GW/MW-011 Foel Cwmcerwyn

Winter bonus 2016…here we go..

Foel Cwmcerwyn GW/MW-011

06/01/2016

Today Val and I had company….it was my friend and fellow Carmarthen Amateur Radio Society club member Trevor GW4RVA. Parking at SN0755 3219 we made our way to SN 0815 3228 where I made a decision to follow the fence alongside the forestry instead of cutting diagonally across the really boggy bit…good move today after all the rain we’ve had over the last few months.  

My GPS track

Heading away from the car-park

Avoiding the puddles :)

Slippery underfoot today

The sun was shining with a strong breeze blowing from the West. It took us 61 minutes to reach the summit which is 3.03km from the car park at Bwlch Gwynt.  I’d already spoken to John GW4TQE/p (Moel Eilio GW/NW-022) on the way up but he was soon in the log as an official s2s on my handheld from my summit…thanks John. With Roy GW6DGU calling in to check that we had reached the summit safely I then focused on getting HF up and running including attaching the 2m cable-tie dipole to the pole. Next in the log was Viki from GW/SW-001 Pen y Fan and Trevor and I ensured she had contacts on 70cms also…thanks Viki

11:06z	GW4TQE/P	144MHz	FM	John s2s
11:08z	GW6DGU	144MHz	FM	Roy
11:18z	MW6BWA/P	144MHz	FM	Viki s2s
11:31z	MW6BWA/P	433MHz	FM	Viki s2s 70cms

GW4VPX/p from the trig

Knowing that Rod would be on 60m I quickly went to 5.398.5 and there he was with an offer of the frequency once he had finished....thanks Rod for the HF s2s from Pen y Fan.

11:35z	MW0JLA/P	5MHz	SSB	Rod s2s
11:36z	G8MIA	5MHz	SSB	Andy
11:36z	GW2HFR	5MHz	SSB	Jonathan
11:41z	G0EVV	5MHz	SSB	David
11:42z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
11:43z	G4WSB	5MHz	SSB	Bill
11:44z	G0TDM	5MHz	SSB	John
11:44z	G4OBK	5MHz	SSB	Phil
11:45z	G4FKK	5MHz	SSB	Martin
11:47z	GW6DGU	5MHz	SSB	Roy
11:48z	G8LXI	5MHz	SSB	Leonard

A good run of regular chasers on 60m and it seemed the bands were in good shape today.  I thought of plugging in the linear for 40m but I took the risk and called out after a self-spot on RRT. 40m was in great shape and I worked the usual station in both the UK and Europe….thanks everyone.

12:02z	G6TUH	7MHz	SSB	Mike
12:03z	MK3FEH	7MHz	SSB	Karl
12:03z	G4WSB	7MHz	SSB	Bill
12:03z	MW0BYS	7MHz	SSB	Bill
12:04z	G3TQQ	7MHz	SSB	David
12:05z	2E0SCS	7MHz	SSB	Stephen
12:05z	G0TDM	7MHz	SSB	John
12:05z	EA2CKX	7MHz	SSB	Pedro
12:06z	G0ELJ	7MHz	SSB	Dave
12:06z	M6RUG	7MHz	SSB	Dave
12:07z	EA2DT	7MHz	SSB	Manuel
12:08z	G4IAR	7MHz	SSB	Dave
12:08z	PA0B	7MHz	SSB	Rob
12:09z	M0NTC	7MHz	SSB	Gez
12:09z	G4OOE	7MHz	SSB	Nick
12:10z	M0IML	7MHz	SSB	Barry
12:10z	G0RQL	7MHz	SSB	Don

Working the pile-up

As I finished with Don RQL we heard Mal calling from Waun Fach GW/SW-002 and both he and Ian were in the log for s2s. Thanks both.

12:12z	GW6OVD/P	144MHz	FM	Mal s2s
12:14z	2W0IWM	144MHz	FM	Ian s2s
12:16z	GW4XUE/M	144MHz	FM	Dave
12:18z	MW0BYS	144MHz	FM	Bill
12:23z	MW3PZO	144MHz	FM	Sean

You won't catch any fish there Trev

By now a mist was approaching so a quick visit to the WAB net was the order of the day before ‘pulling the plug’.  With Phil G7AFM as net controller it was all over in 6 minutes so thanks everyone.

12:26z	G7AFM	7MHz	SSB	Phil
12:26z	G0GWY	7MHz	SSB	Geoff
12:26z	G0FVH	7MHz	SSB	David
12:27z	G1YFF	7MHz	SSB	Jake
12:28z	G0RYM	7MHz	SSB	Stan
12:28z	M3ZKB	7MHz	SSB
12:28z	DL7UCW	7MHz	SSB	Ben
12:29z	G6LKB	7MHz	SSB	David
12:29z	SM6CNX	7MHz	SSB	Dan
12:29z	G3PRI	7MHz	SSB	Dave
12:30z	M6EBC	7MHz	SSB	Mark
12:30z	2E0GBK	7MHz	SSB	John
12:31z	MM3PDM/M	7MHz	SSB	Peter
12:31z	G4NQX	7MHz	SSB	Robert
12:31z	G4FEX	7MHz	SSB	Ken
12:32z	G6TEL	7MHz	SSB	Steve
12:32z	G7BGA	7MHz	SSB	Geoffrey

Whilst I packed away Val and Trevor went looking for a Geocache with me joining soon afterwards..we never found it even though we were exactly on the GPS co-ordinates…..had someone taken it?…we’ll be back :)

In search of a Geocache

Mist closing in behind us on the way down

My activation set up today:-  (HF) Yaesu FT817 (5 watts) (4Ah LiPo),  3 band link dipole (60/40/20),  (VHF) Yaesu FT270 (5watts) and ‘cable-tie dipole’. Antenna support - 7m Fishing pole.

Thanks everyone for the contacts and the spots.

73 Allan GW4VPX