Well, to my surprise, the roads into Blackpool were not gridlocked on the scorcher that was Sunday 10th April 2011. But maybe that was because we were nice and early, getting to the Norbreck Castle Hotel venue in plenty of time to set up the SOTA stand.

Powered by a full English from the Lymm Truck Stop, we had got the two SOTA poles strapped to each end of the double table by the time Rob G4RQJ and Audrey arrived. Next job was to erect the SOTA Beam and SOTA Banner to make the stand instantly visible from almost anywhere in the hall, and then lay out all the merchandise, display items, radio station and laptop in an aesthetically pleasing and tasteful manner - so we left that to Audrey!

   

I managed to reconfigure the laptop to work on the venue's wireless network, so we had live SOTAwatch Spots running throughout the day. The stand was busy as ever, although the general feeling was that the exhibition was a shade quieter than usual. The main activity at the SOTA stand was the meet & greet for existing SOTA participants, and in my case this included a first meeting with new MT colleague Rob G0HRT. Rob, along with Andy MM0FMF and Brian G4ZRP helped to staff the stand for long periods.

The flags, stickers, polo shirts and T-shirts sent down by Barry GM4TOE seemed popular with purchasers, and over £100 went into the SOTA coffers as a result. Audrey's SOTA cakes and sausage rolls were well received as usual.  There were over 80 callsigns noted in the visitor book. Maybe Rob G4RQJ will note them in a reply to this thread. Thanks to everyone who visited the stand during the day, and grateful thanks to Andy MM0FMF, Rob G0HRT, Brian G4ZRP, Edward M6NSR and Jimmy M3EYP for their shifts in staffing the stand, and apologies to anyone inadvertently omitted. Huge thanks to Rob G4RQJ and Audrey for their considerable hard work and contribution every year in making the SOTA stand at Norbreck what it is.

       

We departed Blackpool, still bathed in glorious sunshine, just after 4pm, and made out way back to the M55 and M6. Jimmy directed me down to J26 and through Orrell and Billinge for our traditional post-Norbreck SOTA activation of Billinge Hill G/SP-017. This was also to be a new unique for Edward M6NSR. He had travelled up to Blackpool with dad Ray G0DMV and mum Emily 2E1AEQ, but was making the return south with Jimmy and I in order to activate another SOTA.

   

We parked in the usual spot at the end of Beacon Road and took the short walk alongside the landfill before the final pull up to the summit. Jimmy and Ed pooled resources to set up a 2m FM station, while I chose to explore the conditions on the higher bands and set up the MM12.  There was some exciting stuff to be heard on both 12m and 10m, but getting through was difficult. I really need to replace the feeder for this aerial for something less lossy at these QRGs. Nonetheless, a QSO into EA8 (Canary Islands) on 10m CW was pleasing, and another one was SOTA chaser and activator Bernd DL2DXA, operating as EA8/DL2DXA.  I was then chuffed to work my first ever Brazilian with a PY on 12m CW, following which the activation was qualified with Mike G4BLH in Brierfield, Lancashire! Rounding things off was a fifth and final contact, FM (Martinique) on 10m CW.

     

The number of contacts was not so impressive - as I say, need to replace the feeder - but the DX was nice, and a few band-DXCC slots crossed off for the 2011 G3WGV UK CW Table. Jimmy and Edward made 7 QSOs each on 2m FM, including S2S with Neil 2E0TDX/P and Karen 2E0XYL/P on Longridge Fell G/SP-014.  We reached home in Macclesfield around 9pm at the end of a long, tiring and most enjoyable day.