Guilty as charged! Had a short contact with Colwyn and a short chat with Andy. Just got them at the right time on 14MHz I think. Listened afterwards on 17m and “thought I heard something” but could not be sure. Then tried 40m when they were spotted - nothing over my (becoming more annoying all the time) local farmers electric fence QRM.
73 Ed DD5LP.
That’s all all back safe and sound - I’m home, the rest have to travel yet.
A selfie on the way back of the group though not everyone went to the summit.
The wx was brilliant, the sea was a wee bit choppy, the bands were cr… rubbish but I think everyone really enjoyed their trip.
I’m sure you’ll hear about soon enough from the rest.
73 Neil
P.S. Colwyn might be activating the Grey Hill soon, GM/SS-256 listen out for him.
Stewart, I tried 6m on the Craig, 50.150 and 51.510 but nothing heard, trailing up and down the bands but heard zero. Victor I think was asked to go to 50MHz by one of the other activators to make the contact and by that time I had packed up and was just wandering about.
We enjoyed Ailsa Craig so much that we are activating Blaeloch hill SS’ 220 this evening so look out for too.
Many thanks Neil for arranging a super outing.
73 Gerald G4OIG and Paul G4MD
Sorry everybody radio conditions were really pants. I only managed 11 contacts on 80m, 60m and 40m in one and a quarter hours of continuous operating 
Many thanks to all of you who were listening for me, and those who fought against the QRN and fearsome QSB to make successful contacts.
I can only assume that although Neil did a brilliant job of bringing together the expedition, booking the boat and organising the fantastic weather he forgot all about arranging for the sky not to be broken 
73 de Paul G4MD
Hi Neil,
I think it was great that you arranged this multi-operator “mini-expedition”. I was one of the lucky ones to get through and can now tick off this summit as worked. I think your picture shows how much everyone involved enjoyed the trip despite band conditions being against you. Well done.
73 Ed.
It was a fantastic day, the WX was great and the sea was relatively calm. It was quite choppy at times on the way as we sailed into the wind and much smoother on the way back. We were going to sail around the island on the return and there was a question from the captain if we wanted to as it was a bit rougher out of the lee of the island. We started this but the captain turned us about after 10mins as the sea got rougher, he knew what his passengers would be like if he continued!
I was anxious about 2 things, the pier and the path. Neither were an issue, the boat crew know how to load and unload land-lubbers. I’d read about the path, I don’t do exposure or scrambling. It turned out to be a doddle. Steep but easy, the first section is exposed but the path is wide and obvious. Considering the wet summer, the ground here was very dry and if it was wet it would be more a challenge. After the castle ruins it’s very steep through chest deep bracken then it climbs over the rocks and shorter grass. It’s so obvious that it wasn’t hard even though it’s still steep. Final ascent was to “go for it” up the steep rocky slope, again not hard. 50mins to the summit including a several breaks whilst we let the spread out group close together.
There’s room at the top for 4 HF stations and a VHF one. In fact quite a bit more room is available. The one thing we didn’t have was lots of time. That meant it would be a real challenge to put both WAB squares on the air. The bands split was:
Colwyn: 2m FM/10m SSB/20m SSB/40m SSB
Paul: 60m SSB/80m SSB/40m SSB
Gerald: 30m CW/17m CW
Neil: 2m FM/4m FM/6m FM/SSB
Me: 20m CW/18m CW
At once it was obvious the LF bands were dire. I could see Paul labouring for contacts and Colwyn was getting desperate striking out on 10m/40m. I found 20m OK but quiet, there were periods of deep QSB which removed all the signals on the band. With Colwyn struggling for contacts I moved to 17m leaving 20m to him and he started working QSOs at this point. For me, 20m yielded 2 DX contacts, JoaoCU3AA and Matt KA1R. 17m was not as good with much lower levels of activity though 4Z5MU appeared from nowhere with a massive signal.
Chaser of the day goes to Victor GI4ONL who was in ground wave range on HF and normal range on VHF. I get easily confused when G stations call me on 20m etc. and I don’t expect it so it took a while for it to sink it it was a GI calling. Victor worked me on all the band/modes combinations from my station. On 17m SSB he asked if I had 6m as he ahd missed Neil. My 17m antenna has an “acceptable” SWR on 6m, well good enough for 1 QSO! With Victor in the log on 6m Colwyn ran over to grab a QSO. I’ve never seen anyone move so fast!
After that it was time to pack up and descend. Neil stayed in the AZ so I could have a contrived chase of the summit on 2m. Then we picked our way back down for the returning boat. The trip back seemed much quick as we were with the tide and wind not against. It was quicker because I had a wee sleep, well I was up at 5.45 to get ready! And I managed to forget an SD card again so the photos come from my phone.
Here’s my log for day:
Approaching Ailsa Craig, probably 40mins from landing.
Colwyn MM0YCJ on 40m SSB with xyl Ann.
Paul G4MD on 80m SSB.
Neil 2M0NCM looking like a pirate with his Buff Saharian.
Gerald G4OIG on 30m CW. Hiding just beneath us at the edge of the summit plateau.
Overall view. L->R MM0YCJ station, 2M0NCM station, MM0FMF station, G4MD station.
