Latest News

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First Falkland Summit to Summit

Congratulations to Robert VP8DMM/P (G0PEB) and Carolyn DL/G6WRW/P on the first Summit to Summit contact with the Falkland Islands. The QSO took place on 18.153MHz around 1835z on 1st July. Robert was using a 1/4 wave vertical with elevated radials from VP8/WF-025 and Carolyn was using a 5/8 wave vertical also with elevated radials from DM/BW-008. Both stations were both using 50-100w. Helen DL/M0YHB/P followed Carolyn for the 2nd Summit to Summit with the Falklands.

Not content with the summit to summit QSO, about 30 minutes later Carolyn worked Robert again, this time from her mobile station!!!

Stunning work Robert handling the unruly pileup. The contest practice was useful for something!!!

John GW4BVE (1st July 2010)

First Falklands SOTA to UK contact

Robert VP8DMM/P (G0PEB) activated VP/WF-025 today and worked John GW4BVE for the first contact into the UK from a Falklands SOTA summit.

Mike G4BLH (30th June 2010)

Pendle Hill G/SP-005 Sunday June 27th

Activators beware If you are thinking of activating Pendle Hill G/SP-005 this weekend, you might like to think again. Sunday is the day of the National Road Race Championship 2010. Many of the minor roads around Pendle will be closed including the road from Barley to Downham, Blacko to Downham, Barrowford to Roughlee, Roughlee to Barley.

Barley will be completely inaccessible by road accept for residents with permits (this also applies on Saturday 26th) because of other cycling events . Full details of the road closures may be found here.

Mike G4BLH (23th June 2010)

300 Uniques Club again.

Gerald G4OIG joined walking companion Paul G4MD as a member of the '300 Uniques Club' today when he activated Binsey G/LD-041 today. Gerald and Paul are part way through their mini expedition 'up norf' and will be activating more summits over the next couple of days.

Mike G4BLH (20th June 2010)

300 Uniques Club

Congratulations to Paul G4MD who activated his 300th Unique summit on Monday 26th April 2010. The summit was Skiddaw G/LD-004. In typical fashion the weather was absolutely foul on the summit, but cleared once we got back to the car! Paul has his sights firmly placed on entry to the 400 Uniques Club and will no doubt drag me along with him.



Gerald G4OIG (1st May 2010)

Aldi Special

Aldi have a range of walking equipment including boots, gaiters, fleeces, walking poles etc on their 'Special Buys' from Thursday April 22nd.

Mike G4BLH (22nd April 2010)

Geomagnetic Storm Warning

There is the possibility of a geomagnetic storm, possibly reaching major storm levels, tomorrow (Sunday 11th April). If this occurs it will have the effect of severely depressing the F layer critical frequencies so making NVIS communications on 5MHz and even possibly 3.5MHz difficult or impossible. Conditions on all HF bands are likely to be adversely affected.

John GW4BVE (10th April 2010)

New Mountain Goat (more)

Congratulations Robert from 'rent a crowd'

John GW4BVE (5th April 2010)

New Mountain Goat

Congratulations to Robert G0PEB for attaining Mountain Goat status during his activation today of Mynydd Mawr GW/NW-026. More on this activation in the next Summitsbase News.

Mike G4BLH - Sunday 4th April

Aldi do it again !

One of their specials, think it went live Thursday 4th Feb, but there were plenty in stock up here in East Lancs, a great little spotting scope, 20-60 x 60mm, fairly compact and easy to pack for trips on the hill. £19.99, at this price they are not up there with the big lads, such as Leica and Swarovski, but for the price they are a good little scope, a bit dark at the far end of the zoom and so best used in good light but for wildlife watching while out and about they are fine.

Lee MØLMP - Saturday 6th Feb 2010

Summits Achievement for Phil G4OBK

Our congratulations to Phil G4OBK who with his activation of WOTA LDW-078 Birkhouse Moor this afternoon completes, I believe, his activation of all of Wainwright's Eastern Fells.

