Dundry Down Hike - G/SC-010 SOTA (2020)

SOTA Activation Reports

Summits on the Air Activation Report

Activation Date: Saturday 30th May, 2020.
Activator(s): Richard M1HAX.
Summit: Dundry Down, South Central, England.
Summit ID: SOTA reference G/SC-010 (1 point).
Summit Height: 233m elevation, 170m prominence.
Summit Location: Lat./Long. 51.39774, -2.64337. Maidenhead Grid IO81qj.
Distance: 1.1km travelled with 23m of ascent.
Difficulty: SAC Grade T1.(?)
Elapsed Time: 2hr 15m (including operating).
Weather: Feels like 23.9°C, 17 kph ESE wind, 31% humidity.
Radio Equipment: Yaesu FT891, Linked Dipole, Zippy 8400mAh 4S LiFePo4. Yaesu FTM100D, MFJ-1714, Zippy 4200mAh 4S LiFePo4.
Callsign Used: M1HAX/P.
Contacts: 80 (40m SSB, 2m FM).

Trip Notes

Dundry Down, located south of Bristol, England, covers two miles and contains farmland, a small number of houses, and a church. The majority of the hill lies within North Somerset, with the southern slopes of its eastern end extending into Bath and North East Somerset, and the northern slopes into Bristol. The highest point in Bristol County can be found on its northern slopes.

This is a very easy hill to activate for Summits on the Air given it is almost a drive-on summit. There is a small albeit busy car park in the village to the east of the transmitter mast.

From the car park I crossed in to the field and followed the access track a short distance to where the fence line veers off towards the large antenna mast.

I made four contacts on 2m before setting up an inverted-V dipole for 40m. The transmitter mast at the summit causes QRM on VHF, so I had planned to finish out my day of SOTA activations working on HF with my Yaesu FT891.

I made many contacts on 40m including DX contacts with Brazil and Russia.

After enjoying the fine weather and clearing the pileup, I returned to the car back along the gravel track.

Photos

Below are some photographs taken during my activation of Dundry Down on Saturday 30th May, 2020.

G/SC-010 SOTA Activation, 30/05/2020 (Photo no. 1).
G/SC-010 SOTA Activation, 30/05/2020 (Photo no. 2).
G/SC-010 SOTA Activation, 30/05/2020 (Photo no. 3).

Walking Route for Dundry Down

The interactive map below shows my GPS track taken to the SOTA activation zone for Dundry Down. The G/SC-010 summit area is marked on the map with a blue pin icon.

You can download the route shown above as a GPX file suitable for use with most GPS devices. This file is provided for information only, to support your own walk planning and research (it may contain navigation errors, detours and/or safety hazards). The route downloads provided here are governed by the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.

Station Log

I logged the following 80 amateur radio contacts operating as M1HAX/P from G/SC-010 Dundry Down on Saturday 30th May, 2020 (all times shown are UTC):

