AN EXPEDITION TO THE SHETLAND ISLANDS

Jack G4ZVD and I are both keen chasers for the Islands of Scotland Award (IOSA). This award is similar to IOTA but of course a much smaller number of islands are involved. There are at present 170 islands in ten island groups nominated for the award. IOSA is administered by the GMDXClub.

Different levels of awards are made according to the number of islands worked culminating in the Honour roll when 100 islands have been worked. There are awards for both "chasers" and "activators".

I decided that it would be nice to be an activator for a change and suggested to Jack, already an activator, that we could do some of the Shetland Islands together. He readily agreed to this and we set about planning to activate Unst, Yell, Fetlar, Bressay and Hascosay. The later island is uninhabited with no ferry access so advance planning to land on the island was needed. Fortunately a local on Yell, Dannie GM0DJI, knew the fisherman, Ian Nicholson, who also farmed sheep on the island amongst about five other jobs he also had! We decided to use Fetlar as our base.

The equipment we assembled consisted of two Alinco DX70 Tranceivers, two switch mode power supplies, two 80 AH batteries, two laptops, four aerials including one for 6 metres, two ATUs, tools, cables, sleeping bags, tent, 1.5KVA generator and food. All this was packed into the back of my Subaru Impreza the night before our departure, quite a squeeze! Our trip would last six days so visiting five islands needed some careful timing of ferries between the islands and these neededto be booked in advance to guarantee getting on them.

We set out on 28th June at 7 am from Keighley in West Yorkshire for Aberdeen in Scotland, to catch the ferry to Lerwick on Shetland mainland. We were welcomed atAberdeen by Lorraine, MM0BCR, herself a keen activator and had a walk into the City centre for coffee in her company. The trip was an overnight passage arriving at Lerwick at 8 am the following day.

On arrival at Lerwick we drove north to Tofts for the ferry to Yell. Then north again to the ferry terminal at Gutcher to catch the ferry to Fetlar. This ferry goes via Unst which is about 10 minutes sailing and the remainder of the crossing takes about 30 minutes, the fare to Unst is the same as the fare to Fetlar via Unst, work that out! All ferries between islands are run by the Shetlands Council and the standard cost per car and driver is �3 and each additional passenger is �1.25.

We had arranged B & B at The Glebe, the old Manse now owned by Janet and Peter Kelly who had escaped from the rat race of London. They were very interested in our operation and were quite happy to let us erect the aerials in their garden and for us to operate from the bedroom. It transpired that the landlady's cousin was G4XPY. There is alternative accommodation on the island including Our Lady of the Isles Convent (Chalets). Fetlar is not a very populated island the major part is a bird sanctuary.

Two multi band inverted Vees were erected and we both got operating by 1430 UTC, I operated on 40 metres and Jack operated on 20 metres. By the time dinner was announced we had both worked well over 100 QSOs in more than 5 countries outside Great Britain which is the minimum needed to claim activation of an island. I had also tried to get on to the 80 metre RAFARS net but only Cyril, GM3EZI, could hear me although I could hear Peter G2AFV quite well. We carried on after a wonderful dinner until just before midnight and it was still daylight. Before we retired we dismantled one of the aerials for our trip to Hascosay the following day. We did computer logging with a variation of my Easilog program adapted for pile up working.

Friday 30th saw us rise at 6 am. We planned to operate from a new WAB square on south of the island. Janet had arranged for us to operate on a neighbour�s land near to the convent. Jack operated from the car using a GM3VLB base loaded vertical with power supplied an 80AH battery. We could not raise much interest on the WAB 40 metre net so we QSY�d to 20 metres until it was time to set off for Hascosay.

Although Hascosay is a very short distance from Fetlar the boat to take us there was on Yell so we had to catch the 11 o'clock ferry to Yell. Once there we drove south to the harbour at Mid Yell and met up with Dannie, GM0DJI. The weather was not all that good and there was quite a swell running. Because of this Ian, the boatman, had gone off to get a much bigger fishing boat. We had to wait for his return before we could find out if the crossing was on. Fortunately he gave the OK and we set off with some trepidation. He landed us in a sheltered bay not too far from a derelict croft that was to be our base, the one and only building on the island.

