GW/NW-074 Craig
y Castell
23/09/2016
I met up
with David M0YDH at the Kings YHA at 9:00am and as David had spent the night
there the Warden kindly allowed me a Pass to park my car at the Hostel. It was an easy and pleasant walk up on to this
one with David and I deep in conversation in the Welsh language stopping occasionally
to take in the view towards Cadair Idris
and the surrounding mountains.
My GPS Track
I was pleased that we could see Dolgellau way down
in the valley which would mean I would get a phone signal so within 10 minutes or
so and a spot with RRT we were active on
60m and soon qualified the summit with some shared contacts…thanks everyone.
Dolgellau in the valley below
GW4VPX/p with the Cadair Idris mountain range behind
09:34z
|
M0NTC
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Gez
|
09:39z
|
G3RMD
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Frank
|
09:41z
|
G4WSB
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Bill
|
09:41z
|
G0VWP
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Terry
|
09:42z
|
GW0PLP
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Don
|
09:42z
|
PA7ZEE
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Geert
|
09:43z
|
G0VOF
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Mark
|
09:50z
|
G4OIG
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Gerald
|
09:51z
|
G0TDM
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
John
|
09:52z
|
GI0HWO
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
John
|
09:54z
|
PA0SKP
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Sake
|
10:12z
|
OK2PDT/P
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Jan s2s
|
My Log
MW0YDH/p deep in QSO
I let David take
over and changed the links for him to get on to 40m. He was very soon into an
S2S so I was immediately by his side anxious for another 10 points from Jan on OK/PL-008
Polom :) Thanks Jan.
09:35z
|
M0MDA
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Mick Dailey, Leeds
|
09:37z
|
M0NTC
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Jez Bull, Netherton, Dudley
|
09:41z
|
G3RMD
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Frank Regan, Cheltenham
|
09:42z
|
G0VWP
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Terry Sayner, York
|
09:45z
|
G0VOF
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Mark Walmsley, Blackburn
|
09:47z
|
M0JLA
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Rod Archard, Hereford
|
09:48z
|
G8TMV
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Colin Tuckley, Cambridge
|
09:50z
|
G4WHA/M
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Geoff Harper in his shop in Penrith
|
09:51z
|
G0FEX
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Ken Porter, Leicester
|
10:02z
|
G6INU
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Doug, Sidcup
|
10:07z
|
M0IML
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Barry Vile, Dover
|
10:08z
|
EA2DZX
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Luis Baz Ladero, Bizkaia
|
10:10z
|
EA2CKX
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Pedro Jaureguialzo, Oñati Gipuzkoa
|
10:11z
|
HB9DHA
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Ray Siegrist, Zurich
|
10:14z
|
OK2PDT/P
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Jan Lavicka S2S OK/PL-008
|
10:16z
|
PA1BR
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Pascal Breugelsmans, Sprundel
|
10:17z
|
DJ9BX
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Michael Ahlgrimm, Krakow am See
|
10:18z
|
GM0AXY
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Ken Dons, Edinburgh
|
10:20z
|
PA2CVD
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Cor Verdult, Hoogerheide
|
10:21z
|
MI0RTY
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Martin Strawbridge, Coleraine
|
10:22z
|
M3FEH
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Karl Kruger, Saltash, Cornwall
|
10:23z
|
OK3KW
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Karel, Rakovnik
|
10:25z
|
EI2GHB
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Pat Thompson, Co. Cork
|
Towards cardigan Bay
Already, time
was not on our side as we had the drive up to Trawsfynydd then the long walk up
to Moel Ysgyfarnogod in front of us. We
could also feel the wind picking up and thought that it might be strong on
NW-038 as the weather forecast had promised. We packed up quickly as soon as
there were no further responses to David’s calls.
Our activation set up:- (HF) Yaesu FT817 (5 watts) (4Ah LiPo), UK-MX 50M linear (for 817) and 12V 4 Ah LiPO battery, 3 band link dipole (60/40/20 (+15m+80m extensions)
Our activation set up:- (HF) Yaesu FT817 (5 watts) (4Ah LiPo), UK-MX 50M linear (for 817) and 12V 4 Ah LiPO battery, 3 band link dipole (60/40/20 (+15m+80m extensions)
GW/NW-038 Moel Ysgyfarnogod
It’s a long but pleasant walk for most of the way
up to the summit with the final half kilometre
being rather a stiff climb.
The GPS track for Moel Ysgyfarnogod
The gate at SH677342
Keep left of the plantation at SH669345
The strong breeze on Craig y Castell had now
developed in to a gale on the summit of Moel Ysgyfarnogod and as we approached the trig the
rain arrived…we dived behind the cairn next to the Trig and gave a call on 2m
with my handheld. Luckily the Ceredigion
SOTA gang were listening and Don and Roy were soon in the log after I attached
the cable tie dipole to the fishing pole and pushed it up just above the cairn…we
took turns to hold the pole whilst sharing the contacts. With a’ heads up’ from Don, John ZPL/p
was next in the log followed by Mike WMW near Dolgellau and Jim GLB from
Co.Wexford. It all went quiet on the
band so with no improvement in the weather we decided to head back down with
Don posting a spot to say we were not going on to HF…sorry.
Let's get off this mountain...David in charge of selfies :)
14:08z
|
GW0PLP
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
Don
|
14:09z
|
GW6DGU
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
Roy
|
14:13z
|
GW4ZPL/P
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
John
|
14:18z
|
MW6WMW
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
Mike
|
14:21z
|
EI9GLB
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
Jim
|
My Log
We were both
intrigued with the excavations that abound on the hillside around Moel Ysgyfarnogod
and it was a chance encounter back at the cars with a pair of hill walkers that
we were told that they were Manganese mines (http://www.davel.f2s.com/hendrecoed/Merioneth-Manganese/introduction.html)
…interesting reading.
David was
delighted with the day as he was now on 999 activation points and has already
organised his 1000th point party by activating The Wrekin G/WB-010
on the 29th of October 2016….I’ll be
there so hope we hear some of you on air :)
Our activation set up:- (VHF) Yaesu FT270 (5watts) into a ‘cable
tie’ dipole.. Antenna support - 7m Fishing pole up at 3m...
Thanks everyone for
the contacts
73 Allan GW4VPX