TimeCallsignBandModeNotes
14:53G0SDD2mFMChris, 5/9
14:55G4TCI2mFMMike, 5/7
14:562E0MDJ2mFMMatt, 5/5
14:57G0LGS2mFMStewart, 5/5
15:09G1PIE40mSSBMark, 5/8
15:11G0SDD40mSSBChris, 5/9
15:12M0VGB40mSSBJeremy, 5/9
15:13M0KLN40mSSBKevin, 5/9
15:14MI0SRT40mSSBAmory, 5/9
15:15ON3YB40mSSBLucas, 5/7
15:16M6OXN40mSSBLes, 5/9
15:172E0ESY40mSSBMike, 5/9
15:18M7MAW40mSSBAlan, 5/9
15:19G3WPP40mSSBDave, 5/9
15:20M0ZSS40mSSBMark, 5/9
15:21EA2DT40mSSBManuel, 5/9
15:21G3YZY40mSSBHoward, 5/7
15:22M3RRN40mSSBDavid, 5/9
15:24MIOHWG40mSSBPeter, 5/9
15:24G4ZKT40mSSBAlan, 5/9
15:25GD3YUM40mSSBMartin, 5/9
15:27G0HRT40mSSBRob, 5/9
15:272E0SFI40mSSBMatt, 5/9
15:28G3SZG40mSSBJohn, 5/9
15:29ON7GR40mSSBGuido, 5/9
15:30M3OMU40mSSBJason, 5/9
15:31PE2APR40mSSBAndrew, 5/9
15:31F5VIG40mSSBMike, 5/9
15:33F5LEY40mSSBJacky, 5/9
15:34EA2CKX40mSSBPedro, 5/5
15:35IN3ADF40mSSBMarkus, 5/6
15:36PA2CVD40mSSBCor, 5/9
15:36M/PP1VU/QRP40mSSBFernando, 5/9
15:38DL2DAP40mSSBHenry, 5/9
15:39DL2HWI40mSSBDietmar, 5/7
15:40GD3ZZN40mSSBMartyn, 5/9
15:41IU1KGS40mSSBCarlo, 5/7
15:43ON7LO40mSSBLouis, 5/7
15:43M6PAW40mSSBPhil, 5/9
15:44GI0CWV40mSSBGerard, 5/9
15:45IU4FLP40mSSBAndrea, 5/6
15:46G1PIR40mSSBDave, 5/7
15:462E0FLZ40mSSBMark, 5/9
15:47G4GRJ40mSSBDave, 5/7
15:48M0TVU40mSSBPaul, 5/9
15:49M0AJJ40mSSBPaul, 5/9
15:50ON4AKH40mSSBWim, 5/7
15:51IV3GVY40mSSBMauri, 5/5
15:52DL8FQ40mSSBRolf, 5/8
15:53EA3EVL40mSSBPablo, 5/7
15:53ON3EA40mSSBEddy, 5/8
15:54F8ETK40mSSBYvon, 5/9
15:55F8DHU40mSSBFrancais, 5/9
15:57IZ1JLR40mSSBYuri 5/8
15:57DD3JN40mSSBGerd, 5/7
16:00HB9JAY40mSSBWalter, 5/7
16:01DL6GCA40mSSBArmin, 4/4
16:04F5JKK40mSSBEric, 5/9
16:05G4JKQ40mSSBTed, 5/9
16:06M7CBZ40mSSBCarl, 5/9
16:08MW3WSC40mSSBWil, 5/9
16:09HB9CDH40mSSBBruno, 5/9
16:09F5PLR40mSSBDidier, 5/5
16:10DF2LA40mSSBSiegfried, 5/9
16:11M0LZX40mSSBJohn, 5/9
16:12M7SUN40mSSBLisa, 5/9
16:12EA5K40mSSBMiguel, 5/7
16:13EI7HRB40mSSBCharlie, 5/9
16:16PA/EW8MA/P40mSSBSluchich, 5/9
16:17M0VTS40mSSBPeter, 5/5
16:18DL7EQ40mSSBUli, 5/9
16:24PD1ACU40mSSBAlberto, 5/3
16:24G0DBE40mSSBLee, 5/9
16:26G3PQD40mSSBDerek, 5/9
16:27DF6JQ/M40mSSBFrank, 5/9
16:282E0EJO40mSSBJay, 5/9
16:29M0TFY40mSSBDavid, 5/9
16:31S57ILF40mSSBFranci, 5/7
16:32G4BFS40mSSBTerry, 5/9
16:35DL1EFP40mSSBRobert, 5/9

In the notes field I will usually log the other operator’s name and the signal report they provided. In accordance with the Summits on the Air rules, I do not make a log entry where a complete exchange of callsigns and signal reports was unsuccessful.

Additional Information

The following resources may be helpful to walkers, mountaineers and SOTA activators interested in Dundry Down:

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