Another Newbie for Sota

Hello Sota People
I thought it about time to introduce myself, I am G0FEX Ken, first licensed in 1984 with a G1 call, & progressed to the present call in 1986 after taking the CW exam, sadly I have let my CW lapse, but plans are afoot to correct this over the coming winter months.

Many of you will know me from Worked All Britain, for my sins I produce the WAB Newsletter, but since the advent of The Trig Pillar award from 2015, I find that I am working more & more Sota stations than anything else and thoroughly enjoying chasing the summits, plus I hope to return the favour in the coming weeks/months/years and plan to be out and about activating.

I will be using my FT 817 5 wtts only and various wire dipoles etc, my 1st activation will be Bardon Hill, which I suppose is my local mountain Hi.
Many thanks to all the activators that I have contacted and I look forward to many more contacts with you in the future.
Best Wishes
Ken G0FEX

7 Likes

Welcome to the crazy (but Friendly) SOTA fanatics, Ken.

As always said, be warned this part of the great hobby of ours is truly addictive!

Enjoy but take care when out on the Mountains - safety first, always.

Ed.

Hi Ken welcome to the addictive world of SOTA. Nice to work you yesterday from May Hill and Ruardean Hill (both within WAB Trig AZ). Hope to return the favour when you are on a hill.

Good luck with your first activation.

73 Glyn

Hi Ken,

thanks for the 4 QSOs we had up to now.
Apart from the beauty of operating from hilltops the software support (database, spotting, mapping facilities) makes SOTA such a great thing.

Looking forward to our next QSO,
73 de Michael, DB7MM

Welcome, Ken.
You wrote you are chasing more and more SOTA lately, so this is clearly the synthoms of the SOTA BUG bite and the SOTA fever developing in your brain and body.
There’s no cure for that but don’t worry, all you’ll have is just a lot of fun and perhaps num fingers from time to time, particularly in the coming season, so relax and enjoy :wink:
Always take care and be safe.
Best 73 de Guru

Hi Michael
Many thanks for your comments and yes I look forward to many more contact.
Until then stay safe on the hills.
73’s Ken

Hi Guru
Many thanks for the contacts so far, hope to catch you s2s very soon.
73’s Ken

Hi again Ken. I’ve checked my log and we don’t have any QSO yet.
You probably wanted to say so to Michael - DB7MM.
Looking forward to logging you from a summit soon.
Best 73 de Guru

Welcome Ken

Really looking forward to that first contact with you as an activator so I’ll be keeping an eye on the Alerts. Thanks for all the contacts whilst I’ve been activating so you never know we might even get an s2s :smile:

73 Allan GW4VPX

Great news Ken. I was aware that you had got increasingly into SOTA chasing, but delighted that you intend some activating as well. I knew that the new WAB Trigpoint awards had attracted some SOTA people (me being one) back into WABing, so it is good to know that it is introducing some WABers to SOTA as well.

Hi Ken,

Glad you are joining the fold, thanks for the contacts going back several years and on some pretty obscure hills.
Hope for an s2s before too long.
73,
Rod

Nice to see you have made it to here Ken and also it’s nice to hear you’ll be having a bash at activating.

I look forward to seeing you continue to appear in my logs and hopefully an S2S is not too far away. You’ll find the CW will come back with only a wee bit of practice.

Andy

Good to hear that you are going to give activating a go Ken. The Trig Point Award has certainly been a bonus for both SOTA and WAB and of course includes other summit schemes as well.

Looks like we last spoke when I was on Dod Law G/HSB-004 near Wooler in Northumberland, activating a summit in the HEMA (HuMPs Excluding Marilyns Award) Scheme. Maybe catch you from a few more now that you are hooked! :wink:

73, Gerald G4OIG

Welcome to the ‘club’. I’m finding SOTA and WAB go hand-in-hand and clearly you have too. Look forward to working you on a summit (hope 40m improves soon). 73 John

Hi Ken, I see we’ve worked a couple of times, the last being back in April, when I activated G/SP-017 Billinge Hill, both as a SOTA and Trig Point for the WABers. You can certainly count yourself lucky to have G/CE-004 as your local summit, as it affords excellent take-off!

IMHO, the best place to operate from, is the fence by the trig point. This is fairly straightforward with a vertical, a little more tricky with a dipole. When HF conditions were better last year and the earlier part of this year, Bardon Hill produced some amazing DX, however, I fear you’ll find it more challenging at the moment :frowning:

Good luck with your activation…

73 Mike
2E0YYY

Hi Allan
Many thanks for the welcome, very much appreciated, catch you on a summit.
Cheers Ken

Hi John
Long time no hear, yes I am enjoying chasing the summits, many thanks.
Ken