Firle Beacon is very easy to get to. The car park is at the end of Fire Bostal just off the A27 heading from Brighton to Eastbourn. When you get to the top of the road there is free parking, usually busy all year round with a mix of Runners, Bicyclist and Dog Walkers with a smattering of Van Lifers.
Yes I forgot to take a picture from the car park up the hill. This was because we went right at the top and not left and ended up at the wrong peak. Normally the walk to the summit is about 1.08 miles. It is a gentile incline to the trig point. When you arrive at the peak the trig point is obvious.
Again an excellent errection in the background (snigger).
The weather on the day was +7c with a wind starting up and getting worse during the activation. My equipment was a ye olde Yeasu 891, 7m Fibreglass pole and a T140-43 EFHW inverted V antenna running 30w.
The picture below shows why I try to make the antennas as light as possible, the 49:1 transformer is hanging in mid air with the coax coming down and away from to the tranceiver.
I was with Paul M0PXG so setting up was very easy at around 5 minutes. A quick SWR check and everything was good so I tried 10m.
Unusually for 10m at the moment it was quite? So, I popped to 40m called SOTA three times and then the first contact came. I asked for a spot, which was kindly done and then the fun began.
Being 40m with a low centre hight of the antenna most of the contacts were very local. InterG was working very well and as you can see from the logs most QSO's very close to our location.
The wind was not getting brutal and my hads got very cold, so I stopped just shy of 40 minutes with 38 QSO's.
Dispite the cold hands not a bad activation.
Just as we started to pack up a cyclist apeared and decided to cycle between the antenna and guide ropes. It was a close call for him. Perhaps next time I’ll use yellow antenna wire and flags on the wire. Or maybe said cyclist should have been more careful. Anyway, no damage done.
Once packed up I had to get something warm on my hands. A cup of coffee at the nearest layby café was required.
I was quite happy with this actuvation, I had not been there before and I now have a new place to play radio. This car park is a good and it is electrically quite as well.
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