I was thinking of Kit Hill as the first one but it is a bit of a cheat as you can virtually drive to the top! Hensbarrow Beacon seems a bit more in the SOTA spirit. I guess I need to make a day of it and do both. The more challenging, like Brown Willhays, need a better weather forecast than today. 
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Nothing virtually about it - right to the top 
Don’t think drive-ups are not “SOTA” - they’re great for testing new kit, or trying out this “activating” lark, or just having a break from 8km slogs through snake-infested waist-high undergrowth.
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You’ve been to Cornwall then!
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Cornish activators - beware of slow worms and grass snakes…
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Hi John,been reading the thread and notice you don’t have an email address or details on QRZ.com.
I along with Karl 2e0feh are probably your nearest chasers do let us know when you are going up and if you can’t get a spot on we can do that for you.
My details are on qrz.Good luck 73 Don G0RQL.
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Don,
Thank you. I was advised last wek to join QRZ and did so but checking this morning I see that just joining doesn’t get my callsign added to the database. When I tried adding it I was told I hadn’t been a member long enough. Further digging suggests I need to ask to join on their forum - which I will try now.
John
With your registration you can requested it in this category:
Joe
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Joe, I’ve just done that. Thank you.
John
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I had a trip “down your way” in September. Polished off the last of my G/DC summits.
Mostly very easy, but some require a bit more walking.
Only tricky ones are G/DC-006 Carnmenellis and G/DC-008 Hensbarrow Downs. Both have “access challenges”. But are possible.
See the SOTA summits pages for useful tips and SOTA mapping for GPS tracklogs.
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Made me go look at when I started. Just 9 years ago for me.
First QSO was a SOTA activation of Foel Fenlli on 2nd April 2011. It was with Bob G6ODU.
As with you, a 2M FM hand held.
549 activations in 46 Associations later and I still love it.
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Last year I activated Kit Hill on 2m without an alert and got six contacts in half an hour. There is a pager antenna on the chimney and it is advisable to walk to a point where the chimney isn’t visible to avoid receiver blocking. The difficult one for two metres, at least for me, was Watch Croft, I couldn’t qualify it on 2m and had to use HF.
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Thanks for the tip about the pager on Kit Hill Brian. I’m planning to visit it tomorrow afternoon. The bits for a Slim Jim arrived today and I’ll make it up tomorrow morning and then wave it about on a 5m pole in the afternoon. If I can’t raise anyone I’ll replace it with a flag and try semaphore.
John
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I’m putting my trip to Kit Hill (G/DC-003) down as a success, albeit a qualified one. Many thanks to Don (G0RQL) and Mark (M0HQW) for responding to my CQ call. I’d made up the Slim Jim in the morning and it appeared to work. The contacts with Don and Mark were at about 20 miles but when I first turned the radio on I heard someone from Barnstaple, about 40 miles away and someone else but they quickly concluded their conversation agreeing to switch to another band and I missed the opportunity to see if I could reach that far.
So not a qualified SOTA summit with only two QSOs but I’m not disappointed - the technology worked and I’m learning with every attempt.
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Well if you get just 1 contact it counts as an Activation. Just no points until you get 4.
Well done!
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