On Tuesday 3rd May I hope to on the island of Scarp off the South West of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. This is a currently unactivated SOTA summit on a reasonably rarely activated island. Scarp has not been permanent;y inhabited since 1971 and now has a few holiday homes inhabited during the better weather.
For those who want to put ticks into boxes, Scarp and its summit Sron Romul have the following references.
I should have about 6 hrs on the island and allowing sufficient time to walk from the landing point and setup and to get back means I hope to have a 3hr operating window. I plan to primarily operate on 40m/60m bands initially for UK/EU SOTA/WAB chasers. Depending on how things run 30m is a strong possibility. Scarp is about 450miles from Birmingham so slightly longer propagation on 40m would be desirable for once. If 40m is running short I may try 20m to give some more SSB chances.
There is an alert in place. Scarp is ringed in red on the map below.
Re-posted on the WAB reflector, Andy. Short skip should not be a problem as we can generally cover all the UK on 40m even when the critical frequency is high. What you donāt want is conditions like today - I canāt even hear the mobile station currently on the Mull of Kintyre. The only station working him is in Sweden!
Thanks Dave. I plan to operate both on the WAB net if itās running under controlled operation and also free-form shouty-shouty-shouty style elsewhere on 7MHz. SSB and CW will feature in operation.
I didnāt get a chance to have a SOTA-expedition this Easter due to many family reasons so the chance at Scarp seems to good to pass. Iām just looking at the fact the cost looks like being North of t Ā£350 for accommodation, ferries, potential fuel costs and the boat to Scarp for a single SOTA point! However, if I can raise the pileup from hell then itās worth it.
For info, and in case you are running short of Hunters/Chasers, the whole of the island is also within GMFF-0068 (South Lewis, Harris and North Uist NSA) for WWFFā¦
Iām looking at the WX and thinking of what happens every time you come up here, Iām hoping it will be a bit warmer when I get there. Weāve had sun and snow today, 3.5C when I got in the car at 8.00am Apart from hurricanes, massive tidal swells and all out nuclear attacks, I shall try to get there. I may invest in a bothy bag for this trip as there is no obvious shelter on the summit and nothing between Scarp and Nova Scotia either!
Donāt worry Andy, I can advise that Paul and I are not due up in GM until a week or two after you and we wonāt be that far north and west. You can therefore be sure that the āMD-OIGā effect in the great space-time continuum will not spoil your activations.
The WX is looking decidedly dodgy for this right now. Very strong winds are predicted for Monday that may cause the ferry to Harris to be delayed or cancelled. After that the strong winds may result in the boat being cancelled on Tuesday. This means I may not get to Harris in time for the boat to Scarp. Maybe there would be a chance on Wednesday but who knows.
However,I have seen the WX forecast be dire for parts of Scotland in the past and in reality the WX has been OK, may be not the best but not the worst. If I wimp out and cancel now and in the end the trip runs Iāll have missed a chance. If I take a chance and I canāt get there then I canāt get there and thereās nothing I can do about that.
So with all the possibilities considered, Iām still going to go for it. If I have to sit in the car near a beach and merely play WAB or IOTA etc. then I will do that.
There was a good 2+ inches last night here. But all the roads were warm enough that nothing stuck, only cars and grass had snow on them. Considering the depth this morning everything has melted now and thatās at 165m ASL.
Weāve had interesting WX the last week, snow and sun but no wind. Sadly the wind is such that the boat trips to the small isles have been cancelled. Absolutely no boats on Monday or Wednesday and different destination on Tuesday. There is now no boat to anywhere that has a summit or a trig or both and so, with much sadness, the activation is cancelled.
Boo! Hiss!
What I should have done is book a longer stay on Harris and get there a few days before the scheduled event. That gives you and the boatman a degree of flexibility. Obvious with hindsight, but many things are!
Iām off to drown my disappointments with assorted spirits
Sorry to hear of your problems Andy, but thanks from one chaser (me) for trying - thereāll always be another time - the locals will know when itās not safe to sail in the high winds - better safe than sorry.