Hi all,
Helen GW7AAU & Steve GW7AAV will be active from Brora in East Sutherland Scotland from the 1st to the 7th August and from the 8th to the 15th from Seahouses in Northumberland England. From Friday 28th August to Monday 31st we will be active from Leominster.
Week starting 1st August we will be active from North Scotland summits, the holiday accommodation, the beach and possibly somewhere a little further North.
Week starting 8th August we will be active from Scottish Boarders summits, the beach and possibly some IOTA from Holy Island (Lindesfarne) EU-120 and Farne Islands EU-109. May not be able to get an antenna up at the accommodation here.
Long weekend starting 28th August we will be activating various Welsh Borders summits. The only summit definitely on the list is G/WB-008 Hergest Ridge.
Operating frequencies are 3.666/5.3985/7.090/7.118/14.285/28.450/144.310 ssb and 70.400/145.400/433.400/1297.5 FM.
It is not expected that VHF/UHF will be of any use in East Scotland so would be nice to be proved wrong.
I am unsure we will be able to alert or self-spot from East Scotland (hopefully Northumberland will not be a problem) so if anyone is listening I intend to be on 3.666 +/- QSB in the evenings at about 2100 local and would appreciate calls and any alerts or spots as required.
When /P I will be using the FT-857 with around 30w into a linked dipole. If you are struggling ask someone to QSP for me to increase power. I will have two 7Ah SLABs with me. During activations I will call on 5.3985 first then 7.118 so I hope someone will be monitoring these frequencies in case we are unable to alert.
Any tips on summits within 30 miles or so of Brora would be helpful.
Jimmy will finally realise the value of CW when he tries those summits!
I hope everyone coming North has a good time. I’ve only been out of the country for 9 days yet it seems like a lifetime since I saw heather, bog, rain and dreik. There’s only so much sun and gloriously warm weather you can take before your body cries out to return home!
Much as I love Scotland and enjoy the dry humour of the Scots, I could never visit God’s Own Country in high summer, being both allergic and extraordinarily attractive to the dreaded midge! However, I don’t mind my RF visiting Scotland and hope for some S2S contacts from west Shropshire Friday to Monday. Weather and XYL permitting, of course!
After a day out walking I expect that everyone will want to chill out, but if I can find a spot I may give it a try. However unlike my previous trips North the Scottish property (and the one in Northumberland) are almost on the beach. I usually go for maximum height above sea level.
Maybe some of our friends from Norway(Norge) will hear me on 2 Metres. Looking at the map it is line of sight to Bergen, Stvanger and Kristiansand so maybe worth putting up a beam at the cottage for 2m SSB after all. The second week might be better for Denmark (Danmark) or Netherlands (Nederland). ;0)
I plan to be operating HF from the beach, using the 857 and about 30w while the kids go fossil hunting. The beach at Brora is supposed to be full of easy to find fossils from the Jurassic period. “No kids I can’t fit a T-Rex in the car!”
