I’ve been licenced since 1993. My main interest has always been VHF but living at the base of Britain’s highest mountains severely limits the opportunities to play radio from my home QTH. Luckily, my other interest is hill walking and I can combine the two hobbies to work /p from the many high tops close by. Nowadays most of my activity is activating tops for Summits On The Air ( www.sota.org.uk )

While climbing to the summits or between summits I normally monitor 145 MHz FM with a Yaesu VX-7 connected to a ½ wave dipole attached to my rucksack.

On the tops I usually try to work on 2 metres FM and SSB using a Yaesu FT-817 connected to a Sandpiper 3 element delta quad antenna. I use a telescopic ½ wave dipole for 6 metres (pictured above on summit GM/WS-294, Ben Hiant) and generally try to operate on the 60 metres NOV band using an inverted V dipole. If conditions allow, I will also work 40 and 80 metres with the same inverted V dipole. My intended locations and bands for any trip are always posted on www.sotawatch.org on the day of the activation

If you hear me calling from a summit, please give me a call and make it worth my while climbing to the tops.

Best 73s Robin.