|
SOTA – Summits On The Air
Most of you will have heard of IOTA - Islands On The Air and some of
the many follow-on schemes such as the Islands Of Scotland Award –
IOSA. There is now another scheme on the go namely: Summits On The
Air or SOTA for short.
At
the autumn meeting in 2002 of the GMDX Group, John – G3WGV gave us a
very interesting insight into his latest project: Summits On The
Air.
In
essence the SOTA program is designed to encourage you to go out and
operate amateur radio from the summits of hills and mountains. If
you operate from a very high mountain you receive more points than
you would if you operate from just a local ‘Sunday afternoon walk’
–type of hill. In the UK the qualifying summits are those which
conform to the simple rule of a minimum of 150 metres of ascent all
around separating it from the next qualifying hill. These hills are
called Marilyn’s; not all Marilyns are Munros, but a Munro could in
fact subdivide into several Marilyns. All the qualifying summits are
listed in SOTA regional Directories, which are all available on the
Internet.
Ken, who is out and about walking the local hills whenever the
weather allows, was keen to get started. But first he had to get
organised with suitable equipment. We have of course the equipment
which we have operated from a couple of dozen Scottish islands for
IOSA, but would it be light enough to carry up the hills in a
backpack? The rules specifically rule out the operation from a
vehicle and the use of a generator to provide power. So it was a
question of compromising battery weight against operating time. Our
old Alinco DX70 with a 12 Ah gel cell battery would give us about 1
to 11/2 hours of operating time. The antenna was the trusty old 2x10
metres doublet with 450 ohm ladder-line feeder supported by an 8
metres high telescopic fibreglass mast. All this weighed in at just
10 Kg! This set-up allows us to operate on all the HF bands through
the use of a small T-match unit.
As
our testing ground we chose one of the local hills in the Pentland
range of hills to the south of Edinburgh - Allermuir Hill 492 metres
asl. So we drove to the car park near the Hillend ski slopes. Yes,
ski slopes! The Hillend Skiing Centre is open all year with both
lifts and tows in operation providing downhill and slalom type
skiing all year. Having loaded up we started on the long trek up the
hills alongside the ski slopes. Soon we were above the slopes and
the views out over Edinburgh and out towards the North Sea,
including many of the islands in the Firth of Forth, all of which
we have operated from, opened up.
It
was early April and once we were nearing the summit, where we had
nothing between us and a very cold wind coming straight in from the
North Sea. I really started to feel the wind-chill. But we got
there, set up our half-dome fishing shelter to provide a little bit
of respite from the wind, and of course the station. It took a few
minutes before people found our frequency, but then the pile-up
started, and we both worked more than enough stations to qualify as
having activated the hill. Most of the contacts were on 40 metres,
but we also made a few on 20 metres as well as a few locals on 2
metres FM.
On
the way back down from the hill we discovered a shorter route which
we will use next time we go up that particular hill. As an activator
you can activate each hill once every year, so come 2004 we may well
take the well-trodden path back up Allermuir Hill. We soon started
to plan our next trip. I was due to have a few days leave over the
Easter weekend, and we chose to drive down to the North Pennines
with the aim of activating a hill in that area. We found a farm
campsite in Appletreewick, and after checking with the owner we
decided to for Thorpe Fell Top. We left the motor caravan on the
campsite and walked all the way through to Burnsall and then up the
hill. It was lambing season, and all along the lower slopes there
was constant noise of bleating from newborn ‘woolly jumpers’. On top
of the moors we found the cairn marking the summit, and we set up
the station in a slight hollow next to the cairn. We made contacts
on 40 metres all over Europe from up there as well as a couple on 2
metres FM with the more local stations in Leeds etc. The walk back
to the campsite was a long hard slog.
The
next day we continued to explore the Yorkshire Dales: through
Aysgarth to Bainbridge, Hawes to Sedberg and then down into Dentdale.
There were several potential hills for us to activate, but the
weather turned against the idea of climbing to high out of the
relative shelter of the valley floor in Dentdale. So we set about
exploring the whole length of Dentdale. Ever heard of the ‘terrible
knitters of Dent’? Not so long ago Dentdale was famous for the hand
knitted stuff being produced by the local womenfolk who earned
themselves that nickname by being extremely fast with their knitting
needles.
At
the end of April we did a daytrip out to North Berwick where we
climbed Berwick Law with all our radio kit. It is only 187 m asl
(614 feet), but the views out over all the islands in the Firth of
Forth is magnificent. One of the locals, Jim – GM3BQA, came out into
his driveway, and we had a “cross-band” QSO with him using his car
headlight and Ken using the 2 metres handheld. We also worked him on
HF of course. Towards the end of May we acquired a new motor
caravan, and our first test drive was to Biggar. It all worked out
fine and we decided to climb Tinto Hill which is 711 m asl (2334
feet). It was a long, hard climb to get to the top. It was a
beautiful day when we set off, and there were lots of other hill
walkers about, including a whole class of schoolchildren with their
teachers. We managed to get our contacts with lots of onlookers
wondering what on earth we were up to. Just as well that there were
two of us so that one could operate while the other could provide a
running commentary on what was going on, hi!
