AWS Solutions Architect, Agilist, Radio Ham (M0BLF) and lots more besides
In December 2025, I was able to climb a couple of SOTA summits during a family holiday to Guadeloupe (FG). FG/BT-011 Morne à Louis I had planned to climb this 6-point hill after visting the Parc de Mamelles Zoo (which incidentally is well worth a visit allow a couple of hours to walk around
After yesterday s activation of EA/NV-012 and EA2/NV-170, on 9th July 2023 I again drove into Spain to activate the two 6-point summits of Saioa and Zuriain. These are very easily activated as a pair and are almost always done together. To the starting point: Col de Sagardegi The starting point for this walk is on
I returned to the Spanish Pyrenees in July 2023 to spend a couple more days activating the summits in Navarra, in the western Pyrenees. I was actually staying in a hotel in Bayonne, France and went back to F/PO-245 Xoldoko Gaina (which I had last activated in 2019) on 6th July. Then, on 8th July,
After yesterday s successful and sunny climbs of Pico de Orhy and Arthanolatze, I was looking forward to another easy day in the mountains on 31st August 2022 but it was somewhat more difficult. Urkulu EA2/NV-022 Overnight, there had been a substantial thunderstorm with rain in the Pyrenees and the drive into the valley from St.
At the end of August, I was able to return to the Pyrenees to do a few new (to me) SOTA summits over a couple of days. On 30th August 2022, this trip started with a couple of mountains, the Pico de Ori and Arthanolatze. Pico de Ori EA2/NV-003 The ten point Pico de Ori
With only a couple of exceptions, I haven t been able to get out to activate any SOTA summits for nearly 2 years. Now only have we had the Covid lockdown, but then over the winter I have faced another (non-Covid-related) medical issue, which stopped me getting out. Now that I am recovering, and with some
Equipment and category After months during which we haven t been able to travel because of Covid-19, and with a load of annual leave to use up at work, I thought it would be good to get away for a bit of a break at the end of November. I booked a hotel in the main
For the CQWW SSB contest this month, I wanted to be able to use a panadapter and found that I could use a FunCubeDongle with the Waterfall Bandmap and DXLog.NET contest logging software to do this. Why do you want a panadapter? First off, something on why you might want panadapters in amateur radio and
For the last 15 years I have almost always operated CQWW SSB from M4A in the multi-single or multi-two categories. It s one of the highlights of my year. However, with the current coronavirus situation limiting our ability to meet up, I found myself limited to a single operator entry this year. I decided to go
My lockdown project for during the recent coronavirus lockdown was to finally get myself on the QO-100 satellite. It was one of those projects I had bought various bits for but never had the time to assemble and sort them out. On Monday 27th July, I gave a talk about this as part of the
aka: How Cambridge 105 Radio s technical team has responded to the challenge of our studios being closed by the coronavirus pandemic The current coronavirus crisis brings a particular challenge for broadcasters. It s at times like these that both the information, and the company, that we can provide become all the more important. This has been
During the ZC4UW DXpedition, Rob M0VFC, Dan M0WUT and I spent a morning doing a couple of local SOTA summits, largely so that I could tick off my fourth continent for the SOTA Explorer awards. It s winter and we didn t want to go too far, so we limited ourselves to two four-point summits, about 10kms
Over recent years more than occasional comment has been made by some DXers about whether QSL Managers make money from sending out QSL cards. Obviously, not all DXpeditions have the same policies but a year after the VP2MUW expedition, here s how our QSL finances stack up. Important note: I m writing this in the interests of
I ve recently returned from a few days in Prague doing tourism and sightseeing. While the primary focus of the trip wasn t radio, I noticed that there s a SOTA summit on the outskirts of the city, which I had to go to. OK/ST-084: Ládví Getting to Ládví requires no car hire at all. If you are
Last week was Agile Cambridge, the annual, three-day, conference on Agile at Churchill College in Cambridge. Despite the fact that my new job role doesn t directly involve Agile any longer, I was speaking and I wanted to go for all three days anyway, because a lot of the sessions looked interesting. For the last couple
Xoldoko Gaina F/PO-245 (1 point) After the frustration of the Pic de Guilhers yesterday, I left my hotel in St. Jean de Luz early, with the aim of climbing Xoldoko Gaina (aka Choldocogagna) before heading to Bilbao for my return flight back to the UK. The path for this one starts in the village of
Pic d Issarbe F/PO-171 (4 points) I d done the Pic d Issarbe on my last trip to the Pyrenees, and it s a lovely, easy four-point walk at this time of year. The site is a minor ski resort in the winter and as such has a car park which was almost deserted on this September morning. The
I ve recently returned from a few days in the Basque Country, which included a few summit excursions. Although I m aware that I m behind on writing up some of my other SOTA trips over the summer, I ve decided to type up my notes on this recent trip first before I forget the detail. Aratz EA2/VI-003 (6
Back in November at work, we ran Reset Week . Basically, we had a problem: we had three products needing work and three teams that weren t quite the right shape and had the wrong skill-sets in the wrong places. But by making the teams gel, the result would be that the resulting teams wouldn t have worked
It s time for a bit of work-related, personal news My career has been one where I ve followed a slightly unusual path, jumping at opportunities that have presented themselves. From a languages degree to Technical Authoring, then to Agile as a Scrum Master, I ve been keen to explore different areas in a way that s hopefully also
I ve now returned from a long weekend at the annual Ham Radio exhibition at Friedrichshafen, a beautiful city on the shores of Lake Constance in southern Germany. The normal way for British people to get to FDH as it has become known, is to fly to Zurich and take the train to Romanshorn before then
Last year, for the late May bank holiday, I set myself the challenge of getting 100 SOTA points in the weekend in the Vosges area of eastern France, an area renowned for being an easy place to get lots of points fairly quickly. This year, in May 2019, my challenge was to do 120 points
This week, I’m on the GT3PYE/P DXpedition to the Isle of Man with the Camb-Hams. As part of the trip, Rob M0VFC, Colin G4ERO and I have been activating all the SOTA summits on the Isle of Man. It’s perfectly possible to do them all in a single day, amassing 18 points from the five
After tackling Pen Llithrig on a less-than-successful day yesterday, it was now Easter Sunday. Knowing the traffic would be bad on Monday, I wanted to get in a quick morning walk before heading back to Cambridge in the afternoon, ahead of most of the cars. Cadair Berwyn (GW/NW-012, worth 8 points) fitted the bill perfectly.
