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