As some of you may have realised by now, I collect Triangulation pillars, this is known as "Trig bagging" so imagine my delight when I found out you could Trig bag on the air!!
The scheme is operated as part of the Worked All Britain scheme or WAB for short. you can visit their dedicated trig points page HERE have a read, and download the trig points trackers from near the bottom of the page!
Now is a good time to learn how WAB SQs work, as the trigs are listed in order of their WAB Sq. the WAB Sq is made up of the 2 letters of the OS map sheet number the first digit of the easting and the first digit of the northing of its National Grid Reference (NGR), so TP4930 - Moss Moor is located at the NGR SD 99067 13177 this gives it the WAB Sq SD91, Easy huh!
The awards are divided into the following categories:-
Worked HF - This is for HF Chasers (ie people working from their shack ETC)
Activated HF - This is for people operating from TRIG points on HF
Worked VHF - as above, but VHF
Activated VHF - as above but on VHF
Trig to Trig - if you work another person at a Trig point, this is the award for you!
Now this is the important bit, you will need SEPERATE Trackers for each section you wish to do and they need to be clearly marked as such! Unlike SOTA this isn't logged online, its done manually in database (.XLS) files, when you qualify for an award, you send the relevant tracker off to the WAB awards manager!
Ok, so I have the trig points trackers, but how do I find the Trig pillars??
Well, local knowledge is a good start!, but in the main I use Trigpointing UK or T:UK or TP:UK (all the same website). Register for an account on T:UK and it unlocks some of the search features!
T:UK is also great for finding the WAB sq number off the NGR, and also the trig point number (TP) and the flush bracket number! other members post reviews and they can be useful to find out any tips or tricks to get to the trig.
Other useful places for trig stuff are Where's the path and of course Google maps. ive recently found a smartphone app too, for Android devices TrigFinder still in development but it works well!
Anyhow, I hope this points you in the right direction to start the fun hobby of Trig bagging mixed with Amateur rasdio! Any questions, dont hesitate to get in touch, using the form at the side of this page.
Cheers! for now, Alan de 2E0JWA
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