Mountain Hunter Gold

I've been chasing after the Elusive Mountain Hunter award for many weeks now.
To Qualify  for Gold, I need to contact  at least 2 different summits in each of 15 associations. I have had 15 associations  worked for some time however, the sting in the tail is that at least one association claimed is on a different continent from the claimant's normal residence. I've been stuck for many months with only 1 USA summit worked, but when I saw an alert for Barry, N1EU, activating today I thought I'd take to the hills for a better chance of working him.

And so it was, right on schedule he showed up, we made an easy summit to summit contact, I got my two contacts with the  W2 association and immediately qualified for the Gold Award.
Next step is the Platinum which means working yet another continent which is harder again!

SOTA - Beacon Batch - G/SC-003

Beacon Batch - 325m, 1 point

Association: England  Region: South Central  
Latitude: 51 18 41 N, Longitude: 2 44 30 W
Grid Reference: ST 484572, QTH Locator: IO81PH


The good thing about Beacon Batch is, that like Dundry Down, it's only a few miles from Bristol International Airport. As I was dropping my daughter off for a flight, I made the most of the afternoon and proceeded a few miles further south to the parking area at ST489581.

Trig Point

The car park was in mist and cloud and nothing much changed as I ascended the hill. There's a fairly obvious track to the summit and even with low visibility it was easy to navigate.

Just off to one side of the trig point there was a convenient tree growing out of a small mound. This made an excellent pole support and operator chair. there were no other obvious antenna supports other that the trig point itself.

The path to the summit.

The Shack

I quickly set up and was soon on the air and quickly racked up 60 QSOs and 19 DXCC.

I'm sure the views from the top would have been nice, but today there was nothing to be seen in the thick mist. Maybe next time!

SOTA - Cleeve Hill - G/CE-001

Cleeve Hill - 330m, 1 point

Association: England  Region: Central England  
Latitude: 51 55 11 N, Longitude: 2 0 20 W
Grid Reference: SO 996245, QTH Locator: IO81XW

Shack Sloth

5th October 2012

Well I've been a SOTA chaser since 12 January 2012, and today I reached the first major step, which is "Shack Sloth"
This requires accumulating 1000 chaser points by working activators on SOTA summits.
My chases were all done on HF, CW with 5 Watts or less output power.

Whilst 1000 points may seem a lot, it pales in comparison to the top chasers who have accumulated more than 75000 points!

The nice certificate and trophy was duly ordered and now has pride of place in the shack.

Certificate

Glass Trophy

 From a chaser angle the next goal is Super Sloth at 10,000 points, plus there are unique summits to chase which keeps the challenge fresh and exiting.


Details of SOTA can be found at he Summits On The Air website and activities can be monitored at the SOTAWatch portal.

Give it a go. It's completely free, but be warned - it's highly addictive, both chasing and activating!