Thank you!
I worked for 36½ years. With a bit of luck I may manage another 36½ years of leisure. 
3 Likes
Congratulations Fraser. I am sure that you will not be short of ideas to fill your time. Enjoy your new found free time.
73, Kevin
1 Like
Congratulations Fraser.
I’m sure you’ll manage your retirement well. After 36 years for the same company and 7 home moves you deserve it.
(I think the longest I ever worked for one company was 7 years.)
1 Like
Many congratulations on retirement Fraser. Welcome to the next phase of your life when you will wonder how you ever had the time to work. I suspect the Landies will take up more of your supposedly extended free time. However, be aware that people are gathering to steal your time. Just never forget the key word… NO. 
Hope to work you on one hill or another soon.
73, Gerald
4 Likes
Glad you have recognised a reliable radio at last (as long as you aren’t near any masts)…! Great to hear the news but you are much too YOUNG to retire if my maths is correct. Don’t bank on the fact that there will be any sort of state pension when you reach that age in the far off future.
Give my regards to the net - i bet you’ll never have time to join them now. Life seems to get even more hectic after retirement. Enjoy all the holidays you have planned or started planning but I have a feeling Mo might have an even longer list of jobs to be done before you get to them. (am I judging others by my own standards???)
Upwards and onwards!
73 Viki
4 Likes
Ha ha… I was thinking of saying that… it certainly happened to me.
I also do more DIY now, whereas before I’d have paid someone to come in and do it.
3 Likes
Congratulations Fraser, sure you will have lots to do including SOTA!
I hit 40 years of working life in a few months time and working as long hours as I ever have, so I may not be far behind you!
All the best,
Gav
3 Likes
Us old workers need our naps 
Enjoy your retirement, just 572 days to go…
4 Likes
Congratulations on retirement. Not to make you feel old, but I was in school at the time you started at Tesco’s.
More time for SOTA. Motorsport. Holidays. 6x6 builds. Cuddling cat time. Annoying Mo time/getting under her feet and importantly, not having to set an alarm.
Enjoy your new chapter.
3 Likes
Congratulations, I’m sure that the hills and the Land Rovers will keep you very busy. What’s next? GM/NS? (PS I graduated with an Electronics Degree - what is scary is that there does not seem to be much left of the electronics industry in the UK)
73. Paul (Rtd)
3 Likes
Thanks everyone for the comments!
Paul hit the nail on the head.
a) I need to keep a routine. Otherwise I’ll turn into an alcoholic Jabba the Hutt.
b) SOTA challenges.
- The remaining 27 GM/ES completes, which are all chases for me.
- Activate the remaining summits in the Cairngorms National Park.
c) Do some amateur radio stuff that isn’t SOTA.
d) Fix my Land Rovers. There may be a new YouTube channel. With five of them, I should be able to generate plenty of content.
That’ll do for now.
11 Likes
isnt that a self propelling thing… like the earth spinning on its axis, landrovers always need spanners…
Alan
3 Likes
Congrats on your escape from the treadmill, Fraser!
It’s nearly 10 years since I hung up my surveying boots-it seems like a lifetime ago now.
Good luck with your plans for the future!
73 & best wishes,
John
1 Like
Challenge accepted (for the tiddlers anyway 
)
1 Like
Congratulations on finishing work.
When I took an early retirement package in June 2024, the boys gave my this sign. I had only been with them for 8 years so not that long at all.
It took me about 3 months to stop waking up at 4:30 am, then we messed all that up by going to the UK and Europe for nearly 7 weeks. We even went to Tesco while we were over there.
My wife, who doesn’t drive due to a medical condition, has regular appointments on Tuesday and Thursday which helps me keep track of what day of the week it is.
Keeping track of the days was very challenging during December and January when her appointments paused for the holidays.
I bought a couple of CROs in mid January from a guy of similar age to me who had also retired in June 2024 and he agreed that tracking the day of the week was a real problem.
As for SOTA, my activation rate has not increased but this may be more due to the hot weather at present than anything else.
I turn 58 this year and I hoping to be climbing hills for many more years, albeit a bit slower.
3 Likes
Perhaps, for retirees and others, there is work to do?
Some say that a notable proportion of the ham population don’t actually know what a MOSFET is.
In fact, Activators carry billions of these to SOTA summits most days of the year; in phones, watches, radios, GPSes etc.
As it turns out, the MOSFET is the most ubiquitous semiconductor device, by a country mile: CPUs, logic ICs, memory and so forth.
What are the different types and relevant symbols? Could you solder together a working circuit using just a single MOSFET device?
Making time to understand a little more electronics could well benefit the ham population as a whole.
Of course, there are those who think it doesn’t matter, and don’t care either. But such attitudes are not restricted to ham radio.
73 Dave
3 Likes
Or just ask sotl.as.
That only tells Fraser, not everyone else.
1 Like
I know that sotl.as does it. Not sure if it filters it by association though?
As Alex said, this is my app.
2 Likes