Dear chasers,
I’m heading up the A9 tomorrow morning with 2 non-hams for a bimble up Morven, Rick and me have often gazed over to Caithness, across the Moray Firth, on our way to work and said we should go up that.
So finally we decided to set a date and go for it. I’ve spoke to my companions for the walk and they’re happy to loiter while I activate summits, I think I’ll be qrv around 1 hour for each hill. I guess I should be qrv longer for first timers but we need to be at Loch Scalabsdale for our wild camp a couple of hours before sunset, or around 2000-2030 local.
So my itinerary is loosely as follows:
Tomorrow:
Maiden Pap, GM/NS-116 early afternoon 1300-1400 UT
Morven, NS-067 late afternoon 1530-1630 UT
Creag Scalabsdale, NS-097 early-mid evening 2000-2130 UT
Monday:
Smean, NS-113 mid morning 0900-1000 UT
Scaraben, NS-083 lunchtime-early afternoon 1200-1300 UT
These times are based on everything going well and Naismith’s rule. In any case I’ve set up my alert, so hopefully my spots will be available.
I can’t see any major contests so I’ll start on 40m and move to 20m. Please give me a call if possible.
I’m looking forward to this trip, I’ve not wild camped since last June next to the Hutchison Memorial Hut where it was 3 celcius, it’s forecast to be a balmy 7 celcius tomorrow night so things are looking good…
C U
Ian, MM0GYX
In reply to MM0GYX:
Have fun. WX for Monday for ES/CS/SS Scotland looks to be wet but it should be OK for you in the far NE.
Andy
MM0FMF
p.s. Just repeating a wee mantra here “I am not jealous, I am not jealous”. Sadly it isn’t working.
In reply to MM0FMF:
Andy,
I’m hoping for dry wx but I’d settle for a clear view from Morven. It’s a lovely day here today, about 19 at the moment.
Ian
In reply to MM0GYX:
Thanks to all who managed to hear and work me during my very recent NS activations, sorry to those who I didn’t manage to work. Yesterday was ok wx wise, a little breezy, but bright. Morven was spectacular and is a brute of a hill to ascend, and descend. It is a lump of conglomerate as are the other nearby hills, but other than that the area is essentially a bog, extremely wet and consequently hard to find a campsite.
We did find a campsite, but this meant it wasn’t possible to activate NS-097 last night. As this hill is mega-remote I wanted to activate it this morning, even though conditions were marginal. A quick ascent from the rapidly cleared campsite and we were there. My companions assisted with the activation by helping stop the antenna from blowing away. The same routine followed on NS-113. Time had caught us and although the mind was able, the body was not in any condition to ascend NS-083.
I made a mistake thinking there was no hf contest, so was unable to move to higher bands, it was jammed with contesters, sorry NA. I only had the kx1 as I was hauling a full load 20 miles.
We did have one moment of light relief, my friend Kenny chasing his poorly secured tent across Caithness. Sadly we hadn’t time to capture it on pixel as he disappeared over a col, only to return with the offending shelter 10 minutes later, red faced and muttering something rude.
We encountered no other humans for 2 days, but we did see prolific numbers of red deer. The wind kept the midges away so I’m not complaining.
Thanks again,
73,
Ian MM0GYX