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