In august we will be travelling to the Shetland islands. We will stay on Bressay island. I know there’s a summit on Bressay which I could activate.
Are there any summits on Noss island and Foula island?
I hope to activate Noss as it is an GMFF and we will fly to Foula as well.
If there are any on these islands I would like to activate them.
In reply to ON2WAB:
Noss is a nature reserve with limited access. However if you contact the warden you may be able to get permission for a visit/activation
actually just checked their web site and access, while limited should be
easy to arrange but best check about activation I guess.
In reply to ON2WAB:
Hello Peter i had a look and find that Foula island has 2 GM/SI-103 and GM/SI-183 sota and Noss island has 1 GM/SI-210 hope thats some help
Not necessarily Andy. Provided the enquirer is clear to themselves and to the warden that they are only asking on their own behalf for a particular occasion, then the outcome of the discussion has no bearing on the possibilities for future prospective activators.
Remember your access laws don’t apply in Scotland.
But as the warden will be operating the rubber dingy - the only means of access to/from the island - it’s probably best to stay on the right side of him/her.
In any case I’ve heard they are radio friendly provided you make it clear you’re not planning to bring a generator/interfere with the seals.
I found everyone very helpful in organising a visit to activate Noss, the only stipulations being that I didn’t cause any damage and that I went straight up to the summit as quickly as possible after the dinghy landed so that hopefully I would be finished by the time other visitors taking the circuitous coastal path arrived there. Sadly the sea was too rough for the dinghy on the day I’d planned and I missed out on the first activation
Ward of Bressay is home to the local television transmitter amongst other things and when I was up there it was chucking out horrendous broadband noise right across the HF spectrum.
Helen and I were the first to activate Noss and had nothing but help from the friendly wardens who live on the island during the summer who were advised of our visit by the people at Scottish Natural Heritage which we contacted for permission.
On arrival we were asked to walk round the edge of the island to avoid the Bonxies (which are very aggressive when they have chicks) and not to set up our antennas right on the top of the summit so that we didn’t disturb nesting birds on the cliffs below.
We always hoped we gave a good impression so that others could follow and activate such a beautiful location.
Wah I thought they were being helpful but they obviously intended that
I would become bird food :-s
There we were worrying about being driven off by wardens, when in fact they want to feed us to the locals!
Do they sell meat pies on the Great Orme…?
:o)
Just got a positive reply from the Noss island warden. We have to contact them when we arrive on Bressay island and then they will instruct us where we can put up out antenna.
I am sur a picture of Carolyn during her activation of Noss Head did the trick.