Pen y Fan GW/SW-001

Glorious sunshine but icy cold

Pen y Fan GW/SW-001

15/02/2016

Couldn’t resist this one today as the forecast was for glorious sunshine but it would be cold. We knew it was going to be busy as the schools were on half term and even though we arrived early we had one of the last parking spaces available before it would be necessary to park alongside the main road….not a good idea as the police don’t take kindly to this. 

Our target for today..Pen y Fan (Corn Du on the right)

My GPS track

On our way

Dark clouds over Corn Du

Nearly there

Val waiting her turn for the summit pic..... :)

I immediately kicked off on 60m with a self spot with six chasers making my log. Others had been listening but could barely make me out in the noise and waited till I moved to 40m.

11:57z	G4WSB	5MHz	SSB	Bill
11:59z	G4OBK	5MHz	SSB	Phil
11:59z	GW6DGU	5MHz	SSB	Roy
12:00z	GI4ONL	5MHz	SSB	Victor
12:01z	GI8SKN	5MHz	SSB	David
12:01z	G0TRB	5MHz	SSB	Roger

A text from G6TUH telling me that 7.115 was clear but as soon as I got going and having worked some 5 chasers I was stamped upon by some really strong EU stations so announced a QSY lower on RRT..…this did the trick so thanks everyone for following me down.

Bothy bag deployed

12:10z	G6TUH	7MHz	SSB	Mike
12:11z	G4WSB	7MHz	SSB	Bill
12:12z	G0TDM	7MHz	SSB	John
12:12z	GORQL	7MHz	SSB	Don
12:12z	G0ELJ	7MHz	SSB	Dave
12:13z	M0JLA	7MHz	SSB	Rod
12:14z	G0TRB	7MHz	SSB	Roger
12:17z	M0IML	7MHz	SSB	Barry
12:17z	EA2CKX	7MHz	SSB	Pedro
12:17z	M0NTC	7MHz	SSB	Gez
12:18z	GW7MMG	7MHz	SSB	Phil
12:18z	DJ5AV	7MHz	SSB	Mike
12:19z	M6RUG	7MHz	SSB	Dave
12:19z	EI9GLB	7MHz	SSB	Jim
12:19z	M3FEH	7MHz	SSB	Karl
12:19z	G6LKB	7MHz	SSB	Dave
12:20z	HB9AGH	7MHz	SSB	Ambrosi
12:20z	M0YDH	7MHz	SSB	David
12:21z	G4KDX/P	7MHz	SSB	Chris
12:22z	GW0HGP	7MHz	SSB	Ionan
12:23z	DF5WA	7MHz	SSB	Berthold
12:24z	GW6DGU	7MHz	SSB	Roy
12:25z	G1BLJ	7MHz	SSB	Steve

Summit coffee- Corn Du in the distance

Corn Du

Apologies to Victor GI4ONL who would have liked a 2m contact but I had not set up the 2m dipole as the wind was strong (and cold) and I decided on a quick activation by only visiting 60m and 40m. I also missed a couple of s2s as I was on my way down…ah well…

A steady stream of people coming up from below on their way to the summit....we kept well away from the path as it was very icy.......

My activation set up today:-  (HF) Yaesu FT817 (5 watts) (4Ah LiPo),  3 band link dipole (60/40/20),  (VHF) Kenwood TH-F7E  (5watts) and ‘cable-tie dipole’. Antenna support - 7m Fishing pole.

Thanks everybody for the brief chats in what was a very orderly and pleasant activation :)

11/02/2016 (a few days ago) – It was a cold day but dry so I decided to activate a Trig (TP5023) for the Worked All Britain group.  Now this trig is up on the mountain behind my QTH. 

My log and FT857 today...22Ah LiPo battery 

Chilly today

The trig with Communications masts behind..no interference on HF

My trig lashing kit...very easy assemble and light to carry

With 21 contacts in the log and 2 trig to trigs I was very happy. Thanks to Ken G0FEX for doing a splendid job as net controller.

73 Allan GW4VPX