Activation in Ardnamurchan & Morvern

Activation Reports Pre-Planning
1

I will SOTAexpeditioning in Ardnamurchan & Morvern during August 15th-19th. The intended hit list is:

SOTA Ref.	Name			Last on Air	Trigpoint
GM/WS-150	Creach Bheinn		07/Sep/2008	TP2548
GM/WS-192	Fuar Bheinn		28/Jan/2006
GM/WS-274	Beinn nam Beathrach	10/Jan/2016 	TP1216
GM/WS-283	Sidhean na Raplaich	15/Mar/2015
GM/WS-294	Ben Hiant		12/Jun/2016	TP1272
GM/WS-299	Ben Laga		27/Feb/2016
GM/WS-306	Meall nan Each		24/Oct/2010	TP4739
GM/WS-308	Beinn Chlaonleud	19/Apr/2015
GM/WS-315	Beinn na h-Uamha	15/Nov/2014
GM/WS-323	Meall nan Con		13/Jun/2016	TP0669
GM/WS-335	Beinn na Seilg		23/May/2014

Actual summits selected will depend on the WX and other local factors (such as stalking) on the day. If the weather is too inclement for SOTA then I’ll switch to WABing from the car instead. I’d particularly like to get to Creach Bheinn to visit the remains of the F101 Voodoo Interceptor that crashed on the next summit along in 1964. Similarly, Meall nan Con is on the wish list as it’s the highpoint of one of the biggest Calderas in the UK, so it qualifies for VOTA!

Bands are likely to be LF based include 5MHz, 7MHz both CW/SSB with some 10MHz thrown in. I’ll be doing limited 2m operation basically to allow these summits’ most regular activator a chance to complete them!

Mobile coverage is, shall we say, patchy in these parts but I will have my satellite spotter with me. Alerts are in place but currently somewhat vague.

2

I envy you, Andy, I always wanted to visit the Ardnamurchan ring complex but I couldn’t persuade my mates, “the mountains aren’t high enough for the effort”! Incidentally, there is no evidence for the existence of a giant caldera there, sedimentation patterns show an elongated volcanic ridge which was probably 2 km above the present land surface. There are some fascinating 3D reconstructions in Ardnamurchan 3D cone-sheet architecture explained by a single elongate magma chamber | Scientific Reports which are worth looking at.

Brian

3

This one is looking less likely at present. The stalker for the estate tells me the stags congregate here in the Summer so it’s where they will be stalking next week. I have his number so I’ll check later if this is doable. I’m still waiting for some calls to be returned on the others.