Tom Read - click to email meBDXC ISWL WAB SOTA RSGB IOTA - see my radio page for more detailsLiam & Jimmy

Selworthy Beacon 2011

 

Thursday 21st April 2011 - Selworthy Beacon G/SC-005

Selworthy Beacon is one of the easiest SOTA summits ever, and out of all those that lie in national parks, there can barely be a more trivial approach. I had promised Liam his daytrip to Minehead this day, so intended activating this summit in the afternoon. It could either be a long "play radio" type activation, or we could have sneaked Will's Neck G/SC-002 in as well. In the end, it was the former option that took place.

The Oggy Shop!        The arcade!

The beach!    Minehead

First port of call in Minehead was the Oggy Shop in the town centre, or the Oggy Oggy Pasty Company to give it its full name. Here we had freshly baked hot pasties for breakfast, together with our choice of beverage - tea for Jimmy, juice for Liam and coffee for me.  Then we walked onto the front to the arcades, another treat for Liam. As usual, he thrashed me at the driving games, but I thrashed Jimmy at the air hockey. After playing various 10p machines and other games, we had a stack of tickets, which we gave to Liam to exchange for model cars and chewy sweets at the counter.

Liam and DS time on summit    Jimmy M3EYP QRV on 2m FM

Aerials on the summit    The large summit cairn

Next stop was the beach. Yes, the beach, in April! It was another beautiful hot sunny day, blue skies and about 25 degrees. Definitely beach weather. Except for the sea that is! Jimmy remained on the sand, basking in the sunshine, but Liam and I went for a swim. The air temperature might not have been typical for April, but the sea temperature was! We swam for about ten minutes, but that was the limit.

Tom M1EYP/P QRV on 12m CW    The MM12    Tom M1EYP

After returning to the Oggy Shop for lunch, it was time to head out of town, uphill, and to Selworthy Beacon. We parked a the side of the track, between the road and the sign which said "Strictly no vehicles beyond this point". It was only a fairly flat five minute walk to the top from there anyway.  Liam baggsed himself the shadow of the trig point to sit in and play on his DS, while Jimmy and I set up our aerials. It was a slow-going 8 QSOs for Jimmy on 2m FM, but I was here to play and had carried three antennae with me. First up was the MM12 for some fun on 24MHz. Despite hearing a CQ from YB0AKM with a massive 599 signal, my replies were not heard. I did work four Russians, one English (very close) and a station from Cyprus though.

Summit of Selworthy Beacon    Tom activating

Liam on summit    Jimmy on summit    Liam thought this was funny!

I replaced the MM12 with the MM20 and settled down for a long run on 14MHz CW - 51 QSOs in 49 minutes. The WFF reference for Exmoor of GFF-006 was utilised to maintain interest in my operation when things started to tail off. Finally, I put the 40m dipole up. I worked 18 SOTA chasers on 7.031MHz CW, before switching to 21MHz CW and offering the WFF again. This brought a further 15 contacts, including nice DX in the form of VE3, EA8 and TA. Finally, it was back on 40m CW to work another 15 SOTA chasers.

The final total for me was 105 contacts. During his 2m activation, Jimmy had worked Peter G3TJE, who had kindly invited us round to his home QTH in Brent Knoll for a drink and a bite to eat. When we arrived, a wonderful spread of cheese, pate, bread, salad, olives, quiche etc awaited, nicely accompanied by a glass of local farm cider. We spent a most enjoyable couple of hours with Peter chatting about amateur radio matters amongst other things, and enjoying the fine spread. Very many thanks to Peter.

