At about 15:20 this afternoon I realised there was just about enough time for me to get to Botley Hill before sunset if I was lucky. I’ve been wanting to try a SOTA activation for a while and this seemed like a decent opportunity.
Appearances can be deceptive however - it was muddy, steep and really cold! I got the four contacts but couldn’t feel my fingers towards the end! Not really surprising considering I got there slightly after sunset though!
I think next time I’ll plan a bit more to avoid freezing myself after sunset! As a first spontaneous attempt though, not bad!
Ah yeah what I failed to mention (mostly because I was quite tired and hungry when I wrote that) was that I got the train to Oxted and walked up from there. The rather direct path route.
Delighted to hear that someone else has been using public transport to get to a SOTA summit - and carrying a VX7 with dipole for 2m fm. It certainly takes more effort than driving up to ‘right next to the summit’. The main snag I found was the wait for the transport (bus or train) when you got back down the hill again. Particularly annoying if it s dark and very cold.
I think you might find it it advisable to start a bit earlier next time but many congratulations for just deciding to get out and have a go. If we had taken this advice yesterday in the Welsh Borders we wouldn’t have had to cancel the 3rd summit (the Long Mynd) as it was too late and too cold at 1700 to drive over from the Stiperstones. It is very easy to underestimate the time taken for an activation - especially when setting up and taking down with cold hands. I look forward to a S2S before too long - probably when it is a bit warmer!