Rare SOTA/WAB/Trig

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.

SOTA: GM/SI-146
IOTA: EU-10
IOSA: OH13
WAB: NA91
Trigpoint: TP5832
WWFF: GMFF-0068

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.

7 Likes

COOL Look forwards to that one make note in dairy

If long skip occurring on 40m yep be good for me and still possible on 20m to me.

Look forwards to it Andy

karl

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 donā€™t want is conditions like today - I canā€™t 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 itā€™s running under controlled operation and also free-form shouty-shouty-shouty style elsewhere on 7MHz. SSB and CW will feature in operation.

I didnā€™t 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. Iā€™m 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 itā€™s worth it.:slight_smile:

3 Likes

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€¦

Updated the original post with this, thanks Dave.

Itā€™s Andrew, but Iā€™ve been called worse :slight_smile:

Andrew M0YMA

Ah, sorry, confused you with M0YDH.

Iā€™ve just noticed another unactivated SOTA summit near where Iā€™ll be and so Iā€™ll be doing
Husival Mor (Huiseabhal Mor)

SOTA: GM/SI-073
IOTA: EU-10
IOSA: OH1
WAB: NB01

The trig is not at the SOTA summit but Iā€™ll be happy to wander over to it if it is of value to WABers. Well Iā€™ll be in the area!

Trig: TP6115

SOTA location in red, Trig location in turquoise.

Is the Pope Catholic?

1 Like

Would be awesome to try for S2S, I just hope that youā€™re on a suitable band at the right time!

If we do manage it, maybe I could pay you back in August from a summit on Mull.

73, Colin

I was playing about visualising the island and captured this from Anquet. You can see the jetty and slipway marked on this 3D view of the 1:50k maps.

2 Likes

I trust that you wonā€™t be swimming that route Andy. There is a convenient burial ground part way betweenā€¦ :wink:

Hoping to catch you on these two - just in case I ever get over that way and can bag them as Completes.

73, Gerald G4OIG

Iā€™m looking at the WX and thinking of what happens every time you come up here, Iā€™m hoping it will be a bit warmer when I get there. Weā€™ve had sun and snow today, 3.5C when I got in the car at 8.00am :frowning: 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!

Donā€™t worry Andy, I can advise that Paul and I are not due up in GM until a week or two after you and we wonā€™t be that far north and west. You can therefore be sure that the ā€œMD-OIGā€ effect in the great space-time continuum will not spoil your activations. :wink:

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 Iā€™ll have missed a chance. If I take a chance and I canā€™t get there then I canā€™t get there and thereā€™s nothing I can do about that.

So with all the possibilities considered, Iā€™m 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.

Hereā€™s hopingā€¦

2 Likes

My own activation or ā€˜chase Andy from a summit expeditionā€™ is also up in the air.

I had to battle through snow to take my lad to school this morning!

Looks like warmer temps are going to push through turning the snow/sleet into mere rain.

What will be will be!

-Colin

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 thatā€™s at 165m ASL.

Thereā€™s a word Iā€™m looking for. Yes, bugger!

Weā€™ve 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!

Iā€™m off to drown my disappointments with assorted spirits

Sorry to hear of your problems Andy, but thanks from one chaser (me) for trying - thereā€™ll always be another time - the locals will know when itā€™s not safe to sail in the high winds - better safe than sorry.

Ed.