G/WB-004 & G/WB-002

Clee Hills revisited

G/WB-004 & G/WB-002

19/01/2016

The weatherman had promised three days of fine weather so it was back to the Clee Hills for the first day. As we approached Ludlow the temperature was below freezing and it was very misty so I was hoping that conditions would be better on the summit. The car park for Titterstone Clee Hill was bathed in glorious sunshine and we could clearly see  Brown Clee Hill in the distance..our next summit..it was going to be a nice day to play radio:)

G/WB-004 Titterstone Clee Hill

Brown Clee Hill G/WB-002 in the distance - our next summit

I set up a short distance from the trig and first in the log were Viki and Rod from Great Rhos GW/MW-002 so thank you both. I promised them 70cms later.

11:30z	MW0JLA/P	144MHz	FM	Rod s2s
11:30z	MW6BWA/P	144MHz	FM	Viki s2s
11:31z	G8MIA	144MHz	FM	Andy

Freezing Fog in the valleys

On to 60m and a really good run of chasers. I had thought of setting up the linear and try out a new battery set up but the bands were so good I just worked with 5watts from the FT817. Most chasers were a solid 5/9 and my visit to this band came to an end quite quickly so I moved to 40m with a spot from G6TUH.

11:34z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
11:35z	G4WSB	5MHz	SSB	Bill
11:36z	G3RDQ	5MHz	SSB	David
11:36z	GI0HWO	5MHz	SSB	John
11:37z	G0TDM	5MHz	SSB	John
11:37z	G7BGA	5MHz	SSB	Geoffrey
11:38z	G0ELJ	5MHz	SSB	Dave
11:38z	M0TVU	5MHz	SSB	Paul
11:40z	G0GNE	5MHz	SSB	Robin
11:40z	G4IAR	5MHz	SSB	Dave
11:42z	M0JMV	5MHz	SSB	Derek
11:43z	MM0GGI	5MHz	SSB	John
11:45z	M1ACB	5MHz	SSB	Steve
11:46z	G4AFI	5MHz	SSB	Andy
11:46z	G4OOE	5MHz	SSB	Nick
11:48z	G3TCY	5MHz	SSB	John
11:48z	M0IML	5MHz	SSB	Barry
11:50z	M0JZH	5MHz	SSB	John
11:51z	GW2HFR	5MHz	SSB	Jonathan

Now Val had gone looking for the geocache and she was continually walking around me with GPS in hand without much success. It transpired that the co-ordinates were not as posted on www.geocaching.com and the hint said that it should be paced out in a certain direction. She did that and stood by me and said “You’re sitting on it” Well not quite, as I looked to my left there was the geocache partly visible under a large rock some two feet away from me :)

Pile-up on 40m

12:05z	2E0SCS	7MHz	SSB	Stephen
12:05z	G6TUH	7MHz	SSB	Mike
12:06z	M0NTC	7MHz	SSB	Gez
12:07z	EA2CKX	7MHz	SSB	Pedro
12:08z	G0RQL	7MHz	SSB	Don
12:08z	HB9MKV	7MHz	SSB	Rudi
12:09z	G3TQQ	7MHz	SSB	Dave
12:09z	M0HQO	7MHz	SSB	Pete
12:10z	DJ5AV	7MHz	SSB	Michael
12:10z	G3USA	7MHz	SSB	Colin
12:11z	G6LKB	7MHz	SSB	Dave
12:11z	G4IAR	7MHz	SSB	Dave
12:12z	G0TDM	7MHz	SSB	John
12:12z	G4WSB	7MHz	SSB	Bill
12:13z	OM4EM	7MHz	SSB	Manuel
12:13z	ON7MD	7MHz	SSB	Michel
12:14z	GW6DGU	7MHz	SSB	Roy

Another good run of chasers including some EU regulars. As soon as I finished I gave a few calls on 2m which brought Matt to the log. He had popped out to the car during his lunch hour to get me on the summit.…thanks Matt. Viki also called to inform me they were well out of the activation zone so we had missed the 70cms contact…ah well…on to Brown Clee Hill.

