Monday 5 February 2018

GW/NW-021 – Rhobell Fawr

GW/NW-021 – Rhobell Fawr

04/02/2018

Simon’s Mountain Goat day

A belated Happy New Year to everyone.   It’s been a troublesome time at the home QTH with adverse weather causing drainage problems under the front lawn.  Last week we replaced the broken 450mm  bore concrete pipes with plastic ones. This is only Phase 1 and there is another stretch to be replaced during the next few weeks.
Our lawn!!
Anyway,  Simon G4TJC was on 999 points and only needed another one to get his Mountain Goat status.  I had promised him some time ago that I would join him for the important activation and after a few e-mails we decided on Rhobell Fawr GW/NW021 (6points + 3 winter bonus).  We met at SH 797249 having decided to use Gerald’s (MW0WML) ascent track from the Sota Mapping Project  https://www.sotamaps.org/tracks.php
Trig in sight
It was -2C when we left the cars and we soon hit the snowline and a sharp wind from the NE….it was going to be cold on top…it was probably -10C+ by the Trig. 
Cadair Idris GW/NW-009 in the distance
We had already decided that 2m was to be first band as we knew that quite a few chasers were waiting for us.  I helped Simon put up the Slim Jim  and within 6 minutes Simon qualified the summit.  The fourth contact in his log was Helen 2E0VMD/p..Simon’s wife who had gone out on a hill to chase him on his Mountain Goat day…success.
GW4TJC/p Mountain Goat ..pile-up
Happy MG
11:11z
M0VTD/P
144MHz
FM
STUART
11:16z
GW4ZPL/P
144MHz
FM
JOHN
11:17z
MW0ISC
144MHz
FM
STEVE
11:18z
2E0VMD/P
144MHz
FM
HELEN
11:21z
2E0DIJ
144MHz
FM
DUANE
11:24z
2E0JKR
144MHz
FM
RON
11:26z
G4ZWY
144MHz
FM
STEVE
11:27z
GW4TQD
144MHz
FM
John
11:27z
G7LMF
144MHz
FM
GRAHAM
11:29z
IE9GLB
144MHz
FM
JIM
11:32z
2E0VMD/P
433MHz
FM
HELEN
11:37z
M1EYP/P
144MHz
FM
TOM,IO93BM
11:41z
GW3XRM
144MHz
FM
DAVE
11:43z
GW4UKU/P
144MHz
FM
PETE
11:45z
2E0ICE
144MHz
FM
PAUL
12:05z
G8MKT/P
144MHz
FM
Chris,IO83XD
12:21z
MW1CJE/P
144MHz
FM
Andrew,IO81JS
12:29z
M0JLA/P
5MHz
SSB
Rod,IO82QL
Simon’s Log
I soon left Simon to his 2m pile-up and set up my HF station starting on 60m…it was really cold now but the run of chasers made up for it.
Our stations ..VPX on 60m
KX2 in use  
11:12z
M0VTD/P
144MHz
FM
Stuart
11:16z
GW4ZPL/P
144MHz
FM
John
11:17z
MW0ISC
144MHz
FM
Steve
11:18z
2E0VMD/P
144MHz
FM
Helen
11:25z
2E0JKR
144MHz
FM
Ron
11:37z
M1EYP/P
144MHz
FM
Tom s2s
11:50z
G0RQL
5MHz
SSB
Don
11:52z
G4WSB
5MHz
SSB
Bill
11:54z
G0EVV/P
5MHz
SSB
David s2s
11:54z
G4IAR
5MHz
SSB
Dave
11:55z
G8ADD
5MHz
SSB
Brian
11:56z
G3RDQ
5MHz
SSB
David
11:58z
G0HRT
5MHz
SSB
Rob
11:59z
GI4ONL
5MHz
SSB
Victor
12:02z
GM4WHA
5MHz
SSB
Geoff
12:06z
G8MKT/P
144MHz
FM
Chris s2s
12:22z
MW1CJE/P
144MHz
FM
Andrew
12:29z
M0JLA/P
5MHz
SSB
Rod s2s
My Log
60m soon went quiet so to keep warm I made my way over to Simon who said that once Rod and Viki were in the log we would head down and out of the cold wind.  Although we could hear Viki calling she could not hear us due to interference from the communication systems on her summit…sorry Viki.
He's got the badge
A final pic by the Trig and we made our way down to a sheltered spot for coffee and a piece of Christmas cake as a celebration of Simon’s MG.  We followed Gerald’s descent track which was fun but not recommended in foggy conditions.
Activation set up
 (HF) Elecraft KX2 (10 watts) and 4Ah LiPo
 Antenna - 3 band link dipole (60/40/20 (+15m extensions +80m loading coils)
Antenna support - 7m Fishing pole.

Thanks everyone for the contacts


73 Allan GW4VPX & Simon GW4TJC

No comments:

Post a Comment