If you do manage some contacts on 23cm and 13cm remember the Microwave Award is available, just make sure you get the location of the other station to work out distances.
I will have a definite listen for you on 70cm and 23cm as I have a reasonable (if very long) path to GI and EI. Unless there is a lift, or we are lucky with aeroplanes to reflect off, 23cm may not work
We did actually have a QSO when I was on Tonelagee EI/IE-003 last July. 2m FM often ‘saves’ the SOTA to get the required number of contacts, it is hard work to get any contacts on UHF in EI.
Tonelagee at 817m it is a fantastic spot for VHF/UHF with excellent take-off across most of EI and the Irish Sea. I should have a direct path to Southern Scotland, Lake District, IoM, Wales, Devon and Cornwall.
I have just booked the ferry and will be in the Wicklow Mountains on March 30h and April 1-2-3; Tonelagee is on the agenda and WX permitting some of the higher SOTA in that area.
If anyone has 23cm SSB capability please do get in touch as it will take some planning to get the contacts on the day.
I can make myself available for some of the time. I will have to go /P for 23cm but can cover SSB. I am in IO84 so it is long hop to the Wicklow mountains. I would suggest for 23cm you e-mail those stations who do the UKAC on 23cm that are in range.
I have arrived in Ireland but WX for the last two days has been very poor in fact I had to abandon my attempt on EI/IE-011 today. Will try again April 1st on 2m/70cm.
Sunday April 2nd looks like a fair WX day so will plan activity on 70cm, 23cm and maybe 13cm, all SSB with home made Yagi, from Tonelagee EI/IE-003. Minor tropo over the Irish Sea has been forecasted so I am looking forward to experiencing that.
I hope to be out on the West Coast of GM but up near Largs/Ardrossan way. I have 2 summits planed as it’s a bit of a drive for just 1 summit. I don’t think my summits times will match with yours Phil. I will take the 13cms gear just in case. I only have 2W and a the PCB 4 ele antenna but will be 550m ASL.
I have alerted for Plynlimon GW/MW-001 on 23cm. I’ll just have the transverter and PCB antenna sitting on the trig point. Perhaps a bit optimistic, but too good an opportunity to miss! Take off to the West should be OK, as the ground falls away steeply. I don’t have the experience to know whether this will help on 23cm, but it will be an interesting experiment.
Lets hope there are a few stations on the air…
We will have a 7 element vertical beam for 70cm FM (no radio for 70 ssb) on GW/SW-002. I will try to monitor and keep it in position for you (300deg) while Vicki is making local contacts. However, the distance appears to be 251 km which seems a bit far even with half of it over water and nothing high in the way.
2m was certainly buzzing and dare I say 70cms as well. Quite a few contacts caught me by surprise and if I’d been sitting on a seat I’d have fallen off…luckily I was firmly in contact with the ground, especially the one with Phil EI/ON4TA/P…booming in :). The sky above Fan Brycheiniog GW/SW-003 was certainly broken with only 2 contacts on 60m with Andy(FMF) and Victor(ONL)…both s2s and one on 80m with Don RQL.
Anyway, great to be out today as it was dry and the sun was shining in Wales
Conditions were not brilliant Allan. On Hill of Stake SS-155, I worked you and 7 others on 60m SSB (advantage of being further away), 5 on 40m CW and 4 on 2m FM. Blaeloch Hill ss-220 was worse, 2 on 20m CW and 2 on 30m CW.
By 4pm the sun was shining, most of the cloud had gone and it was T-Shirt weather… just. The wind was still cold. Selfie with Isle Of Bute in the background.
Don RQL did tell me that conditions were poor. Glad you had a nice day eventually as I think you mentioned during our qso that it had begun to rain. We were lucky in in South Wales that so many were out on the hills…I think today we can call it the ‘Viki effect’
It’s an “Irish” T- shirt. Intel were giving them away at a conference in Dublin in 2015. All the exhibitioners have freebies… T-shirts, hoodies, USB power packs etc. The T-shirts that Intel gave away are a modern hi-wicking material and that’s ideal for walking unlike the others which were cotton.
Thanks everyone for the contacts on 2m, 70cm and 23cm from Tonelagee EI/IE-003, I really enjoyed the experience! Good WX and company made my day.
So on this occasion I managed my first 23cm S2S with Carolyn GW6WRW/P on GW/NW-040 (distance 166km); furthest 23cm contact was with Adrian GW4AZS/P on GW/MW-001 (distance 187km).
Certainly worth a repeat on another visit to the Irish East Coast.
Thanks for the S2S with us on GW/SW-002 just as we reached the summit plateau and were using a handy VX-7R with only the stick aerial. I had been expecting to struggle to get you even using the dipole but this was not necessary as long as I walked towards the western side to get the take-off. I did hope for a 70cm S2S later and I spent a lot of time on 70cm (on 433.475 mainly) but didn’t hear anything from you. I did gather you were busy on 23cm and very pleased to hear you were so successful. Let me know when you are next on a high hill in eastern Ireland and I will lay on the same weather!
You haven’t logged them with the extra info needed to calculate the distance. S2S can be done as the DB knows where the summits are located. For normal contacts you need to enter the location of the chaser.