by Anthony (M7TAW)

Introduction

After the success that was my first ever activations at Devil’s Punch Bowl, I’d earmarked another close by POTA spot for my second activation.

This one had an unusually low number of activations, given the local activity in surrounding parks. I just figured maybe it’s a bit out the way and a smaller area, slightly less popular. There can’t be another reason, right…right?

Only a few activations at this park, but G7SQW (pota.app) had a good one!

Old Winchester Hill National Nature Reserve (GB-0029)

Old Winchester Hill is a 164-acre nature reserve, with an Iron Age hill fort at the summit of its largest hill. Interestingly when checking out the location I did spot the phrase “Some unexploded Ordnance may still remain in ‘fenced-off’ sections of the hill” as the hill was used as target practice back in WW2. Watch where you’re walking then!

History buffs delight. An iron age hill fort!

Gear

The radio gear list was basically the same as my last activation apart from throwing in the Baofeng, so I just had to grab the already filled backpack again, and not have to think about it too much!

The only thing I did check was that the batteries were fully charged. I’ve seen a couple of videos of people mentioning running out of battery on an activation Lee – MØVKR!  Also I decided that I’d also bring a camping chair, which wound up being a bit hefty to carry and not very useful in the end…more on that later.

A full list of gear and links below.

• (tr)uSDX – DL2MAN.de – home of the (tr)uSDX
• JPC-12/PAC-12 7MHz-50MHz 100W Multi Band HF Antenna – AliExpress
• Tumd Morse Key – AliExpress
• 18650 Batteries x 3 (Comes in a set with flashlight and charger) – Amazon.co.uk
• Battery Case – Amazon.co.uk
• NanoVNA – AliExpress
• Baofeng UV5R – AliExpress

Setting up

The presence of a dedicated car park is a definite plus, especially for visitors who may not be familiar with driving on narrow UK country roads. Finding suitable parking near some parks can be a challenge, so having a designated parking area makes access much easier!

After having parked up, I donned my cap and grabbed my back and the chair. The day was warm, and the sun was out. It was a glorious day, but I’d forgotten one thing…it wasn’t radio related but you’ll see the consequences of that later.

I set off down the path and was greeted by a lovely view, and a fork in the path. Do I go left or right?

In a poor choose your own adventure, I chose right and realised about half way down a huge hill that I’d chosen incorrectly. What is this SOTA?!

I was carrying my backpack, a camping chair, and a huge bottle of water. The amount of vegetation and the incline of where I was walking meant I didn’t particularly feel good about setting up anywhere. So on I trod.

The heat was exhausting and the terrain was a little tricky. I then had to get through a pretty overgrown forested area.

The route so far.

What goes down…must also come up? Whatever…I was panting and I broke through the forested area to be greeted with this hill.

Deceptively tiring.

I have to say, looking at the image now it doesn’t look that bad, but at the time it felt horrendous. There were other people struggling getting up, and the heat didn’t help! I calculated the incline afterwards using google earth and it turns out it’s about 16 degrees, or roughly 25% grade.

In either case, I can see why this park has so few activations. It’s a bit of a slog to get up and down, and there aren’t many great spots to activate.

Thankfully, after I got to the top of the hill, I found a nice looking bench, which turned out to be a fairly precariously balanced bit of wood on top of some sort of water trough. I didn’t care though, I’d found a spot to sit down.

The spot for the day.

I’d spent a bit of time practicing setting up the antenna for both 20m and 40m at home using a wider range display on the NanoVNA which really helped. I could setup quickly, and boy after the walk that was helpful!

I’m loving this antenna for it’s quick setup and ease of being pretty discreet.

I found that for 20m I really needed to spread the radials out to get a good SWR. 40m tended to find a low SWR with just the radials lengthened out together. Not really that much trouble!

All setup and ready to go!

On The Air

Before I started, I actually pulled out my Baofeng this time, and tried to give a few calls out to no avail. I coordinated with a fellow Online Amateur Radio Community (oarc.uk) member over on Discord, and whilst we couldn’t make a straight line QSO, we did manage to chat via a repeater (which doesn’t count for POTA).

This time, I prioritised CW, and with my low SWR and nice spot high up on a hill, I thought I’d be getting out and getting calls in in no time. That great ball in the sky had other ideas though.

After setting my spot on the website, I called CQ on 40m for about 10 mins and noticed I wasn’t even getting heard on the RBN. I gave it another 5 minutes of trying and thought, “damn, maybe I’ll switch to 20m.”

A quick slide on the coil and adjustment of the whip and I’m on 20m. Okay, CQ again…nothing still. I tried moving about the frequencies a little but still nothing on the RBN and no calls coming in. That’s frustrating, I was really looking forward to some CW.

Okay let’s change tact, and go with FT8. Again, the (tr)uSDX is pretty handy for this as I can just plug directly into my phone via USB and boot up FT8CN and that’s that…I’m working FT8.

I tried on 40m first, and I found HB9XQH (pota.app) who was also POTA at that time! My first P2P, that seems like a good start!

It was another 6 minutes to get the next QSO with PA3CPS, immediately followed by M6BLV (pota.app). Then nothing for a good 15 minutes on 40m. Drat!

I then switched to 20m. My friend from the first activation came back this time DK5UR (pota.app), then followed EA7HTE (pota.app), and quickly SP1JQJ, and also OH1NOA (pota.app). Phew! At least it looks like I’ll be getting my 10 (foreshadowing).

At least there were some nice views to pass the time.

I then spent another hour working both 20m and 40m, FT8 and CW to no avail. I didn’t seem to either be getting out much, or anybody coming in. I had a couple of sniffs of a QSO on FT8 but they didn’t complete.

Finally, I got M0PTZ (pota.app) after this hour, but the day had gone on about 3 hours now, and I was starting to get too hot and tired. That was only 8 in the log, and it felt super frustrating to only be 2 away, but I needed to get back and I had to come up with the energy to make my way back up the hill!

After the high of the first activation, to go to a low of not being successful was disheartening, but it shall not dissuade me from future attempts! Just maybe I’ll give this old hill a miss for a while.

Oh, and also that thing that I forgot? Sunscreen…don’t forget that or you’ll end up looking like I did.

A British confectionary representation of my skin colour palette the next day.

Where are those last 2 hiding?

73s

Anthony (M7TAW)