SOTA participant achieves milestone

Richard Newstead, G3CWI, has become the first participant of the popular Summits on the Air programme to activate 250 different summits.

Having helped set up the programme, Richard was able to get off to a good start, bagging two summits on the day SOTA launched in March 2002.

Since then, Richard has travelled far and wide in search of new summits to activate; from the far north of Scotland, across Wales to the tip of Cornwall. He has even activated summits on the west coast of Ireland.

He has mainly used 40m CW for his activations and has a simple lightweight radio set-up consisting of an Elecraft KX1 running 3W, a Palm paddle and a longwire aerial supported on a fishing pole.

Richard said: “This has been a difficult achievement. I have had to get to and from some very remote summits, often in poor weather conditions. Snow, rain and even hail have all been part of the fun. On one occasion, I had to close down as I was no longer able to hear the radio due to the noise of hail and wind around me!”

You can find out more about the Summits on the Air programme on the web at www.sota.org.uk.

Source: GB2RS News - Courtesy of the RSGB