Sunday 31st December 2017 - New Year’s Eve Off to Blackpool for a NYE gig with Joe Longthorne.  Only a few days earlier, I noticed that I hadn’t activated Billinge Hill G/SP-017 at all in 2017.  Thus I figured I could grab it on the way to my gig. Weather forecast was for torrential rain courtesy of Storm Dylan. Thankfully, I experienced not a drop. I parked on Crank Lane and followed the trivial walk to the summit. It was very muddy in places though. 

I only had my VX7 with me and no other (HF etc) options or proper aerials, so I was worried on two counts: 1. Activity levels, and 2. Breakthrough from the commercial masts on this hill.  I needn’t have worried.  There was but a brief murmur from the masts, and plenty of people with their radios on.  I made six contacts in seven minutes, all 2m FM and nearly all 59 signals both ways. Easy peasy.

That concluded my run of Christmas activations. Next would be a run of New Year activations.