Thanks Tom. Condx certainly were difficult. I acrually had the square worked out already. Each morning I QSP to the WAB reflector the alerts for activations on the LF bands together with the WAB square and any possible trig reference.
Aha - very efficient Dave!
Today we have walked a total of 23km in Co. Fermanagh to complete the GI/SW region. My goodness they were long walks. At a weak moment I did suggest âtrying to get away withâ driving on the very good forestry roads to shorten the walks! After all, it did appear that was what several others were doing.
Of course, the G Association Manager expressly forbade such deviance, and I am thankful to have had so much exercise. I donât think I have felt so tired and âbrokenâ since a Cairngorms âspecialâ circuit with Barry GM4TOE a few years ago though!
The bonus EI summit alerted for after these two today proved to be a wholly unrealistic intention so becomes the first casualty of the trip which had hitherto gone exactly as planned.
Now having a cold Guinness and nice meal in the Sperrins Restaurant in Omagh ahead of an intended 5 summit day tomorrow - eek!
1 Like
Enjoy the Guinness Tom, it sounds like you really deserve it and a Guinness doesnât taste nearly as good outside of Ireland (North or South).
Ed.
It does actually. Thatâs just an urban myth!
Canât agree with that,Tom, from my personal experience. Slow poured Guinness in a Dublin pub for which you have to wait at least 15 minutes is superb.
Jim
An Irishman I once met in Co. Wicklow told me that heâll happily drink Guinness anywhere - except Dublin. He said that the Dublin bars were complacent about cleaning their lines etc, and continued to be so âbecause of you English coming over telling us how much better it tastesâ!
Iâm going back 30 years, but my very first Guinness was in a Dublin pub and no Guinness since then has tasted as good - by the way, no long wait for the beer, they were stock piling it with probably 10 or 15 pints ready to be topped off along the bar.
Surely, not cleaning the pipes too often is what adds to the meaty taste?
In any case well done on the activations so far Tom and take care on todays,
Ed.
Hello both, why is it âdevianceâ? Surely it would have been OK, activation wise, to drive near the summit and walk the last bit - surely it would have saved your time (and legs) and then you would not have needed to abandon the last one?
Cheers
MIke
Driving on private roads with out permission of the land owner is not allowed, itâs a form of trespass. I think itâs the Environmental Protection Act in the UK that forbids it. You are allowed to drive up to 15m from a road for parking only. That law was introduced to stop off-road vehicle drivers damaging âgreen lanesâ. Like many things itâs all subject to interpretation and testing in court.
Iâve been able to drive on private roads several times, but I have sought the permission in advance. A locked gate is a very good indication there is no public access. An unlocked (and open) gate is no indication of public access either. In Scotland (maybe all UK) if a gate is left open but maybe closed and locked later then there should be a sign saying that and who to contact to get it opened for which there can be a (significant) charge.
In essence in the UK, assume anything (forest roads, farm tracks, estate roads) are private and need permission to drive on unless there is a sign saying what the access is.
1 Like
Another stunning day in Co. Tyrone. I hear itâs not so good over in England?
4 more summits activated here, all in the SM region. Probably the best days walking so far. It was supposed to be 5 but we ran out of steam, charge and time!
We have updated our alerts for tomorrow to give us a shot at a schedule that includes the two originally alerted summits plus the ones cancelled from today and yesterday.
Ultimately though we have to get to Belfast for the overnight ferry, so a decision to abort might need to be taken at some stage.
The last one today was a challenge. Jim qualified on VHF long before I made my first ask on HF. I got the impression that the MUF had taken a severe dive some time around 4.30pm!
Iâve learned my lesson and if the same happens tomorrow Iâll be begging a turn on Jimmyâs VHF setup!
Great overall trip. Good walking, lovely views, great accommodation and food, lots of Guinness and stupidly fine wx. These Tyrone and Fermanagh summits have hardly been activated. Get yourselves over here folks!
Hi Tom,
Congrats to you and Jimmy for the GI SOTA tour you are carrying out with success.
I saw your spot this evening when you were on 14.011 CW but I didnât copy any trace of you or your chasers. Nada de nada, nothing at all. ShameâŚ
Also being after several Northamerican activators yesterday and today with very little success.
Conditions seem to be just not good, however, I hope Iâll have enough to have good fun if I manage to activate this weekendâŚ
Best 73 from Guru
Thank you for listening Guru - and anyone else that tuned into our alerted frequencies. Conditions have certainly been less than straightforward this week, so knowing people are listening for us is a great thing.
A few people were heard having a phantom qso with nobody on my spotted frequencies today. I have made a note of their callsigns and they will receive an e-mail from me if I appear in their chaser logs!
There was also another station that kept acknowledging a different report to the one I had sent. Jimmy had the same issue with the same station earlier. Sadly, these therefore were not good qsos and will not be logged.
OK, see you tomorrow for the last day of our penultimate GI SOTA tour.
1 Like
Mission accomplished. Yet another scorcher across Northern Ireland, but we got four more summits activated today - the two that were originally alerted, plus a bonus EI summit to make up for the one we had no time or energy left for the other day, and finishing with what was supposed to be the fifth summit yesterday (cancelled in favour of Guinness and steak). So 18 alerts is now 18 qualified activations and 18 new activator uniques for us both.
Just seven GI/SM summits remaining for us to complete all GI in terms of SOTA activating. I imagine that will be top of Jimmyâs for 2017.
Well done to the both of you.
Never heard a squeak for you on HF and Jimmyâs timing for VHF did not suit me but I listened when I could. Maybe next time.
73 Neil
Indeed Neil. We appreciate that many more were listening for us but couldnât hear us. It was strange that some stations in G heard us well, while others couldnât hear a trace, without seemingly any geographical patterns. Members of my contest group were trying every day but only a few times did they get through. Some stations like David G3RDQ made it through on a regular basis, and there was more than one occasion where we enjoyed a pile up on 7.160 ssb but couldnât raise anything on 7.032 cw.
As I say, if you tried, then thank you.
Also listened for you and Jimmy when you were spotted - nothing heard over here (not even at the noise level). Conditions were simply not good enough. You probably worked other German stations though - such is propagation (and possibly better locations, beams etc. at the stations you did work).
73 Ed.
Yes I did work some German stations. A couple of others called in, one in particular several times, but clearly couldnât hear me! The âWho chased meâ feature will be interesting once my logs are entered!
The main issue that I had was that my timing was abysmal - work just got in the way so limiting the opportunities to work you. Conditions were very variable with lots of QSB and when I did hear you your signals were often in and out of the noise making the decision on whether or not to call rather difficult.Sometimes I decided to leave it.
Looking forward to reading your reports. Particularly interested in how you found access as information on the GI summits is often rather scant. I am always looking for activation opportunities for the future. That M6 journey up to GM is becoming rather tediousâŚ
73, Gerald G4OIG
There is a wealth of information on an Irish hillbagging site called Mountain Views: http://mountainviews.ie
Round my home, 7.032MHz is one of the strong VDSL training comb frequencies. The others are at 4kHz intervals both sides. They make hearing weak CW signals on those frequencies trickyâŚ