A sunny summit on Ben Tirran (GM/ES-016)

I had originally planned to do Ben Tirran, GM/ES-016, with Hunt Hill, GM/ES-042, starting from Loch Lee and going back and forth, but I had to do the school pick up so needed to be home by 3pm. For a while I still thought I could do both until I realised my time spreadsheet had an error, although it took writing an email to someone saying I was going to be on Ben Tirran at 2pm…and then home by 3pm :thinking: Anyway, I decided to just do Ben Tirran as it’s taller…(only if it were 4m taller still…)

Starting by Wheen farm, there’s a little area off the road where you can park, and, at some point during the year, even buy some refreshments!

The cloud was low but wind was minimal, and it was mild at 10 degC. The path is straight forward from the car park, with a small stream crossing at one point.

I did miss the turning, and then stomped across the heather to find the path. When I came back down I looked to see why I’d missed the turning…

Perhaps on a clear day it would be more obvious, and the small cairn would stand out.

As I reached the summit, it was getting brighter, and I had hopes of the sun breaking through. I setup on 2m with the FT65 and RH770 and called a few times. Soon enough I had five contacts, including G6BIA down by Newcastle - who I also got on Mount Battock the other week.

A surprise one was Fraser, @MM0EFI, at home, with Mount Keen right between us. At this point the clouds parted and I was in glorious sunshine.



Also out was Denis, MM0CBC, up on holiday from Wales. He was on GM/ES-027 and we had a nice summit to summit on 2m. Also impressive given the high peaks of Lochnagar, and Beinn a’Bhuird were between us.

Several people reported my audio kept dropping and I was difficult to hear, but the carrier was still strong. Think I’ve come to the conclusion the FT-65 mic/design isn’t that great (judging from commentary online) and even though I’m right next to it when talking, small movements cause the levels to drop. That sounded annoying for those at the other end, especially after I’d witter on for 3 minutes and they only heard every 5th word.

I setup for 40m and had plenty of contacts. I’d arrived at the summit sooner than I expected, and so could afford to spend more time on the radio. I tried chasing a few other summits, although not too many active at the time, but made contact with @HB9CYX and @DG4SFF. Tried a little 10m, and was rewarded with @W4GO and @N2BTD on the east of the US. I thought about changing from my sloper L antenna to a vertical but then realised I didn’t have enough time for that. Packing up I heard someone calling on 2m and ended up having a chat with a few others. At this point I was now behind schedule and had to get a move on! Back into the cloud and a quick trot down to the car.

A very enjoyable day out. It’s a nice summit, with good take off for 2m, some shelter at the trig, and lovely views when the cloud clears. I could see many summits peaking above the clouds - Mount Keen, Lochnagar, and even across to Ben Avon. On a cloudless day, I bet the views would be stunning all round.

It’s almost been two years since anyone came here, Fraser being the last of course. Perhaps the route from either north or south isn’t great, and there are plenty of other options closer from both sides. However, it would be one I’d recommend. I did get Tim, @G5OLD, on 40m and so now he’s compelled to come up for a complete.

13 Likes

I can’t believe it’s 12 years since I was there and it wasn’t sunny either !

Here’s a much younger FMF (you can tell by the amount of pigment in my beard) wearing a fleeceand windproof softshell along with a buff and hat as it was chilly and windy. You have to guess the month.

The fogbow and almost Brockenspectre photo is good. There was a really strong rainbow the other week I was on Scald Law. For the only time ever I could see exactly where the rainbow was touching the ground…slap in the middle of the path over a mother and daughter walking up. I did think “fools dig up the pot of gold whilst you have the chance”. But they didn’t.

8 Likes

Heading up into the mist… then being rewarded with a view. Very nice.

Out of interest, what do you use to generate your QSO map? I’ve been using the SOTA database, but I prefer yous. Any tips?

1 Like

Between January and December! I looked it up and laughed.

This website. The guy syncs locators from QRZ which is nice, although occasionally doesn’t work if people don’t put the right thing into their profile. I like the sotadata map as well as it shows the summits. If I paid for xml access to qrz then ham2k logger would look up locators and show it in the map in the app.

Locators are nice for 2m contacts to see exactly where people are.

I use wavelog as my logger, and I upload my adif to qrz, then download it again, as then qrz populates the locators for me!

1 Like

I almost selected this summit for the Trans-Atlantic S2S event last Saturday, but decided to go for Geal-Charn GM/CS-043 instead. With hindsight I think the weather might have been better further east. Maybe Ben Tirran will be my target in November 2025. Your photos are certainly encouraging in that respect, so many thanks for those.

Unfortunately I missed you on 40m, but you obviously had a great activation. Well done on what you achieved.

73, Gerald

3 Likes

I was at home all day, trying to put the finishing touches on the 6x6 Landie. I really didn’t expect to work Alex on 2m and had even less hope of working @MW0CBC Denis, who is up on holiday. Denis joined our whatsapp, but was on GM/ES-027 right over the other side of the Cairngorms, with plenty of granite between us, not to mention that I live at the foot of Morven GM/ES-017.

When Alex spotted, I jumped in the Land Rover (no VHF antenna at home) and could hear there was something there. I ran to the bothy, quickly assembled the 100g SOTA yagi, hooked it up to a handheld and there he was, 5/3 at best. Two minutes later, Denis spotted. I moved round the side of the house and waved the yagi towards the north shoulder of Morven, very, very optimistically. Denis answered my first call to him, also a perfectly workable signal.

I love 2m FM.


2m FM SOTA chasing kit

7 Likes

Great report @GM5ALX and thanks for the reminder I need to complete this now. At least it’s a Corbett…… :rofl: