Tuesday 31st March 2026
Hereford v Macclesfield in the football.
Therefore Burton Hill G/WB-020 was the pre-match SOTA selection.
Parked at the end of the cul-de-sac lane above Ostey Wood to the east of the summit. Longer walk-in from here but hardly any ascent. In fact the AZ is entered within yards of the parking spot, but we walked as far as the trig point (which is still shortly before the true summit that is 7m higher).
I sent up with the 5-el beam vertically polarised (tends to bring in more callers - even on SSB - and is obviously better for FM). However - nothing - zilch - notasausage.
At one point I did hear a station wish call ending “delta” right in the background on 144.290 SSB. I asked them for a long call so I could beam on them, but never heard them again. On FM, I got no response at all.
This was one of those very rare occasions when no activation at all could be recorded, let alone a Challenge multiplier or an activator point. But come 6.30pm, I had to abandon to get to the game on time.
Macclesfield got a fantastic 2-0 win to remain in strong promotion contention, so the evening was still a pleasant one overall!
Hopefully work will take me back in the vicinity later this year, and I can do a much shorter walk into the AZ and get a successful activation recorded!
