Nine Standards Rigg G/NP-018 - 662m ASL - NY 825 061 - OS Explorer OL19 - 4 SOTA points       

Sunday 10th June 2007:  From Burnhope Seat G/NP-003, it was another long commute to the next summit, Nine Standards Rigg G/NP-018. We stopped for hot pies in one village, and then took the road out of Kirkby Stephen up to Nateby Common. At Jimmy's insistence, I parked by the entrance to the bridleway, which we then followed to its end. We then continued on the increasingly undefined tracks through the grass and peat hags, before finally climbing to the summit trig, overlooking the Nine Standards.

                       

The plan was for this to be a 100% HF activation, with me on 40 CW, followed by a self-spot on a clear 40 SSB frequency to give Jimmy a good opportunity. The first part worked OK (eventually, after me snapping one of the dipole legs and having to get out the Swiss Army Knife and tape and repair it!), with plenty of EU stations replying on 7.032 MHz, but then despite identifying a clear frequency on 7.065 MHz, and self-spotting it, no further calls were answered. It was the SOTA Beam and 2m FM to the rescue for Jimmy as 2W0BYA/P and G4FBC/P on SOTA summits, and stalwarts 2E0NHM and G4BLH came up with the goods.

                   

Wanting his tea, Liam put in a stunningly quick (for him) descent, and recorded trig point to parking spot in 45 minutes. A further 2 hours, and we were not home, but meeting Marianne and Jimmy (not son, but father-in-law) at our favourite local curry house. And who should we meet in there but G3CWI and family. It was a pleasant end to a great weekend.

Many thanks to the following stations worked from the summit: