Whenever you think there’s not going to be a hike, just a civilised walk from the car to the activation spot… there’s a hike. There’s always a hike.

Today’s intention was to have my first go at the RSGB 144MHz Backpackers contest, and conveniently get a 2m SSB SOTA activation in at the same time, since we’re now in summer and my 2m SSB contact count on SOTA peaks remains a big fat zero. Win Green was the obvious destination, an easy walk from the car and great VHF take-off in all directions.

But, as we pulled up to the car park, the first thing I spotted was… an antenna.

Someone else was already there.

We went over to say hi of course, and met some members of Salisbury Marconi Society, G5MAR hard at work on the contest. Hopefully we didn’t distract them too much, and had a nice chat. But of course with them operating from Win Green, we would have to find ourselves another hill to avoid causing them interference.

We did want to stick around the area though, because today was a Warbird Weekend at Compton Abbas airfield, and the second goal of the day was to take some photos of the many vintage aircraft flying in and out.

Remembering my previous 145 Alive 2m SSB operation from Fontmell Down, we headed that way. But on arrival it reminded me why I specifically picked it, because it had great take-off… to the west, where the net controller for 145 Alive was. It was immediately clear today that to the north and east, the situation was pretty much a write-off, and that’s the directions where many of our contacts would be.

But temptingly visible to the right of the car park is a much higher spot—not quite high enough to be a SOTA peak, but definitely with great views all around: Melbury Beacon.

It looked pretty close.

2.4km of walk and 80m of elevation gain later (most of the elevation being in one hard slog at the end), we’d made it to the top and were rewarded with scenic views of Cranborne Chase and the town of Shaftesbury.

Somehow the civilised activations, the short walks from the car park, always turn into this kind of nonsense!

By this point however, it was gone 1030 UTC—an hour and a half of the four-hour contest had already passed, and it was definitely time to get on the air.

This was my first Backpackers contest, and I wasn’t sure how busy the bands would be. Things seemed pretty quiet to me, although some of my contacts were throwing around serial numbers in the 50s and above, so clearly they were having a lot more luck than I was.

The setup over at M5MAR certainly looked great, with a decent pole, 8-or-so element Yagi and three operators to share the logging duties. But up on Melbury Down, we very much had our “my first VHF contest” setup: 4-element Yagi on a camera tripod, only around head height. I was also logging for myself today, as my very tired logging assistant was more interested in plane photos and sleeping!

Nevertheless we persevered, getting seven contacts in the log by search-and-pounce. Then, a mysterious high noise floor seemed to appear across the band. Without any idea what was causing it, we decided that was a fine time to stop for lunch.

The whole kit is in that bag, by the way: the FT-817 is in the main pocket, and the lower outside pocket containing an INIU USB power bank. The fist mic and my phone rest in the upper pocket, and the coax is routed out the top to the antenna.

After lunch I decided to call CQ for a bit, netting another 9 QSOs to bring the day’s total to 16. My best DX and only international contact was with EI3ENB/P on SOTA summit EI/IE-061; despite an opportunistically turning the beam around to the south, I didn’t manage any cross-Channel contacts.

While I’ll probably come last in the contest, I don’t think it was a bad first attempt. It’s already doubled the number of QSOs I’ve had on 2m SSB, even if they weren’t from a SOTA summit, and it’s renewed my excitement for future Backpackers contests where I can improve on my operating technique and maybe my equipment too.

But most importantly, we had a good time and a nice walk on a lovely Sunday afternoon.

Thanks to all my contacts today. Catch you on the air next time!