A flurry of alerts...
GW/SW-013 -Tor y Foel - 27/01/2015
Having done MW-001 the previous day and looking at the
weather forecast for the following day I
immediately alerted that I would be out on Tor y Foel near Talybont on Usk.
This caused a flurry of alerts for South
Wales and beyond so it would be a good morning for s2s. As usual we all reached
our summits close to our alerted time and quickly qualified the summits. I had
taken my Kenwood TH-F7 handheld to give Viki her 70cms contact without having
to resort to plugging my FT817 into the 2m dipole which works equally well on
UHF and it was 5/9 each way.
10:21z
|
MW6BWA/P
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
Viki
s2s
|
10:22z
|
GW6OVD/P
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
Mal s2s
|
10:26z
|
MW6BWA/P
|
433MHz
|
FM
|
Viki
s2s
|
10:28z
|
G4ERP/P
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
Richard
s2s
|
A call of ‘Is this frequency in use’ on 7.118 brought an
immediate response from Rod MW0JLA/p on Sugar Loaf and another s2s. Now I hadn’t spotted myself so I called ’QRZ’
and was answered by ON5SWA who spotted me on Sotawatch – thanks Francois. Barry M0IML/p soon appeared with another s2s
and then I settled down to steady flow of regular chasers.
10:32z
|
MW0JLA/P
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Rod s2s
|
10:33z
|
ON5SWA
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Francois
|
10:34z
|
G4ZRP
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Brian
|
10:35z
|
G0HRT
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Rob
|
10:36z
|
M0IML/P
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Barry
s2s
|
10:37z
|
G8MIA
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Andy
|
10:37z
|
G0TRB
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Roger
|
10:38z
|
G0TDM
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
John
|
10:38z
|
2W0XOT
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
John
|
10:39z
|
G8TMV
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Colin
|
10:40z
|
G3XQE
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Ken
|
10:41z
|
MW0KCB/P
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
HNW061
|
10:41z
|
G0RQL
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Don
|
10:42z
|
G0VWP
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Terry
|
10:42z
|
M0NTC
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Gez
|
10:43z
|
M3FEH
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Karl
|
10:44z
|
G4OBK
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Phil
|
10:44z
|
M0KRP
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Rod
|
10:46z
|
GW6DGU
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Roy
|
10:47z
|
GM0AXY
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Ken
|
10:48z
|
MW6GWR
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Ricky
|
10:48z
|
EA2CKX
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Pedro
|
10:49z
|
GM4YMM
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Christine
|
After a brief QSO with Christine GM4YMM another batch of
regulars rolled in and quite a few more European stations appeared. It was nice
to get a contact with Sue G1OHH in Lancaster who was looking forward to Barry
M0IML and myself visiting the summits in LD once again this year. Mike G6TUH was late on band today as he had
only just arrived back from taking
Bertie the greyhound for a walk :)
10:50z
|
G6TUH
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Mike
|
10:51z
|
G1OHH
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Sue
|
10:53z
|
2E0TVX
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Ray
|
10:54z
|
G6LKB
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
David
|
10:56z
|
M0VFR
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Steve
|
10:56z
|
DL2EF
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Franz
Josef
|
10:57z
|
ON4FI
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Karel
|
10:58z
|
G8VNW
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Nick
|
10:58z
|
GB2LBL
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Bob
|
10:59z
|
PA0B
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Rob
|
10:59z
|
DF5WA
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Berthold
|
11:00z
|
EA1CVZ
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Mike?
|
11:01z
|
G4FGJ
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Gordon
|
11:01z
|
2I0DJM
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Joe
|
11:02z
|
PE4A
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Peter
|
11:03z
|
DL8MLD
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Lutz
|
11:04z
|
G6ODU
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Bob
|
11:04z
|
GW8VUG
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Ian
|
11:05z
|
MW0BYS
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Bill
|
I ended my visit to 40m with a nice long chat with Bill
MW0BYS who is back on the bands after having his antennas blown down in the
recent gales that hit the coastal regions of Pembrokeshire.
11:17z
|
ON/PA0DLN/P
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Hans
s2s
|
11:18z
|
ON/PA0SKP/P
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Sake
s2s
|
When I took my headphones off and looked behind me there
were several onlookers so I took the next few minutes doing the usual SOTA
presentation :) I was packing up and began to lower the pole when RRT burst
into life so I could not resist a quick look to see who was on summit. With a
quick s2s call and the help of a few chasers (thanks – you know who you are)
Hans and Sake were quickly in the log with quite a few valuable s2s points to
end the activation - thanks everybody.
I had implied in my alert that I would move on to another
summit but it was getting late and it involved a long drive which would mean
that I would not be in place on time for the rest of the ‘gang’. I caught Mal on Fan Gyhirych on the way home
thus helping to qualify the summit fairly quickly –nothing heard from Viki or
Rod
On the A40 between Brecon and Llandovery there is a monument
in a lay-by. I had threatened over countless years to stop and take a quick
look – today was the day. Now this Pillar/Monument is to commemorate an
accident involving a Mail coach (pulled by horses) which plunged to the ravine
below. The pillar has lost the top half
of its column. I’ve copied below part of
what is written on the memorial.
‘This pillar is called Mail Coach pillar and erected as a
caution to Mail Coach drivers to keep from intoxication and in memory of the
Gloucester to Carmarthen Mail coach which was driven by Edward Jenkins on the
19 day December in the year 1835 who was
intoxicated at the time. Drove the Mail on the wrong side of the road and going
at full speed or gallop met a cart. Permitted the leader to turn short round to
the right hand. Went down over the precipice 121 feet where at the bottom near
the river it came against an Ash tree when the coach was dashed into several
pieces ‘
Thanks everybody for the contacts. Weather looks grim for
the next few days so no SOTA for a while.
73
Allan GW4VPX