We would be staying on the island overnight and I had hoped to sleep in the croft. This was not to be as the floor was covered in a carpet of sheep dung three inches deep! After clearing a space we set up on some rickety old furniture and erected an inverted vee and the 12 foot vertical. We decided it would also be a good time to erect the tent as we were going to need it.

There was a cold wind blowing across the island and I was glad of my anorak and my woolly hat! We were not to see any sunshine throughout the entire trip. We finally got QRV at 1530 UTC, about an hour and a half later than planned. The QSO rate was quite good as this island had only been activated once before and that for a very short time. We packed up at 11:30pm local time, still daylight! There was quite a strong wind during the night so sleep was a bit fitful.

Up with the Lark on Saturday morning for our last operation on the island. The boat to take us back off the island was due about 12 noon. We had over 420 QSOs between us and we had worked 43 countries. My best was JA and Jack's VK.

The wind had dropped quite a bit and the sea was much calmer now. We started to pack up at 11 o'clock local time and had all the gear down to the shore by the time Ian arrived with the boat. This time getting the gearand ourselves on to the boat was a little less exciting. Once all the gear is aboard and you are still on the beach, it is not the time tofall out with the Skipper. Hi Hi.

Dannie welcomed us back ashore and arranged for us to meet him at his QTH at Aywick on the following day for our Yell operation. We then headed for the ferry back to Fetlar, the crews were beginning to recognise us and our car by now.

Sunday saw us up again at 6am to work the WAB square again on the south of the island before ur trip to Yell. This time activity was fast and furious, little did we know that the IOTA Millenium Award had started on 1st July and the Shetland Islands EU012 seemed to be wanted by everybody and remained so till the end of our trip. Off on the ferry yet again we arrived at Aywick at about 11.30 at Dannie's wonderful QTH. We set up the 12 foot vertical in a field nearby and Jack operated first until the required 100+ QSOs had been achieved then I took over and completed my tally. During my stint Dannie passed a note through the window "Come along for a bite to eat when you have finished" wonderful hospitality! we then returned to Fetlar. That night we had a superb dinner of Trout from the nearby loch.

We had left the main aerial erected at The Glebe, we now took this down and put a 6 metre VK2ABQ two element beam on the mast. 6 metres proved to be dead so no contacts were made that evening in fact we never made a 6 metre contact but we did hear someone call QRZ but he did not respond to our call. Conditions on 6 never improved.

Monday saw us catch the ferry to Unst. We drove from the ferry terminal to Haroldswick where we set up the vertical in the grounds of a Talc quarry. Apart from Jack forgetting his power unit lead nd my poor workmanship on the aerial coax all went well and we completed our quota of calls by 12 o�clock. We had arranged to meet Ron, GM4KJQ, one of our RAFARS members, at RAF Saxa Vord where he very kindly arranged for us to be shown over the Radar. I can only assume that the views from the Radar site are stunning with Muckle Fugga to the north, unfortunately Unst was shrouded in cloud so we saw nothing! Still it was a great day out. We returned to the ferry terminal and set up operation there until it was time for our return ferry at 6 o�clock.

Tuesday dawned, our last day in the Shetlands and one more island to go. Our return ferry to berdeen was due to depart Lerwick at 1800, so we could drive down to Lerwick early and catch the local ferry to Bressay for a brief operation. We had arranged to meet John GM4AGX at his home on Bressay where we set up the vertical in his garden and Jack operated from there. John�s XYL supplied a lovely lunch and John a drop of the amber fluid, much appreciated! Unfortunately time ran out before Jack could make his 100 contacts and we had to depart pretty smartly after his 87th QSO. Still what a good excuse to go back!

We had a great trip and the friendliness and hospitality of the islanders was a joy. Would we go back? You bet!