Hill of Foudland
Making the most of the activation zone!
Next summit of the day. A short drive up the A96 and off at Colpy to Hill of Foudland. I was approaching from the east so I was close to Tillymorgan but it’s not a very exciting route. I think there’s a better one from the east. I’d read on Walkinghighlands that there’s more parking in the forest, beyond the limits of the public road. Not sure if this is really allowed or not but it seemed better than parking on essentially nothing, as I was out of the way. This also saved me some walking along a boring track. After the chat with G0JSO, I was 30 minutes later than planned, and so I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it in time to get at the summit for the lunchtime 2m net.
As I was walking up I had my HT tuned into 145.550 MHz listening out for them. I managed to call into the net and said I was hiking up and I’d come back to them when I was at the top. I knew the top was quite flat, and watching SOTAGoat app I saw I was within the activation zone but still a good ~650 m from the actual summit point. At this stage I setup the telescopic pole between my legs with the slim G on the top.
On the way up, with the RH770, Bill and Paul couldn’t hear me (nor I Paul), but once I had the slim G up on the 6m mast, everyone was a very good signal. So I had three from the net and Mike was trying break in but the other guys kept chatting! Eventually it came round to me and I was answering their questions and building up to bringing Mike in when the D72 died on me! Luckily I had the 705 and got that hooked up. I rejoined and explained, plus got Mike in. If I just had the KX2 I’d been annoyed about that one!
I was sat right in front of the towers but they were quiet on 145.550. I think the 705 had some issues with them but I turned off the pre-amp and that seemed to keep it calm. I said my goodbyes and turned back down the path to my third and final summit of the day!
