The afternoon of Monday 2ns August saw a trip out to the countryside of Wiltshire… the plan being to conquer G/SC-007 and G/SC-008.
Whilst the date and target had been long planned and alerted, the EYP’s holiday plans in the DC/SC region coincided, and I hoped to work them on their alerted G/SC-009 and G/SC-012.
As things panned out, “date and summit subject to change” meant that Tom and Jimmy were a day ahead of schedule, and so enjoying the beach… and traffic delays meant that G/SC-008 had to be aborted, in order to get home in time for an evening appointment…
But G/SC-007 deserves a write up…
Taking G4ERP’s advice, I parked at ST804381 on tarmac at the entrance to a farm… there is room for two cars without causing any obstruction to the entrance.
From here, it’s a short walk back along the road - but be careful as there is no footpath, and (assuming you face the traffic) you go around a blind corner… it is quite a busy road, and the traffic takes full advantage of the 60MPH speed limit.
Picking up the footpath at ST802378 you pass through Rag Wood up a fairly gentle slope. The path was obvious, albeit quite overgrown. Leaving the wood via a gate (there is a stile, but it was overgrown with brambles) you are faced with what G4ERP described as “a steep inital climb”. According to the GPS in my HH, you rise 87m in approx 150m of horizontal travel.
Walking poles are strongly recommended… needless to say, I didn’t have mine 
Once up that slope, it is broadly flat (at 275m), with a slight col (down to 255m) before the final slope to the summit (at 288m). There is plenty of space for antennas, with a fence line to support poles if required.
Walking time, from car to summit was 35 minutes… Fitter activators, or those carrying less/lighter equipment can no doubt get there more quickly.
The weather was dry, with patches of cloud… a light breeze kept temperatures quite comfortable. And the views were worth the ascent.
Once on scene, I set up the MFD on the end of the pole, and at 1215z tried 144.300 SSB - to a total silence… tuning around elicited nothing, so I switched the antenna and rig to FM, half expecting to have to get the MP1 out of the backpack and try HF.
But fairly quickly I was answered by Mike G0XAE in the Forest of Dean, with a QSY to 145.4875 (see other thread for discussion on that…) quickly followed by John G4WQX in Denmead, David G0VTX/P on Dunkery Beacon and Dave G8UIO/P on holiday near Bridport.
As discussed in the other thread, David G0VTX/P was “at the summit of Dunkery Beacon, walking with my XYL” so appears to qualify as a S2S with G/SC-001
With no further callers, and nothing on S20 I went QRT at 1315z, with the plan to get to G/SC-008… the return walk was slightly quicker than the ascent and I was in the car at 1345z
For a one-pointer, there is certainly the feeling of having earned that particular tick-in-the-box.
According to GoogleEarth, the journey from my car-park at G/SC-007 to G/SC-008 (with its on-site car-parking) is approximately 35 minutes… after an hour and a half, and crawling into the outskirts of Shaftesbury (about 2/3 distance) I knew that there was no chance of completing SC-008 and getting home in time for another appointment, I aborted.
My apologies to anyone who was waiting to chase - and in particular G0XAE, G4WQZ and G8UIO/P who had been alerted to my plans on our earlier QSOs… I am sure there will be another day.
Andrew
M6ADB/P