If at first you don’t succeed…….
My first attempt at activating Brown Clee Hill was a total failure!. I blame Bradley Wiggins and his Tour de France win, which was the same Sunday.. The result was a whole 2 QSOs on 20M, and nothing at all on 2M..
So, it was time to try again 🙂
Saturday 18th August saw me jumping in the car for the short journey (for me anyway!) to the parking spot at SO585868. Actually I parked on the hill just above the phone box, maybe I should have parked at the gate, to take 50 yards or so off the walk 🙂 Grabbing the stuff, I set off up the lane and through the gate.
Only 2 minutes to Brown Clee Hill!
Just through the gate there’s a nice sign…
2 minutes to Brown Clee Hill! Yay!
Remember, you’re not a horse!
Consequently, it’s going to take a tad more than 2 minutes to get up there.. Actually, I’m not sure a horse can get up there in 2 minutes, but who am I to doubt the sign maker?
It’s a bit of a slog really, most of the time in a dip between the hill and a grassy bank, lots of sheep, a lot of rubble, and quite a bit of animal poo….. but nice views to the west towards Wales. But within about 15-20 minutes I was at the top of the ‘climb’ at the gate where you turn left and navigate your way across a bit of boggy terrain.. At least from here you can see the masts, and you can see where you’re going to!
Ambling up the gentle slope, I heard 2E0CHV/P calling from The Stiperstones. Unfortunately, at this point I wasn’t within the activation zone, so I left a reply until later.
By 16:20 I was ready, 4 sections if the fishing pole with the 2M SOTAbeam on top with the 817nd attached. I heard 2E0CHV/P calling again, and answered, giving me my first contact.
Closely followed by M0IBC in Rowley Regis who kindly spotted me on SOTAwatch. This resulted in a further 5 contacts, meaning I’d bettered the 2 from the last time!
All contacts on 2M FM, I did try 2M SSB, but failed to make any contacts whatsoever.. never mind.
Many thanks to the following:
| Callsign | Time | Name/Location | Frequency | Mode |
| 2E0CHV/P | 16:20z | Simon, Stiperstones (G/WB-003) | 2M | FM |
| M0IBC | 16:40z | Dave, Rowley Regis | 2M | FM |
| G8ILP/A | 16:55z | Tim, Ross on Wye | 2M | FM |
| G0UWU | 17:00z | Mike, Gloucester | 2M | FM |
| MOJLA | 17:05z | Rod, Hereford | 2M | FM |
| GW7HDC | 17:10z | Tony, Knighton | 2M | FM |
| GW0HUS | 17:20z | Graham, Moel y Crio | 2M | FM |
I thought about doing some HF, but after getting the link dipole out and finding it was more tangled than a tangled thing from the planet tangled, I threw it back in the back pack and packed up!
It was a lot easier walking back down! A very nice afternoon in the sunshine really!
 End of the boggy bit, time to go downhill |
 Half way down the steep bit! |