A work trip to the Isle of Man this week gave me an opportunity to get out in the evening with a couple of colleagues who like the hills. We considered a few options of SOTA and HEMA summits and at the last minute picked Slieau Freoaghane. It’s a 20 minute walk to the summmit on a dirt track with good parking. Eventually you turn direct on a well trodden path and make for the summit.
Local transport - old school in the back of a Landy
The start of the track up to the summit
The weather was pretty good - no clouds to speak of. Visibility wasn’t fantastic so Ireland and Scotland were a bit hazy. There was a consistent 20 mph wind which you could get out of on the leeward side of the cairn stones, although the wind chill and temperature did start taking its’ toll on Simon’s lad. We had an hour from start to finish.
The path to the summit
There is a post on the summit which I strapped the 10m compact travel mast to and this helped get the antenna in the air within about 5 minutes.
Borrowing an internet connection I got myself spotted on 20m and found conditions to be very good. I suspect Manuel @ea2dt adding a spot on the DX Cluster helped.
Once 20m had dried up I moved to 40m and again worked a substantial pile up.
Last time I was SOTA on the Isle of Man I really struggled for contacts, no issues with the FT-857 running at 100w and the freshly tuned dipole - some stations were reporting I was hitting them at 59+30.
Operating Position
Thanks to all the chasers. Back to LD land now!
73 Mark.
QSO Map
Date: 02/Jul/2019 Summit: GD/GD-002 (Slieau Freoaghane) Call Used: MD0NOM/P Points: 4 Bonus: 0
| Time | Call | Band | Mode | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:35z | IU3BTY | 14MHz | SSB | N. Italy |
| 18:38z | LG80T | 14MHz | SSB | Trontheim Norway |
| 18:45z | EA2DT | 14MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 18:46z | OK2PDT | 14MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 18:48z | DK9IP | 14MHz | SSB | Win SW Germany |
| 18:48z | HB9CZR | 14MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 18:49z | SQ3PMX | 14MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 18:49z | UT1AN | 14MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 18:50z | OZ7JZ | 14MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 18:51z | DK8SV | 14MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 18:52z | EA4DFE | 14MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 18:53z | OH3GZ | 14MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 18:53z | UR4UC | 14MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 18:54z | EA2IF | 14MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:02z | GI0AZA | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:03z | 2E0FEH | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:03z | GI0AZB | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:06z | EA2DT | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:06z | G7LMF | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:06z | GM4WHA | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:08z | F4IFA | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:08z | LZ2OG | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:09z | F4HZN | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:09z | GM0IQD | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:10z | MM6PMQ | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:11z | GI0CWV | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:12z | DL8UD | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:12z | OK1ASG | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:12z | SQ3F | 7MHz | SSB | Lesi |
| 19:13z | IN3XUG | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:13z | SM6CNX | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:14z | EI7CC | 7MHz | SSB | Pete Dublin |
| 19:14z | F4GLR | 7MHz | SSB | Daniel Paris |
| 19:16z | G0RQL | 7MHz | SSB | Don Devon |
| 19:17z | OK1XXZ | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:18z | EA1GKP | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:18z | MW0IDX | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:19z | ON7LO | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:20z | F1URL | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:20z | OZ4NA | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:20z | SQ9RNW | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:21z | DH7AS/M | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:22z | EI6IF | 7MHz | SSB | Dennis |
| 19:22z | OZ8TPR | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:22z | PA0MRV | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:23z | M0MVX | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:23z | MI6LFU | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
| 19:24z | SM5SYO | 7MHz | SSB | Thx for contact from Isle of Man SOTA: GD/GD-002 |
My companions
Before setting up
View to the South
View to the North
View to the West