Looking towards Northern Ireland and Rathlin Island.
The man of the day has to be Neil 2M0NCM for organising everything and managing it. These things can be as easy as trying to herd cats and everything went perfectly. Thanks you Neil. Getting us the best weather of 2015 so far was a bonus!
Great report, Andy, sending me green-eyed!
Thank God for 60 metres! Paul on 60 was all I heard, always audible but sometimes bathed in noise. I even tried the HF bands hoping for some short skip, but no go.
Somebody needs to do a write-up with pictures for either Radcom or PW, I particularly like that view of the summit bristling with antennas!
Brian
Hi,
big thank you Neil for organising such an excellent adventure, great to take part in a multiple activation and meet everyone. Great conditions for a visit to Ailsa Craig, not so great for contacts, nothing on 10m.
Thanks to all contacts.
11:24 GM7KFS 7MHz SSB
11:40 MI1PTR 14MHz SSB
11:44 EA2LMT 14MHz SSB
11:45 GI4ONL 14MHz SSB
11:47 SP9AMH 14MHz SSB
11:48 DL3HXX 14MHz SSB
11:50 OM1AX 14MHz SSB
11:51 DD5LP 14MHz SSB
12:07 GI4ONL 50MHz SSB
12:14 GM7GAX/P 144MHz Summit-2-summit, GM/SS-066
12:16 MI0HWG 144MHz
12:30 GM4COX 144MHz
73s
Ann & Colwyn
MM0YCJ
Hi Folks,
I worked 3 bands, 2m FM, 4m FM and 6m FM & SSB. 8 contacts on 2m including 2 S2S, 2 QSO’s on 4m and zero on 6m. But I think the best I had was a cross band QSO on 2m FM and HELIOGRAPH across to Girvan with Eric GM0FSZ.
The Crew, L>R Colwyn MM0YCJ, Gerald G(M)4OIG, Andy MM0FMF, Paul G(M)4MD, Neil 2M0NCM, Scott (My grandson), Alan 2M0NLA. Alan only decided to activate at the last minute so used my equipment.
Glad you all had a great day out and sorry about the broken sky but there is always something you forget to do on the expeditions.
Neil
Great stuff everyone! On the first SS-246 group trip, organised by Jimmy M0HGY (then M3EYP) six years ago, the skipper gave us a choice on the way out. That was to sail around the island just before heading back to Girvan - or to have an extra hour on the island. The latter was the unanimous choice!
My ascent timings and experiences were similar to yours Andy, but we were in the presence of greatness that day. Phil G4OBK and Jimmy M3EYP both probably summited inside half-an-hour. Geoff G6MZX must have been even another 30 minutes getting to the top after me. I’ll always recall his remark “It’s cost me fifty quid, there’s no way I’m not doing an activation”.
Phil wasn’t just fast at ascending, he got some pace going with the operating too, racking up well over a hundred contacts despite the limited time. It was a fantastic experience and a really memorable day. I totally identify with the sentiments expressed above.
Here’s a link to the 2009 photos for anyone that wishes to see them. We were also blessed with fine weather, and we were lucky enough to have reasonable condx too.
Hi Tom,
We managed to get extra time on the island and an attempted sail round the rock all for the same price, we could have got a wee bit longer if I chanced my luck a bit more but going to school with the skipper helped a wee bit. But the guy is flexible if asked nicely.
I think Phil had more contacts than the lot of us put together yesterday. But I was just there for the fun day out, as long as I got my 4 contacts I was happy. I can go anytime to the Craig but choose not to, once every few years is enough - don’t want to get bored of it.
Neil
Err, not quite Andy, just 10MHz. I did call on 2m and 70cm SSB without any results which was very disappointing, maybe as a result of being unable to access SOTAwatch for some reason. Rucksack kept giving me a message saying SOTAwatch was down, so I never got a spot on for VHF/UHF. My only contact on 2m was with Victor GI4ONL who lured me onto the mode through a request made via Paul. I tried some horizontal FM after signing with Victor hoping some of the northern G stations would be on, but nothing was heard. The Kent beacon was barely audible, so maybe it was just dire conditions.
Ah, that’s why you thought I was covering 17m… you were on 18m. 
Anyway, on 10MHz I had a steady run of 15, incoming reports varying from 339 to 589 with deep QSB which was a feature of the propagation for all of the 3 days that Paul and I were in Scotland. Propagation was relatively short skip over quite a narrow geographic area - unfortunately not short enough for inter-UK working (except ground wave to Victor). The complete log is below.
Nice photos Andy and Neil. There will be a few in my report of the three days (when I get around to it) and you will be able to compare the weather over the period, Hi. Many thanks for organising the trip Neil - very much appreciated. We’ll have to meet up again soon so I can collect my “Last Up, Last Down” trophy.
73, Gerald G4OIG
I flip 17 & 18 all the time… most alerts take 2 or 3 attempts due to mucking up the metres and megahertz for 17m. I’ve started typing 20MHz when I mean 20m now. Getting older.
What a beauty ! Thanks Gerald for the QSO on 10 MHz.
73 PA9CW
A pleasure Tonnie. PA stations were 1 in 3 of my 10MHz log and that’s with a couple of the regulars missing.
