If it’s that time of year it must be time for one of these review of the year reports. This last year I didn’t have any particular plan other than I was getting close to the next level on the SOTA Uniques Award. Getting to 100 is quite easy, getting to 250 seems to have taken much longer.
Here are some numbers to start with:
Total Activations: 52
Associations activated: G, GM
Regions activated: GM/ES, GM/NS, GM/SS, GM/WS, G/LD, G/SB & G/TW
Total QSOs: 1364
Average QSOs/activation: 26
Most QSOs: 62 on Minch Moor GM/SS-133 28-Dec-2014
Fewest QSOs: 4 on Ben Cleuch GM/SS-059 23-Dec-2014
ODX: VK5CZ
Uniques: 27
09/Feb/2014 GM/ES-075 Strathfinella Hill
09/Feb/2014 GM/ES-085 Hill of Garvock
09/Mar/2014 GM/ES-032 Mount Battock
23/Mar/2014 GM/SS-106 Cauldcleuch Head
23/Mar/2014 GM/SS-114 Greatmoor Hill
30/Mar/2014 G/SB-004 Peel Fell
07/Apr/2014 G/TW-004 Bishop Wilton Wold
23/Apr/2014 GM/NS-091 Ben Griam Beg
24/Apr/2014 GM/NS-116 Maiden Pap
25/Apr/2014 GM/CS-113 Tom Bailgeann
11/May/2014 G/LD-043 Hallin Fell
18/May/2014 GM/ES-056 Crock
01/Jun/2014 GM/CS-083 Meall na Leitreach
01/Jun/2014 GM/CS-107 Drumcroy Hill
15/Jun/2014 GM/WS-305 Meall Mor
13/Jul/2014 GM/CS-055 Cam Chreag
18/Aug/2014 GM/NS-132 Ben Hutig
19/Aug/2014 GM/NS-104 Beinn Stumanadh
20/Aug/2014 GM/NS-096 Cnoc nan Cuilean
31/Aug/2014 GM/CS-026 Meall Greigh
14/Sep/2014 GM/WS-169 Beinn Bhreac-liath
21/Sep/2014 GM/CS-009 Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain
02/Nov/2014 GM/SS-194 Cairn Hill
09/Nov/2014 GM/ES-025 Carn na Drochaide
16/Nov/2014 GM/WS-156 Beinn Udlaidh
30/Nov/2014 GM/ES-050 The Coyles of Muick
30/Nov/2014 GM/ES-067 Creag Ghiubhais
I was delighted to hit 250 Uniques on the previously unactivated Ben Griam Beg GM/NS-091. This summit is up in the far North of Scotland. We’re lucky in that Scotland has some great scenery but the world up in the far North of Scotland is so different that it really is a special place. I’ve a lot more summits to bag up there which is something to savour!
2015 starts my 25th year of being licenced and having not partaken of HF operation in the 2 previous solar maximums that have happened whilst I’ve been licenced, I’ve been making sure I play on the higher HF bands. The year started with 6 months of 12m challenge activity some tasty DX was collected in that period. One of my most memorable contacts was on what seemed a flat and DX-less 12m band with Phil G4OBK from G/TW-004. Phil is LOS to this summit and I worked him on ground wave. Happy I had the multiplier, I made one last call “Last time before I shut down, CQ SOTA MM0FMF/P” and the reply was a loud “VK2DAG for you Andy”. Surprised? Not half pop-pickers!
I had 2 NS SOTA DXpeditions this year. One to the far North East up around the Wick area at Easter. The other to Tongue in the far North West. In total I collected 6 uniques and 4 previously unactivated summits. The WX wasn’t stellar on either trip but that’s the chance you take in Scotland. Still it was worth every penny in fuel and accommodation, especially Ben Griam Beg. I did hope to collect his brother Ben Griam Mor on my 2nd trip North but I was introduced to new levels of rainfall on that drive North. Even after 14 years in Scotland I was surprised by how much it can rain when it wants to rain.
The tail end of Autumn(Fall) and the start of Winter have been very dry and sunny here such that I had a record of 5 successive weekends with glorious activations. I cannot remember such a time when every Sunday has had wall-to-wall blue sky and sunshine. Though the WX has changed now in that we have had cold winds, snow and some big freezes.
I’ve managed only to break the database once this year. Also I’m quite pleased to have found an extensible framework for the SMS spotter, produced a SOTA cluster and got my Iridium satellite based spotting system running. All in all a mixed bag for 2014 and I’m putting together a plan for 2015 that includes some Scottish Islands and IO78 along with a trip to activate with some SOTA guys in Europe. Amongst that I’ve got a metric shedload of jobs at work and I’m trying to persuade my employer to send me to Seattle, Lisbon and Seoul, you can guess what I’ll do after those work trips are complete. Also I have to buy a house. I am looking forward to my SOTA activations as a chance to unwind!
A thousand thank-yous to everyone who chased me this last year, especially those who suffered my awful CW. All the best for 2015.
Andy, MM0FMF
SOTA Database Manager