After yesterday’s activation of EA/NV-012 and EA2/NV-170, on 9th July 2023 I again drove into Spain to activate the two 6-point summits of Saioa and Zuriain. These are very easily activated as a pair and are almost always done together. To the starting point: Col de Sagardegi The starting point for this walk is on…

I returned to the Spanish Pyrenees in July 2023 to spend a couple more days activating the summits in Navarra, in the western Pyrenees. I was actually staying in a hotel in Bayonne, France and went back to F/PO-245 Xoldoko Gaina (which I had last activated in 2019) on 6th July. Then, on 8th July,…

After yesterday’s successful and sunny climbs of Pico de Orhy and Arthanolatze, I was looking forward to another easy day in the mountains on 31st August 2022 but it was somewhat more difficult. Urkulu EA2/NV-022 Overnight, there had been a substantial thunderstorm with rain in the Pyrenees and the drive into the valley from St.…

At the end of August, I was able to return to the Pyrenees to do a few new (to me) SOTA summits over a couple of days. On 30th August 2022, this trip started with a couple of mountains, the Pico de Ori and Arthanolatze. Pico de Ori EA2/NV-003 The ten point Pico de Ori…

With only a couple of exceptions, I haven’t been able to get out to activate any SOTA summits for nearly 2 years. Now only have we had the Covid lockdown, but then over the winter I have faced another (non-Covid-related) medical issue, which stopped me getting out. Now that I am recovering, and with some…

During the ZC4UW DXpedition, Rob M0VFC, Dan M0WUT and I spent a morning doing a couple of local SOTA summits, largely so that I could tick off my fourth continent for the SOTA Explorer awards. It’s winter and we didn’t want to go too far, so we limited ourselves to two four-point summits, about 10kms…

I’ve recently returned from a few days in Prague doing tourism and sightseeing. While the primary focus of the trip wasn’t radio, I noticed that there’s a SOTA summit on the outskirts of the city, which I had to go to. OK/ST-084: Ládví Getting to Ládví requires no car hire at all. If you are…

Xoldoko Gaina F/PO-245 (1 point) After the frustration of the Pic de Guilhers yesterday, I left my hotel in St. Jean de Luz early, with the aim of climbing Xoldoko Gaina (aka Choldocogagna) before heading to Bilbao for my return flight back to the UK. The path for this one starts in the village of…

Pic d’Issarbe F/PO-171 (4 points) I’d done the Pic d’Issarbe on my last trip to the Pyrenees, and it’s a lovely, easy four-point walk at this time of year. The site is a minor ski resort in the winter and as such has a car park which was almost deserted on this September morning. The…

I’ve recently returned from a few days in the Basque Country, which included a few summit excursions. Although I’m aware that I’m behind on writing up some of my other SOTA trips over the summer, I’ve decided to type up my notes on this recent trip first before I forget the detail. Aratz EA2/VI-003 (6…

I’ve now returned from a long weekend at the annual Ham Radio exhibition at Friedrichshafen, a beautiful city on the shores of Lake Constance in southern Germany. The normal way for British people to get to FDH as it has become known, is to fly to Zurich and take the train to Romanshorn before then…

Last year, for the late May bank holiday, I set myself the challenge of getting 100 SOTA points in the weekend in the Vosges area of eastern France, an area renowned for being an easy place to get lots of points fairly quickly. This year, in May 2019, my challenge was to do 120 points…

This week, I’m on the GT3PYE/P DXpedition to the Isle of Man with the Camb-Hams. As part of the trip, Rob M0VFC, Colin G4ERO and I have been activating all the SOTA summits on the Isle of Man. It’s perfectly possible to do them all in a single day, amassing 18 points from the five…

After tackling Pen Llithrig on a less-than-successful day yesterday, it was now Easter Sunday. Knowing the traffic would be bad on Monday, I wanted to get in a quick morning walk before heading back to Cambridge in the afternoon, ahead of most of the cars. Cadair Berwyn (GW/NW-012, worth 8 points) fitted the bill perfectly.…

I was up early, despite the long walk around Y Garn and Glyder Fawr yesterday, ready to head on another double-hill day, walking around Carnedd Llewelyn and Pen Llithrig y Wrach. The car park for this one is in the entrance to the campsite at SH685602. The campsite allows non-residents to park in the layby…

I’ve recently returned from what has become an annual tradition of spending Easter weekend away climbing hills for SOTA. Last year (and admittedly Easter was earlier), the Beast from the East had just hit and I was walking through snow on Pen-Y-Fan. This year, the weather was completely different with bright sunshine, hardly any wind,…

Enthused by a fairly easy 18 points yesterday on Pico Ruivo and Pico do Arieiro, I aimed to do two one-point hills today, but Penha de Aguia is a much more difficult hill, and so I only had time (and energy!) to do this one. This replan while walking meant that I accidentally ended up…

Continuing my SOTA trip to Madeira, and following on from yesterday’s activations of Pico Ruivo do Paul and Pico Chao dos Terreiros, today I did two of the larger summits on the island. Pico Ruivo (CT3/MI-001) The highest point on the island, Pico Ruivo (not to be confused with Pico Ruivo do Paul, which I…

Last week I spent some time on a family holiday in Madeira, during which I also spent three days in the hills doing SOTA activations. The first thing to know about Madeira from a radio perspective is that although the DXCC prefix is CT3, that prefix is reserved for residents. The prefix authorised for CEPT…