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Mini-DXPedition to the Tan Hill Inn
17th – 19th of October 2008
A small team from the Wakefield &
District Radio Society decided to activate a spot that to their knowledge, had
never been done on a scale like this before.
The three operators, Michael
G1XCC, Keith 2EØKYI and Ken 2EØSSQ arrived on
Friday the 17th and after a leisurely time in setting up the
equipment, and a lot of
questions from other people that were staying at the pub, (mainly there to
attend
a mini music festival), they set to in their quest of making quality contacts
rather than quantity.
Both an HF and a VHF station
were established for the weekend in the cottage at
the end of the pub, which overlooked the Tees Valley. The VHF station lent
itself
to some very good simplex contacts but none were obtained outside of the UK, as
conditions were found not to be favourable. The people with whom we did manage
to make contact were more than happy to have long chat, and this was the
idea of the weekend, rather than the manic situation of a contest scenario.
Stations logged were from as far away as Nottinghamshire, Merseyside,
Lancashire and Northumbria.
Things were slightly
different in the HF camp where contacts were made from
as far away as Australia, Japan, Canada and the USA.
Sadly the weather took a
major turn for the worse from the early hours of
Saturday morning, and due to the high winds, it was decided to lower the
antennas to the lowest point on the tower, to try an minimise any damage that
the team thought may occur.
At the end of the weekend, a
total of 130 contacts were made by both operations,
and while it wasn’t a lot, it was felt that had conditions both on the weather
front and propagation side, then things could well have been very different.
It has to be said however,
that the hospitality from the landlady Tracey, was
absolutely brilliant, and she has invited us back again in 2009, at a time to
suit the guys. After some discussion, we hope to reactivate Tan Hill
around about May/June time when the days are longer, and hopefully the
weather is better.
You
can see pictures from the trip here |
