Great call to can it when you did James. SOTA is a fun hobby but you've got to remember its still hillwalking for the most part. Maintaining that awareness of your surroundings and having the confidence to call it when you did is absolutely the right thing to do. Kudos! Those conditions were extreme!

Thats commitment to the cause mate haha well done 👍

There is just something so quintessentially British in taking a radio up a mountain in weather like this to make a video for youtube. Its almost Python-esq in the delivery of the QSO's, I don't think I've laughed so hard at an amateur radio video in all my life. Thank you so much, this was brilliant. "Another summit, another drenching" - please make tshirts... :D P.S. So glad you made it safe, it sounds really risky on the path down.

@AmateurRadioUK

Жыл бұрын

You're right, that would make a good slogan for a T-shirt!

Respect for your ham spirit! All the best

Awesome! I’ve been hesitant to take my X5105 out if I even see a cloud lol. This gives me much more confidence!

Good advert for the slide winder!

@AmateurRadioUK

Жыл бұрын

Very true! I'm not sure what the maximum rated wind speed is but I probably wasn't far off.

ok ! don,t know what to say really, just glad your back safe. 73,

Nicely done Sir! The X5105 is a great little radio for SOTA. I've had mine a few years. As you say, the speaker is pretty grim but apart from that, it's a solid machine.

@AmateurRadioUK

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Ronan.

You're a legend James I have the 6100 and slidewinder too.

@AmateurRadioUK

Жыл бұрын

As one or two others have said, I think I might have inadvertently created a really good advert for the Slidewinder!

WOW!!.10 out of 10 for effort…Interesting video also..Thank you.. John.. G4EIJ

haha. Good effort! I think some ear buds are a must in winds like that.

Chapeau! 👍 vy73 from Hamburg/Germany, Dietmar, DL4HAO

I've never used a Xiegu transceiver but they seem popular and are a lot of radio for the money. I did fear for that antenna in that wind. Well done on the activation James. 73 Chris M0RSF

@AmateurRadioUK

Жыл бұрын

The biggest gripe I have with it is the speaker. It's a bit tinny & needs to be a bit louder. Other than that it's a rock solid portable radio. I was expecting the antenna to come crashing down. I've been joking with people that I was running a horizontally polarised vertical!

You really need to do on-location weather reporting, you know! :) Great video! Video quality is impressive taking into account the weather! Also, I prefer the X5105 over the X6100. Have fun with that radio! -Thomas (K4SWL)

I’m actually going to buy the x6100 very soon!

@m7trsradio

Жыл бұрын

Oh nice I keep looking at them 😁 Motters

Good job James. I'm actually surprised that coil and whip survived!

@AmateurRadioUK

Жыл бұрын

So am I.....it was practically horizontally polarised!!!

@theradiorover

Жыл бұрын

@@AmateurRadioUK 😂😂

@m7trsradio

Жыл бұрын

Lol it looked a funny shape. 💪🏽

Hilarious James take one was good the things we do for the love of radio. Fantastic efforts mate. In a strange way makes me want to get out. Hey might have ago at doing my first video this weekend. I hate hearing my own voice and very mic shy even on the radio. But we will see. Finished my slim jim and happy with it already started thinking how I am going to build my next antennas. Have about 5 antennas now but not much time to get out. 😔 Great activation and video. Motters M7TRS 73 👍🏻

@AmateurRadioUK

Жыл бұрын

Looking forward to seeing your first video Motters. As for being shy & hating the sound of your own voice, I was the same when I first started this KZread lark. I still am to some degree. Just look back at some of my really early videos.....some of them were absolutely awful! I was obviously nervous & uncomfortable. Get some videos out & keep plugging away. It takes up a lot of my spare time and there's a lot of hard work involved behind the camera that people don't see. One thing that I was told when I started was that growth is exponential. It starts off really slow. You'll think you've failed & will be tempted to give up. Then all of a sudden it starts to pick up pace. It feels like only a few weeks ago that I did the "Great Cockup 1k Celebration". Add nearly 400 subs to that number, my analytics have suddenly gone through the roof this last month & I reckon that I'll be getting close to 2k by the end of this year. If you are really serious about it, get your channel off the ground with a small back catalogue of videos and your first 100-200 subscribers then we can try to give you a bit of a boost. Maybe get you involved with our "3 Nations" events that we occasionally do. Possibly get you on a livestream. That's what others did for me......what comes around goes around!

