I am preparing a SOTA Ireland trip for beginning of April and plan to activate some East Coast hills on 70/23/13cm. These locations offer good VHF / UHF take-off across the Irish Sea.
I also have a few days in Co. Donegal, from the higher hills the VHF/UHF path might be good to GI and Western Scotland.
I have a home built Yagi for each band and would be particularly interested to hear from anyone who also has 23cm / 13cm SSB capability and might be within reach.
73, Phil ON4TA
Hi Phil,
I am located on the West Coast of Wales IO72RC & my qth is 650ft asl overlooking the Irish Sea. I am QRV on 144mhz FM/SSB & 70cm FM/SSB I only have a vertical for 70cm. I do shift work days & nights but will listen out for you. I work EI/GI/GD from here so will be in with a chance of catching you if Iâm not at work.
De Don GW0PLP.
If you do manage some contacts on 23cm and 13cm remember the Microwave Award is available, just make sure you get the location of the other station to work out distances.
I will have a definite listen for you on 70cm and 23cm as I have a reasonable (if very long) path to GI and EI. Unless there is a lift, or we are lucky with aeroplanes to reflect off, 23cm may not work
Hi Don GW0PLP
We did actually have a QSO when I was on Tonelagee EI/IE-003 last July. 2m FM often âsavesâ the SOTA to get the required number of contacts, it is hard work to get any contacts on UHF in EI.
Tonelagee at 817m it is a fantastic spot for VHF/UHF with excellent take-off across most of EI and the Irish Sea. I should have a direct path to Southern Scotland, Lake District, IoM, Wales, Devon and Cornwall.
I have just booked the ferry and will be in the Wicklow Mountains on March 30h and April 1-2-3; Tonelagee is on the agenda and WX permitting some of the higher SOTA in that area.
If anyone has 23cm SSB capability please do get in touch as it will take some planning to get the contacts on the day.
73, Phil ON4TA
I can make myself available for some of the time. I will have to go /P for 23cm but can cover SSB. I am in IO84 so it is long hop to the Wicklow mountains. I would suggest for 23cm you e-mail those stations who do the UKAC on 23cm that are in range.
73 de G4VFL
I have arrived in Ireland but WX for the last two days has been very poor in fact I had to abandon my attempt on EI/IE-011 today. Will try again April 1st on 2m/70cm.
Sunday April 2nd looks like a fair WX day so will plan activity on 70cm, 23cm and maybe 13cm, all SSB with home made Yagi, from Tonelagee EI/IE-003. Minor tropo over the Irish Sea has been forecasted so I am looking forward to experiencing that.
73, Phil ON4TA
I hope to be out on the West Coast of GM but up near Largs/Ardrossan way. I have 2 summits planed as itâs a bit of a drive for just 1 summit. I donât think my summits times will match with yours Phil. I will take the 13cms gear just in case. I only have 2W and a the PCB 4 ele antenna but will be 550m ASL.
I have alerted for Plynlimon GW/MW-001 on 23cm. Iâll just have the transverter and PCB antenna sitting on the trig point. Perhaps a bit optimistic, but too good an opportunity to miss! Take off to the West should be OK, as the ground falls away steeply. I donât have the experience to know whether this will help on 23cm, but it will be an interesting experiment.
Lets hope there are a few stations on the airâŚ
73
Adrian
G4AZS
We will have a 7 element vertical beam for 70cm FM (no radio for 70 ssb) on GW/SW-002. I will try to monitor and keep it in position for you (300deg) while Vicki is making local contacts. However, the distance appears to be 251 km which seems a bit far even with half of it over water and nothing high in the way.
Good luck.
73,
Rod
Hi Phil, good to work you on 23cm, this is what my end looked like:
Thank you for encouraging the activity!
73
Adrian
G4AZS
4 Likes
Thanks for all the s2s today.
2m was certainly buzzing and dare I say 70cms as well. Quite a few contacts caught me by surprise and if Iâd been sitting on a seat Iâd have fallen offâŚluckily I was firmly in contact with the ground, especially the one with Phil EI/ON4TA/PâŚbooming in :). The sky above Fan Brycheiniog GW/SW-003 was certainly broken with only 2 contacts on 60m with Andy(FMF) and Victor(ONL)âŚboth s2s and one on 80m with Don RQL.
Anyway, great to be out today as it was dry and the sun was shining in Wales 
73 Allan GW4VPX
Kept away from the CairnâŚbusy summitâŚXYL not with me so I had to ask someone to take this pic
Paths have been improved and looks like this area is next.
Went over to Fan FoelâŚlooking back at the Trig/Cairn and Llyn y Fan Fawr below.
3 Likes
Conditions were not brilliant Allan. On Hill of Stake SS-155, I worked you and 7 others on 60m SSB (advantage of being further away), 5 on 40m CW and 4 on 2m FM. Blaeloch Hill ss-220 was worse, 2 on 20m CW and 2 on 30m CW.
By 4pm the sun was shining, most of the cloud had gone and it was T-Shirt weather⌠just. The wind was still cold. Selfie with Isle Of Bute in the background.
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Thanks Andy.
Don RQL did tell me that conditions were poor. Glad you had a nice day eventually as I think you mentioned during our qso that it had begun to rain. We were lucky in in South Wales that so many were out on the hillsâŚI think today we can call it the âViki effectâ 
73 Allan
Whatâs this an Intel promotion drive? (what was really inside - screws & cogs?) 
Catch you on 13 cms soon ! (if we can get our acts together - hi!)
Jack(;>J
Itâs an âIrishâ T- shirt. Intel were giving them away at a conference in Dublin in 2015. All the exhibitioners have freebies⌠T-shirts, hoodies, USB power packs etc. The T-shirts that Intel gave away are a modern hi-wicking material and thatâs ideal for walking unlike the others which were cotton.
I was with Phil ON4TA during his activation yesterday of Tonlagee EI/IE-003 and took a few photos:
Phil ON4TA on Tonlagee with his 23cm beam
Working the pile-up on 23cm!
Joe EI7GY
6 Likes
Thanks everyone for the contacts on 2m, 70cm and 23cm from Tonelagee EI/IE-003, I really enjoyed the experience! Good WX and company made my day.
So on this occasion I managed my first 23cm S2S with Carolyn GW6WRW/P on GW/NW-040 (distance 166km); furthest 23cm contact was with Adrian GW4AZS/P on GW/MW-001 (distance 187km).
Certainly worth a repeat on another visit to the Irish East Coast.
73 de ON4TA Phil
1 Like
Thanks for the 2m s2s Phil âŚI was really surprised when you called me. Looks like you had a good time over there.
73 Allan GW4VPX
Thanks for the S2S with us on GW/SW-002 just as we reached the summit plateau and were using a handy VX-7R with only the stick aerial. I had been expecting to struggle to get you even using the dipole but this was not necessary as long as I walked towards the western side to get the take-off. I did hope for a 70cm S2S later and I spent a lot of time on 70cm (on 433.475 mainly) but didnât hear anything from you. I did gather you were busy on 23cm and very pleased to hear you were so successful. Let me know when you are next on a high hill in eastern Ireland and I will lay on the same weather! 
73 Viki M6BWA
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Having entered my log, and then looked in View Results / My Results on the Database, I can see the contacts in
My Microwave S2S Log
URL: SOTA Database
But no entries show in My Microwave Chaser Log
URL: SOTA Database
Or indeed in My Microwave Activator Log
URL: SOTA Database
Not serious or urgent, but Is it just me? I have searched the Reflector, apologies if I missed something obviousâŚ
73
Adrian
G4AZS