Just a quick activation of our closest summit in order to hopefully catch some of the GM/ES contingent on their Spring Activity Day, and have a bit of a wander about in the snow. Both boxes ticked.
Continue readingGD/GD-001: Snaefell
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GD/GD-002: Slieau Freoghane
Quick charge up the Island’s #2 SOTA summit in order to take advantage of the winter bonus. For some reason I always think of this one as being a lengthy hike, but today I timed it as being just 18 minutes up the side of Sartfell and another 12 minutes from there to the summit, so hardly strenuous.
Continue readingOrdered Icom IC-7760
Repeater CSV Files for Icom Radios
One of the most useful features of modern Icom radios is the ability to find local repeaters using the built-in GPS receiver, but programming those repeaters can be onerous since few sources include the all-important LAT and LON coordinates.
Kudos to Mark M0LXQ whose CSV generator covers a range of formats and even allows you to insert a column containing distance from your own QTH, so you can manually sort the and limit the entries by distance from a given locator before importing the file into the radio.
If you’re new to this it’s worth mentioning that on the ID-52 / ID-50 (possibly others) you need to import the files into the repeaters list, not the regular memory in order to use the GPS function.
W1/NL-004: Green Mountain
Another enjoyable activation carried out during our road trip through New England, with a slightly longer hike than anticipated but more than made up for by an encounter with a likeable fire warden in his tower.
Continue readingW1/EM-007: Mt Harris
Another easy summit along our road trip along the I-95, with discreet parking and a short hike through pleasant woodland. Plenty of room at the top for antennas, not many people about.
Continue readingVY2/PE-001: Glen Valley
There’s practically nothing to say about this one; the “summit” was a drive-up affair down a dirt road, the “hike” maybe 30 yards from the car. All very easy and relaxed.
Continue readingVY2/PE-002: Caledonia
Two weeks into a month long road trip through New England and Canada, and so far not one SOTA activation. Apart from one failed attempt at W1/EM-054 Spruce Mountain (woodland too dense at end of trail) we just hadn’t made much of an effort to get out, so this was a relatively easy drive-n-grab affair to break that duck.
Continue readingEA6/MA-076: Puig des Recó
This was one of the two summits we’d earmarked as potential drive-and-go activations while out and about, but with our days on the island dwindling away we decided to grab Puig des Recó before breakfast today. Still, a good hour from the hotel and half an hour’s climb made it a bit of a mission this morning.
Continue readingEA6/MA-040: Talaia d’Alcúdia
Didn’t really intend to do an activation this morning. Last night’s “Mallorcan suckling pig” dinner (i.e. roast pork) came with some lovely wine and, well, we had a bit of a lie-in this morning. No other plans though, so MA-040 was duly selected for a morning spot of hangover SOTA.
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