ZB2/GI-001 (The Rock of Gibraltar) 24-04-21

FT817, LDG Z-100 Tuner, 4m fishing pole, 5m wire & a 9:1 balun.
17m SSB: 12 QSO’s in the log.



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Thanks for your report Kev - interesting. I didn’t know we had an association in Gibraltar. I missed its inclusion in the programme, and when I checked I see the rock has been activated 5 times. I just checked who chased you in the SOTA database and realised that the 11 stations worked were not listed in the SOTA Database as chasers. Very sorry to have missed you Kev for the new SOTA Country, maybe next time!

73 Phil G4OBK

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How easy would it be for a visitor to get permission to transmit from the Rock? I beleive it is not normally allowed.

Hi John,
I’m afraid it’s as easy as impossible, according to what is said in this thread:
Visitor operation from Gibraltar seems not possible even VHF/UHF - Summit Info - SOTA Reflector

73,

Guru

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This is why it seems important to me to warn our small community, it is a pampered and very rare summit…!!
73 Éric

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John, you could contact the local radio club, and arrange an outing with them - they can activate the rock as they are residents. Plus it’d be nice to “hook-up” with the local hams as well, I’m sure.

By the way Gibraltar is NOT part of the CEPT agreement so you would need to apply for a reciprocal licence under any arrangement between the UK and Gib first.
Actually the club’s web site is not very positive about chances to operate even under a (VHF only) reciprocal licence: Gibraltar Amateur Radio Society

73 Ed.

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In 2019, I was in Gibraltar. I obtained a radio license from the GRA, unfortunately only for frequencies from 6 meters up. I tried to activate The Rock ZB2/GI-001, but 6 meters was deaf and at 2 meters our local Spanish colleagues refused to do a QSO in English. My fault, learning to conduct a QSO in Spanish shouldn’t be difficult.
And those monkeys, I had to have my eyes around my head.
Effect - The Rock has not been activated by me.
The GRA staff were really professional, but I still had to make a lot of excuses at the EA/ZB2 border to Gibraltar customs. They even called GRA.
Kevin, are you sure the O’Hara’s Battery is in AZ The Rock ??

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On the map the battery still at 360m …ZB2/GI-001 is 426m ??

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The photographed sign says height is 1383 feet which is 421.5m ASL.
The summit is at 426 metres (1397 ft), I would say this is within the AZ.
73 Ed.
It looks like it’s a ridge line rather than a peek - this from SotaMaps (openTopo):


Mind you the spot locator isn’t right on the top either!

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Yes Ed, but take take a look here https://sotl.as/summits/ZB2/GI-001

image

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The Rock is a really steep mountain. The contours on the maps do not necessarily reflect the truth.
426 meters is a 1397 ft. O’Hara’s Battery is 1383 feet which is 421.5m ASL.
The maps show that O’Hara’s Battery is on a slope, but they are actually on a ridge.
I have no more questions.

Another map :

image

Or the battery was built on a promontory or a building of 60m :crazy_face:

I see what you mean.

Either the map or the sign appears wrong - The data for the summit states 426m ASL but the maps we have don’t reflect that (Open Topo and Open Cycling maps).
The key point is that on each map I have checked the difference in height between the Battery and the SOTA marker is less than 25m Vertical height.

Perhaps the whole of Gibralter has sunk 50 metres since the summit was surveyed and these maps made??
Ed.

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Who asks not stray. As for me, the matter is solved.
Envy Kevin’s ability to work at HF.
Yes, I was a bit frustrated after the visit, but I don’t regret the visit anyway.
The successful activation of EA9/CE-001 made up for my earlier failure.

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To me the contour lines are not accurate. We see the 2 higher bold lines are 300 and 350m, with 4 thinner lines in between, proving that there are 10m height difference for each thinner line.
Having said that, we can see only 3 thin contour lines above the 350m bold line, which according to the above said means we have 360m, 370m and 380m.
Where are the rest of the contour lines to get to the top 426m?
Some contour lines are missing or the showed lines are wrongly labelled on the map?

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I see that this invalid activation of this summit slipped the net as it was inavlid for more than 1 reason.

image

Jimmy M0HGY

I’ll bite. How do you know that the activator or chaser didn’t have valid reciprocal licence?

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2 reason, firstly if I thought you are issued with an actual ZB callsign if you get a reciprocal licence and secondly the person you work the activated had a Scottish Foundation callsign which as we know we cannot use a Foundation callsign outside the UK and as far as I am aware you cannot get a reciprocal licence if you only have a Foundation Licence.

Jimmy M0HGY

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You get issued a licence which is ZB2/homecall though it should be ZB2/M0CWJ not ZB2/MM0CWJ as the UK licence doc will show the call as M#0CWJ. Loads of people make the mistake of giving their call with the RSL inserted. But you only insert the M to make MM0CWJ if you are in Scotland and if you are in Gibraltar you can’t also be in Scotland and so don’t need the second M. Simples!

The FL licence isn’t valid for CEPT TR61/01 and so you cannot automatically use it. The UK has yet to sign (I think) CEPT TR61/02 which allows CEPT style operation for people holding FL style licences. There is nothing stopping FL and IL licence holders applying to overseas licencing bodies and requesting permission to operate using their non-CEPT class 1 licence. Bulgaria has accepted it and allowed FL licence holders permission. It may be accepted, you may have to pay, you may get a local call to use or be told to use CEPT style calls. It’s all down to the body you contact. It’s reasonable however to assume, at first sight, that most CEPT style operation you see for IL or FL licence holders is actually failure to understand the rules and not valid. But not always.

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CEPT TR61/02 is the agreement to allow long term reciprocal licences to be issued - it is under this arrangement that I got my VK2ARE and later VK2JI call sign based on my G8GLM UK call sign.
It only applies to full licences as does TR61/01.

The UK is a signatory to TR 61/01 (3 month no paperwork arrangement) and TR 61/02.

The agreement that the UK has not as yet signed is ECC REC (05)06 which is the equivalent of TR61/01 only for Novice level rather than Full level licences. To be able to join the arrangement OFCOM need to check and then state to the CEPT that the UK Intermediate licence covers the same subjects in the exam syllabus as the CEPT Novice licence.

As you say reciprocal licence arrangements outside of the CEPT agreements are dependant upon what agreements two countries have in place and may or may not issue a licence, with or without conditions to the applicant. “Normally” a Foundation licensee will not be issued a reciprocal licence for 3 months or longer but there are situations where it has happened in the past. Every case is looked at individually by the authority in the country being visited for these “ad-hoc” applications.

Gibraltar is not a signatory to any of the CEPT agreements, hence all applications need to be individual ones to the authorities in Gibraltar.

73 Ed.