Thursday 7 May 2015

GW/SW-011 (Sugar Loaf)



 Poor band conditions today!

GW/SW-011 (Sugar Loaf)

07/May/2015

A nice day had been forecast with a chance of the occasional shower of rain. Having talked about activating  Fan Brycheiniog  I decided that Sugar Loaf would be a better option today as I would also pick up 2 points for my efforts.   

Sugar Loaf - Pen y Fal
It was a group outing today with my XYL Val, Len and Gwyneth visiting this summit for the first time. The showers kept away and we had good views of Pen y Fan, Cribyn and the nearby Ysgyryd Fawr (SW-016 ) as we made our way to the summit.  
Ysgyryd Fawr GW/SW-016 distant..left 
On my way up I had been monitoring  the WAB Yahoo group site and reports were coming in that the bands were not in good shape. Setting up on the NE side of the summit which gave considerable protection from the cold wind I listened and scanned  on 40m which resulted in an s2s with Hans on DM/NW-195 Kompass....thank you Hans for hearing me amongst the chasers (5/5 each way).

 GW4VPX/p - scanning the 40m band
I moved up to 7.125 and sent a spot via RRT resulting in Peter MM3PDM/M coming back to me immediately for a trig 2 trig and 5/5 each way....thanks Peter .
10:51z
DL/PA3FYG/P
7MHz
SSB
Hans s2s
10:56z
MM3PDM/M
7MHz
SSB
Peter t2t TP3877
11:00z
EI2KD
7MHz
SSB
Rodney
11:02z
PA0B
7MHz
SSB
Rob
11:02z
G0VWP
7MHz
SSB
Terry
11:03z
EA2CKX
7MHz
SSB
Pedro
11:04z
M0JLA
7MHz
SSB
Rod
It was hard going with only another 5 regular chasers making the log then silence despite repeated calls. I moved up to the WAB net but could not hear anybody apart from Papa Delta Mike so a change of links and I was soon calling on 60m. 
 
 A busy Summit - interested people looking and listening :)
Brian G4ZRP came up almost immediately then 5 more with reports that they could not hear me on 40m but could hear others working me. Bill G4WSB never made it into the log as he called and disappeared and despite repeated calls on my behalf he never replied ..such were the conditions  
11:20z
G4ZRP
5MHz
SSB
Brian
11:23z
GM7KFS
5MHz
SSB

11:24z
G4JZF
5MHz
SSB
Graham
11:27z
G0RQL
5MHz
SSB
Don
11:31z
G3ZPS
5MHz
SSB
Steve
11:35z
G4ISJ
5MHz
SSB
Pete
With no more callers after Pete G4ISJ I checked to see if the others were nice and warm saying that I would give a call on 2m then pull the plug. I gave a call out on the Yaesu FT270 which resulted in two replies so thank you both.
11:37z
G7ADZ
144MHz
FM
Mark
11:39z
GW0JTU
144MHz
FM
Alan
Trig pic
As we made our way down and well out of the activation zone Caroline MW3ZCB/p came up on 2m with a ‘CQ SOTA’ call from Garth Hill GW/SW-034 so a quick reply and she was in my chaser log...if only :)
 Heading back down to the Car Park
Thanks for the contacts everybody and despite poor conditions I was happy with 15 hard earned contacts in the log including that s2s...let’s hope things improve soon....finally, thanks Len for all those extra pic:).

73 Allan GW4VPX

2 comments:

  1. Allan,
    Thanks for keeping the Blog going. I enjoy the articles and the pics, so different from Texas and NM where I do most of my activations.

    73,

    Mike AD5A

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Mike.

    Thanks for the kind comment. Foel Cwmcerwyn in Pembrokeshire still awaiting your activation :) ..take care. 73

    Allan GW4VPX

    ReplyDelete