This was my first Summits On The Air (SOTA) amateur radio activation. Despite Cleeve Hill having a carpark very close to the summit, I decided to enjoy the walk up from the nearby village of Prestbury (ample street parking is available).
The hill is pretty steep on the way up; it had been raining the night before which made the ground conditions suprisingly challenging for what should be a relatively easy walk.
| Activation Date: | 2023-12-22 |
| Summit Reference: | G/CE-001 |
| Summit Locator: | IO81xw |
| Summit Height: | 330m |
| SOTA Points: | 1 |
| Access: | 3.5km Walk (each way), 250m Ascent |
| Weather: | 7°C, 21kts from W, 83% RH |
| Equipment: | Kenwood TH-D72, Arrow-II Yagi |
| Callsign Activated: | G5JDA/P |
| Contacts: | 5 |
Next to the carpark atop the hill are three antenna towers. Previous activators have reported break-through on 2m but I had no issues with either my Kenwood TH-D72 or Yaesu FT-4X.
I was using an Arrow-II portable hand-held Yagi antenna with just the 2m elements attached. I thought this extra gain would be helpful but in hindsight a lower gain antenna that could be raised further from the ground would probably be better for this summit. Also, I had not considered how I was going to log contacts whilst holding the Yagi and radio! Three hands would have been ideal.
After making two contacts, I decided to rethink my operating position which had been directly next to the trig point. The wind chill and difficulty logging caused me to take shelter behind a gorse bush. Supporting the Yagi with the gorse gave me the thrid hand I needed!
I made another contact then decided to have a cup of coffee. Around this time I repeated my self-spot on SOTAwatch and noticed that M1HAX was activating Fan Nedd in the Brecon Beacons. I quickly tuned around the calling frequency and heard another station calling MW1HAX/P. Dashing back to the trig point I managed to find a position that just barely facilitated a two-way QSO whilst holding the Yagi as high as I could manage. Quite the thrill to manage a summit-to-summit (S2S) contact on my first attempt at SOTA.
| Time | Callsign | Band | Mode | Notes |
| 09:30 | G4NVY/M | 2m | FM | Mike, Gloucester |
| 09:40 | G1ERM | 2m | FM | Darrne, Swindon |
| 10:03 | M0KZO | 2m | FM | Andy, Malvern |
| 10:50 | MW1HAX/P | 2m | FM | Richard, S2S GW/SW-007 |
| 11:18 | G4GHL | 2m | FM | Mike, Malvern |
Lessons learned: plan a way to log contacts with a free hand or alternative solution, do not underestimate wind chill when standing still for a while, 5W is viable near populated areas.
Cleeve Hill has excellent views, including of Cheltenham Racecourse.
2 replies on “SOTA G/CE-001 – Cleeve Hill”
You don’t need a Yagi for SOTA 2m FM – build yourself a roll-up slim-jim
Hi Colin, thanks for the comment. Yes, I absolutely agree! In this case I was using what I already had available. I have since built a slim jim as you suggest.