thick fog
with visibility down to 50 feet. Soon at Tebay J38 and then onto Kirkby
Stephen and soon arriving at Church Brough where I managed to get parked
in the village square (room for approx a dozen cars). Kit on and a short
walk to the start of the track to Brough Castle. The track is only about
150m long to the castle entrance and on the way is a ice cream/tea rooms
and both a kids play area and wooden picnic tables for perhaps better
weather.

Through the castle gatehouse and a quick look around the courtyard
before I wandered off to find a suitable operating location. Her indoors
& grandson went to look for the dungeons at my request, sadly their
were none! I found a spot outside between the castle keep and the South
Curtain Wall, in actual fact, I was in what once would be described as
the moat. Luckily for me then, the rain had stopped and life jackets
could be returned to the car.

Set up the 7M SOTA pole and SOTAbeams Band Hopper II 20/40M linked dipole
in the inverted 'V', the Yaesu FT-817 and a 12V 12AHr battery and tuned around the 40m band. Once again I could have cursed and did, a German contest station wall to wall. Pointless calling
CQ as I could not find a clear frequency. Looked around and at 7.162
managed to work Carl G4FMU/MM 59 both ways in the North Sea, Darren
M3JDF in Rotherham 59 both ways, Paul GM100RSGB 59 59+ in Dundee, Peter
G0CSK 58 59+ in Rotherham, Bill G4WSB/P 59 59+ on SOTA summit G-SC-008
Win Green, John M0CSN 55 59+, John G3OBU 58 both ways in Stoke, Clive
(Spike) G0CVL 58 59 in York, Brian G0JKY 58 59+ and Terry 2W0TCL 59 59+
in Ruthin North Wales. This made my ten contacts on HF and therefore a
successful qualification of the castle for CASHOTA requirements.

WX was now turning nasty, dark clouds loomed overhead in all directions
but the wind picked up from a westerly direction and the SOTA pole was
beginning to have a life of its own with a nice bending motion to the
top section. Time to pack up and head for the car. Back at the car
packed XYL in and de-mudded the grandson who sat on plastic bags the
whole way home, not dirtying the rear seats of C4 XTR.... No, no, no!
The second part of the day was carrying out a recce of Brougham Castle a
few miles away, which we did, ready for a future activation and a very
nice location indeed next to a very fast flowing river the
Egremont............. Passed Warcop army training camp of which brought
back both happy and not so happy memories, but I chanced a smile at
days gone by and never again to be repeated.

Thanks to Pete/Phil etc of the realHFmobile group who looked for me on a
very busy 40M band today, appreciated.


73's
Ian 2E0EDX