Friday 26 June 2015

GW/MW-021 (Crugiau Merched)

Chasing s2s with MW0IML

GW/MW-021 (Crugiau Merched)

15/Jun/2015

With Barry M0IML on his last summit of his visit to South Wales I decided to activate Crugiau Merched GW/MW-021 and get an s2s with him.  
GW/MW-021 (Crugiau Merched)-  My GPS track
I had my wife Val as company today and after parking the car at the lay-by at SN729464 we made our way down to the chapel of Bwlch y Rhiw, through a gate below the cottage and then another leading towards the summit. 
Walk down the small lane on the other side of white line
Bwlch y Rhiw
The gate below the cottage-not a PRoW!
 We enjoyed the rather stiff climb up the zig-zag path onto Creigiau Ladis which leads onto the plateau and eventually Crugiau Merched, a total distance of 1.61Km.  On our way up a couple of Red Kites came to investigate but despite taking a large number of pics with the camera only one was suitable for the blog.....I have great difficulties using the 3” LCD viewing window against a bright blue sky on full zoom...you can never beat a good old TTL view finder (Through The Lens.)

Red Kite
A look at RRT and I could see that Barry was already on summit (GW/SW-011 Sugar Loaf) so I quickly erected the linked dipole on the cairn next to the trig (TP2659) making full use of the mound of stones for protection against the wind.

Val, Antenna and Trig (TP2659)
The s2s on 40m was over all too quickly and wishing Barry a safe journey back to Kent I notified the chasers that I would QSY lower only to be told by Barry that Mike G6TUH had found me a frequency...thanks Mike.  I was immediately into a very large pile-up and it was obvious that I would not have to visit the WAB net either as familiar call-signs were very evident in the melee....great stuff :)
09:19z
MW0IML/P
7MHz
SSB
Barry s2s + TP6243
09:24z
G6TUH
7MHz
SSB
Mike
09:25z
G4OBK
7MHz
SSB
Phil
09:25z
G0RQL
7MHz
SSB
Don
09:26z
M6KVJ
7MHz
SSB
David
09:26z
G4JZF
7MHz
SSB
Graham
09:27z
G0HRT
7MHz
SSB
Rob
09:28z
G3VXJ
7MHz
SSB
Bob
09:28z
G0BFJ
7MHz
SSB
Brian
09:29z
G4WSB
7MHz
SSB
Bill
09:29z
G0TRB
7MHz
SSB
Roger
09:29z
MM3PDM/M
7MHz
SSB
Peter
09:30z
M3FEH
7MHz
SSB
Karl
09:30z
2W0XOT
7MHz
SSB
John
09:31z
M0BKV
7MHz
SSB
Damian
09:32z
G4CQR
7MHz
SSB
Dave
09:32z
GW6PBW/P
7MHz
SSB
John
09:33z
G0FEX
7MHz
SSB
Ken
09:34z
GM1VUT
7MHz
SSB
Charlie
09:35z
EA2CKX
7MHz
SSB
Pedro
09:35z
G7AFM
7MHz
SSB
Phil
09:36z
G8MIA
7MHz
SSB
Andy
09:36z
2E0FGQ
7MHz
SSB
Nick
09:37z
M0GDJ
7MHz
SSB
Brian
09:40z
G4GEW
7MHz
SSB
Peter
09:42z
M0HEM
7MHz
SSB
John
09:42z
ON5SWA
7MHz
SSB
Francois
09:44z
G7NLA
7MHz
SSB
Colin
09:48z
DJ5AV
7MHz
SSB
Michael
I had Alerted that I would also be on 60m so I quickly changed the links but it took many, many calls before Dave G0ELJ picked me up followed quickly by Brian G4ZRP and Don G0RQL. Don put up a spot for me but there were no takers......has 60m fallen out of favour with SOTA chaser or is it just band conditions??
09:53z
G0ELJ
5MHz
SSB
Dave
09:56z
G4ZRP
5MHz
SSB
Brian
09:58z
G0RQL
5MHz
SSB
Don
10:20z
DL/G0EVV/P
7MHz
SSB
David s2s
Having been given the ‘heads up’ I ended the activation with an s2s with David DL/G0EVV/p over on DM/NS103 Wilseder Berg ...thanks David.  Thanks everyone for all the contacts, spots and ‘heads up’. 
The large plateau of Crugiau Merched with Pen y Fan and the Brecon Beacons in the distance 
Incidentally,  I’ve signed up with ARPOC Amateur Radio Portable Operators Club (see link on this blog..have a browse) so I may ask you for your Locator so that I can claim an award.

As band conditions have been a little ‘iffy’ over the last week my activations have been suspended in favour of catching up with the jobs that had piled up during our visit to Skye e.g . weeding etc :(   As soon as conditions improve I’ll be out and about again but until then.....

73 Allan GW4VPX