Friday 7 August 2015

GW/NW-012 Cadair Berwyn



Reasonable band conditions today

GW/NW-012 Cadair Berwyn

06/08/2015

It was pouring with rain when we left home at 7:30am but trusting in the weather forecast our arrival at the Tan y Pistyll car park (£3 for the day) would coincide with sunshine and clear skies. Well not quite but we were happy that it had stopped raining and it looked a lot brighter than when we left home. Our intention was to activate the summit then on our return visit the Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall some 200m from where we parked the car (SJ0739 2950).
My GPS track
Tan y Pistyll restaurant and car park
Gateway to the summit
It’s a 4.17km walk from the  car park starting with a short stiff climb then easing off to a series of ascents interspersed  with either flat or slightly down hill runs and following a fence for most of the way to Moel Sych where  you head NE following another fence to the summit (boggy in places)

Follow the fence (looking back)
Moel Sych...follow the fence towards the summit

Best to avoid...my GPS tracks wobbles a bit here :) .. not as bad as it looks today

Misty as we approached the summit..soon clears :)

Cairn and Trig in the distance...I set up nearer the Trig but within both activation zones
I had heard John G4TQE/p calling from G/WB-003 Stiperstones so a quick call to tell him that I’d be ‘on summit’ in ten minutes resulted in an s2s on arrival....thanks John.  By now the weather had changed completely and the sun was shining but we did have to find shelter from the stiff breeze that was blowing with a slightly chilling effect.
S2S :)
A self-spot via RRT for 60m to begin with brought a good run of regular chasers with reasonable signal reports so thanks everybody including Don RQL who was in the middle of lunch :)
11:42z
G4TQE/P
144MHz
FM
John s2s
12:00z
G0RQL
5MHz
SSB
Don
12:01z
GI4ONL
5MHz
SSB
Victor
12:02z
G8ADD
5MHz
SSB
Brian
12:04z
G6TUH
5MHz
SSB
Mike
12:06z
M0MDA
5MHz
SSB
Mick
12:06z
GW6DGU
5MHz
SSB
Roy
I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard Mal calling CQ SOTA from Mynydd Sylen and we quickly exchanged reports...thanks to John MW0XOT for making Mal aware that I was calling him (didn’t know Mal was out). Fingers crossed I would get him on his next summit a little later in the day. With the linear plugged in I was away on 40m after another self-spot with a real good run of chasers from the UK and Europe.
12:11z
GW6OVD/P
144MHz
FM
Mal s2s
12:12z
GW4XXF
144MHz
FM
Angus
12:18z
G6TUH
7MHz
SSB
Mike
12:19z
G4WSB
7MHz
SSB

12:19z
M0IML
7MHz
SSB
Barry
12:21z
EI3GYB
7MHz
SSB
Michael
12:21z
GW6DGU
7MHz
SSB
Roy
12:22z
GW2HFR
7MHz
SSB
Jonathan
12:24z
MW0XOT
7MHz
SSB
John
12:25z
EI9GLB
7MHz
SSB
Jim
12:27z
G0FEX
7MHz
SSB
Ken
12:28z
G4OIG
7MHz
SSB
Gerald
12:28z
M3FEH
7MHz
SSB
Karl
12:29z
G0TDM
7MHz
SSB
John
12:29z
DF5WA
7MHz
SSB
Berthold
12:30z
GM4WHA
7MHz
SSB
Geoff
12:30z
G0TRB
7MHz
SSB
Roger
12:30z
MW0YCC
7MHz
SSB
Alan
12:31z
EA2CKX
7MHz
SSB
Pedro
12:31z
G4OBB
7MHz
SSB
Des
12:32z
M3MPD
7MHz
SSB
Larry
12:33z
G0RQL
7MHz
SSB
Don
12:34z
PA7ZEE
7MHz
SSB
Geert
12:35z
MM0MUN
7MHz
SSB
Eddie
12:37z
G6ENN
7MHz
SSB
David ..qrp
12:38z
G0ELJ
7MHz
SSB
David
Llyn Lluncaws from the top of Cadair Berwyn
 A quick link change, a self-spot and 20m brought an interesting run of chasers although a QSO started up a few minutes into my visit to the band so apologies if I had to call a few times for a repeat of callsigns.
12:57z
9A4ZZ
14MHz
SSB
Den
12:59z
DL2HWI
14MHz
SSB
Dietmar
12:59z
SP9AMH
14MHz
SSB
Mariusz
13:00z
LZ1ZC
14MHz
SSB
Ben
13:01z
S56IHX
14MHz
SSB
Marjan
13:01z
DK1DVM
14MHz
SSB
?
13:02z
EA2LU
14MHz
SSB
Jorge
13:03z
OE7FMH
14MHz
SSB
Franz
13:03z
IZ4TNM
14MHz
SSB
Mario
13:04z
I4XFY
14MHz
SSB
Roberto
13:06z
IK2XDF
14MHz
SSB
Gianpaolo - Paul
13:06z
SP9DPM
14MHz
SSB
Dariusz
13:07z
DL1DVE
14MHz
SSB
Thomas
13:07z
DD0VE
14MHz
SSB
Ralf
13:08z
RC7M
14MHz
SSB
Victor
13:08z
S56LXN
14MHz
SSB
Bojan
13:09z
UX1IM
14MHz
SSB
Oleg
Towards Snowdon from Cadair Berwyn
Time for a quick coffee and a sandwich then I told Val that I would finish the activation with a brief visit to 2m..we had been on summit for well over an hour.  A quick call on 145.500Mhz brought Bill G4EHT to the log and my first entry for the Gold ARCOP award (signal reports and locator exchange needed for this award + photographic evidence). I’m glad I visited 2m as some had missed me on 40m. Even though Mike G4BLH had put up a spot for me there were no more takers after Tony and Sara so I set about taking down the HF antenna leaving 2m till last..good move...Mal was soon calling from Mynydd Betws and another s2s was in the bag...thanks Mal.
13:15z
G4EHT
144MHz
FM
Bill IO92cq
13:19z
2E0LMD
144MHz
FM
Anne
13:21z
M1CNL
144MHz
FM
Peter
13:22z
2E0LKC
144MHz
FM
Peter
13:24z
G4BLH
144MHz
FM
Mike
13:25z
M6UKC
144MHz
FM
Paul
13:28z
M3NHA
144MHz
FM
Tony
13:29z
M6NHA
144MHz
FM
Sara
13:35z
GW6OVD/P
144MHz
FM
Mal s2s
On our way down..Cadair Berwyn distant centre
We made our way off the summit with the intention of calling at the top of the Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall...I did manage a few pictures but I’m not very good with heights especially sheer drops!!  We made our way down, had a cup of coffee and I took some nice pictures from below the waterfall:)
That's as far I as I was prepared to go to get a shot
Below the Falls
From the restaurant
On the scrounge
Thanks everyone for the contacts and I’m looking forward to hearing you from the next summit.
73 Allan GW4VPX

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