Wednesday 24 August 2016

GW/MW-029 Hafod Ithel

Hunting s2s

GW/MW-029   Hafod Ithel

23/08/2016

With quite a few possibilities of summit to summit contacts I decided to opt for Hafod  Ithel knowing that I would be more or less sure that John GW4TQE/p would make my log from Tryfan GW/NW-006.  I also decided to have a bit of fun with my FT857 and the light weight 22Ah LiFEPo4 as the walk to the summit is quite short.
Glorious day-Cardigan Bay in the distance
The weather was glorious and a light breeze ensured that there were no midges to bother me although I had come prepared. Before I had even finished setting up John was calling from Tryfan on 2m and he was soon in the log…thanks John.  Don PLP came booming in from Aberporth and after a quick chat Jim GLB called in from Co.Wexford so one more contact and I would have qualified the summit on VHF. With nobody else calling in I announced to Don that I was moving to 60m.
08:51z
GW4TQE/P
144MHz
FM
John s2s
08:52z
GW0PLP
144MHz
FM
Don
08:56z
EI9GLB
144MHz
FM
Jim
I very soon qualified the summit with Dave G4IAR and a promise to spot me on the WAB cluster. Victor ONL was next so we had a short chat before parting company conscious of the fact that no doubt others were wanting the summit.
09:06z
GI4ONL
5MHz
SSB
Victor
09:06z
G4IAR
5MHz
SSB
Dave
09:08z
MM0GGI
5MHz
SSB
John
09:10z
G0VWP
5MHz
SSB
Terry
09:11z
MK0BKV
5MHz
SSB
Damian
Keeping an eye on RRT
60m was certainly working but not many chasers were around so a move onto 40m in the hope that a few more UK stations would make my log. It was not to be with only Terry VWP making the log with a very weak signal..propagation was favouring Europe today.
09:27z
DJ5AV
7MHz
SSB
Michael
09:27z
EB2JU
7MHz
SSB
Jose
09:28z
EA2CKX
7MHz
SSB
Pedro
09:29z
EA2DT
7MHz
SSB
Manuel
09:29z
EB1EB
7MHz
SSB
Fernando
09:30z
G0VWP
7MHz
SSB
Terry
09:30z
F4LMK
7MHz
SSB

09:31z
OK3KW
7MHz
SSB

09:32z
ON6ZQ
7MHz
SSB
Christophe
09:32z
F8FLK
7MHz
SSB
Thierry
09:33z
F2LG
7MHz
SSB
Pierre
09:34z
PD1ANH
7MHz
SSB
Ronald
09:35z
ON7MD
7MHz
SSB
Michel
Llyn  Eiddwen below
I couldn’t resist giving Mike WMW a call on 2m as his calls were going unanswered and I think I gave him a surprise when I answered  although I did have to up the power to have a comfortable QSO. Then surprise surprise John ZPL/p called in from his caravan shack up near Caernarfon..very weak but it was a good contact. Don was still hovering and we had another chat and I told him I was going on to 20m to see what I could pick up as I had noticed on RRT that Martin OE5REP/P was on OE/OO-064 Zwilingskogel and calling.
09:37z
MW6WMW
144MHz
FM
Mike
09:44z
GW4ZPL/P
144MHz
FM
John
09:45z
GW0PLP
144MHz
FM
Don
My 2m Dipole
Martin made my log without any problems and the 20m band was in good shape with mainly European stations causing a mini pile-up.
09:59z
OE5REO/P
14MHz
SSB
Martin s2s
10:05z
SP8BBK
14MHz
SSB
Jerzy
10:05z
OK3KW
14MHz
SSB

10:06z
S56RPJ
14MHz
SSB
Janok
10:06z
OK1SDE
14MHz
SSB
Dalibor
10:06z
SP9AMH
14MHz
SSB
Mariusz
10:07z
EA3CCN
14MHz
SSB
Jordi
10:08z
OM1BD
14MHz
SSB
Branislav
10:09z
IZ1ERW
14MHz
SSB
Giorgio
10:10z
DL5XU
14MHz
SSB
Matthias
10:10z
F1BLL
14MHz
SSB
Gerard
10:10z
OH3GZ
14MHz
SSB
Jukka
10:11z
UT4WT
14MHz
SSB
Moskvyak
10:12z
IZ2ODM
14MHz
SSB
Roberto
Now I was very disappointed as I had hoped that a few more s2s would come my way from Viki MW6BWA and Rod MW0JLA who were over on the Welsh Borders but as spots came up for them I just could not hear either Viki on 2m or Rod on HF…first time we’ve failed.
As I drank a cup of coffee and munched into a sandwich I kept an eye on RRT when suddenly I noticed  quite a few S2S possibilities. They were soon in the log but the best of the day was that contact with Guido on High Willhays G/DC-001 - Devon.  Not quite my best contact on 2m FM with the dipole but a good 179 Km…thanks Guido…hope you enjoyed your visit to the UK.
10:28z
ON9CBQ/P
7MHz
SSB
Franz s2s
10:32z
SQ9PPW/P
7MHz
SSB
Adam s2s
10:43z
M/HB9TNF/P
144MHz
FM
Guido s2s
10:49z
CT7AFR/P
7MHz
SSB
Emmanuel s2s
S2S in the log :)
I’d been on the summit since 9.45 GMT so it was time to head home but I could not resist another visit to 60m to see if I’d missed any chasers. It was worth a visit…thanks everyone.
11:13z
M0XTA
5MHz
SSB
Selim
11:16z
GW0PLP
5MHz
SSB
Don
11:17z
EI3GYB
5MHz
SSB
Michael
11:19z
G4WHA/A
5MHz
SSB
Geoff
11:20z
G4ZRP
5MHz
SSB
Brian

My activation set up today:-  (HF) Yaesu FT857 (22Ah LiFePo4),  3 band link dipole (60/40/20),  (VHF) Yaesu FT270  (5watts) + 2m Dipole.  Antenna support - 7m Fishing pole.
Thanks everyone for the contacts.

73 Allan GW4VPX