A challenging walk to an extremely windy summit
From the A-341 I took the track opposite the quarry to find a parking spot just through a wire fence. The footpath starts across from this point, along a wire fence marked by a concrete post:
The path is not marked and was difficult to follow on the map (SOTL.AS or Open Topo map). I frequently ended up scrambling over rocks to keep walking upwards. The ground became increasingly icy and once at the summit the wind was extremely strong and cold. I was encouraged by the additionl 3-point winter bonus that a February activation would earn me, and certainly felt that I had earned it!
The summit has a trig point which appears to be a short distance from the actual summit (marked by a cairn). I used the Trig point to activate, which is within 10 vertical metres of the cairn.
On my 1st actication (Feb 24) the wind was far too strong to position my Sotapole on the trig point. There is a large area suitable for activation just below the trig point which provided some shelter from the wind. I attached my bandhopper antenna from a high rock near the trig marker, spanning the activation area and pegged at the ground, so set up as a sloping dipole.
On my 2nd activation (Feb 25) the wind was kinder and so I used the trig point to support the Sotapole and sat just below that point, again sheltering from the wind and cold mist coming over.
I made 19 SSB QSOs on 20m in 2024, and 39 on 20m SSB in 2025.
No comments:
Post a Comment