As the title states, a number of stations will be active on a number of summits, mainly to the north of Aberdeen, this coming Friday. Current activity plans look like this;
Afterwards, we plan to meet up at Deans of Huntly at 1400. All welcome!
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I was looking forward to doing some S2S work when you were all out. But I have a dental appointment at 10am and by the time that’s complete there wont be time to get to a summit and climb it to start chasing. 
It will have to be next time. Hope the WX is jolly.
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Well what a windy day! Don’t think we were expecting it to be quite this bad, however, no-one was blown away! 
I was doing Bin of Cullen, GM/ES-084, and then Knock Hill, GM/ES-073. On the way there the A96 was closed by the police, and no diversions had been setup, so it was a random drive following Google Maps hoping to return to the A96 further north…of which the first attempt was still closed by the police. Anyway, I made it, and it only cost about 15 minutes. The others had already started and many comments on whatsapp about the wind were pinging on my phone. Apart from the wind, it was a lovely day.
I went to the top, had a selfie, and my first summit to summit with Mike, @2M0WNA, on the Buck, but moved off the top to find some shelter to setup.
Some trees and hillside kept me sheltered from the worst of it, and I worked Chris, @2M0RVZ, on Meikle Balloch, Archie GM4KNU on Lochnagar, and a new SOTA activator, Jane, 2M0IZS on Lord Arthur’s Hill (recently inspired to try SOTA thanks to a presentation by Mike @2M0WNA at the Aberdeen club). Fraser was driving still, so a mobile 2m FM contact with him.
A chap walked by whilst I was setting up HF but he didn’t notice me, mostly had his head down due to the wind. He did wave hi on his way back down.
Simon, @GM4JXP, was in The Canaries on EA8/GO-001, and was a booming 58 on 15m to me. I chased another activator in Poland, to end up with 6 S2Ss, before it was time to head over to the next summit.
A short drive later and I’m at the bottom of Knock Hill. It’s about a 230m vertical ascent over a short distance and it’s quite a slog when you’re trying to fit in time for tea, cake and banter in Huntly before school pick up back in Aberdeen.
Not long until the summit but this one seemed to be even windier than the last. I admired all the summit features and then headed back to the new fence and tiny tree for setting up.
There are some peat hags on the top which look like a golf course bunker, and would provide some nice shelter, but there was nothing to mount the mast to.
A quick round of everyone on 2m again, then it was time to chase Simon still on his summit. This time on 10m. Not quite as strong but still a clear 51 both ways. With enough in the log, and the tiny tree providing equally tiny shelter, it was time to head down and off to Dean’s for an enormous slab of malteser slice and tea.
We were so busy explaining igates, digipeaters and LoRa to Chris that we didn’t take photographic evidence of the cakes…at least not before I had to leave back to Aberdeen. To then run into a huge procession of bikers on the A90 doing 40 mph.
Lots of S2Ss, and four completes for me today! 
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Your sky was bluer than mine. Also a few heavy showers. Having had my dental appointment and done some shopping/chores I got a text from Tom M(M)1EYP saying he’d soon be at Cairnpapple Hill GM/SS-254. So I nipped up there and met him in the car park and me, Tom and Tom’s son Liam wandered the 4-5mins it takes to get into the AZ. Very windy and cold. Tom played on HF, I didn’t bother as I thought I’d activated Cairnpapple this year. But it was last year just before Christmas. Tom played on HF and I listened and then Archie was spotted on Conachraig GM/ES-017 on 2m FM. I liberated Tom’s FT70 and had a scratchy QSO with Archie for the complete. Nice!. Tom then recovered his FT70 and climbed higher up out of the shelter we were in and had a better QSO with Archie.
So I did actually get to have 1 QSO with the Activity Day people. And it was a complete 
Tom operating, Liam hiding from the rain in the Bothy Bag.
EFHW as inverted V, with Tom and an FT-817 on the other end.
Rather bright rainbow after the heavy shower blew through.
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That is my new favourite photo.
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Great to get you twice Alex! Nice write-up too.
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Great report of a good day, Alex. It was certainly a beautiful morning first thing.
However, the peat and moss-covered lower slopes of the 721m Buck of Cabrach (GM/ES-039) were at their usual slippery, slithery, slurpingly, splashingly, soakingly worst, but I didn’t expect that to last until halfway up the hill, too…!
Every step upwards was accompanied by a deeply unsatisfying squelching noise. I half expected to come across the remains of an ancient Pictish bog-dweller who had inadvertently fallen asleep under his animal skin and then, overnight, sunk into oblivion into the depths of sodden peat.
I was determined to avoid the same fate but there were a few unpleasant moments on the way up. Heavy overnight rain didn’t help!
Soon, however, the howling wind drowned out the squelchy steps and, boy, did it blow. It was an estimated 40kts by the time I reached the summit (about 46mph) and even threatened to snap the RH770 clean off my wee FM handheld. I cowered behind the summit rocks, abandoned my plans to operate on HF bands and awaited the GM/ES SOTA crew to arrive on their respective summits on our latest Activation Day for some straightforward VHF S2S contacts.
