It is with great pleasure to announce two dedicated participants for the awards.
Annual Fell Walker 2025
The Annual Fell Walker award for 2025 goes to Richard @M8XGO with 69 Wainwrights activated over the course of the year. He was followed, somewhat behind, by myself @M5TEA with 52 summits and then Andy @G8CPZ with 38 summits.
Equally impressive is that Richard is a fell squatter with an impressive 921 contacts made throughout the year from summits. Congratulations Richard, well deserved!
The Annual Fell Chaser award for 2025 goes to Dave @G6AEK. Narrowly missing out in 2024 to Geoff @GM4WHA. It was a close run race again in 2025 with Dave winning by a 7 summit difference - with a total of 105 summits contacted. Congratulations Dave and thanks to all the dedicated chasing.
Really enjoyed the last couple of years on the fells.
I also like to take the hand held when fishing on or by the lakes to do a bit of chasing if I see an alert posted . It’s surprising where the signal will bounce about from an aluminium hulled boat on an expanse of water among slate and granite hills .
It has been nice to be invited along to join some of the more experienced activators compare gear and see how they have been doing things over the years .
The chaser award must be difficult to achieve , because many of them must be in pretty much all of our activator logs most times we go out ? Dave G6AEK has it appears , taken it this time , and one memorable chase was when he drove up to Eaglesfield nr Cockermouth to make sure he got a good line of sight to Melbreak which had eluded him over the years !
This year I may try to choose my weather and times and do some of the fells I’ve never done of which there are plenty, and are farther from home even if it means going a little less often ? I may also do more on the hf bands on WOTA also. I only do hf on the ones which are SOTAs generally . Bill who is an organiser of BOTA suggested to me one day that working such as 40m more often might also draw attention to the scheme from the likes of WAB or trig enthusiasts . It might also encourage people from outside the area doing SOTA to log the WOTA ref too as some don’t appear to do so? if the weather was unsuitable for one of the SOTAS a nearby Wainwright is often alternative .
WOTA, as all things in Amateur Radio, can morph as things go on to maintain interest. We haven’t really had a WOTA day/weekend, and I’m thinking maybe that setting a date when a few of us can be on the fells would be a good thing. That would also be a good excuse to do some HF.
Alex @GM5ALX messaged me this morning with a site I hadn’t heard of - UK Portable Ham Map - which looks like an excellent resource. Combining WOTA with other programmes can also bring the chasers in and maybe bring some appreciation of WOTA further afield. I’ve definitely been a hit with the WAB folk in the past when a summit coincides with a sparsely populated square (especially where there aren’t any SOTA or HEMA summits).
Keep up the good work anyway Richard!
For my part I’ve leaned more towards WOTA after I’d (finally!) completed my SOTA mountain goat. I have, and will continue to, venture further afield - both for my few remaining LD SOTA summits and to activate some new WOTAs. I’d like to get my fitness up so I can tackle so bigger WOTA days, I’ve still yet to do the Fairfield horseshoe and would also like to walk the ridgeline to the North of Helvellyn this year.
Last year Bill gave a presentation at the radio club about BOTA and introduced us to that map . It’s the only one I use now with links to the info about each item on the map.
That’s a good idea about the WOTA event . Just the word “event” may be the trigger to encourage people from outside the area too ? Something like that might interest chasers , they could post any summits they hadn’t worked and some of us could head for those . If they think someone’s going to be there they could , like Dave did , get in a position to work you on VHF/UHF or look look out for a spot on HF if at home ?
If anybody has nothing better to do this Saturday 7th Feb’ I’m doing the 145 alive thing again from a layby on the high ground to the NE of town . Think I’ve been given 145.325 MHz but in the past I’ve always ended up finding my own spot due to the allocated one being occupied or whatever. If you’re out on a summit call in if you want to qualify it quickly . A couple of activators did that last time and , unlike from home , which is only a mile away from where I will be , I’ll have a good path into the fells and the hills of S Scotland .
