GX0OOO/p Today. but NOT SOTA. 0V00

John (G4YSS) will be on the air today (Sunday 19th March) using the club call GX0OOO/p but this is NOT a summit.

He will be attempting to activate WAB Square 0V00, the most difficult square in the UK.

Located almost totally in the North sea, with the exception of the extreme SW corner, which just touches the corner of North Yorkshire (10 miles North of Scarborough) between high and low tides, it is located at the base of a 500 ft cliff

Due to the rugged nature of the terrain and the need to carry all equipment, using ropes, it is rarely activated on the air. The descent must be timed to arrive just as the tide recedes, so allowing time for set -up and close down before the tide turns.

He will be activating mainly on the Worked all Britain frequencies 7.160, 3.760 & 14.285. SSB, with the possibility of other bands and CW if time permits.

Estimated times

Arrive 1100,
set up antennas and equipment.
1300 QRV
1400 Low tide
1530 QRT (absolutely) John has to pack up the station and start to climb the cliff before the area is submerged.

73
Roy G4SSH

6 Likes

Love it! Good luck John.

Good luck to John on this action - I hope he gets clear before the tide comes in! That’s a real “wet square”!

By the way theres some contest on 20m at the moment, so 14.285 will be difficult to get I suspect. Perhaps hear him on 80m ?

73 Ed.

Later 1345

John had problems with high tide restricting access and antenna.
Now good sigs on 3.760 ssb

Roy

Got him! Another excellent effort.

Unfortuntely nothing heard down here in Southern Germany but that’s normal for the band and time of day.

great effort by John doing this.

Ed.

Thanks for the information Roy.

Well done John on your adventure today and glad I caught you on 40M.

I hope the climb back up did not scrape too much skin :wink:

Best wishes.
Mike

Posted a 5 minute audio segment on the WAB FB group Worked All Britain Awards Group | Facebook

Well done John - sorry I could not make a contact on 40m :frowning:

Dave
M6RUG

1 Like

Reading the initial description of the activation site, I had to look this one up.

From Google Earth, with an overlay of the WAB grids:

I have a feeling that GE’s projection doesn’t do the cliff justice.

Brilliant effort as always John,tnx for the 2 bands. 73 Don.

There’s an activation report from John on the WAB website forum here:

(Anyone can view)

http://wab.intermip.net/pbb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=665#p1118

I am not familiar with the area, and a landlubber on top of that, but I can’t help wondering why activators do not access the place by boat, instead of climbing the unstable cliff. Is the sea too rough for it, or the coast too rocky, so that a landing may be too dangerous?

73, Jan-Martin

Access by boat is possible…

You would need to have something with very little draught (eg a RIB) so you can land on the rocks - but it also needs to be big enough and strong enough to get you there - the cliffs are vertical for several miles, and a suitable launch site is even further away!

Andrew
M0YMA