Just a quick report on my activation today of G/SP-004 Shining Tor.
With the end of the year looming I was reminded of a challenge I had set myself earlier in the year. I wanted to get into the top three G/2021 Summit2Summit Honours List. I know it says ‘SOTA is not inherently a competitive activity’ but try telling that to a bunch of chasers all trying to get your attention during a pile up 
. As the year progressed I was almost derailed, when I had to have a tumour removed from my leg. However after a quick recovery, I was back on track within three weeks. As the points started to accumulate, I set another goal of trying to get 2,500 S2S points in a year.
With the year drawing to the end, I started to realise I needed to make a concerted push. On Christmas eve with high hopes, I made my way to one of my local summits, Shining Tor. Unfortunately it seems many of my fellow activators were out Christmas Shopping, so after two hours, I only got 3 S2Ss and 14 points! After Tom’s (M1EYP) Christmas thread I was tempted to try Christmas, but the lack of enthusiasm put me off.
The weather report this morning (Boxing Day) was awful, but as they say ‘needs must’, so I drove to Shining Tor again. I have to say with thick fog the scene when I arrived at the Cat and Fiddle was not the most inviting.
After a short walk to the summit, I set up about 20m from the trig point. Initially I tried a Kisu/Emergency Shelter, but my glasses kept steaming up. So I resorted to a Tarp, next to a Wall.
There is loads of room here, so I set up a linked dipole 20/40m and a 2m flowerpot on the same mast. First hit was EA2/F5ODQ/P on EA2/NV-017 at 6 points I was off!
There was a bit of Drizzle, but under the tarp I was toasty! A few minutes lated I got SV2RUJ on SV/TL-080. Things were looking up! I worked 20m on my Xiegu G90 and then shifted over to my Yeasu 70D, when I saw a spot from GW4BML/P on GW/NW-044, Ben can always be relied on, usually working two or more summits in a day!
After spotting myself, the QSOs rolled in on both 20 and 40m. In the end I got 59 contacts and 10 S2Ss, with a total of 48 points. Many of the Chasers that I have worked all year, were there… Thank You! You know who you are.
Have I made the 2,500 points? Sadly not, I am currently on 2,467! But there are five days to go! Watch this space
As a new M7 there are a lot of people here who have given me lots of encouragement, but two stand out Colin M5FRA, who is sadly now a silent key and Dave M0JKS, who has had covid twice in the last year, but has shared a few adventures! Thanks!
the forecast for the next few days is wall to wall rain!