Mike G4BLH - Wednesday 11th November

Roy G4SSH hits top spot

Congratulations to Roy G4SSH who has taken over the number 1 chaser spot from Mike GW0DSP. Roy has achieved this accolade by using CW only, a magnificant achievement. Roy is a very popular chaser amongst the CW fraternity and is well known for his superb spotting services. Most activator logs have Roy's callsign in their pages. Roy spent years as the chief morse examiner for the UK when CW was a requirement to obtain the full UK licence and gain access to the HF bands.

Mike GW0DSP - Tuesday 3rd November 2009

Phil G1OPV reaches Shack Sloth status

Phil G1OPV reached his 1000 chaser points when he worked Frank G3UQK/P on Pendle Hill G/SP-005 today, not that Phil was sitting in the comfort of his shack at the time, he was activating Holyhead Mountain GW/NW-069 when he made the S2S contact. Well done Phil.

Mike G4BLH - Saturday 31st October

Roy makes 30000 chaser points

According to the SOTA database, Roy G4SSH has reached 30000 chaser points today, only the second chaser to do that so far (the first being Mike GW0DSP). His achievement is even more remarkable because all of those points were made using CW only. Congratulations Roy.

Mike G4BLH - Thursday 29th October

LA Expedition to G update

Having arrived safely at Liverpool airport our friends from Norway stopped for a while at the motorway service station at Charnock Richard on the M6 where they met up with Mike G4BLH for a coffee and a natter before continuing their journey north up to Keswick (which will be their base while they are in the Lake District).



The photo shows left to right (I hope I have remembered this correctly !!) Halvard LA1DNA, Mads LA1TPA, Aage LA1ENA and Kjell LA1KHA

Mike G4BLH - Tuesday 20th October

LA Expedition to G

Our friends from Norway LA1TPA, LA1ENA, LA1KHA and LA1DNA fly in to Liverpool today for a brief visit to England. An Email from Aage reveals that after landing in Liverpool, the team are heading up to Keswick and hope to do some G/LD activations Wednesday through to Friday (the weather forecast looks a bit 'iffy' !!). On Saturday the group will be at the G-QRP convention in Rishworth and they will be heading home on Sunday.

Mike G4BLH - Tuesday 20th October

Carolyn Reaches Half Goat

Congratulations to Carolyn G6WRW who achieve half goatdom with her activation of Y Garn GW/NW-004 on the afternoon of Tuesday 13th October. She had activated Elidir Fawr GW/NW-005 in the morning to reach the threshold of 499 points.



The photo shows Carolyn G6WRW, John GW4BVE, Frank G3RMD begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting & Robert G0PEB on the summit of Y Garn.

John GW4BVE - Wednesday 14th October

Aldi Special - Thursday October 1st

Aldi are doing a range of items that may be of interest including jackets, outdoor boots, walking shoes and thermal outdoor trousers. This special starts on October 1st.

Mike G4BLH - 28th September 2009

Lidl Special - Monday August 31st

The lastest Lidl Newsletter shows several items available from Monday 31st August that may be of interest to hill walkers. They include trekking poles, trousers, jackets and boots. More details may be found here. The offer may not be available at all stores, enter your postcode to check availabilty at your nearest store.

(Mike G4BLH - 24th August 2009)

Netto Special

Netto are offering a 35 litre rucksack for the princely sum of £8.99 from Thursday August 20th, see details here. I'm not sure what the quality is like but it merits investigation.

(Mike G4BLH - 18th August 2009)

Mike Completes His Final Target

Mike GW0DSP has now achieved his remaining personal target in SOTA on 9/8/2009. After a successful QSO with Rick GW0VMW/P on Arenig Fach GW/NW-027, Mike finally became the first chaser ever to break through the 30,000 chaser points barrier. Mike worked Rick from his car /m from Rhos on Sea, while on a fishing holiday. A full story will follow in the next monthly news edition.

(Mike GW0DSP - 10th August 2009)

Aldi Special - Sunday August 9th

According to the latest Aldi Newsletter, one of the offerings from August 9th is an 8 metre fibreglass fishing pole see here at £17.99. Not cheap, but it may be worth taking a look at.

