Saturday 14 February 2015

GW/MW-003 Drygarn Fawr



Snow on summit

GW/MW-003 Drygarn Fawr

14/02/2015

With Mal GW6OVD/p and Andy GW7RKC/p  alerting for Fan Brycheiniog I decided to venture up to Drygarn Fawr which can be accessed via the Tregaron to Abergwesyn road. On the journey over the pass I was hoping that the snow had cleared and the forestry road leading to the moorland was clear of felled trees. As I approached the turning into the forestry a large logging truck turned into my access road....so they were still felling trees.... Now there is a PROW (Public Right of Way) but I didn’t fancy trying to find my way through felled trees so like last year I parked my car at SN838557 just outside the gate and walked up the forestry road.
This route is about 3 miles to the summit which includes the zig-zag in the forestry. It was a ‘little muddy’ but I was delighted that my route was on a resurfaced track which took me to the gate leading onto the moorland at SN85155625.  As soon as you go through the gate you must turn left immediately and head NNE skirting SE of Drygarn Fach. By the time I arrived at the gate the mist had come down and it started to drizzle with rain.... one of those activations then. With GPS in hand, a GPX track from last year but also keeping an eye on the compass I made my way towards the summit following the vague outline of the farmer’s Quad bike trail until I hit the snow!...  
 Which way now? :)
I made good progress through the snow, hit my crossing point precisely of the Afon Gwesyn and the final trudge to the summit.
 Bothy bag deployed...trig and cairn behind
There was a strong cold breeze on the summit so extra layers on and the bothy bag was deployed just below the trig so very shortly I was up and running with the pole having been pushed into a convenient snow drift. I was off to a good start as Viki and Rod were out and about so I started off with an s2s – thanks both.
11:18z
MW6BWA/P
144MHz
FM
Viki s2s
11:18z
MW0JLA/P
144MHz
FM
Rod s2s
I have been neglecting 60m lately as the Band Hopper 3 had developed a fault but is now back in action. I called out on 5.398.5 and very soon I had a steady trickle of chasers including an S2S / T2T with Barry. Also notable were Don RQL and Mike TUH running QRP (3watts) into non-resonant antennas for the contact, 5/1 and 5/8 respectively from my side!
11:24z
G0HNW
5MHz
SSB
Paul
11:25z
G0LGS
5MHz
SSB
Stuart
11:25z
G4WSB
5MHz
SSB
Bill
11:27z
GW4CQZ
5MHz
SSB
Martyn
11:28z
G8MIA
5MHz
SSB
Andy
11:28z
G6TUH
5MHz
SSB
Mike
11:29z
G0RQL
5MHz
SSB
Don
11:31z
M0IML/P
5MHz
SSB
Barry s2s +TP6473
11:32z
G3RDQ
5MHz
SSB
David
I heard Mal and Andy calling on 2m so I announced a QSY and was delighted with the s2s and it was 5/9 each way – thanks both
11:34z
GW6OVD/P
144MHz
FM
Mal s2s + t2t
11:35z
GW7RKC/P
144MHz
FM
Andy + t2t
Back to 60m where Barry IML had been standing by and with a further 4 contacts I finished the visit by handing over the frequency to Barry
11:37z
M1MAJ
5MHz
SSB
Martyn
11:38z
G4ISJ
5MHz
SSB
Pete
11:39z
M0TVU
5MHz
SSB
Paul
11:40z
G8ADD
5MHz
SSB
Brian
A quick change of links, headphones on and a call on 7.118 Mhz brought an immediate response from Bill WSB who had been patiently waiting for me on this frequency – thanks Bill.  A steady flow of chaser made it into the log and it was nice to talk to some that I hadn’t heard from for some time - really enjoyed myself.

11:46z
G4WSB
7MHz
SSB
Bill
11:47z
G8VNW
7MHz
SSB
Nick
11:48z
ON5SWA
7MHz
SSB
Francois
11:49z
M6WSB
7MHz
SSB
Stephen
11:49z
2E0SCS
7MHz
SSB
Stephen
11:50z
G6TUH
7MHz
SSB
Mike
11:50z
M0MDA
7MHz
SSB
Mick
11:51z
EI7GEB
7MHz
SSB
David
11:51z
M3ZCB
7MHz
SSB
Caroline
11:51z
G0TRB
7MHz
SSB
Roger
11:52z
MW0KST
7MHz
SSB
Steve
11:53z
G0RQL
7MHz
SSB
Don
11:53z
G6ODU
7MHz
SSB
Bob
11:53z
G0HRT
7MHz
SSB
Rob
11:54z
2W0KGQ
7MHz
SSB
Jonathan
11:54z
MW0UPH
7MHz
SSB
Aled
11:55z
DK1WI
7MHz
SSB
Ed
11:55z
G0EVV
7MHz
SSB
David
11:55z
ON6ZQ
7MHz
SSB
Christophe
11:55z
PE1RMO
7MHz
SSB
Jan
11:56z
GM0AXY
7MHz
SSB
Ken
11:56z
GM4YMM
7MHz
SSB
Christine
11:57z
G4GEW
7MHz
SSB
Peter
11:57z
ON4UP
7MHz
SSB
Peter
11:57z
G4CFS
7MHz
SSB
Glyn
11:57z
DL2EF
7MHz
SSB
Franz Josef
11:58z
DJ5AV
7MHz
SSB
Michael
11:58z
DK7ZH
7MHz
SSB
Manfred
11:59z
M3FEH
7MHz
SSB
Karl
11:59z
EI9GLB
7MHz
SSB
Jim
12:00z
G3YIW
7MHz
SSB

12:00z
EA2CKX
7MHz
SSB
Pedro
12:01z
G6LKB
7MHz
SSB
David
12:01z
M0YDH
7MHz
SSB
David
12:01z
G4ASA
7MHz
SSB
Dave
12:03z
G4ZRP
7MHz
SSB
Brian
12:04z
G0BPU
7MHz
SSB
Mike
12:05z
GW6DGU
7MHz
SSB
Roy
12:05z
ON7DQ
7MHz
SSB
Luc
12:07z
DL8DXL
7MHz
SSB
Fred
Inside the bothy bag 

With quite a few ‘final calls’ and QRZ  I made a quick QSY to 7.160 Mhz and the WAB net. With Phil G7AFM once again as net controller within 5 minutes I had given them the WAB square (SN85) and Trig (TP2866 – Drygarn). It’s worth noting that other Square and Trig chasers had spoken to me earlier on 7.118 Mhz – it’s quite painless really :)


12:19z
G7AFM
7MHz
SSB
Phil
12:19z
G7BGA
7MHz
SSB
Geoffrey
12:19z
G0FEX
7MHz
SSB
Ken
12:20z
G4JZF
7MHz
SSB
Graham
12:20z
MM3PDM/M
7MHz
SSB
Peter
12:21z
DL7UCW
7MHz
SSB
Bernd
12:22z
M0HEM
7MHz
SSB
John
12:22z
SM6CNX
7MHz
SSB
Dan
12:22z
G4JJS
7MHz
SSB
Simon
12:22z
G4TSQ
7MHz
SSB
Mike
12:23z
G4CQR
7MHz
SSB
Dave
12:23z
G1BLJ
7MHz
SSB
Steve
12:24z
G4EST
7MHz
SSB
Charlie
12:24z
G0BFJ
7MHz
SSB
Brian
 


 Nant Irfon just below my parking spot...information board
Thanks everyone especially those who spotted me...looking forward to the next one.

73 Allan GW4VPX


























































































































































 



























































































































































































































































































































































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