I will be going for a walk in GM/WS next week, Monday to Friday, with my son Jacob, SO9ARK. Leaving from Inverie on July 30th we might be passing close to few SOTA summits on our way towards Shiel Bridge, and perhaps, weather and midges permitting, we might find ourselves in a position to attempt an activation or two. I am thinking about taking a HT with a telescopic whip and checking whether a call on 2m FM could reach anyone out there. I suppose using HF could increase the ods in our favour, but my CW skills are not up to the task and SSB is not an option, as I want to keep the weight low. I mean the gear weight, as I have no influence over my own, no matter how hard I try. Maybe a walk in the wild will help in this regard. I’ll be taking a mobile phone to be able to alert and spot our activations if possible.
Anyway, the summits I had in mind are
GM/WS-174, Sgurr Coire Choinnichean
GM/WS-046, Ladhar Bheinn
GM/WS-051, The Saddle
GM/WS-027, Sgurr Fhuaran
GM/WS-041, Sgurr na Ciste Duibhe
I’d be happy to activate just one from the list. On the way back home we might attempt GM/WS-001 if there’s time.
I will appreciate any advice from local SOTA activators and chasers, including „don’t even try it”. A list of local channels would come handy. Thanks in advance!
The local (Inverness) calling frequency is 145.575 MHz. You are more likely to find somebody there than on the regular calling frequency. You are going to be reasonably remote so if you can post an alert beforehand or spot yourself you should get the contacts.
Yes, around Inverness everyone tends to use 145.575MHz but there are also a number of stations on the west coast listening on 145.500MHz.
Unfortunately I will be at work so I am unlikely to be able to monitor the bands.
On arriving to Glasgow last night I took stock of the radio gear, only to find my trusty RH-770 isn’t there. Must have left it at home, serious oversight. That leaves us with the pathetically short RH-519 mounted on the HT. We’ll see what it can do. The next step is to get to Inverie by train and boat. Then tomorrow onwards to Ladhar Bhein, the forecast doesn’t look bad. Cheers!
The Saddle by the Forcan Ridge is undoubtably one of the great Scottish routes, but the scrambling and exposure makes it impossible for some vertigo sufferers. However the Saddle can be reached by a much easier walk starting on a footpath just up the road from the Shiel Bridge campsite. You get on the ridge heading south to Sgurr Leac nan Each and Spidean Dhomhuill then curving round the head of Coire Uaine to the Saddle. This is a nice but undramatic walk!
Activated Ladhar Bheinn today, with 2 QSOs on 145.500 FM - thank you, Colin and Gordon. Never got so drenched on a SOTA walk before, but it was well worth it, even without points. Weather doesn’t look good for the coming days but I hope it wasn’t my last activation this week. Cheers!
