Calm before the storm
GW/NW-021 Rhobell Fawr
25/03/2016
My GPS track
Another storm had been forecast for the Easter weekend so
Val and I took the opportunity to activate another summit before the bad
weather set in. This summit is easy navigation as you can follow a wall
all the way to within 20m of the Trig and summit. Last year I took the car up
to Bwlch Goriwared but decided this year that the road might have deteriorated
over the winter with all the storms we had…I was right…this year we parked at
the gate where the tarmac ends SH-7664 2344.
On our way
Sadly the road is now in a mess
As we arrived at the Bwlch where you find a ladder stile
to take you ENE alongside the wall to the summit we were greeted by Myrddin
Phillips. Now Myrddin is well known for ‘Mapping Mountains’ (Google him for
info). He was using some very sophisticated GPS equipment to measure the height
of the Bwlch. He immediately identified me as SOTA :)
Myrddin on his way to another summit
Cadair Idris in the cloud
Follow the wall
On the way up I gave John
GW4TQE/p (GW/NW-055 Moel Offrwm) a call
and picked up a chaser point and also qualified the summit for him…thanks John.
Having been delayed by chatting to
Myrddin we eventually arrived at the summit in 1hr 54minutes..some 2.4miles.
Arriving at the trig
As
we moved towards the trig 2m came alive with David MW0YDH/p calling CQ SOTA
from Moel Hebog GW/NW-014. As you can see others soon joined with Rod and Viki
on Waun Fach and John on Upper Park (a rare one) including Tom, David’s son
getting a few s2s into his log…thanks everyone.
11:58z
|
MW6GGZ/P
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
Tom s2s
|
11:59z
|
MW0YDH/P
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
David s2s
|
12:00z
|
MW0XOT/P
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
John s2s
|
12:04z
|
MW6BWA/P
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
Viki s2s
|
12:04z
|
MW0JLA/P
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
Rod s2s
|
Flurry of s2s at the trig
I just could not get a spot up using RRT so resorted to
SOTA Spotter and had a nice orderly pile-up of chasers on 60m. I had recently
updated RRT and had not enabled the SMS feature so hopefully the problem has
now been resolved.
12:27z
|
G4OBK
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Phil
|
12:27z
|
G0RQL
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Don
|
12:28z
|
GI4ONL
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Victor
|
12:29z
|
G3RMD
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Frank
|
12:29z
|
G1BLJ
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Steve
|
12:29z
|
G0VWP
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Terry
|
12:30z
|
GW4BKG
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Steve
|
12:32z
|
G6TUH
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Mike
|
12:33z
|
G8VNW
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Nick
|
12:33z
|
G4APO
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Roland
|
12:34z
|
M1MAJ
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Martyn
|
12:35z
|
G0ELJ
|
5MHz
|
SSB
|
Dave
|
On to 40m and Barry was first in the log with 5/9+ each
way and after a few more contacts a faint s2s could be heard. It was Mike YYY
calling me using his Antron vertical…signal reports exchanged and another s2s in
the log..thanks Mickey and to all the chasers that gave us the time to complete
the contact
12:44z
|
M0IML
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Barry
|
12:45z
|
G4TJC
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Simon
|
12:45z
|
G0RPA
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Ian
|
12:46z
|
G6TUH
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Mike
|
12:47z
|
2E0YYY/P
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Mike s2s
|
12:47z
|
M0PAI
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Adrian
|
12:48z
|
G0FEX
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Ken
|
12:48z
|
G7BGA
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Geoffrey
|
12:49z
|
M0MDA
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Mick
|
12:49z
|
PA7ZEE
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Geert
|
12:50z
|
EA2DT
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Manuel
|
12:51z
|
G0VWP
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Terry
|
12:51z
|
EA2CKX
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Pedro
|
12:51z
|
DF5WA
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Berthold
|
12:52z
|
M6RUG
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Dave
|
12:52z
|
G8MIA
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Andy
|
12:53z
|
PA0B
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Rob
|
12:53z
|
GW7MMG
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Philip
|
12:54z
|
PA0SKP
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Sake
|
12:54z
|
G4AFI
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Andrew
|
12:54z
|
DL2EF
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Franz Josef
|
12:55z
|
M3ZCB
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Caroline
|
12:56z
|
MW0BYS
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Bill
|
12:56z
|
M3FEH
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Karl
|
12:57z
|
LA5WNA
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Odd Harald
|
12:58z
|
G8LZG
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Graham
|
12:59z
|
PA1AT
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Gerry
|
13:00z
|
G0RQL
|
7MHz
|
SSB
|
Don
|
It all came to an end when a strong Italian station
started to call CQ and despite protestation from my chasers he won the day..ah
well..I hope everybody that wanted the summit made my log.
Out of the wind and on HF
A call on 2m brought a few
contacts including Sean saying that he had been unwell but would soon be
getting out and activating again…thanks Sean. It was nice to end the activation
with a surprise s2s with Mike on Glasgwm GW/NW-015….thanks Mike
13:12z
|
G0OHY
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
Arthur
|
13:14z
|
MW0KZP/M
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
Neil
|
13:15z
|
MW3PZO
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
Sean
|
13:18z
|
M0CQE
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
Paul
|
13:20z
|
GW0WWQ
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
Hugh
|
13:29z
|
GW7HEM/P
|
144MHz
|
FM
|
Mike s2s
|
Towards the Rhinogs
On our way down...Cadair Idris now clear of cloud
My activation set up today:- (HF) Yaesu FT817 (5
watts) (4Ah LiPo), 3 band link dipole (60/40/20), (VHF) Yaesu
FT270 (5watts) & cable tie dipole for 2m - 7m Fishing pole.
Thanks everyone for
the contacts and the spots.
73 Allan GW4VPX
