Congratulations to Robin GM7PKT who has today attained 6,000 activator points!
I have had the pleasure of working Robin many times, although mostly on HF. A very large percentage of his activator points have been gained on the 50Mhz/144MHz bands, which are not as “busy” in his part of the world, as they may be in yours.
Very well done Robin & I hope to work you again soon.
Thanks & best 73,
Mark G0VOF
Well done Robin.
Its been a pleasure to be part of the chaser squad that go the extra wee bit to help you along.
Very impressive reaching 6000 activator points and all down to hard work in all kinds of weather, and none of those drive on summits either, work for your hard earned points.
As you I always like to give the VHF chasers a chance first and know how difficult it can be here in GM - it can be a challenge on its own.
Here’s to many more.
73 Neil 2M0NCM
In reply to 2M0NCM:
Very well done Robin from Gourock. Missed your ‘party’ on the last one, my text alert went a bit awry as you might have noticed :-). If we ever have a GM meet up night, I’ll get you a pint, and you won’t need to worry about the car. Most people would be delighted with that number of chaser points, never mind activator points, and as Neil says, they are all hard won points, not soft ones like some associations.
73 'til the next hill. IOB.
Absolute respect.
Robin is way out in front as the world’s leading activator, and he has achieved this in a pretty difficult association, ie where for many summits you start somewhere near sea level and then climb a blinking long way upwards!
The only possible advantage is the concentration of many qualifying summits in GM, especially near to Robin’s home QTH, but they nearly all require considerable physical effort as well as sound mountaineering skills.
It was our pleasure to meet Robin on one occasion for a meal, drink and a chat, when we were staying in Fort William a few years ago. Keep up the good work Robin - as I say - respect!
Tom M1EYP
Congratulations on a truly excellent achievement Robin. I can only echo Tom’s comment - absolute respect. Well done on achieving so many contacts on bands that are not mainstream, which really can be a labour of love from such northerly summits.
73, Gerald G4OIG
Excellent achievement.
Always a pleasure to ‘chase’ you and give back an occasional STS.
Thanks to yourself and others for using VHF which we know can be frustrating at times in GM land.
Looking forward to many more contacts.
I bet the dram tasted excellent tonight.
73
Bobby
GM7GAX
Well done Robin on a great achievement,you have been an insperation to me since our first sota contact way back in 2002 when I got my first licence,looking forward to our next 412 contacts and thanks for all the chaser points,always a pleasure to chase you up those remote mountains (I wish I had a quarter of your stamina)
Good luck with sota
73
Andy
MM0USU
In reply to MM0USU:
I remember our first summit contact in 2002 explaining SOTA to Robin and his initial reaction - he really didn’t think it was his ‘scene’, well what player he has turned out to be achieving this marvelous score of 6000 points. And as others have mentioned not in the easiest of activation areas and circumstances.
Interestingly on reaching ‘MG’ (his first 1000 points) status Robin carried out an analysis of total elevation accrued, distances walked/cycled along with miles driven. Very interesting reading, showing his dedication and committment to this aspect of the hobby. (I wonder Robin if you are still keeping these ‘stats’?)
Not quiet in Robin’s league I am about the achieve my second ‘MG’ and as part of my overall Activator’s log I keep a running tally of elevation gained and distance walked/cycled. As with Robin’s log I did an analysis of my first 1K and notched up some 96000M of ascent with over 1800Kms of walking. Now approaching the 2K mark these tally’s have increased to just over 200000M and 3900Kms. I wonder if any other activators keep such stats?
Anyhoo a great achievement Robin. We GM’s may not be that great at fit-ba anymore but we are not bad at Activating - hi! - but wait a minute did we not give the G’s a close run the other week? Things could be looking up (:>)
Cheers
Jack (;>J
GM4COX
In reply to GM4COX:
I can see from the database the sum of the heights for all Robin’s activations amounts to 834870m. That’s not the distance climbed, simply the sum of the heights of the mountains. In your case Jack it’s 313217m. I don’t keep the stats as such but I do have GPX tracks of most of my activations since Jan 2008 and could work it out. I know my MG required ~35k miles of driving but that’s because I like uniques!
Robin, congrats on the score. Always a pleasure to work you sometimes as a chaser from home but mainly S2S.
Andy
MM0FMF
Well done Robin,a great achievement.Always a pleasure to get you in the log especially 2mtrs. 73 Don.G0RQL.
Wow! Many congratulations Robin! I’ll be lucky if I manage MG x2.
73
Karen 2E0XYL
In reply to G0VOF:
Congratulations Robin. Always a pleasure to speak to you. Normally when I am in Scotland, but our fairly recent S2S QSO on 2m FM from Snowdonia to Ben Cruachan (Nr. Oban) was a gem.
Here’s to the next 1,000.
73
Gerald
MW0WML
In reply to MW0WML:
Fantastic achievement, well done Robin. Look forward to our next summit-2-summit.
Cheers
Colwyn
In reply to MM6YCJ:
Well done Robin I salute you sir, you have been an inspiration to us all Mr reliable I would never achieved shack sloth points without you thanks 73’s till the next qso
Brian
In reply to G0VOF:
Yes Mark, I think Robin is nothing less than superhuman. I don’t need to congratulate him again as I did so on 2m-FM S2S during his 6k activation but I will anyway. Congratulations Robin!! Let’s hear from you with some ‘stats and stories!’ They’ll make very interesting reading.
73, John G4YSS.
In reply to G0VOF:
Thanks to everyone for their messages of congratulations on the reflector, by e-mail and by text.
It’s the dedicated band of chasers that make activations on VHF in the Highlands possible. Thank you all for your help and your patience waiting for me to appear on a top. I’m well aware that some chasers have frequently gone out mobile or climbed to a high point to look for my signal. Thank you to you all for your efforts.
Tom, all these hills that make VHF operation from this QTH almost impossible do indeed give me a great choice of summits within a relatively short distance. However there are 3 disadvantages with the local summits –
1 The starting point for most of the local summits is at or not significantly above sea level.
2 There just aren’t enough active amateurs in the Highlands to make 4 contacts very likely without being able to reach Central Scotland or further afield. If you thought the bands were quiet where you live, try operating here! This means, with a few exceptions, that it is unlikely that a successful VHF activation can be done on anything less than an 8 pointer on week days and even most local 4 pointers are a gamble at week-ends.
3 Lochaber isn’t known for its unbroken sunshine! In fact these hills are the wettest place in the UK so frequently a trip south or east is required for better weather.
Even with more trips outside the local area than I would like, my accumulated distance driven per 1000 points must be considerably lower than most activators. Jack, I don’t keep these statistics up to date but with the dark nights approaching it would be interesting to get all the figures together and see how the distances, heights etc. compare to others both in GM and elsewhere. I will try to get all the numbers together over the next few weeks and eventually publish some stats.
I finally managed to do a MG activation in weather suitable to take a camera so this time I actually have a photo. It’s not very exciting but for anyone interested there is a photo of me on GM/CS-003 on IMG_1757C | Passing 6000 SOTA activator points on GM/CS-003 … | Flickr I still haven’t got round to putting many photos on Flickr but about half of the photos currently on my photostream are from SOTA expeditions.
Many thanks everyone and hope to speak to you from a summit sometime soon.
Best 73,
Robin. GM7PKT
In reply to GM7PKT:
Many congratulations Robin, what an achievement. It’s always a pleasure to work you on 2 or 6 because the opportunities for any VHF SOTA activity are few and far between where I live, so many thanks for your sterling efforts.
73
Victor, GI4ONL