G/SE-004 Butser Hill asking for insurance

… and I checked and my home insurance has personal liability cover for SOTA.

Mark.

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Cheers Mark, it’ll be good to know what they say. Although I do wonder if we risk them specifying in future ‘not covered for xxx use’, as many companies did a few years ago with driving on the Nurburgring. Now you’ll note in most vehicle policies that use on the Nürburgring Nordschleife is specifically not covered:

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That’s from my van insurance (with Admiral), so not really an issue as I don’t plan to take the van around.

It probably didn’t help that lots of people went over there having played a computer game assuming they knew the track, only to find it’s a bit different in real life ha ha! :slight_smile: :red_car::ambulance:
Cheers,
Simon

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The response was suitably worded to allow them to wiggle out of it, but in theory I’m covered.
Home insurance doesn’t cover vehicles or boats, they are in there too!

From a SOTA perspective operating on private land without permission, or in any other grey-area, is likely to have then wiggling out of any involvement.

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Hi Ray, I’ve just asked for permission for my visit. There has been no mention of insurance. They sent me the form to complete - as you say it’s not really designed for our type of activity, however it was quick and easy to complete. Basically I just had to give them my contact details, mode of travel and timings.

I received permission to operate back in 2019 simply by exchange of emails (similar to your 2020 experience). They seem very happy to grant permission, just not totally sure of what is involved.

I’ve just secured permission for Butser Hill G/SE-004 for tomorrow morning. I didn’t get a reply to my email sent two days ago so I called the office a. couple of hours ago. They called me back an hour or so later and went through th EC form with me, filling it in at their end as the request was for tomorrow morning. Well the original request was for this morning, but we missed that one!

No problem and no mention of insurance, just a request not to set anything up near livestock. I replied that would also be the last thing I’d want to do myself!

In my initial email, I described my radio as “about the size of a sandwich”, my battery as “about the size of a small box of tissues” and my aerial as “a 5m fishing rod with a piece of wire hanging off it”. I also specified my intention to operate from “near the trig point but well away from any paths” and my expected stat of “between 30 minutes and an hour, before 8am when it’s quiet”. The idea of all that was to give a resounding subtext of “low impact” - which I always find works well for me in these situations.

Now to add the alert…

With permission not forthcoming by this morning, I headed north to Walbury Hill G/SE-001 from our apartment in Southampton. I turned right onto the first public footpath off the byway, then moved up to the edge of the field (close to the dyke), in order to be well within the AZ. The actual summit/trig is not currently accessible I understand.

Nice activation on 20m CW, SSB and FT8. Great to get a call on CW from a VK3. I did self spot you go onto 2m FM at the end, but after packing the main HF stuff away, there was no sign of my FT70D. When I returned to the car park, it was there on the roof of the car…

Finally the musos on this group might find this pic I took walking into Southampton city centre last night amusing. What a great way to use the.shutters when the shop is closed!

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Is that for catching 60m fish?

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Autocorrect (that I didn’t spot!) on an iPhone 7. Now corrected.

Autocorrect is the work of the devil (aka Apple/Google).

I don’t do a lot of radio from Butser, but I walk it regularly. You are unlkely to see a ranger except when there is an actual event on, or on busy weekends.Apart from that, they mostly drive into the car park, walk up towards the trig and back again. Keep an eye on the Queen Elizabeth Country Park FB page for events. The team which manages Butser is mainly concerned with the country park across the A3 and Staunton Park in Havant. There is no permanent presence at Butser unless there is someone in the cafe hut.

Anybody operating north of the trig is only going to encounter passing walkers. I can understand the absolute necessity for the VHF contesters or Raynet or whoever it is who drives right up near the trig and sets up considerable masts to get permission, present insurance, etc but otherwise discreet operation is not likely to meet with any conflict, or indeed with many people at all. If there are livestock on the summit, the far side of the fence north of the trig is well within the AZ and likely to be empty.

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£7 for 2.5 hours parking. Oof…

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If you go really early (say 5am ±) you are outside the ANPR/barrier timings, so won’t have to pay however long you stay. At least, that’s how it worked for us a couple of months’ ago. They will probably cotton on to that soon enough, if they haven’t already…

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I’ve just received the following email since I activated this hill during 2022.

“We have amended our policy and are now issuing cards to show that permission has been granted if challenged by a member of staff. If you wish to continue operating from Butser Hill please get in touch with your current 3rd party insurance certificate and will leave these with reception for your next visit.”

It looks as though the requirement for 3rd party insurance is back on the table! From previous experience however, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if people’s experience varies!

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Hmm, I’m glad I activated it back in 2006 in a howling gale when there was no-one around other than a few people mad enough to be out who were flying kites. Let’s hope this litigious approach doesn’t catch on. :frowning:

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I received a similar email the other day.

Section 10 of this:

…covers you if you are a bona fide club member of an affiliated society (to the RSGB), undertaking a club radio activity. I guess it would be straightforward to nominate an upcoming activation of G/SE-004 as a radio activity of whatever club you’re in?

There is a “To Whom It May Concern Letter” about the cover for club members doing radio activities. It can be accessed from the members area of the RSGB website. I will try forwarding this when next requesting permission and see how I get on!

Alternatively, I have replied to the email, and described operating with a handheld VHF radio - equivalent to using one’s smartphone in the country park! It will be interesting to see what their position is on that!

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It’s not on my list of “must revisits”, so the email has found its way into my trash.