Sunday 19th March 2006 was a very enjoyable and satisfying day out. There was an earlier than advised knock on the door at 7.15am - it was Richard G3CWI who had walked over from his house.  The Baxters Luxury Mushroom Potage soup was poured into the flask, and two mugs of coffee were prepared for Richard and myself as we waited for Jimmy to surface; Liam was already up and dressed.

We drove to Blackpool via Lymm Truck Stop Greasy Spoon and set up the SOTA stand ready for the show's opening at 11am.  It was a great day with many SOTA regulars putting in an appearance at the stand and having a good chat.  For me, it was great to meet John G4YSS, Kevin G1EYD, Ian G7KXV, Den M3LHF, Zo M3LHI, David M3LFC and several other SOTA activators for the first time, and to meet up again with all the others.  Both Richard and myself agreed that it had been great fun running the stand.  Grateful thanks to Jack GM4COX, Steve M0SGB, Bobbie M3DNC, Stuart G0MJG and Keith G0OXV for spending time manning the stand.  Especial thanks to Rob G4RQJ and Audrey for running the stand for several hours enabling the rest of us to see the show, setting up the displays and bringing the essential items such as the photos, quiz and SOTACAKE! Jimmy M3EYP used the rally as an opportunity to "nobble" amateurs he knows for sponsorship for his Pennine Way 2006 SOTA-style walk in aid of a children's charity here in Macclesfield.  I would like to express my sincere thanks to the many SOTA participants that supported him with very generous donations and pledges.

On the way back, we diverted from the M6 to the sleepy hamlet of Billinge in order to bag this summit which hardly deserves a day out of its own.  Jimmy has set himself an initial target of activating all 17 SP summits this year, so this was another one down of those.  Richard had already done Billinge Hill G/SP-017 this year, so he waited in the car with Liam listening to BBC Radio 4 on the car radio and tracking my progress by monitoring SPOTlite on his mobile 'phone. Jimmy opened up the activation, and despite the presence of the breakthrough from the notorious transmitter masts at this location, easily knocked off the required four contacts.  I then made five of my own, and the two qualifying activations took 12 minutes between them!  We were unusually early when compared to our SOTAwatch advised time, and although Steve GW7AAV spotted us, if you blinked you would have missed us! We returned to the car at 6pm, just in time to listen to the GB2RS news on 145.525MHz as we set off for Macclesfield.

Many thanks to the following stations, all worked on 2m FM with 2.5 watts: