Unless a lot has changed in the last 60
years there is no place to land on Rockall Is. Back in the
mid sixties when I was G5ABA and with another reciprocal ham
G5AAM we were working with a Royal Marine group and
exploring a trip to Rockall. It is a barren mount and to
only place to 'perch' on the rock is a ledge about 6ft x
20ft. There is an 'anchor ring' embedded on the ledge from
a British Marine team who installed it back in 1947. We
were told that the only time that you could expect the
access the ledge was in July as the seas in that area often
crashed over the whole mount.
At the time this sounded exciting and being a DXer with the
promise that Rockall might qualify as a new country (these
were the days of Don Miller and his island hopping) but then
we begun to get more info such as a helicopter would be
required to drop anyone on the ledge, time available was a
matter of hours as the was no reasonable way to shelter or
protect gear. An antenna was another problem as there were
few choices in those days and a vertical or some kind of
balloon antenna were possible choices.
Finally the British Navy was not too keen
taking 'Yanks' out even though G5AAM was associated the the
US Airforce. However I was pretty convinced this was not a
good idea. But it was fun thinking about it. i got some
aerial recon photos that identified the ledge, but I can't
find the paperwork we had from the Royal Marines.
Anyway I would sure like to see any pics
these guys have that show them on the rock. In my mind it
would be a real accomplishment.
Norm