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I activated Butser Hill late on the night of Friday 10th August 2018. We had travelled down to Hampshire for a family wedding the following day. I got some extra exercise by climbing up the hill from the main road on the other side from the usual visitor car park. This was not the plan, but I hadn't researched my plan effectively. I suspect the main car park close to the summit would have been closed anyway.
It was after 10pm, and the only beings to consult were cows - but they were more interested in sleeping. None objected anyway. I imagine that at such a time of day, when there’s neither visitors nor staff around, then there’s no real problem with this summit that technically requires permission to operate radio. It was very quiet, tranquil and pleasant! I made a couple of QSOs on 2m FM, but then set up for 20m and made a decent number of US contacts. The following morning I got up early and sneaked out of the lodge accommodation we were in, to get another SOTA activation in before the wedding - Win Green G/SC-008.
Gig: Joe Longthorne Venue: New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth I still had plenty of time to get to soundcheck at the theatre in Portsmouth after Black Down G/SE-003. Joe had been making a habit during the show of asking me what hill I’d been up that day. After me telling him, he’d been turning to the audience and asking if they’d heard of it. With most fairly obscure hills I’d done, usually they hadn’t, leading to the other band members saying “Can’t you just say Ben Nevis or something?” So with a bit of time to spare, and despite already activating it this year, I made for Butser Hill, which I anticipated would be reasonably known to a Portsmouth audience!
It was a trivial task - just drive up the long lanes to the summit car park in the Queen Elizabeth Country Park, purchase a £2 pay-and-display ticket, and walk a quarter of a mile to the trig point. I just carried the handheld to the summit. 2m FM down south is much less of a certainty than up north, but this being a repeat activation in 2018, no points were on offer anyway.
I managed to make three QSOS before resuming my commute. It was a nice show in Portsmouth and Joe did indeed ask me about the day’s hill during it! And, this time, the audience positively recognised the hill that had been mentioned! As Liam says on his radio show (Mondays - after 10pm on Canalside Radio 102.8FM - “Stay tuned for more!”… On this occasion, that would be the following morning on Walbury Hill G/SE-001.
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