Ruined?

 I have always had mixed feelings mixing radio with vacations. My experience in mixing radio with vacation was not always a pleasant one [https://motopota.blogspot.com/2024/05/oil-and-water.html] . But as I clicked on the button to reserve our tickets to the UK earlier this year, I knew in the back of my mind that my baggage would contain a HF radio. As a bonus, our tickets included checked in baggage. That would mean I would be able to pack my JPC-12 vertical antenna with a ground spike should I need better reach.

I knew I would not have much time for activation. So I decided to stick with my KH-1. We landed in London and it was a pretty busy couple of days. The KH-1 was always with me as we were walking around the city. Surprisingly most attractions were not even interested in the radio when they performed the baggage check. They just wanted to know what it was and I was on my merry way. Even the Supreme court of the UK permitted me through with my radio. Only the British Museum security would not permit the radio to be taken inside. However, they were very polite and offered to hold it for me during my visit. I took them upon it with a little trepidation, but was glad when I was rejoined with my radio upon my exit.

As we were strolling through Hyde Park on one of the days, I decided to try out the KH-1. I heard many stations primarily on 20m. They were mostly from continental Europe, but my attempt to reach back did not elicit much success. The urban conditions and the propagation were against a QRP radio that time.

Unfortunately, that was the only opportunity to play radio during our three day sojourn in London. But the sights and sounds of the city more than made up for this minor setback. 

Soon it was time to depart London and head our way to Edinburgh! My itinerary had some time through the Scottish highlands later. It took me through a couple of POTA entities and I thought I can try and get an activation coincident with a lunch break as we drove along. However, we arrived in Edinburgh early in the evening to a typical Scottish weather. It was blustery with on and off showers. Our son was supposed to join us later in the day, so we had a few hours to ourselves. As we settled into the hotel, I check the POTA map and found out that Calton Hill in the city was within a POTA entity. It was a few minutes away from my hotel and my wife and I felt the walk would do us good after the train journey. It was a steep climb to up to the hill. We were rewarded with great sights overlooking Edinburgh. We strolled through the Greek architecture and towards sunset, I decided to try the KH-1 again. This time as well I was hearing quite a few stations, but none could hear me. RBN reports were also not that great. The blustery winds and oncoming rain forced me to call it quits and head back to the hotel.

The weather would not be our friend. As we travelled through the Highlands we encountered heavy downpours during the midday hours. The much anticipated POTA activation of the park eluded me. 

However, I still did not lose hope. Our itinerary included driving back from Inverness back to Cambridge and then on to London. Our son was a history buff and insisted that we stop by Antonine Wall. Bingo.. This was my opportunity. The early Roman ruins was also a POTA entity. The place was perfect..

As we strolled along the park taking in the sights, I was able to use my KH-1 and rustle up enough contacts for a successful activation. Despite the tiredness at the end of the day, all of us enjoyed this little detour. I especially was ecstatic as I was able to snag my first overseas park in addition to enjoying the beautiful ruins. The 150 mile trip to our next planned stop did not seem daunting any more.