I will stay in Dublin for a couple of days at the beginning of November. I hope to have one free afternoon there. I am thinking of taking a 2 m FM handheld with me to activate some summit near Dublin. Google Earth shows EI/IE-018 Fairy Castle or EI/IE-005 Kippure near the city. I would appreciate any hints to the logistics from the fellow Irish SOTArians. I will use a rented car so any advice on where to drive, where to park, where to climb etc would be welcome, as well as evaluating the possibility to receive answers to my CQs. I understand there is a number of commercial transmitters on the summits – what is the interference potential there? Is there anything else worth considering? Thank you in advance.
73 Ruda OK2QA
Hi Ruda,
EI/IE-072 is near to Dublin and there plenty of SOTA qualifing mountains near to Dublin.
Enjoy your trip there. I hope you do plenty of activations there as it is a very rare SOTA assoctiation.
Jimmy M3EYP
In reply to Ruda OK2QK:
In view of the early sunsets in November and because you will not have much free time, I would suggest EI/IE-072 Ben of Howth, on the north side of Dublin Bay. Travelling the 15 kilometres east from Dublin city centre to Howth by car on the R105 is straight-forward although there could be commuter traffic delays.
I live a short distance from the (Dublin) western end of the R105. Howth is at the eastern end of the R105. I have no idea of how many times I have been there during the past 30 years but I have to admit that I have never been at the Ben of Howth!
Enjoy your stay in Ireland!!
73 de Mike, EI2CL (HF-only SOTA chaser)
In reply to EI2CL:
Mike, thank you for your kind advice. I prefer HF activations as well, but I want to avoid discussion with AerLingus about the mast, SLAB etc. Due to proximity of big city I hope for some contacts on 2m FM. Are there any repeaters to announce myself?
BTW, thank you for your QSL confirming our QSO on 01-MAR-1980 1226 Z 10m SSB (yes, almost 30 years ago). I was using my old call OK2BJU.
73, Ruda OK2QA
In reply to OK2QA:
Hello Ruda,
Please excuse my delay and little knowledge of 2m operation. You can find information about repeaters in Ireland on the web-page of the IRTS IRTS – Amateur Radio in Ireland, Irish Radio Transmitters Society. In Dublin, Ch R0 (EI2DRG) refers. 73 de Mike, EI2CL.
Hello Ruda,
I had hoped to get a mail to you over the weekend, but I was late back on Sunday.
Firstly, here is a Google Earth kmz file which I created with all the EI East SOTA points (valid as of SOTA Manual 1.10):
http://www.ei8fdb.org/sota/Irish_SOTA-Points_EAST.kmz
In it I have added all relevant SOTA activation information. This should give you some help on choosing which summit to activate.
If you use Google Earth you can create a driving route for each of the summits, which will be more accurate than my directions 
EI/IE-005 or EI/IE-072 Ben of Howth would probably be the easiest. Yes, both have commercial transmitters on them, and these do generate some heavy QRM, though mainly on 80M.
These two summits are easy access:
Kippure EI/IE-005 has parking at the entrance of the path up to the summit. You cannot drive past this gate, so you will have to walk. It is approx. 35-45 mins. A nice up hill stroll.
From the city centre, it can take you approx 40-50 mins to drive there.
Depending on weather conditions, it can be very foggy, and sometimes very windy. Dress accordingly.
Ben of Howth EI/IE-072 has parking very close to the summit, and it will take you no more than 15-20mins to walk from the car to the summit.
Again from the city centre it can be about 30-40 mins to drive there (depending on traffic).
As Mike suggested, you can use the 2m repeaters, the link he gave is correct.
I would also suggest you could send an e-mail to the IRTS News service to announce your arrival and request for QSOs. You can find the news service contact details here: IRTS – Amateur Radio in Ireland, Irish Radio Transmitters Society
I hope that helps you. If you need more information I’d be happy to help.
Unfortunately I’ll be on holidays from the 31st of Oct to the 8th of Nov (in sunny Spain) so I won’t be able to be around.
73,
bernard/ei8fdb
In reply to EI8FDB:
Hi Bernard,
your mail was exactly the kind of information I hoped to receive from a local ham. Thank you very much indeed. Now only if the weather agrees with my plans.
Have nice holidays in EA.
73, Ruda OK2QA
In reply to OK2QA:
Ruda,
I hope your trip goes well and that you manage to activate at least one EI-SOTA!
73 de Mike, EI2CL
In reply to OK2QA:
Hi Ruda,
I hope your activations go well. If we could only get Irish weather to agree with us…Ireland would be a different country!
As a little help, I’d suggest using the following websites:
Irish Meteorological Service national and regional forecasts: National Forecast - Met Éireann - The Irish Meteorological Service
Irish MET rainfall radar: Met Éireann - The Irish Meteorological Service
Satellite view of Ireland (good for seeing what kind of weather is coming): Ireland Infrared - Met Éireann - The Irish Meteorological Service
Satellite view of Ireland, good for seeing cloud cover: Ireland Visible - Met Éireann - The Irish Meteorological Service
I hope they help.
Have a good trip.
bernard/ei8fdb
In reply to EI8FDB:
Hi Bernard,
thanks for the meteo websites. I will check them later.
My activations will take place probably on Wendesday and/or Thursday, November 4 and 5. Sun is not necessary, but I hate activations in rain. It is a pity that Spain has no SOTA association so far, there is a vast potential of summits.
73, Ruda OK2QA