It all looked pretty on the camera, though, but keeping it still was all-but impossible.
Thereafter, it was pretty routine apart from a QSO with Jane, @ 2M0IZS, on GM/ES-062 Lord Arthur’s Hill, for her first SOTA activation. Many more to follow for her, we hope. There was a good contact with Archie, @GM4KNU on Lochnagar and then planned S2S contacts with Alex @GM5ALX, Chris @2M0RVZ and Fraser @MM0EFI.
As I dug into my rucksack for my coffee, I realised I was shivering. After 2.5 hours aloft, the summit windchill of -1C was clearly starting to affect me so it was time to squelch my way back down to the car and to the welcome rendezvous in Huntly with Alex, Chris and Fraser over coffee and cake.
The Buck is barely 10 miles from my home QTH and is now a Complete for me, too, but I won’t be hurrying back there soon - at least not until my boots have dried out!
73 Mike 
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Which amateur are you referring to? 
Glorious photos, if I hadn’t been there I’d have thought you were exaggerating about the wind!
It’s a good summit if it’s -3°C (so the bog dweller is still in the ice age), blue skies and no wind - and maybe winter bonus time too! (Although probably many summits are good in those conditions!)
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I sneaked out of work to chase on 2m this morning but could only QSO with Archie GM4KNU on GM/ES-008. I could hear him s2s with 2M0WMA and 2M0IZS but alas only one end of the QSO’S. 116km to GM/ES-008 , not bad for Quansheng into a homebrew flowerpot on 2m.
Andy
MM7MOX
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That would have made my day had I heard you too, Andy! Good work with your setup, though, with Edinburgh to Lochnagar being 116k. Excellent. 73 Mike
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I too had the dentist at 10am. Thankfully, a quick and painless appointment. I soon was on my way, threading various country roads together in a northerly direction. Fears of road closures were unfounded, and I was able to abandon the Landie at the planned time and run up the vehicle track, keen to get a summit to summit (complete) with Alex.
I’m not proud of my parking
I had to pass directly under the blades of a wind turbine. Quite the moment really, with the blades roaring past at full chat. I found the hill path easily and headed up. A message from Mike said that Archie @GM4KNU was hanging on for me on Lochnagar. He must have literally been hanging on up there, in that wind!
across the glen to Hill of Foundland GM/ES-071
Once in the AZ, I managed 2m summit calls with the others, before diving behind cover to set up HF, mainly for a chance to work Simon. Although Tillymorgan has a flattish top, spoils from historic slate quarrying provide plenty of shelter.
GM/ES-079
Any plans of delta loops and verticals had been abandoned when I’d read the wind forecast. It would be the EFHW and my 7m Spiderbeams today. I’d packed a little extra punch, thanks to a 40w amp.
nice dry grass for the first time this year
15m sounded dead, but Simon and I managed a S2S no problem at all. Later on 10m, he was a bit quieter, but still perfectly workable.
I added a couple of dozen more on 15, 20 and 40m, with eight S2S in total. 1300 and it was time to go. Just a 20 minute walk down to the Landie and a 15 minute drive up to Huntly for tea and medals. I had an After Eight Rocky Road slice. Very nice it was too.
I lingered at the hypnotic turbine on the way back
A great day out. When’s the next one?
The answer to that question is, when I tell them.
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Yessir. Awaiting your next briefing, sir……
(actually, I have a note from my mum excusing me from your next planned one….
)
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Hopefully one of the outings for the GM/ES posse is between 22nd & 28th May and I can join in from this years’ visit to GM/NS.
Andy
MM7MOX
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I thought it was this year we did that, but no, it was December, when I was down for my Christmas night out. You got a complete from Gerald @G4OIG when he was up on one of the Angus hills. Crock? Think I did too, and I nabbed him on his second summit for another complete, when Mo and I were on the way home.
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Yes, I can’t believe it’s 4 months ago as it was start of December. That’s a third of a year passed already!
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Great reports and lovely uplifting photos.
Thanks all 
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That was the main issue of the day!
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Late to the party, but here are a few photos of my lovely, easy hill Meikle Balloch GM/ES-082. As per all the other reports, it was blowing a hoolie, but I managed to utilise one of the waypoint markers as a mast support. 24x QSO in total, and as a bonus, I managed to retrieve GM5ALX’s guying paraphernalia from the last activation next to the trig. If only Alex had left some velcro straps, that would have been most convenient as mine were still in the Landy!
I took the long way up; it looked like a nice walk.
Improvised guying required. Thank goodness for paracord.
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…great photos Chris.
Geoff vk3sq
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Indeed, Crock and Hare Cairn. My last two activations which I really enjoyed despite Crock’s eastern descent. Unfortunately 2025 so far has been an absolute nightmare for me and my XYL in many wsys, so no return the GM/ES just yet. I am building up to it… slowly. 
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