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

Tobernaveen Hill 2005

 

MI1EYP/P on Tobernaveen Hill GI/AH-009    Liam on Tobernaveen Hill    Jimmy on Tobernaveen Hill    Click to return to summit index

 

We headed south from Carn Hill GI/AH-010 to pick up the B90 and A8 to join the M2 at junction 4.  We exited the motorway at junction 6 near Antrim Town, and navigated, with difficulty, the country lanes until finally locating the small parking area (2/3 cars) at the south point of Tardree Forest J176923.  Although the map indicates that the track from here is wooded on both sides, in reality the west of it was clear.  We ignored a steeper muddy path going off to the right, which would have in fact offered us a quicker and straightforward route.  Instead we followed the main tracks as they appeared on the map.  We turned right at J173927, and right again to pass yet another transmitter installation.  At the end of this track, we noticed where the muddy path would have joined up and saved some time.  This was the end of any paths on the map, but a clear path wound around further and headed through the forest in the direction of the summit.  We followed this, and soon found ourselves in a small clearing, at the centre of which stands a trig point not acknowledged by the map.

Operating on Tobernaveen Hill

Surrounded by a wall of 12m+ trees, I wasn't sure whether I would need to unleash the 40m dipole and work on HF, but in fact signals both ways on 2m FM were fine, and the summit was quickly qualified, and George GI4SRQ was there again - 10 out of 10!  I thought we should descend more quickly via the muddy track, but Liam had set off ahead of us, and was a long way down the route used to ascend when we caught sight of him, so we followed him.  We repacked the car and set off for our third and final summit of the day, Cairngaver GI/MM-017.

Thanks to the following stations, all worked on 2m FM using 500mW, except the first where 2.5 watts was used:

MI0GDO Antrim Robert
MI3PTC/M Ballymena Ian
GI4SRQ Armagh George
GI3PDN Templepatrick Ray