Simon @GM4JXP just back from Coratia, is having serious thoughts about activating Glas Maol GM/ES-012 tomorrow. 
The best 2m hill in the area.
Glas Mol is LOS to @everywhere @MM0FMF 
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Ten! On a Wednesday! 
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Well I should have been somewhere in the Atlantic this week but obviously am not. I swapped tomorrow’s vacation day for last week to bag Ben More otherwise I be joining you all somewhere.
The best thing about Glas Maol is its triviality for 8points 
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I’ll be on GM/SS-090 Beinn Dubh 1100z.
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Good luck all, super blue sky in north northumberland
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Absolutely glorious weather today! Perfectly still!
Alas, not many made it for 10am start time but S2S had with @MM0VPM, @MM7VXJ, @2M0RVZ and of course @MM0EFI.
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In the Bothy, Braemar. Swapping lies and planning the next big day out. We all had great fun and I’m sure everyone will be along to share their tales.
Chris, Alex and Fraser
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I notice all the signs of cake have been well hidden Couldn’t join you today as I did have some work to do. Assorted meetings on a Wednesday are difficult to get out of otherwise I’d have been out. A bit more cloud here but nice and still.
I’ve just checked and the firing range at the foot of Beinn a’Mhanaich is not being used and I can take tomorrow off. WX looks similar 50% cloud, result. I’d better check MWIS… Oh noes!!! Strong blustery winds in the 30-40mph range from the NE strongest at Loch Lomond with -10C windchill at 900m. Hmmmm, not sure about that now. 
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Looking at the surface pressure charts I would be surprised if you don’t get wintery showers as well.
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My version of Events
0830 at the Glenshee car park, thanks to Chris and a nice ride in his Landie.
ready for the off
0945 BST and we at the top of GM/CS-030. Ready just after 1000 BST to go QRV on 2m SSB with my ft-857d and 4 element beam. Chris @2M0RVZ went off to play on HF. Alex @GM5ALX arrived on GM/ES-028 5 minutes before we summited.
Carn a’Gheoidh from the top of the ski road
Carn a’Gheoidh GM/ES-030
2m SSB was slow, well non-existent. No answers to CQ except for Alex on nearby An Socach. I then stumbled on a net of three guys south of the central belt and managed to work two of them. After 25 minutes, I was ready to give up but then Jack @GM4COX came on, 4/1 with his antenna vertically polarised. I flipped the yagi by 90° and was suddenly 59. Cheers Jack, number 4 on 2m SSB.
looking over to An Socach, home of @GM5ALX
south to Mount Blair. The Edinburgh/east Lothian coast was visible
Glas Tulaichean with the Beinn a’Ghlo three behind
Re-spotting on 2m FM brought a steady stream of callers in all directions. Alan @MM0VPM messaged to say he was at The Sneck, the high bealach between Beinn a’Bhuird and Ben Avon. I told the others, so we all decided to pack up and then wait for Alan, given we all had hand helds and could see Ben Avon.
Chris @2M0RVZ in 2m mode, Alan would be up in the snow rear right
Alan appeared on 2m, we had a S2S orgy and all thought that was it. Then suddenly @MM7VXJ Jace appeared from Schiehallion GM/CS-005 and we all, including Alan, had another round of S2S calls!
Fast forward a couple of hours, and after a nice lunch (with cakes @MM0FMF 
) in the Bothy, Braemar, I stepped outside to hear a phone ping. It was a 2m spot from Alan, who was now on Beinn a’Bhuird. I grabbed the handheld and rh-770 from Chris’ Landie and managed a QSO, as did Chris. Awesome! Unfortunately we all missed Simon @GM4JXP over on Glas Maol, due to him starting off a good bit later. Glad Maol seemed to have a fair bit of snow on top.
Awesome Day, because:
The forecast at 7pm last night was for cloud and wind. We had sun and blue skies all morning. Just a smidge of snow lying on the summit. Really nice views all round and just a perfect mountain day.
I activated the summit on 2m SSB, managed 3 S2S and got completes on An Socach, Ben Avon and Beinn a’Bhuird, all on the same day. Those are mountains I thought I’d never complete. Thanks Alan and Alex!
Nice social with the chaps in Braemar. We should do it more. Can recommend the Bothy, although not sure if I’ll order the cauliflower & coconut soup again…
QSO map
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I wasn’t expecting to set record dx with my 3-el Yagi on a 3m pole from a small summit (321m ASL) so I was pleased - starting at 1100utc - to work Scotland (S2S), Wales and Devon with 50W SSB/CW from south Cumbria.
Gummers How G/LD-050
Despite the distinctive troposcatter burble on voice and slow QSB, signals were mostly fully readable. As a bonus the rain held off until driving home.
© Google Earth 2024, radio paths courtesy https://www.adif.uk/
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I kept looking for your spots Andy. Great to see you worked Simon!
And Don. 
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It’s a pity we didn’t manage a QSO. I think you were QRV earlier than me.
I self-spotted each time I changed the beam direction. I monitored SOTAwatch and scanned the SSB region of the band beaming north for about half an hour. But glad I got the S2S with Simon @GM4JXP .
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We were earlier than planned and my phone signal was droppimg in and out. I really should have gone back on SSB and had a scan around. Apologies.
Sorry I missed you.
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Using CW was on a Vertical here. South Ceredigion IO72. Gave the beam away and QRT on 144 Horizontal now.
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Thanks for the 2m CW QSO Don. You were fully readable on the FT857 loudspeaker despite some summit wind noise. It shows it can work with one station vertically polarized and another horizontally and off the side of the beam.
I must apologize for my keying mistakes. I normally use Palm Nano twin paddles when activating but today I decided to dust my lovely-looking G4ZYP paddles not used in many years.
Unfortunately, its base seems to have lost some of its magnetism and, despite my gentle finger/thumb strokes, was moving around on the top of the FT857 case during our QSO. I’ve read one needs to store magnets on an iron/steel plate to maintain the magnetism. Discuss.
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c.f. magnet keeper
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OFF TOPIC
I can see how to use one (soft iron) MK for a horseshoe magnet or two MKs for a standalone bar magnet. I assume one pole on the paddles magnet is facing down (e.g. onto the rig’s metal case) and the other pole/top surface is glued to the underside of the paddles. So, dunno how to use MK(s) in this case.
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GM 5 ALX Heard on 2m FM on Blencathra but I think you disappeared t to SSB
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