I was up early, despite the long walk around Y Garn and Glyder Fawr yesterday, ready to head on another double-hill day, walking around Carnedd Llewelyn and Pen Llithrig y Wrach. The car park for this one is in the entrance to the campsite at SH685602. The campsite allows non-residents to park in the layby
I ve recently returned from what has become an annual tradition of spending Easter weekend away climbing hills for SOTA. Last year (and admittedly Easter was earlier), the Beast from the East had just hit and I was walking through snow on Pen-Y-Fan. This year, the weather was completely different with bright sunshine, hardly any wind,
Enthused by a fairly easy 18 points yesterday on Pico Ruivo and Pico do Arieiro, I aimed to do two one-point hills today, but Penha de Aguia is a much more difficult hill, and so I only had time (and energy!) to do this one. This replan while walking meant that I accidentally ended up
Continuing my SOTA trip to Madeira, and following on from yesterday s activations of Pico Ruivo do Paul and Pico Chao dos Terreiros, today I did two of the larger summits on the island. Pico Ruivo (CT3/MI-001) The highest point on the island, Pico Ruivo (not to be confused with Pico Ruivo do Paul, which I
Last week I spent some time on a family holiday in Madeira, during which I also spent three days in the hills doing SOTA activations. The first thing to know about Madeira from a radio perspective is that although the DXCC prefix is CT3, that prefix is reserved for residents. The prefix authorised for CEPT
Recently I saw a Twitter thread bemoaning the rise of ‘psychological safety’ as a phrase. Not because it isn’t important – it is – but because giving it a name has made it acceptable and risks giving a scapegoat to hide behind. There’s the possibility that just saying ‘My organisation / team doesn’t promote psychological
I ve spent the last week with Rob M0VFC and Dan M0WUT on a DXpedition to Montserrat as VP2MUW. This post is part-diary, part-informative for anyone who wishes to follow in our footsteps. Travelling to Montserrat Montserrat s main airport was destroyed by the volcano eruptions in 1997 and 2010. Today, there is just a small airstrip
This weekend saw the annual SSB Field Day event and once again I took part with the Camb-Hams at G3PYE/P. For the past couple of years, we ve entered with a checklog because frankly life is too short for QRP and we got a lot more enjoyment from the contest by using an amp. This time,
As a result of the very hot weather we had during June and July, I haven t been doing much SOTAing for the last few weeks but now the weather is somewhat cooler, I took the opportunity of the Bank Holiday weekend to travel to the Peak District to get a few more points. Kinder Scout
I ve been pondering for a while about whether or not I should add my own opinions to the polemic about FT8, the now year-old digital mode that has taken the ham radio world by storm. A few things recently have convinced me that I should, which I ll go into a little later in this short
With 80 SOTA points in the bag from Saturday and Sunday, by Bank Holiday Monday it was looking likely that 100 points in a weekend might be achievable. We stayed the night t the Hotel L Ermitage in Ventron, since this is right at the start of the path up the Haut de Rouge Gazon, the
After a restful night, it was time to get up early for the second day of my attempt to get 100 SOTA points in a Bank Holiday weekend in the Vosges. Today would involve a bit more walking than yesterday. FL/VO-002 Le Hohneck Le Hohneck, about 15 minutes drive from La Bresse, is potentially a
The challenge Before I post about the hills I ve been climbing this weekend, I should probably explain why I ve come to the Vosges, a very beautiful hilly area in Eastern France. As you are probably aware if you re reading this page, I participate in Summits on the Air (SOTA), an amateur radio award scheme for
During this week s Camb-Hams DXpedition to Islay as GS3PYE/P, three of us (G4ERO, GW2HFR and I) went to Beinn Tart a Mhill, one of Islay s one-point SOTAs (GM/SI-185). This is quite possibly also the easiest summit on the island, as it s an ex-MOD transmitter site, with a nice path all the way to the top. Access
After yesterday s exertion, I woke with a very stiff leg and, first thing in the morning, I even found myself hobbling up the slight incline to the campsite toilet block. Not a great sign for my original plans to walk up nearby Moel Siabod! Fortunately, I tend to make backup plans on my SOTA trips
The early May Bank Holiday weekend this year has seen some unseasonably stunning weather, so it seemed a pity not to head to the hills and get a few more SOTA points. Moel Eilio (GW/NW-022) Moel Eilio is a 6-point hill in the shadow of Snowdon. Most people who operate from here do so by