Andy, 10/10 to the Chasers over the weekend …they also helped Eva actively
You almost made it … We could not pull the 8 & G off the noise … And did not see your spot…
By the time we pulled the headphones out of the back pack and went to try RF gain /ATT you were gone… Next time!
Congrats to Jimmy and Tom for TF-001
…1hr separated us for a S2S trial on our last activation of our Easter trip . Enjoy TF
73 Eva & Angel /P
Super, and exciting activation. Briefly:
Set off from Los Cristianos shortly after 7am and up the mountain road to the lower cable car station (2500m ASL) for El Teide EA8/TF-001. We were there before it even opened, so able to park right next to it (those arriving in the afternoon needed to walk half a mile uphill to it, and hardly any queue (1.5 to 2 hours queueing for the afternoon tourists).
Bocadillos and coffee for breakfast in the cafe, and then onto the cable car. We reached the upper cable car station (3500m ASL) some 8 minutes later. The lack of oxygen in the air was now immediately apparent. As we had been warned, every few steps of walking required you to stop and get your breath back, and often take a sip of water.
What came as a surprise was the lack of cold. It definitely was 1.5 degrees Celcius at 2500m, and presumably less higher up. (The cloud cover was around 2000m ASL and well below). With only very light winds, and strong sunshine, it felt rather warm. No gloves or second fleece for Jimmy M0HGY, which would be unheard of at such temperatures in the UK!
The ascent was steep and rocky, but always on a clear constructed “tourist” path. Jimmy was good as gold and did not tear off ahead as usual. I had made a point of asking him to stay with me and work as a team on this one.
The summit was reached, and while rests and breaths and water were needed, neither of us suffered any altitude related effects. After photos, we worked out where to set up. This was difficult, as access was only permitted on the tourist path itself, so it really was rather tricky to get the MFD (2m) and EFLW (20m) up without obstructing the other hikers. We managed this though, and the other hikers were pleasant and enthusiastic about our activities. Contrary to expectations, no marshalls were around at the summit, which may have helped us somewhat!
Jimmy quickly got to three contacts on 2m FM, all with locals in the Canary Islands of course. He just couldn´t get the fourth though. He would have to wait! Meanwhile, I had a nice little pile-up on 20m CW with the HB1B rig and SOTAbeams Micro Z ATU. My 23 QSOs included two S2S, and it was nice to work friends and chasers alike (and some that would be described as both hi!).
All this while at the top of the highest mountain on Spanish territory, 3717m ASL, under deep blue sky and bright hot Canarian sunshine, and a mile above the blanket of clouds covering Tenerife. Just stunning. Once I had no further callers, I invited Jimmy to bring his 817 over to connect to my antenna system. His phone had a Vodaphone connection, so a self-spot was placed, and soon Carolyn G6WRW came back to give him the all-important 4th and qualifying QSO. Jimmy called QRZ a few times, but there were no more takers, and we packed up.
I got quite breathless again while packing away, and yet again a few times while descending. This is not a mountain to be taken lightly, even if most of it is ascended by road and then cable car (teleferico). Down in the cafe we enjoyed a buffet lunch of paella, rabbit, goat, chicken and salads, washed down with a celebratory beer - Dorada - grande, of course. A wonderful activation and a wonderful experience.
Hi Tom,
I was one of the lucky S2S guys today with you, Believe me I jumped when you came back with my call!!
Your signals and keying were really fine.
I’m very glad with our qso and thankfull with the behaviour of chasers who permitted a gap in the pile up and supported me when I was desperately sending S2S…
A big hug and other for Jimmy, vy 73 and enjoy Canary Islands!
Ignacio EA2BD
Hi Jimmy, Tom,
Thanks for your report! I was there in Dec 13, access to the summit was closed for snow and ice 
I was listening for you, could not hear anything here in S-DL.
Good luck! 73 Martin df3mc
The activation report and photographs are in the current issue of Practical Wireless (PW) magazine. Has anyone seen it?
I’ll put a different, much briefer version, with some of the photos not in the magazine, on my website in due course.
“Due course” has happened.
My website http://tomread.co.uk now has some photos on from the two Tenerife activations - El Teide EA8/TF-001 3715m and Guajara EA8/TF-002 2715m.
Additionally, with the permission of Don G3XTT (Editor of PW) and PW Publishing Ltd, the PDF of the actual PW article can be viewed via those summit pages on my website too.
Go to http://tomread.co.uk - then click on “SOTA” on the left-hand menu pane. The Tenerife summits can be found at the bottom right-hand corner of the index.
Hey Tom - good read! Thanks for reprinting the PW article. I tried to find the real thing after you showed it to us last year, but it’s not an easy mag to find, when one is on the road.
Cheers & best wishes to you & Jimmy
Thanks for the positive feedback Nick. The PW editor, Don Field G3XTT has been brilliant in not only giving me permission to reprint the article on my website, but actually providing me with the PDF of the original article to use for that very purpose. Still nice to have the real physical mag though, which I have too.
Hi Tom,
I found one page of the article. Is the entire article on your site or just the first page? Good publicity for SOTA. I had not read of your pact with Jimmy before! What a great idea.
73 Andrew VK1DA/VK2UH
Hi Andrew,
Just keep scrolling down, all four pages should be there.
The link to the article also appears on the webpage for Guajara EA8/TF-002 as well - but it’s the same article!
Yes it was there, but would not load into the page frame.
(Info added for benefit of other iPad users.) Holding the PW image/link for a longer time brings up a menu including “view in new tab” which did work. Even better was to copy the article into iBooks from which it behaved perfectly.
Any article that makes the reader want to go and do it themselves is successful!
Thanks Tom
Andrew VK1DA/VK2UH