Who said that was what was done?
It is rather odd - if I google âradio enthusiastâ (the term used by the concerned walker) it brings up numerous links to https://www.radioenthusiast.co.uk/. No links to RSGB or Radcom on the first page of results.
It seems likely that âconcerned walkerâ would have found this too, and at least copied their letter to Practical Wireless and Radio User. I wonder if they did?
The blanket accusation is not very polite, and the tone of the Radcom endorsement is rather irritating.
A dignified silence is probably the best response from those of us who already take care to tidy up, it will be interesting to see if âconcerned walkerâ is planning a campaignâŚ
Indeed Andy. âRemnant of tie wrap on trig pointâ could refer to just that. Maybe the tie wrap was not used to fix to the trig point. It is all so vague that it beggars belief that credence was given to this complaint,
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Actually it never crossed my mind that the ties would be used to fix the pole to the trig point, I thought that they would have been used to hold a vertical or coax to the roach pole. I carry a roll of insulating tape for that job, my cag pockets are full of little balls of used tape!
No, this accusation has to be challenged, silence implies guilt. Leave it go and our less physically active peers will think that we are indeed the littering slobs that Radcom makes us out to be. Protest, make the editorial staff realise that they screwed up, wring an apology out of them, theyâll respect us for it.
My feeling is that any approach to the RSGB should only be made on a personal basis. No organisation, club or society has been mentioned in RadCom and I feel all responses should be made in the same manner.
I also believe those cable ties were not left by any SOTA activator and there are probably other event organizers or participants to blame for that. Nowadays we see mountain running races, BTT races boy scouts and so many sorts of things held around some popular mountain tops that any of these might have been the polluter.
As many have written here, SOTA activators use their stuff, and we all retrieve everything with us to be used in our next actvation.
However, Iâve seen radioamateurs using brown packaging adhesive tape to wrap and hold antenna masts in place around some of our trig point cylinders and just cutting it at the end leaving remnants of that brown adhesive tape around the trig point cylinder.
This was the case in my recent activation of EA1/CR-032, only 5 days ago, when I found a couple of turns of this brown packaging tape around the trig point cylinder. I attached my fishing pole to the trig point cylinder with my usual ropes and I, of course, recovered them after the activation, leaving the brown adhesive tape.untouched where it was.
I remember having seen these remnants of packaging tape around at least 2 or 3 other trig point cylinders.
I donât know any SOTA activator using this, but there are contesters, trig point activators, field day enthusiasts⌠anyone could have been.
As for the cable ties, I also found some pieces of cable tied to the fence around the telecommunication antennas in the summit of EA1/LU-010, which I activated yesterday.
They were very convenient and I used them to tie my fishing rod in vertical position.
When I finished the activation, I took them all with me and reused them for the same purpose on my second activation of the day EA1/LE-191. I again took them with me at the end of the activation, so I left nothing from me behind on any of those 2 summits.
Who left those pieces of cable tied to the fence in the first summit and what they were used for is something I canât figure out.
73,
Guru.
Here is one of the offending ties. This was taken on arrival and removed before I left. I will not say which trig point, the trig was photographed because of the intact spider, There are some souvenir hunters out there who remove the bolts and take the plug from the centre of the spider. Or will amateurs get accused of removing the plug to put their antenna poles in the centre pipe ?
I have carried more plastic bottles down from the mountains than any other form of waste.
Andrew G4VFL
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Iâm sure we have all dropped or lost something on the hills, however small, my âfavouriteâ was thin aluminium tent pegs dropped in deep heather, snow or usually both. And I know for a fact that thereâs other folk that are more prone to leaving equipment on the slopes.
Several weeks ago I was asked to scout out a new route for the 2018 Merrick Hill Race this September, due to new deer fences having been erected and also to move away from the tourist path. As I know these hills pretty well and having marshalled this event for almost 30 years I knew where the original route roughly was.
To my amazement I discovered that there was still markers left out on the southern flanks of the Bennan. Some of these markers were quite far from any hill road so obviously the race organisers just thought âOch, just leave them!â. And before anyone comments about our marshals lifting the markers, its not our job but we do bring them down from the Merrick, Benyellary to the Bennan, just to be nice! 
Also while I was scouting the route there was many other types of markers and debris left around presumably from the folk challenged with planting the thousands of new trees that have been planted. These will never be lifted and will eventually disappear in the new forest.
So what about all the old fence wire that is left strewn around countless hillsides after new fences have been erected? Tripped over many of them!
So what about all the GeoCache stuff left around the hills? (Nothing against that hobby BTW)
I think this individual knows about us eejits that operate radio on hills and has probably been a bit peed off on one of his/her hikes by an activator being there disturbing their hill. I hope that they also wrote to all the snack and drink manufactures asking politely for them to ask their customers to kindly take their rubbish home with them â that would be nice!
I personally have never attached my pole or any part of my equipment to the trig, I have laid my handheld on it though.
I also think that Radcom should not have published the letter without at least making sure that it MAY have been one of our lot before hand, When? Where? etc. If they writer didnât offer that information then I would tell him âAwaâ an bile yer heidâ.
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Hi Andrew are you saying this is an example of the left behind tie-wraps or is this the specific site that is being referred to in the Radcom piece (i.e. you hav inside information of wher the report came from).
I canât see how such a tie-wrap would support a mast in any case âŚ
73 Ed.
Sorry no inside info, this is just an example. Who is to say it was put there by an Amateur.
To hold the pole you use a long tie as a loop round the pole and through the ring, the bottom of the pole is pushed into the soft ground. The alternative fix can be done with an elasticated cord and hooks.
It would go off subject to show all the possible methods of fastening to a trig point.
73 de
Andrew G4VFL
or haud yer wheesht!
Couldnât agree more with your comments Neil and many others. All kit in - all kit out and counted like Gerald.
PS: Never lost a aluminium peg yet? Paint the tops with florescent yellow paint - easy to spot in heather or grass.
PPS: If you find a peg with a yellow florescent top on a SOTA summit in the future youâll know who the culprit is???
Cheers
Jack(;>J
Spotted on the pathway from Scarth Gap down to the Millennium footbridge last week,
The only fly tippers here appear to be the forestry workers. 
I take your point, and I agree that I have more of an issue with Radcom than with the complainant. On the other hand, putting the boot in to them and wringing an apology is not going to achieve much - its not as though we would be establishing case law!
We all agree that littering is bad. None of us who have commented here leave stuff intentionally, so we are not the culprits. SOTA was not mentioned. So why should we be defensive?
I agree with that. Iâd also hope that any response is measured, polite and objective, otherwise the moral high ground is lost. Or possibly littered 
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This seems very similar to the way long distace trekkers get blamed for the rubbish left behind by day trippers; anything that stands out immediately attracts attention. No hard evidence is ever produced, however, to corroborate what is in fact just an intuitive assumption.
de OE6FEG / M0FEU
Matt
You probably shouldnât have posted that on here Richard just in case anyone sends it to Radcom for them to accuse SOTA activators for leaving these on the trig point.
Jimmy M0HGY
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At least the plug is still in place !
Allen bolts partially removed!
I canât imagine why you added geocacher to your list. I am also a geocacher. We donât litter either. We also often clean up other persons messes. Do you have any specific intel to justify saying otherwise?
Is it the correct one? Maybe as âŚ
âŚsomeone is swapping them around?