I hope it’s Mackays of Dundee. The only marmalade brand I buy and eat almost every day I am at home for breakfast toast. Once or twice a week I have a change but stay with the Mackays brand - I have their Ginger Conserve on my two slices of toasted seeded bread. Hovis sliced with purple wrapper preferred although - when I can get it.
73 Phil
Mackays Orange, Lemon and Ginger is one of the current faves. The other is ASDA Extra Special Seville Marmalade. Occasionally Rose’s Lime Marmalade. After a while you learn there needs to be some quite intense “sharpness” or you may as well have jam not marmalade.
It’s made in Arbroath these days, but that’s just 15 miles up the road. My favourite too. Had to say that, being a Dundonian. When I was wee you could still get Keiller’s of Dundee marmalade in a white stone jar.
Gosh and double gosh! I’d just about forgotten about Keiller’s marmalade and the stone jars. We had one that was used by mother when I was in short trousers still.
I’ve just noticed that this was my 700th SOTA activation and that calls for a celebration. No, not marmalade but a wee dram. 
Enjoy! I forgot to celebrate ny 100th, but remembered for my 101st! 
Another pointless day on Scald Law, but I don’t care because someone made the radio wonderful 
After amazing WX we’re back to slighter colder than normal weather with some snow on the local hills. It was sunny to start and then should cloud over, get windier and then rain. All these predictions have turned out to be 100% correct. So I decided another quick blast up Scald Law to keep up the exercise and to play SOTA. As the WX was not too brilliant there was plenty of parking. I remembered to set the elapsed time bezel and set off up the hill. Wow! I must have had my Weetabix this morning as this was a new ascent record of 42mins
It was cool and the wind was howling so onto my new best spot on the steep face looking SE towards mainland Europe. Up with the 30/20/17 antenna and we’re off. Lots of good signals, lots of 599 each way and 29 QSOs in 23 mins. Then 20m but it was rubbish. I only worked 8 and the band was noisy with lots of deep QSB. Yes, rubbish, even tuning about showed some SSB but I couldn’t hear any SSB SOTA stations spotted on Sotawatch. Boo! On to 17m as a quick test showed a 599 signal calling CQ on 18.086MHz.
Wow! Yes, wow! Have I said wow yet? 5 QSOs on CW and I was thinking it’s a bit rubbish as well here. I tuned about and there was some kind of OTH RADAR destroying the top of the band but there was a very loud Italian II3WRTC calling. A quick QSO and we exchanged details, I told him I get just over 4W on 17m on this 817. “Well you are a genuine 59+40dB at present.” That’ll do nicely. A quick spot for 17m SSB on 18.145 and there was a chaser. Then another. And another. And another and then a pileup. In the end a total of 23 SSB chasers with ODX being 4Z4DX who also gave me a 59 report.
I was keeping an eye on the time and WX as I didn’t want to stay too long. The WX and time was OK but the battery voltage started to collapse. No surprise as this is its 3rd big activation without a charge. Time to stop. Pack up and back to the car by the other steeper path I usually avoid… I want to get some more fitness into my legs on descent.
Back to the car and I filled up on the cheaper diesel (hahahahahaha) from a garage I pass on the way home. I’m driving about in eco mode and seeing about 45mpg (6.28l/100km) which is OK for a 310bhp engine.
30m CW: ON, F, PA, DL, OM, EA2, OE, SM, EA7, HB9, S5. SP, OH
20m CW: EA3, DL, OH, OE, EA2, LY
17m CW: 9A, F, O, CT, EW
17m SSB: I, OK, CT, OE, SP, 4Z4, HA, YO, LZ, S5
1x S2S: IN3ADF/p I/VE-257 on 17m SSB
I really cannot recall when 17m has been so good, probably 5 years or so back. And as we all know but the results prove it, operating from the steep sloping face produced much better results on 30m and up.
Trying to show the slope, looking down from the operating position.
Looking back up after descending somewhat.
I never realised that The Cheviot G/SB-001 was so visible from Scald Law. It got a good covering in snow and the light was just right so it stood out. It’s about 82km distant.
