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The second summit on our long Saturday - 24th May 2008 - was Crowborough
G/SE-007. From Botley Hill G/SE-005, the
directions were executed perfectly by the JimNav as we followed the A21
southwards and then the A26 into Crowborough. En route we logged medium-wave
broadcast station Gold 603. We first parked in a side road off the A26 and walked into the compound with the
covered reservoir. There, hiding behind a high hedge and a service building was
the trig point. We returned to the other side of the road to try and suss out
the true summit, but gave up as it appeared to be on private land/gardens behind
some very posh houses. A few calls on 2m FM with the HH & RSS were unanswered,
so we knew we had to find a suitable spot for an HF activation. We got back in the car and drove down to the golf club, achieved with a left
turning off the A26, and left again into the members car park at TQ507298. I
first checked with a golfer preparing for his round that we were OK to park
there for a short while - no problems - and then continued up the road looking
for the footpath recommended by G3CWI.
This doubled back towards the town centre along the back fences of people's
gardens. The clearing used by Richard was identified - but was it big enough to
take the 80m dipole? We thought we could just about string it up, the
clearing being a similar size and shape to that on
Tobernaveen Hill GI/AH-009, and indeed there was enough room - just. Jimmy sent the spot, and Frank G3RMD and Alistair GW0VMZ were worked quickly.
Then we struggled. We tried different frequencies, and sent more spots, but to
no avail. GW0DSP was heard calling on two occasions, but our replies to him went
unanswered. We still wanted to do another summit, and also wanted to be in
Winchester by 6.30pm to get washed and changed, and watch Jimmy's cousin Ryan
performing at a folk concert. Hence I went for 80 SSB only figuring that we
would have to do SSB anyway for Jimmy, and that time would be saved by not doing
CW. Wrong! I think if I had done CW first as usual, it would have built up more
interest, and more chasers trying for the summit. A local resident
appeared on the scene wondering what we were up. There wasn't a problem,
he just wanted to satisfy himself that we weren't undesirables smoking out the
local wildlife so that the golf club could advance its plans to build on this
small piece of common land! That was his theory anyway, I couldn't
possibly comment...
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