GW/SW-004 Waun Rydd

 I would not be alone on the mountains today.....

GW/SW-004 Waun Rydd

04/03/2015

On arrival at the car park at SO056176 I could see that I would not be alone on the mountains today. Military and various groups clad in matching mountain wear were preparing to make their way on to the hills.

 A busy car park

A short steep ascent northwards up past the waterfalls then it’s an easy walk above Craig y Fan Ddu and Craig y Fan Las to an intersection of paths at SO058207. 

Looking back along Craig Fan Ddu and Craig Fan Las

The summit is ENE from here and not too far although I setup short of this in a snow drift protected shelter to get out of the bitterly cold wind.   

 My snow and peat hole

 Protected from the wind

As I was about to set up for HF I heard Mal GW6OVD calling me on 2m with an offer of a spot. I told him that I would be ready in 10 minutes. Thanks Mal.

11:25z

GW6OVD

144MHz

FM

Mal

I set the pole in a snow drift but couldn’t get full height due to the wind. Having seen Mal’s spot Brian G8ADD was already keeping the frequency warm with Mick LB6BG over in Norway.

11:49z	G8ADD	5MHz	SSB	Brian
11:50z	LB6BG	5MHz	SSB	Mick

Thanking both Brian and Mick I set about the activation and very soon eight regular chasers and activators were in the log with good strong signals even though the pole was not at optimum height.

11:52z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
11:52z	G8MIA	5MHz	SSB	Andy
11:52z	G6WRW	5MHz	SSB	Carolyn
11:53z	G3RMD	5MHz	SSB	Frank
11:53z	G4OBK	5MHz	SSB	Phil
11:54z	G7UFI	5MHz	SSB	Barrie
11:56z	G4ISJ	5MHz	SSB	Pete
11:56z	G4WSB	5MHz	SSB	Bill

The view from the 'office'

A quick listen on 7.118 revealed a quiet frequency so I rapidly changed the links and gave a call out which was greeted by a ‘Good afternoon’ from Rod in Hereford city. I was away again after spots from Mal and Nick thanks both.

12:02z	M0JLA	7MHz	SSB	Rod
12:03z	G8VNW	7MHz	SSB	Nick
12:03z	G6TUH	7MHz	SSB	Mike
12:04z	MM6LDC	7MHz	SSB	Rob
12:04z	G4WHA/A	7MHz	SSB	Geoff
12:05z	PA0SKP	7MHz	SSB	Sake
12:05z	EB2CZF	7MHz	SSB	Jose
12:06z	G0RQL	7MHz	SSB	Don
12:06z	M0IBC	7MHz	SSB	David
12:07z	G4MCQ	7MHz	SSB	Steve
12:07z	M3FEH	7MHz	SSB	Karl

I noticed my VSWR had risen whilst talking to Karl M3FEH so with a few ‘last calls’ and no response I went to investigate....sections of the pole had collapsed into each other so one leg of the antenna was touching  the ground. Time to pack up and head for home.

 GW4VPX/p with Pen y Fan as backdrop

 Corn Du, PyF and Cribyn

I’ll be back on 20m soon but at the moment the weather and temperature dictates the duration of my activations.  Thanks everyone.

73 Allan GW4VPX