You might want to try 15m and even 12m, which have been open the last few days. I had an SSB QSO into Greece (Non-SOTA) on 12m yesterday. Both bands were busy on CW too. 15m was better than 17m I think.
Yes. I didn’t write that I was testing some other antenna bits and bobs during the activation which now work. I didn’t have antennas for those bands with me however. I have some ideas for 15m antennas and have been locating the parts needed. I need a free afternoon to build and test them and there should be more 15m activating emerging.
I’ve had some excellent results on the higher bands using my 60/40/30m inverted vee. It matches well on 17m as an off centre dipole with one 60 and one 40 leg. It works fine as a one and a half wave dipole on 15m and 10m. I do sometimes wonder whether we limit our opportunities by using antennas specifically designed for the higher bands, unless of course the use of those bands is the primary intention such as in the S2S events.
My 40m Inv-V dipole works well on 15m since I made some 20cm extensions that fit to the 60/40 link. Without them, the best match at 21.6MHz and the SWR is too high at 21.1MHz, the extensions fix the end effect issues. I’ll give it a spin in off-centre mode on 17m soon.
I want to try a 1/4GP for 15m, just need to figure out the engineering constraints of making it fit on a 5m pole as the radiator is 3.5m and the base of it wants to be about 2.5m AGL ! I could use a 6m or 7m pole but the only ones I have are full size (1.15m collapsed).
Hi Andy,
it can still be used as a walking stick
I’ve had good results on 17, 15, 12m bands recently with just my W3EDP, which is effectively a random wire, strung as an inverted-V atop a 7m pole. Obviously I use a tuner with this.
Just this morning i was thinking about sorting out a vertical for 10m. Not sure whether to go half-wave, 5/8 or 1/4 wave yet!
A telescopic whip attached to the top of the pole for the top bit of the vertical element might work, but would no doubt need some adjusting to account for the change in diameter from wire to whip.
As far as the use of an LF antenna for the higher bands, mine is quite a good match. Even better if I use the IC-703 with its internal ATU. 
I can photograph my 10/12m 1/4wave setup for you Fraser showing how it fits onto my compact 5m mast, heights the bits are above ground etc. and measure the lengths of wires. It will get you immediately into the right part of the ballpark needing just a tweak to get the match blob on.
Yes Please. When the wx is appropriate (been snowing heavily here since 0400) or next time you lug it up a hill.
Just resurrecting an old thread - but perhaps my entry should be nearly pointless on Scald Law. Today my daughter was on a uni visit to the vet school at Edinburgh, which is just below Scald Law, and I was obviously very disappointed to hear that parents were NOT welcome so whilst the other parents wandered around the canteen I shot off up Scald Law. That is where the plan started to go wrong as I must have forgotten to book the weather so cue very strong winds and torrential rain.I even met a couple of walkers who gave up! Woody ensured I made it to the top in just over 40 mins, but it was fairly obvious that it was a bit beyond putting up any sort of shelter - or probably a mast so I opted for 2m with the handheld and a RH-770 and put Woody in his dog coat. (Sorry NO HF or hanging around). I was very relieved when my call was answered immediately and 4 more QSO’s rapidly followed. As I was packing up the wind blew, the log book blew away ( but was retrieved ) and in the panic I did my best to snap the antenna… but…the sun came out on the way down. I was in plenty of time to get back and complete the taxi run and even managed too have a coffee and cake at the university canteen although by now I probably looked somewhat more dishevelled than the other parents…
A big thanks to the chasers who came back - and I think sent a text out to ask others to contact me as it was really not radio weather. I’m sure Scald Law is beautiful but I didn’t see it at its best!
They have removed the temporary sign from the road that always made me and my puerile workmates laugh when I worked at the Edinburgh Technopole site near the veterinary site many, many years ago.
The Edinburgh Veterinary school is known as The Royal (Dick) Veterinary School and the area is known as Easter Bush where the research park was located.
The sign (a small one so words were abbreviated) said
Bush Research >>>
<<< Dick Vet
Hi Paul,
Glad to be able to help with activating Scald Law this morning, the weather was not the best today.
73 Andy MM7MOX