This would be my third visit to this hill, which was my
first ever GI SOTA back in 2003. It would be Jimmy's second visit, but
first as a licensed amateur and therefore it was, as every summit on
this holiday, an activator unique for him. After our activation of
Big Collin GI/AH-008 on
Thursday 27th March 2008, we decided we could squeeze a fourth
activation in for the day.
We paused briefly in Ballyclare to buy some additional OS 1:50,000 maps
we needed, and then continued into the minor lanes between Ballyclare,
Newtownards and Carrickfergus. We found the concrete driveway up to the
farm at the bottom of Carn Hill, and drove up it. There is nowhere to
park on the road, so we have always parked, with permission, in the
farmyard, or parking area for the residence up there.
A man from the house came out to see who we were and what we were doing.
I got out of the car and said "We wondered if it would be OK to walk up
to the summit", pointing at the hill behind me. "Oh aye, no problem"
came the reply in deep Ulster brogue. "Where should I leave my car?" I
asked, hoping that he would invite me to use his drive or the farmyard,
and not send me back out onto the roads to find something. "Drive it up
the road to the transmitter, and leave it outside the compound" he
instructed. That would reduce a short easy ascent to a very short very
easy ascent, but who were we to argue?
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Jimmy in actual fact still ended up doing most of that section on foot,
as he walked between successive gates opening them for me to drive
through. We did park outside the transmitter compound (which is not on
the summit!) as instructed, then set off on foot for the summit. From
this point we had a short walk of about 300m, with around 40m of ascent,
to the trig point.
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It was nearly 6 o'clock, with about an hour's daylight remaining, but
the descent was short and easy, so we decided to set up 80m for the
fourth time in the day. A long run of 19 QSOs on 3.557MHz CW was
followed by Jimmy making just 4 on 3.660MHz SSB, hindered somewhat by
worsening conditions and heavy QRM. But we had both made it, the first
day was complete, we were one summit ahead of schedule and the 80m CW/SSB
strategy couldn't have worked out any better. I wondered if we could
maintain the pace? I started to get ideas of adding more summits to the
schedule if we could, but kept such thoughts to myself for the time
being.
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We arrived at Jimmy's Grandad's (also called Jimmy) house in Larne,
Co. Antrim, after 8pm, with a Chinese take-away. The day was rounded
off with me slipping out for a couple of pints and a drop of Black Bush
with my brother-in-law Campbell, who was also stopping at the house with
his son! Our first day of our Northern Ireland SOTA trip was a
successful day which couldn't have gone any better. Many thanks to the
following stations, all worked on 80m with 5 watts:
| G4OWG |
Rawdon |
Roger |
CW |
T |
| G4CPA |
Crosshills |
Geoff |
CW |
T |
| DL1FU |
Biedenkopf |
Fred |
CW |
T |
| EI7CC |
Dun Laoghaire |
Pete |
CW |
T |
| G3OHC |
Selby |
Graham |
CW |
T |
| DJ5AV |
Heiligenberg |
Mike |
CW |
T |
| G3WPF |
Wilmslow |
Reg |
CW |
T |
| GW0DSP |
Connahs Quay |
Mike |
CW |
T |
| G0AZS |
Aylesbury |
Marc |
CW |
T |
| LX1NO |
Strassen |
Norby |
CW |
T |
| HB9AGH |
Zurich |
Ambrosi |
CW |
T |
| G0NES |
Hollywood |
Don |
CW |
T |
| HB9CSA |
Zurich |
Fritz |
CW |
T |
| EI2CL |
Dublin |
Michael |
CW |
T |
| DL6KVA |
Rostock |
Axel |
CW |
T |
| G0HIO |
Burton-on-Trent |
Mike |
CW |
T |
| G4RQJ |
Walney Island |
Rob |
CW |
T |
| HB9CGA |
Embrach |
Ulrich |
CW |
T |
| G3TJE |
Highbridge |
Peter |
CW |
T |
| GW7AAV |
Connahs Quay |
Steve |
SSB |
J |
| 2E0PXW |
Ellesmere Port |
Barry |
SSB |
J |
| G3CWI |
Macclesfield |
Richard |
SSB |
J |
| G3OHC |
Selby |
Graham |
SSB |
J |
|
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