Channel Islands GJ/JE-001, GU/GU-001 and GU/GU-002

Activation Reports
1

Friday 5th July

We arrived on Jersey on an afternoon flight from Manchester and were met by Allan @GW4VPX and his wife Val who had arrived a few days earlier by ferry with their car.

We drove immediately to GJ/JE-001 Les Platons and set up in the same spot as Phil @G4OBK. This was to be the pattern for the following two summits, where we used the excellent location info from Phil.

Allan got to work setting up and I snapped a few photos.

We were tight for time, so in the end just used 40m SSB. Sorry if you were waiting for us to move to 20m.

Gerald MJ0WML/P
6 x 40m SSB

Allan GJ4VPX/P
16 x 40m SSB

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Saturday 6th July
We found out on Friday afternoon that our planned sailing to Guernsey was delayed by two hours. This scuppered our plans to catch the ferry to Sark at midday. So we rearrange our plans to go to Guernsey Airport instead. It seemed like Sark was not going to happen on this trip. On arrival in Guernsey I popped my head into the Sark Shipping office and found to my great surprise, that there was an extra sailing early on Sunday morning. So the Sark activation was now back on for the next day!

We dropped our luggage at the hotel in St Peter Port and caught a bus up to the airport. The activation proceded as the day before, with Allan setting up his station and me initially operating with him on 40 meters. Once the summit was qualified Allan continued on his own to work the pile up on 40 meters. I tried a few calls on 2m FM, but there was nothing to be heard anywhere on the band. When Allan was finished I took over the station and operated on 20 meters.

Gerald MU0WML/P
7 x 40m SSB (Including 3 x S2S)
5 x 20m SSB

Allan GU4VPX/P
23 x 40m SSB (Including 3 x S2S)

After the activation we went back to the bus stop at the airport and continued our journey on the number 91 which completes the circuit of the island in a clockwise direction, giving the opportunity to get a flavour of the island.

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Sunday July 7th

Firstly, can I apologise that we were early for our planned activation time. Due to the rushed change of plan I failed to take off the hour from British Summer Time and as a result we ended up 45 minutes early and in fact finished before our planned activation time.

Following an early brekfast we took the small ferry across to Sark. On arrival we took the opportunity to use one of the tractor hauled passenger trailers to access the centre of the island. It was then a fairly level 500 metre walk to the true summit and activation point. Again we both worked stations on 40 metres to begin with, before Allan completed working the pile up. I then took over for 20 metres. As I completed on 20 metres a few raindrops started and we pulled the plug and headed for a coffee.

It’s worth looking at the last photo… The red line shows the level the pontoon was at when we set off for Sark in the morning. By the time we got back at 14:30 it had dropped about NINE METRES. Apparently a big tide is 10.5 metres.

Gerald MU0WML/P
4 x 40m SSB
12 x 20m SSB

Allan GU4VPX/P
25 x 40m SSB

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It was great to meet up with Judith G4IAQ and Dave G4IAR who were holidaying here on Jersey and operating for WAB.

Thanks to all the chasers who made it possible to activate these summits so quickly.

Working conditions on all summits
KX2
Allan’s home brew 40m EFHW

General notes
Getting about by public transport seems easy, with good bus services and the brilliant inter-island ferries.

Hotel on Jersey
Monterey

Hotel on Guernsey
Duke of Normandie

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2

Good job there is a standard datum for sea level, else it would be difficult to keep track of the AZ limit :grin:

Thanks for the report, a nice expedition.

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3

Thanks for the nice report and photos. A lovely part of the world which I have visited several times before I got into SOTA. Hmm, perhaps I found a reason for a return visit…:thinking:

Thanks to Allan for working me from GU/GU-002 on what was a very noisy 40m band. Always good to have a QSO.

Where next for the two of you?

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4

I was talking with some dudes and mention of unactivated summits came up. Here’s a map of European* summits still to be activated. There must be something on there for you?

* for assorted definitions of European.

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5

Nice write-up and pictures!
Thanks for the nice report and the images.
Managed to get you both on the first two, but unfortunately missed you on the last one.

Most likely will follow in your footsteps June next year.

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Interesting map. Huge difference to ZL (or VK). Not so many big blank spaces here - potential activators take note!

(green - activated, purple, unactivated)

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(should probably have posted that as a new topic … but why break years of tradition of topic-creep).

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Thanks for the summit to summit contact from GU/GU-002 on Saturday.
The four of you are having some great activations and charting a course that I would like to follow.
73, Kevin

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They had it easy. Arrived at high tide and saved on some climbing. :rofl:

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9

I am very fond of the Channel Islands. I met Marianne on Jersey in 1990. We celebrated our Silver Wedding on Sark in 2019. Jimmy and I did a trip to activate the three references (I hesitate to describe them as “summits” lol) in 2018.

We actually stayed one night on each island. The best benefit of this was the time to properly explore and enjoy Sark, which is truly magical. So magical that I made that decision to return for the big anniversary the following year - staying 3 nights.

The full story of our 2018 GJ/GU expedition is here:

http://tomread.co.uk/les_platons_je-001.htm
http://tomread.co.uk/guernsey_airport_2018.htm
http://tomread.co.uk/le_moulin_2018.htm

The 2019 activations and photos are here:

http://tomread.co.uk/guernsey_airport_gu-002.htm
http://tomread.co.uk/le_moulin_gu-001.htm

Wonderful place. No more SOTA uniques for me in the islands, but I’d agree to take another break there in a heartbeat.

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Tank You Both Gerald and Allan. A Great Activation. Very good photographs. great descriptions. Well Done Both of You, Thank You Allan for the QSO from Sark. A new one for me. Best Wishes to You Both and of course also to your Wives, 73 de Paul M0CQE.

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11

Great report @GW4VPX Allan … @MW0WML Gerald - it looks like you had a fantastic time on all 3 Islands. I’m really pleased you managed to activate Sark, all ended well in the end :slight_smile: thanks for the S2S contact on the Saturday, conditions seemed to be working well! Look forward to your next adventure!

73, Ben
GW4BML

4 Likes