As
we were finishing off and starting to pack up, Ken noticed that the
HF started to crackle with static, and he quickly disconnected
aerials as we could hear the first rumble of thunder in the
distance. We were just starting on our way down as the heavens
opened with rain, sleet and hail accompanied by thunder and
lightning. Some of the lightning was extremely close by as there was
no discernible gap between the flashes and the claps of thunder.
Some of the schoolchildren were in hysterics, and the teachers
certainly had a job guiding some of the frightened youngsters back
down off that hill.
Our
next trip was to one of our old favourite haunts in Pitlochry.
Unwittingly we had chosen the same weekend as the Scottish Piping
Championships. The din of all the practising pipers all round the
campsite on the Friday evening was enough to drive anyone to the
hills. Which is precisely what we did at the crack of dawn on the
Saturday to ‘do’ our next hill Ben Vrackie which at 841 m asl was
our biggest SOTA hill to date. We followed an old stalkers path
which some volunteers were busy improving in parts to make the
access to the hill a bit easier, and to combat the problem of the
erosion caused by so many hill walkers wanting to access Ben Vrackie.
Again, we had to provide a running commentary explaining what we
were up to all the other hill walkers as we set about operating on
both 40 metres and on 2 metres.
July took us down to Kielder Forest in the very North of England,
were we spent a day cycling through the forest areas before we went
for our walk up Peel Fell. The cairn on the top is in England, but
the border with Scotland is only a few feet to the north of the
cairn, and that is where we operated from. We caused a few raised
eyebrows from other operators when we explained that we were on an
English’ hill operating with our Scottish prefix’es. It is all in
the rules that you can operate in the vicinity of the actual summit,
so long as it is within a few metres of ascent of the actual summit.
This is so that the radio operating does not to disturb other hill
walkers or cause an obstruction of a path with all the aerial wires
and so on. And of course one’s own safety is also an important
consideration in terms of the exposure to the elements. A little bit
of shelter on the lee side of the actual summit can make all the
difference at times. On the way down across the fell we found some
areas with cloudberries. They were not quite fully ripe, but good
enough to eat. Cloudberries are of course considered a delicacy in
Norway where Ken comes from, and this was the first time we had come
across cloudberries in such quantities in the UK. Worth noting for a
future occasion when we might go back to do a bit of ‘harvesting’.
Then in September we did a trip over to the Cowal peninsula where we
did a lot of cycling and walking. The weather was too damp with low
clouds for us to contemplate doing any hills in that area, but on
the way back we stopped off for an overnight at Loch Lomond. We
could just make out Ben Lomond through the mist, and decided to go
for it: our first SOTA-hill over 3000 feet i.e. a Munro. As Loch
Lomond and our starting point, is only about 15 metres asl, the 975
metres asl summit meant a climb of 960 metres up, and back down
again. Boy, did the legs hurt after that hill walk! But a rest and a
wee dram revived us. After all that’s why we have our little
motorcaravan with all the creature comforts.
We
have done a few other hills since then, and our stock of detailed
Ordnance Survey maps is increasing quite dramatically as we plan
each ‘camping’ trip on the basis of what hills might be in the area,
what the access facilities are and so on. Not all hills have a Right
of Way path to the summits, and it is always best to consult with
the locals about the accessibility of some of the hills. On one
occasion, the campsite owner even negotiated access for us with the
local farmer on the basis that it would be good for the local
economy to encourage more tourists to stay longer in the area of the
campsite and the local pub, hi!
At
this moment in time I am sitting at home with my left foot in
plaster as I had a small operation to fix a bunion and some crooked
toes! But we are busy planning our next trips come the New Year. So
if you hear a station calling CQ SOTA it is someone who is sitting
on top of a hill or mountain somewhere, and it is most likely a QRP-station
desperate for contacts as quickly as possible before the weather
turns. So give them a call, and if you start collecting SOTA hills
you may even qualify for the SOTA Chaser Award. With the amount of
SOTA activity there has been around the whole of the UK this year,
and with associated schemes starting in many other countries e.g. in
Germany, Ireland, South Africa to name but a few, you may soon be
hooked on being a SOTA Chaser! There is no need for QSL cards, and
all the administration of the award scheme is handled via the
Internet and through email reflectors. You will find all the details
to get started at http://www.sota.org.uk
If
you want to see some photos of our SOTA activations you can take a
look at
http://www.gm0axy.ic24.net
73
and 88 de Christine |
