Bradnor Hill Hike - G/WB-011 SOTA (2020)
Summits on the Air Activation Report
Activation Date: Sunday 5th July, 2020.
Activator(s): Richard M1HAX.
Summit: Bradnor Hill, Welsh Borders, England.
Summit ID: SOTA reference G/WB-011 (1 point).
Summit Height: 391m elevation, 178m prominence.
Summit Location: Lat./Long. 52.21949, -3.05192. Maidenhead Grid IO82lf.
Distance: 1.3km travelled with 35m of ascent.
Difficulty: SAC Grade T1.(?)
Elapsed Time: 35m (including operating).
Weather: Feels like 16.1°C, 24 kph W wind, 55% humidity.
Radio Equipment: Yaesu FTM100D, MFJ-1714, Zippy 4200mAh 4S LiFePo4.
Callsign Used: M1HAX/P.
Contacts: 4 (2m FM).
Trip Notes
Bradnor Hill is remarkable in that the summit sits within a golf course. I drove past the club house and its car park to follow the metalled track beyond the first hole of the course until reaching an area suitable for parking.
Walking across the open access land towards the summit, I was conscious to activate as quickly as possible before either I or my car were hit by a stray golf ball.
This is definitely not a summit suitable for erecting large HF antennas.
After collecting the required minimum of four SOTA contacts, I beat a hasty retreat back towards the car and left for the next summit of the day.
Photos
Below are some photographs taken during my activation of Bradnor Hill on Sunday 5th July, 2020.
Walking Route for Bradnor Hill
The interactive map below shows my GPS track taken to the SOTA activation zone for Bradnor Hill. The G/WB-011 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 4 amateur radio contacts operating as M1HAX/P from G/WB-011 Bradnor Hill on Sunday 5th July, 2020 (all times shown are UTC):
| Time | Callsign | Band | Mode | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:46 | G1ERM | 2m | FM | Darren, 5/3 |
| 10:48 | G0LGS | 2m | FM | Stewart, 5/9 |
| 10:49 | 2E0MDJ | 2m | FM | Matt, 5/9 |
| 10:52 | M0DQL | 2m | FM | Dave, 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 Bradnor Hill:
- Sotl.as Summit Page for G/WB-011 Bradnor Hill.
- Hill Bagging UK Summit Page for Bradnor Hill.
- Google Earth view of Bradnor Hill.
- Wikipedia entry for Bradnor Hill.
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