Housedon Hill, G/SB-010 - 267m ASL - NT 902 329 - OS Explorer 339 - 1 SOTA point            

Saturday 3rd November 2018 - Housedon Hill G/SB-010 & Linton Hill GM/SS-263

Gig: Joe Longthorne

Venue: Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow

This was a strange SOTA day where I activated a summit in England, then drove south to activate a summit in Scotland!  For Housedon Hill I headed to the hamlet of Reedsford and parked on some space beside the road close to the footbridge.  I then walked up the walled track ascending gently and continuing along the right edge of fields.  At the highest point, I turned right through a gate then followed a gently rising and curving quad bike track to the summit.

I’m sure this was different to the route I did with Jimmy M0HGY some years ago - it seemed much easier and more enjoyable.  The wind was incredibly strong at the summit but I couldn’t get any response to VHF calls on the handheld.  I had to drop a few metres to find a relatively sheltered spot and set up the 20m GP as best I could.  It wasn’t a day for “playing radio”, so I decided upon CW and stuck to that.  17 contacts were made including S2S with HB9BIN/P on HB/FR-049. 

The descent was quick and easy on this route and took barely 20 minutes.  From Housedon Hill G/SB-010, I set the satnav to direct me to Linton Hill GM/SS-263.