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Yaesu FT-270 vs Baofeng UV5R on Butser Hill 2

Aug

31

2015

Butser Hill (G/SE-004) was to be my 3rd and final SOTA activation of this day’s tour of Southern English summits. After the HF issues on Black Down (G/SE-003) previously, I decided to activate this summit on 2m FM only. Summit Factfile G/SE-004 – Butser Hill – 270m Latitude: 50 58 40 N, Longitude: 0 58 49 W Grid Reference: SU 716203, QTH Locator: IO90MX Parking: SU7117 2001 (N50:58:31, W0:59:15) – £3 pay & display! Trig: TP0316 – Butser WAB: SU72 ...

2m SOTA Activation of Black Down (G/SE-003) 2

Aug

31

2015

The SOTA summit of Black Down (G/SE-003) was my second of three summits on Sunday the 2nd of August. I headed here straight from my activation of Botley Hill (G/SE-005). This summit is another pretty flat summit, I can imagine the activation zone is quite wide. I chose to operate from the well hidden trigpoint ...

SOTA Activation of Cleeve Hill on 2m FM

Aug

6

2015

Cleeve Hill (G/CE-001 – 330m) was my first of two summits on this wet Friday in July before heading to a music festival for the weekend in Herefordshire. The 2 hour drive from Hertfordshire was depressingly grey and the rain incessant. Predictably nothing changed when I pulled up into the car park (N51:55:16 W2:00:34) near ...

2m SOTA Activation of Botley Hill (G/SE-005) 1

Aug

5

2015

On Sunday the 2nd of August I had an opportunity to activate 3 SOTA summits in the South of England. The YL was taking part in the 100 mile Prudential Bike Race going through London and Surrey. This involved an early start, leaving our home QTH at 5:30am. After dropping her off in Hackney I ...

SOTA Activation of a Cloudy Worcestershire Beacon 1

Jul

29

2015

The SOTA summit of Worcestershire Beacon (G/WB-009) was to be my last of two summits before heading to the Nozstock music festival about 30 minutes drive away in Herefordshire. This day had been defined by heavy rain and things were no different when I arrived! Parking Tip: I parked for free in the lay by ...

SOTA Activation of Tor y Foel (GW/SW-013)

Jul

10

2015

Tor Y Foel (GW/SW-013) is 551m high and worth 2 SOTA points. I activated it on the last day (31st of May) of a long weekend in the Brecon Beacons. We had been in the Brecons for 3 days and had done 3 long walks (and 3 SOTA activations!), so this one had to be ...

SOTA Activation of Pen Y Fan (South Britain’s Highest Summit)

Jul

9

2015

Me and the YL drove over to the Brecon Beacons at the end of May for a long weekend of walking and I managed to squeeze in a few SOTA activations as well… in fact one every day we were there! We woke up early on the 28th of May and drove from Hertfordshire to ...

SOTA Activation of Fan Fawr (GW/SW-005)

Jul

8

2015

Fan Fawr (GW/SW-005, 734m ASL, 6 points) was my third of four SOTA activations during a long weekend break with my YL in the Brecon Beacons. It was luckily part of a larger walk like all of my other activations over this weekend… chance or good planning 😉 We started from the glacial valley at ...

SOTA Activation of Waun Rydd (GW/SW-004)

Jul

8

2015

I climbed Waun Rydd on the 29th of May with my YL as part of an all day walk during a long weekend in the Brecon Beacons. Waun Rydd is at 769m ASL & worth 6 SOTA points, so inevitably involves a proper hike up. There’s no roads leading up here so you have to don ...

SOTA Activation of High Willhays (My Nemesis) 2

Jul

6

2015

My nemesis.. the High Willhays (G/DC-001 – 4 points) in Devon had haunted me since my botched activation last November. Previously I’d chosen to drag my XYL up in terrible conditions, was massively unprepared (no maps!) and ended up activating Yes Tor, which I later found out was not even valid for SOTA, add to ...