@m7trsradio

Жыл бұрын

@@AmateurRadioUK Hi James thank you so much for the great words. I don't know what I will say on my video and how I will come across. I have spent most of the night looking at how to edit and overlay all that kind of stuff. I have already thought of my first video.. Its a unboxing of a battery. I have had it now for about 3 days and itching to open it and try it. How can I do a unbox video if I've already opened it lol 😂 Hmmm I have the box on my table sealed up waiting. I have my 817 which I've used on and off for today and it's now sat at 9v. Will have to charge it tonight. Oh man this is tough. Thank you for the encouragement and the kind words. Motters M7TRS 73 👍🏻

Well it worked!

@AmateurRadioUK

Жыл бұрын

Yep, I think I subjected it to a fairly rigorous test!

Amazing dedication to the cause there James, not quite sure how you managed to keep a record if the contacts in such poor conditions, coil held up well I thought & good contacts with the 5W of power using it. 73 Jim 2E0HKM

@AmateurRadioUK

Жыл бұрын

I'm not sure if I'd call it dedication or stupidity!!! Hanging onto the logbook was a real challenge. There were several occasions where the wind nearly ripped it out of my hands. As someone else said earlier, this is probably a really good advert for the Slidewinder coil!

Wow, James, even the most hardy won't venture out in that. Blooming barmy 🤣🤣 a good call to end it tho. 73

@AmateurRadioUK

Жыл бұрын

Well you do have to be a bit mental to be a SOTA activator. It's a prerequisite. You also have to be a little crazy to start a KZread channel....I tick both boxes so I guess that makes me a complete lunatic!!!

The x5105 is better than the 6100,in my opinion. I had one and I used it in -35c .. the radio very rugged. I worked 68 different countries with it and a qrp guys efhw. It’s the best price x features qrp radio out there. You do feel the difference on reception quality when you compare it to the ic705, for example, but it’s such a good radio

@AmateurRadioUK

Жыл бұрын

Completely agree. The Icom 705 obviously out performs the X5105 by quite some margin but given that the 705 is easily double the price (probably closer to triple the price) you would expect that. For the price I think it's a good option for a portable radio on a budget, or as a spare for when there's a chance of getting it damaged and you don't want to risk damaging the expensive radio. I just wish the audio was louder & less tinny. That's the biggest let down with this radio.

dedication for you. you should get an OBE.

Windy… Wet… Cold… SOTA… It’s like I’m looking in the mirror 😂.

@AmateurRadioUK

Жыл бұрын

We all know the SOTA routine:- - Get out of bed stupidly early - Clamber up a hill - Set up radio on hill - Pumping RF in to the atmosphere when you hit the PTT somehow upsets the balance of nature & triggers a massive downpour - The RF melts the clouds, causing the sun to start shining just after you've packed up & started your descent - Nature rebels & punishes you again with another massive drenching when you are within sight of the car park - Go home looking like a drowned rat with mixed emotions, feeling great that you succeeded but wondering to yourself "why the hell do I do this?" - Forget the trauma from the last activation & repeat the above routine at the soonest available opportunity!

@IrishHamRadio

Жыл бұрын

@@AmateurRadioUK😂 exactly.. And that “take 1” was crazy! 💨

@m7trsradio

Жыл бұрын

@@IrishHamRadio brilliant that's why we love it

@PortableRadio

Жыл бұрын

@@AmateurRadioUK And we even enjoy it, somehow 🤪😂

🤣

@alzeNL

Жыл бұрын

i think this is the funniest ham radio video ever.

Too much wind for me. Respect ! 73 de ON4MGY Nic