Thanks for all of the very kind comments about my double Goatdom, but the really big thanks are for my partner Ann. My 2000th point was gained on GM/NS-003 (Beinn Dearg, 1084m). Yet again we were sheltering on the lee side of the summit cairn; that day dug into the snow in a blizzard. At best the only thing to look forward too was the 3 hour walk back to the car in the whiteout, assuming no navigation errors. She gets the award for being the best shepherdess in SOTA.
As is customary a few statistics; double Goatdom took me 3 years, 17 hours and 5 minutes. I got my (single) mountain goat status after 1 year and 8 months, so my second mountain goat accumulation of points was quicker in 1 year and 4 months; helped by some fine overseas trips and ski lifts in the Alps. Made up from 1743 activation points and 258 bonus points from 86 winter activations.
A total of 3890 QSOs from 336 summits (183 and 153 summits for the first and second thousand points respectively). Just over 11 QSOs per activation, with a range of 1 to 56. 1173 QSOs were on 144MHz, 1042 on 14MHz and 1675 on 7MHz. There are 1454 different call signs in the log, although some are duplicates when mobile/portable, and I found a few errors, so I have spoken with just under this number of people. A big thanks to everyone I have spoken with since January 2011; long may it continue.
Thanks to MM0DHY (Adrian) who was a great help when I took up SOTA. I look forward to some more joint activations, perhaps on skis again and even in a new association!
G0RQL, Don has the highest number of contacts at 87, with GM0AXY (Ken) on 78, GM7UAU (Steve) on 68 and GM7PKT (Robin) on 64 (57 Summit-2-summit contacts). GM4YMM (Christine), G6ODU (Bob), EA2CKX (Pedro) and MM0USU (Andy) all have over 50 contacts.
I started using 20m on an overseas summer trip when my other antennas fell apart and that has become my favoured band. It is great to speak to chasers across Europe and I have regular transatlantic contacts, which are always a pleasure. However, my QSO with Paul, VK5PAS, in South Australia last December was a bit special. Five watts SSB with a resonant inverted V dipole does occasionally cut it.
I have officially transmitted from 13 SOTA associations so hoping for a couple more in the near future to achieve the gold mountain explorer award.
The second last summit I activated was GM/NS-012, (Cona’ Meall, 980m) which is the final Munro (historically Scottish peaks over 3000 feet) to be activated. So, a first activation and double goatdom on the same day. We also discovered that an ascent of the south ridge of Cona’ Meall requires climbing skills in winter.
Many, many thanks again for all of your help, 73s and I hope to speak to you all further down the log.
Colwyn
MM0YCJ