(Mike G4BLH - 7th August 2009)

SOTA mourns Roy's passing

Today, the SOTA fraternity learned of the sad news that our friend Roy G0HDX had suffered a suspected heart attack and has passed away while enroute to activate Whitbarrow LD-056. Roy's long time friend and regular activating partner Phil G1OPV was with Roy at the time of his passing.
The Summitsbase News Team offers their most sincere condolences to Roy's family and also our thoughts are with Phil who must have experienced a very traumatic time. We shall all miss Roy's friendly voice on the airwaves.

(Mike GW0DSP - 12th July 2009)

Fred on Tour Again

Fred GI4MWA and his family are back in the Lake District again for a short break. I understand that they will be here until Tuesday July 14th and, weather permitting, there will hopefully be a few LD activations. Fred carried out his first summit activation of this tour today from High Raise G/LD-019 (WOTA LDW-056).

(Mike G4BLH - 8th July 2009)

Z35M Receives S2S Award

Vlado Z35M received his class 3 Summitsbase Summit to Summit award today. Vlado made the required 25 S2S contacts in just two months and twelve SOTA activations and he is the first station from Macedonia to receive this award. Vlado currently appears to be the only activator in Z3. Well done.

(Mike G4BLH - 8th July 2009)

GW4BVE Chases a 'First'.

Yesterday (Sunday) John GW4BVE became the first UK station to work a W1 SOTA summit when he worked Thomas N2YTF/P on 14MHz during the initial activation of Tacott Mtn. HP W1/MR-001. Nice one John.

(Mike G4BLH - 6th July 2009)

Congratulations To Roy G4SSH

Today, Mr. CW, Roy G4SSH hit 25,000 CW chaser points after his 5000th QSO. Roy hit this superb points total after his QSO with Vladimir Z35M/P on Ljubin Rid Z3/WM-050. The Summitsbase News Team congratulates Roy on this magnificant achievement, which took a lot of dedication to achieve. Well done Roy.

(Mike GW0DSP - 4th July 2009)

Rob and Audrey on tour

Rob G4RQJ and Audrey are currently in the Isle of Man and will be there for about another two weeks. They are activating all the GD summits (some of them several times during their stay, weather permitting). Rob has already been active on 7MHz cw, 5MHz ssb, 2m fm & ssb, 70cms fm & ssb and 4m fm and he tells me there will be one or two evening activations during their stay (again weather permitting). So, if you need any of those GD summits, now is a good time to be looking.

(Mike G4BLH - 2nd July 2009)

Mike Completes Chasing All G Summits

On Sunday 28th June, Mike G4BLH completed chasing all of the summits in England after his QSO with Jim G0CQK on Sighty Crag G/SB-005. The Summitsbase News Team offers their congratulations to Mike. To chase all of the G summits takes a great deal of time and dedication. Well done Mike.

(Mike GW0DSP - 28th June 2009)

Slovenia Summit worked from UK on 50MHz

On Monday June 1st well known UK SOTA activator/chaser Frank G3RMD made it into the log of Zvone S57OPZ operating from Škofje S5/CP-016 using 50MHz ssb, so it would appear that the sporadic E season has arrived at last. Frank was using an Icom 7000 and delta loop antenna.

(Mike G4BLH - 3rd June 2009)

Zvone S57OPZ was working with 3 element home made HB9 antenna and Yaesu FT-817 with 5W output.

(Milos S57D - 3rd June 2009)

WOTA Summit References

The Summitsbase pages which cover Lake District summits have been updated to also show WOTA reference numbers for those summits which qualify for the popular 'Wainrights On The Air' programme developed by Julian Moss, G4ILO.

(Mike G4BLH - 19th May 2009)

Congratulations Roy G4SSH

Roy G4SSH has become the first person to chase 3,000 unique summits. Roy is one of the top chasers and only chases CW, this makes Roy's achievement that bit more special. As well as being a superb CW op, Roy is also known for his superior spotting skills and is usually one of the first chasers in most CW activator's logs. The Summits News team congratulates you on a magnificent achievement Roy.

(Mike GW0DSP - 18th May 2009)