M1EYP Tom 2000th Activation

Hi Viki,

Yes I am well aware of Jan OK2PDT’s astonishing and continuing achievements. In fact, in my original “Closing in on the 2K” thread, I acknowledged this and the fact I would be 2nd to achieve 2K activations after Jan.

And yes, soup shopping will be done sometime this week here in Macclesfield!

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Well Said Tom. Why not take Four Cans of your favourite soup with you, then should all else fail, you could always organise a “Quadrille”. Hi Hi.
Speak again soon Tom. 73 de Paul M0CQE.

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Congratulations Tom! Fantastic achievement.
All the best - Al M1FHM

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Congratulations Tom, great achievement!

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Well, I can now reveal that “2001: A Summit Odyssey” (credit to M0CQE for that one!) will be tomorrow (Sunday) morning 0900-1200 UTC / 10am - 1pm local.

There is a 6m CW contest on, so that is an opportunity I cannot resist! There are bound to be several “quiet” periods in an event of that nature (unless condx are stupendously good), so I will use these to call on 2m FM, as I know at least one chaser (who doesn’t have 6m) is keen to work my 2001st activation and had requested that I announce it first.

Sadly it looks like it might be a bit damp, but no danger of any electrical activity this time! Hope to work many chasers on 50MHz CW tomorrow, and as I say, there will be occasional calls on 2m FM for the local chasers.

Thank you everyone for your nice comments above, much appreciated.

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Good intentions and all that…

As I was setting up the SB6 beam for 50MHz on Cloud summit, Sunday 25th June 2017, I noticed that I had left the VHF handheld in the car! So I couldn’t fulfil my stated intention to offer A2001 to the local VHF chasers. Well, not properly. I suspected there would be a very good chance that Paul M0CQE would be listening S20 and ready to pounce, so I forced a CQ call out through the 6m antenna. Sure enough, Paul answered, and we completed a very quick rubber stamp contact.

Onto the 50MHz, and as expected, it was pretty slow going for the full three hours. 21 QSOs were made into G, GD, EI and I. A couple of GM stations were heard, but far too weak to work. Frustratingly, it was only in the last 15 minutes of the contest that an opening to Italy appeared. I didn’t manage to get back to IK3VYO, who understandably had an anxious pile-up from G stations in the contest! I did manage to get through to IK7EVE though, so at least the activation ended on a high.

Mid-activation, a chap approached and said “I’m a National Trust warden. Have you got a licence for this?” I responded in the affirmative and told him I had held my amateur radio licence since 2001. “No, I meant a licence from the National Trust” he continued. I reported to him exactly what the NT had explained about its attitude to “low-impact activities” in years gone by, but added that if he required me to pack away, I would comply without argument and be able to do so in less than five minutes. There was no need for that though, as we was happy and content with what I’d had to say. With his colleague, had move along to the northern-most of the four paths off Cloud summit, and worked on installing a Gritstone Trail waymark post.

Finally it was back down and back home via the supermarket, and preparing Sunday dinner for Marianne’s return from work.

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Well it appears I have done a “Boycott”…

I am ploughing through the process of updating my website with activation photos and even some activation reports that haven’t even appeared on this reflector (Tenerife 2017 for instance).

I came across some photos that didn’t match any activation in the SOTA Database - and realised, that for some inexplicable reason, that my activation of Walton Hill G/CE-002 on 30th April, had never been entered!

Well, it is now. But you know what that means don’t you? My 2000th activation was not. It was my 2001st activation. Sorry to have to break this news!

So “Activation 2K” was not G/SP-015, 21st June 2017 with 104 QSOs. It was, in fact, 20th June 2017, also on The Cloud G/SP-015, but with just two contacts!

Thank you to Pete 2E0LKC and Anne 2E0LMD for working me on this historic occasion!

#rewritinghistory

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And another. Now found that my Cloud G/SP-015 activation from 26th June 2017 is still hiding away in my waterproof logbook having never been submitted…

Wonder how many more I’m going to find???

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Here’s a thought for you…get a process.

  1. Decide to go out and place alert on SOTAwatch
  2. Activate and spot
  3. Update log as soon as you return
  4. Run over kit fixing all issues observed on activation done earlier
  5. Charge batteries
  6. Place gear back in “grab box” so you can grab and go.

Deviating from the list results in arriving on the summit with a flat battery or broken antennas or discovering 10’s of activations missing from the log.

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Cheers for the advice Andy.

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Tom

It is interesting that numbers with zeroes are so significant. It could be worse than your nightmare of discovering more activations recorded in chaser logs but completely forgotten due to weather, log chewed by dog or goat.

If we had six fingers our number system would be quite different. Reaching 2000 in a base 12 system would require 3456 contacts (base 10) and the mountain goat award would require 1728 contacts. Then again we might have six limbs and be able to climb mountains much easier.

Just a reassuring thought. Things could be a lot worse!!

73 Andrew VK1DA/VK2UH

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