Three in Mid Wales

Three in Mid Wales

13/08/2016

Building work and decorating have prevented Val and I from getting out on the hills and mountains  for the last few months but all of that came to an end last week. As Gerald MW0WML had let me know that he and Sue would be down near Builth Wells in Mid Wales and would we like to join them for some activations on Saturday. We couldn’t  miss an opportunity like that to ease ourselves back into SOTA.

GW/MW-016  Pen y Garn Goch

This is now an easy summit since they cut a path through the trees to the summit and Trig. What we didn’t bargain for today were the midges which meant a very short stay on top and no visit to HF. 

Not cold..just the midges

We had chosen 016 as Viki M6BWA wanted to complete on this one on both 2m and 70cms and both Rod and her were out and about and waiting for us on GW/MW-025 The Begwns. We soon qualified the summit with  John XOT and Alan YCC joining in but the best contact was with our friend Aled UPH/m up in North Wales. I had really messed up the menu system on the Kenwood TH7E and it was a good while later that Viki eventually got her 70cms contact.

09:40z	MW6BWA/P	144MHz	FM	Viki s2s
09:51z	MW0XOT	144MHz	FM	John
09:55z	MW0JLA/P	144MHz	FM	Rod s2s
09:56z	MW0YCC	144MHz	FM	Alan
09:58z	MW0UPH/M	144MHz	FM	Aled
10:28z	MW6BWA/P	433MHz	FM	Viki s2s 70cms

GW/MW-023 Carneddau

Sharing the VHF contacts

A really nice summit and we soon qualified it with our friend Simon TJC/m calling from just outside Builth on his way to Dorset for a holiday.  John XOT/p was now on a Hump then two s2s with Mike HEM/p on Glyder fawr GW/NW-002 and Kev TPZ/p on Brown Clee HillG/WB-002…thanks everyone. With some time to spare I set up the HF antenna and called on 60m with five G stations making the log including regular SOTA chaser Geoff from Scotland.  A few minutes later Viki and Rod were in the log with valuable s2s points  from Waun Fach GW/SW-002..thanks everyone.

12:53z	GW4TJC/P	144MHz	FM	Simon
12:55z	MW0XOT/P	144MHz	FM	John on HMW 010
13:01z	GW7HEM/P	144MHz	FM	Mike s2s
13:13z	G0TPZ/P	144MHz	FM	Kev s2s
13:18z	G0VWP	5MHz	SSB	Terry
13:19z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
13:20z	GM4WHA	5MHz	SSB	Geoff
13:23z	GW0PLP	5MHz	SSB	Don
13:24z	G8ADD	5MHz	SSB	Brian
13:27z	MW0JLA/P	144MHz	FM	Rod s2s
13:27z	MW6BWA/P	144MHz	FM	Viki s2s
13:28z	MW6BWA/P	433MHz	FM	Viki s2s 70cms

With the vist to HF time was now against us as Gerald and Sue had booked for an evening meal in Builth Wells so the next activation would have to be a short one.

GW/MW-022 Aberedw

What made us even later on summit was the fact that the right of way was overgrown with nettles, thistles and head high ferns (see Phil G4OBK’s route on his blog). Our XYLs gave up and decided to sit, admire the view and wait for us to return. 

MW0WML/p in the ferns

We did eventually break out on to the moorland and the going got a lot easier. We also crossed a lot of well  worn vehicle tracks making us think that there was an easier route to the summit? 

  Builth Wells down below

HF was to be our backup as it was late in the day but with 50 watts from the FT857 into Gerald’s X5000 on a painter’s pole and a spot from me we soon qualified the summit in a few minutes with a very surprised Phillip MMG down near Llanelli making the log on 2m..he couldn’t believe he was hearing us …thanks everyone. We were soon back with the XYLs having noted where they were prior to leaving them, then we made our way back down trying to avoid most of the undergrowth.

15:47z	MW0XOT/P	144MHz	FM	John
15:48z	MW0JLA/P	144MHz	FM	Rod
15:49z	MW6BWA/P	144MHz	FM	Viki
15:51z	2E0MDJ	144MHz	FM	Matt
15:52z	GW7MMG	144MHz	FM	Phil
15:52z	G0LGS	144MHz	FM	Stuart

It had been a good day and a pleasure to be out on the hills in such good company both on and off the radio with the weather behaving itself for most of the day. Great to be back with SOTA.

My activation set up today:-  (HF) Yaesu FT817 (5 watts) (4Ah LiPo),  3 band link dipole (60/40/20),  (VHF) Kenwood TH-F7E  (5watts). Antenna support - 7m Fishing pole.

Thanks everyone for the contacts.

73 Allan GW4VPX and Gerald MW0WML