Just like to apologise to anybody left wanting a contact with me today on 40m. Sadly ten minutes into my pile-up I was run off my frequency by a French contest station deciding he had more claim to it than I did Thanks to those with more power than I who tried in vain to get him to QSY. With Gerald having had his activation completed for him by his antenna breaking, and with rain rapidly approaching, I didnāt feel there was time to try and establish myself on a new frequency so reluctantly pulled the plug.
It was a disappointing end to what had been a brilliant activation - having driven through high winds and torrential rain in the central belt and bypassing our planned target of Broad Law on account of it being a seemingly suicidal enterprise and us wanting to be around to do more hills tomorrow, we found North Berwick Law bathed in sunshine and surprisingly balmy.
Thanks to those who did make it and hope to catch you again tomorrow
That French contest is an annual pain in the proverbial. Iāve run foul of it before whilst out on a WAB mobile run that I had to abandon. Good to be able to catch you on two bands though before you had to pull the plug.
Iām surprised you found any clear frequency for even a nanosecond. It seems as if the whole 200kHz was full of āCQ Testā - and I was too late to try to work Gerald on 2m!!!
Good to work you both on North Berwick Law - 2-SSB & 60-SSB and welcome back to GM-land.
And yes Brian, 60 did the business today. But not with David - G(M)0EVV - 40M earlier (skip too long). Pity as of the four summits he activated (nout on 60M?) over the last few days - on 40, the skip was again too long - 3 would have been Completes for me . Oh well Iāll just have to keep hoping
I checked the database earlier today and found that several chasers have logged the 10MHz CW contacts they made with me on North Berwick Law GM/SS-280 last Sunday as Broad Law SS-029. I can only apologise for this - unfortunately for technical reasons I was unable to update the alert prior to the activation and the RBN spotted me as being on SS-029. A couple of chasers did check the reference with me and I repeated it several times. Eric F5JKK posted a correction on the spots page, but obviously not everyone noticed it.
As Paul noted, the very wet weather prevented us from activating Broad Law on Sunday. We were also unable to consider it for our activation on Tuesday on account of the amount of snow that fell on Monday afternoon which was followed by low temperatures (at least minus 6C) overnight. Fortunately having activated and then walked down from the appropriately named Gathersnow Hill SS-077 in snowy conditions (depth 10cm) on Monday afternoon, we were fully aware of the situation. The choice of Trahenna Hill SS-143 proved to be ideal and we had fun ascending through powder snow up to 30cm deep in the morning sunshine.
Itās a cracking wee hill. Itās really nice if thereās no wind. I was up there 2 weeks ago in the ice and snow. It was breezy in the car park and a howling gale on the top. I was blown off my feet 3 times on the stroll to the summit and so having had the exercise, didnāt set up but turned round and came home. The awesome Laurel Bank Tea Room is closed so no chance of a brew and bacon roll either. Disaster!
One day people will listen to the activator and log what is sent for the summit ref and not what was spotted. One day.
5cm of snow fell during our activation of Gathersnow Hill, with static stopping us just as I was about to go onto 10MHz. I didnāt know snow could hold static in the same way as rain. We both got a belt when we disconnected our antennas, which proved to us that it was static. By the time we reached the car just before 17:00z there was a nice 10 - 15cm lying near Culter Allers Farm.
On Trahenna there was a very cold breeze blowing, but nothing that couldnāt be stopped with a tarp fixed to the fence. It was a super activation with stunning picture postcard scenery all around usā¦ and all on Paulās birthday as well.
Culter Allers Farm is about 100m higher than my QTH. We had a mainly sunny day with a period of cloudiness and no rain and you obviously caught the precipitation which was quite thick. Same with the predictions of serious snow the week before. We had a lot of rain and sleet and nothing that really stuck but people 20km away had a miserable time with plenty of snow after the rain had washed a lot of salt/grit away.
I spoke to Simon GM4SCA and he said the authorities seem to have been caught out by the severity of the weather. He had been called out with his Landie to get people home on Monday night. On Tuesday morning the B road from Biggar to Broughton was 4 miles of rutted ice - no sign of any treatment. Thankfully Paulās Landie took it all in its stride. This just confirmed that we were right not to attempt to get up to the Megget Stone parking spot for Broad Law.
That road isnāt one which is gritted which is why you saw no sign of treatment.
The road in past Talla Reservoir is flat so you can drive in and park at the foot of the hill to avoid climbing it in a car. It gets a bit slippy now and then on the hilly bits.
And just possibly - JUST possibly - some activators will send their summit reference more frequently than once in a blue moon! No reflection on Paul and Gerald, who are exemplary in this respect, but some operators seem to be stuck in contest mode!
Blosomming almond trees and the crops just starting to grow.
It seems like Spring is here. I hope we wonāt suddenly get one of our typical WX severe changes here and we also have snow and freezing temperaturesā¦
To a certain extent I can sympathise Brian, certainly on CW. Trying to work as many people in as short a period of time as possible can lead to the activator forgetting to announce the summit details on a regular basis. However, āif in doubt, askā applies. A couple did ask and as I said Eric F5JKK posted the correct summit. I had also self-spotted earlier for my 2m activation, so really I was well covered.
Well, only on Sunday Paul and I were reminiscing about activations we had carried out in the snow in the past and we noted how we hadnāt had the opportunity so far this winter. Then the very next day we get a load and what a pleasure it was! Unfortunately there was not enough to make snow hole, but it was good fun nonetheless.
Bit of feedback. Only summit I activated last week on 60 m was Deuchar Law, that was the only one with a phone signal. On Sunday the forecast was for strong wind and hvy rain later. I topped out at 0900 but after 45minutes I had had enough left the 40m cwpilup tut tut and descended. David
We actually moved our outing back 24 hours on account of the weather. I did note that you managed Deuchar Law which was a surprise as the forecast for Saturday was dire. Maybe you found a reasonably sheltered ascent route, but it cannot have been pleasant. Your early ascent of Law Kneis on Sunday was noted, presumably to try to miss the worst of the weather. Well done on sticking it out as much as you did. For us, the rain started at Carlisle and didnāt stop until we were approaching the Pentlands. We just managed to squeeze in our activation of North Berwick Law before it caught up with us - 13:00z as we had lunch back at the car park.
Just goes to show how patchy phone coverage is in rural Scotland (if you can call the Borders really rural and remote - hi!). Just a pity as the skip was too long on 40M. But such is the influence of the sun - hi-hi!
Thanks to those with more power than I who tried in vain to get him to QSY. With Gerald having had his activation completed for him by his antenna breaking, and with rain rapidly approaching, I didnāt feel there was time to try and establish myself on a new frequency so reluctantly pulled the plug.
. Oh well Iāll just have to keep hoping 