12:26z	G0VFF/M	144MHz	FM	Steve
12:28z	G8XYJ/M	144MHz	FM	Matt
12:28z	M1CNL	144MHz	FM	Peter
12:29z	MW6BWA/P	144MHz	FM	Viki
12:31z	M6NSV	144MHz	FM	Neil
12:32z	M0NVJ	144MHz	FM	Colin

G/WB-002 Brown Clee Hill

We were soon on our way to the next one and I parked as usual by the Telephone kiosk/Library (see previous blog). 

Heading for Brown Clee Hill

With the sun still shining we reached the summit and I set up using the convenient concrete post that I had used last time. 2m came to life on the handheld and very soon Viki and Rod were in the log including a 70cms contact on the Kenwood TH-F7.

15:05z	MW6BWA/P	144MHz	FM	Viki s2s
15:07z	MW0JLA/P	144MHz	FM	Rod s2s
15:08z	MW0JLA/P	433MHz	FM	Rod s2s 70cms
15:08z	MW6BWA/P	433MHz	FM	Viki s2s 70cms

With a spot by G4WSB I quickly worked my way through a nice pile-up of regulars on 60m with the band still working well. It was getting cold and the sun was dropping behind a cloud bank on the horizon so a quick link change was needed for 40m. The valleys were still in the mist so we had been lucky with the weather today.

No problems with the communication systems on either 70cms, 2m or HF

15:23z	GD3YUM	5MHz	SSB	Martyn
15:24z	G4WSB	5MHz	SSB	Bill
15:25z	G0ELJ	5MHz	SSB	Dave
15:27z	G0TDM	5MHz	SSB	John
15:27z	G4FGJ	5MHz	SSB	Gordon
15:28z	G6TUH	5MHz	SSB	Mike
15:29z	GW6OVD	5MHz	SSB	Mal
15:29z	GM4GUF	5MHz	SSB	Robert
15:30z	G3MSL	5MHz	SSB	Bob
15:31z	PA0B	5MHz	SSB	Rob
15:34z	G4BDY	5MHz	SSB	Dave
15:35z	G0TRB	5MHz	SSB	Roger
15:35z	MM0GGI	5MHz	SSB	John
15:36z	GW2HFR	5MHz	SSB	Jonathan
15:37z	G4IAR	5MHz	SSB	Dave
15:37z	G8ADD	5MHz	SSB	Brian
15:37z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
15:38z	G4TSQ	5MHz	SSB	Mike
15:39z	G4WYL	5MHz	SSB	Christine
15:39z	PA0SKP	5MHz	SSB	Sake
15:40z	G4CLN	5MHz	SSB	Philip
15:42z	MK0ZGY	5MHz	SSB	Gerry

It was noticeable that the band was changing as quite a few EU stations made the log with very strong signals.

Convenient concrete post..light weight bungees for this

15:45z	GD3YUM	7MHz	SSB	Martyn
15:45z	G6TUH	7MHz	SSB	Mike
15:46z	G4WSB	7MHz	SSB	Bill
15:46z	G4IAR	7MHz	SSB	Dave
15:47z	G0RQL	7MHz	SSB	Don
15:48z	GW2HFR	7MHz	SSB	Jonathan
15:49z	EA2CKX	7MHz	SSB	Pedro
15:50z	SM6DER	7MHz	SSB	Sten
15:50z	ON4EM	7MHz	SSB	Manuel
15:51z	M6RUG	7MHz	SSB	Dave
15:51z	ON5SWA	7MHz	SSB	Francois
15:52z	M3FEH	7MHz	SSB	Karl
15:53z	2E0SCS	7MHz	SSB	Stephen
15:53z	2E0HPI	7MHz	SSB	Carl
15:54z	G6LKB	7MHz	SSB	David
15:54z	PE1RMO	7MHz	SSB	Jan
15:54z	ON4VT	7MHz	SSB	Danny
15:54z	G0EVV	7MHz	SSB	David
15:56z	M6RUG	7MHz	SSB	Dave
15:57z	2E0KCM	7MHz	SSB	Gary

Jonathan GW2HFR had hinted that I should try 15m as it had worked for him a few days ago, however, as darkness was approaching I thought that a quick ‘pack up’ was needed as we also had a long journey home.

On the way down

Thanks everybody for the contacts and the spots

73 Allan GW4VPX