Peter, with Jimmy & Liam    Peter G3TJE, Jimmy M3EYP, Tom M1EYP

It was only a short drive from Brent Knoll to Cheddar, but I was tired by then so took it nice and easy. Like the previous night, getting into bed was rather enjoyable!  The next day was originally scheduled to be our last, with an activation of Dundry Down G/SC-010 thrown in.  Many thanks to the following stations:

GW0IRT

2m

FM

J

MW3AVB

2m

FM

J

GW0TAU

2m

FM

J

G3TJE

2m

FM

J

R7GA

12m

CW

T

5B4AGQ

12m

CW

T

UA4HBW

12m

CW

T

2W0NNN/P on The Begwns MW-025

2m

FM

J

GW7RQM

2m

FM

J

UA6JZ

12m

CW

T

MW0RBL/M

2m

FM

J

GW0PPM/M

2m

FM

J

G4OEC

12m

CW

T

RX6FJ

12m

CW

T

OE6GND

20m

CW

T

OM3TBG

20m

CW

T

HA7UG

20m

CW

T

HA5WG

20m

CW

T

HA1TV

20m

CW

T

G4OEC

20m

CW

T

Z35F

20m

CW

T

US2LX

20m

CW

T

HB9BIN

20m

CW

T

UR5FEL

20m

CW

T

LZ1CY

20m

CW

T

SP9BFK

20m

CW

T

RV3EEY

20m

CW

T

SP9HLZ

20m

CW

T

EA4ESP

20m

CW

T

OK2PDN

20m

CW

T

IK3DRO

20m

CW

T

OE8SPW

20m

CW

T

OE6WIG

20m

CW

T

I5FLN

20m

CW

T

OE5WLL

20m

CW

T

UU2JQ

20m

CW

T

S59DXX

20m

CW

T

S51ZG

20m

CW

T

SP8AJK

20m

CW

T

OK2PAY

20m

CW

T

UA0BA

20m

CW

T

RV3LO

20m

CW

T

CT1IUA

20m

CW

T

YL2CA

20m

CW

T

OG3R

20m

CW

T

UY6IM

20m

CW

T

9A1AA

20m

CW

T

UA1OLM

20m

CW

T

SV2DGJ

20m

CW

T

LA8BCA

20m

CW

T

RD3PQ

20m

CW

T

HA3OU

20m

CW

T

RM9RZ

20m

CW

T

HA0LG

20m

CW

T

RZ3PJ

20m

CW

T

SP3HYK

20m

CW

T

SQ2LKM

20m

CW

T

HA4AA

20m

CW

T

RW6AM

20m

CW

T

UA4LF

20m

CW

T

OK2BDR

20m

CW

T

SP6BFK

20m

CW

T

CT1GFK

20m

CW

T

UA9LT

20m

CW

T

RU9CZ

20m

CW

T

DL4FCK

40m

CW

T

DL6KVA

40m

CW

T

ON7RN

40m

CW

T

HB9BQU

40m

CW

T

G4SSH

40m

CW

T

G4CMQ

40m

CW

T

DL4FDM

40m

CW

T

G0TUB

40m

CW

T

G4OOE

40m

CW

T

OE7PHI

40m

CW

T

I3VAD

40m

CW

T

DF5WA

40m

CW

T

G0NUP

40m

CW

T

M/HA5CW/P

40m

CW

T

HB9BIN

40m

CW

T

ON2WAB

40m

CW

T

DL2EF

40m

CW

T

HB9CEX

40m

CW

T

I7PXV

15m

CW

T

UY6IM

15m

CW

T

RA1OW

15m

CW

T

RV3LO

15m

CW

T

UA1OJL

15m

CW

T

UA1OLM

15m

CW

T

RA3DUO

15m

CW

T

RN3GL

15m

CW

T

UR7ET

15m

CW

T

VE3NEA

15m

CW

T

UA3LID

15m

CW

T

RA3BQ

15m

CW

T

EA8CAC

15m

CW

T

TA1C/2

15m

CW

T

SV2GNC

15m

CW

T

DL6FAX

40m

CW

T

DL0VK

40m

CW

T

PA30ATG

40m

CW

T

DL6HTA

40m

CW

T

DL8DXL

40m

CW

T

G4ELZ

40m

CW

T

DL9MDW

40m

CW

T

HB9AGO

40m

CW

T

F5SQA

40m

CW

T

IK3DRO

40m

CW

T

PA0SKP

40m

CW

T

OK2QA

40m

CW

T

G4ZIB

40m

CW

T

OK1GHZ

40m

CW

T

G3WPF

40m

CW

T