Worcestershire Beacon Hike - G/WB-009 SOTA (2020)

Summits on the Air Activation Report

Activation Date: Friday 22nd May, 2020.
Activator(s): Richard M1HAX.
Summit: Worcestershire Beacon, Welsh Borders, England.
Summit ID: SOTA reference G/WB-009 (1 point).
Summit Height: 425m elevation, 337m prominence.
Summit Location: Lat./Long. 52.10494, -2.33895. Maidenhead Grid IO82tc.
Distance: 2.7km travelled with 169m of ascent.
Difficulty: SAC Grade T1.^(?)
Elapsed Time: 1hr 0m (including operating).
Weather: Feels like 16.1°C, 30 kph SW wind, 56% humidity.
Radio Equipment: Yaesu FTM100D, MFJ-1714, Zippy 4200mAh 4S LiFePo4.
Callsign Used: M1HAX/P.
Contacts: 15 (2m FM).

Trip Notes

Worcestershire Beacon, also known as Worcester Beacon, is a prominent hill located in the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Worcestershire, England. It is the highest point in the Malvern Hills, with a height of 425 meters.

This hill is a popular hiking destination, offering stunning views of the surrounding countryside, including the Welsh Black Mountains and the Cotswolds. The hill is easily accessible and there are several trails leading to its summit, including the Worcestershire Way and the Three Counties Way.

For this activation I parked in the pay and display car park near Upper Colwall. This is a busy car park in the summer. There are a variety of car parks and roadside parking options dotted around the hill.

I followed an obvious well-worn track due north over Summer Hill and on to the summit. The walk is easy with a small amount of vertical height gain involved.

At the summit there is a trig point and toposcope (which identifies the surrounding hills and towns). The views on a clear day are excellent.

I set up my Yaesu FTM100D on a nearby bench, taking in the views and making QSOs for about twenty minutes. I then returned back along the path to the car park.

Although popular with locals and tourists this is a very enjoyable hill walk with excellent views, which I would recommend. To make the walk more significant, continue along the Malvern Hills further north, or start further south. You may even want to consider activating this summit as part of a full day’s hiking along the entire ridge.

Photos

Below are some photographs taken during my activation of Worcestershire Beacon on Friday 22nd May, 2020.

Walking Route for Worcestershire Beacon

The interactive map below shows my GPS track taken to the SOTA activation zone for Worcestershire Beacon. The G/WB-009 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 15 amateur radio contacts operating as M1HAX/P from G/WB-009 Worcestershire Beacon on Friday 22nd May, 2020 (all times shown are UTC):

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 Worcestershire Beacon:

• Sotl.as Summit Page for G/WB-009 Worcestershire Beacon.
• Hill Bagging UK Summit Page for Worcestershire Beacon.
• Google Earth view of Worcestershire Beacon.
• Wikipedia entry for Worcestershire Beacon.

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