I watched a couple of good lectures on the Saturday morning of the RSGB Convention at Horwood House, and had a go at the FOC Pile Up challenge. Three SOTA related talks/presentations by Jimmy M3EYP and myself went well in the afternoon and seemed well received.  Over £50 worth of SOTA goods sold between talks and a few "keep the change" overpayment donations received towards the programme as well!

       

We very much enjoyed the DX Gala Dinner on the Saturday night, plus various presentations and activities on Sunday 9th October 2011. I was presented with the 50MHz Backpackers Trophy, on which my name and callsign is set to be the last ever to be engraved, following which I took part in the contest forum (featuring an angry lobby from JO02!). After the raffle, Jimmy and I headed south towards Aylesbury and our target summit of Wendover Woods G/CE-005.

   

We drove down the access road and paid the £1.50 parking charge, noting the gate locking time of 6pm. It was about 4.30pm, so we figured we had plenty of time. Wrong!

We set up initially in one of Marc G0AZS's favourite spots, where a couple of benches overlook a view with a seemingly good take off. I went on 15m CW and worked - Marc G0AZS, but not the PY or 7X that were also on the band. Jimmy got two on 2m FM, one of them being Marc G0AZS!  Marc, within minutes, was on scene to meet and greet, which was a pleasant surprise.

I gave up on the 15m and set up the 40m dipole, and then my contacts came quickly and easily on 7.032MHz CW. Jimmy still struggled, even when he had a go on 40m SSB. Bang on schedule, the Forestry Commission warden drove up and announced he was locking the gates in five minutes, so we had to abandon - from that site anyway!

   

We moved over to the other side of Aston Hill, close to the trig point and monument, and well within the activation zone, but crucially, outside of the now closed Wendover Woods Forestry Commission site! The struggle continued for a while, until Jimmy swapped the 2m handheld for FT817 and SOTA Beam. By this time, now into early evening, stations were popping up across the band, so he got the two he needed, plus one more. A rapid packaway as darkness quickly fell, and it was time to walk back to the car and drive home.

In summary I really enjoyed the RSGB Convention, but didn't really enjoy my SOTA activation of Wendover Woods G/CE-005.