GW/NW-029 Maesglase

GW/NW-029 Maesglase

10/10/2016

Long walk today but well worth the effort

Maesglase had been on the cards for a couple of years but other summits had taken priority. This summit overlooks part of the Mach Loop so I was looking forward to seeing a few military planes flying below us.  We had stayed the night at the Ivy House in Dolgellau to ensure an early start for this one as it is 4.69 Km (approx 2.8 miles) to the summit so an early start was called for as we had about a 2hr drive home afterwards.

My GPS track

I had discussed the route with Barry M0IML but opted for the one that Gerald MW0WML has posted on the SOTA Mapping site which incorporated a bit of both. We parked the car at SH839151 near the bridge and walked a few hundred meters back up the road to the gate and memorial to Hugh Jones the bard and Hymn writer who at one time lived at Maesglasau,  a ruin which we would pass on the way up. It is worth looking on Wikipedia for information on Hugh Jones ( https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Jones ). 

 Memorial to Hugh Jones

As I said earlier it is a long way to the top but the initial track through a field from the memorial is very pleasant with views of what was to come. There is also evidence of slate mining with some pieces of slate making the path rather slippery.

Our route would take us all the way across the skyline from left to right

The waterfall dropping down Craig Maesglase

Our route-orientate the map :)

SH 827135 (corner of the forestry)-It's a long way from the valley to this point..turn right and follow the fence to the summit keeping the fence on your left.

Cross this stile at SH 817148 to keep the fence on your right and the summit directly in front of you.

Setting up the antenna-plenty of room here

On arrival at the summit I spotted myself saying that I would be QRV on 5.985.5 Mhz +/- in 10 minutes.  I was welcomed on frequency by an ongoing QSO between Don G0RQL, Phil AFM and Mike TUH and a ready made pile-up waiting in the wings…thanks everyone :)

11:31z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
11:32z	G7AFM	5MHz	SSB	Phil
11:32z	G6TUH	5MHz	SSB	Mike
11:33z	M0JLA	5MHz	SSB	Rod
11:33z	EI9GLB	5MHz	SSB	Jim
11:34z	G8VNW	5MHz	SSB	Nick
11:34z	G3RDQ	5MHz	SSB	David
11:36z	GW6DGU	5MHz	SSB	Roy
11:37z	GM4WHA	5MHz	SSB	Geoff
11:39z	PA7ZEE	5MHz	SSB	Geert

Happy to get a good run of chasers in the log on 60m I quickly set about changing the links to 40m. It was difficult to get a spot up whilst sitting down so Val went for a walk-about and eventually she managed to get a signal. Once again 40m was buzzing with EU callers and also a few WAB chasers calling in for the Square…thanks.

 Working the pile-up

11:53z	ON4TA	7MHz	SSB	Phil
11:54z	G6TUH	7MHz	SSB	Mike
11:55z	G0MNN	7MHz	SSB	Ben?
11:55z	G7AFM	7MHz	SSB	Phil
11:57z	EA2CKX	7MHz	SSB	Pedro
11:57z	G7BGA	7MHz	SSB	Geoffrey
11:57z	SM7DIE	7MHz	SSB	Tore
11:58z	MM3PDM/M	7MHz	SSB	Peter
11:58z	MI1AIB	7MHz	SSB	Paul
11:59z	M0NTC	7MHz	SSB	Gez
11:59z	G4SQA	7MHz	SSB	Dave
12:00z	G4HPE	7MHz	SSB	Steve
12:00z	HB9AGH	7MHz	SSB	Ambrosi
12:01z	SM7CNX	7MHz	SSB	Dan
12:02z	G4GEW	7MHz	SSB	Peter
12:02z	OE7PHI	7MHz	SSB	HansJoerg
12:02z	ON7MD	7MHz	SSB	Michel
12:03z	G0RQL	7MHz	SSB	Don
12:04z	LA8BCA	7MHz	SSB	Terje
12:09z	M0IML	7MHz	SSB	Barry
12:12z	G0TSQ	7MHz	SSB	Chris
12:13z	PA2CVD	7MHz	SSB	Cor
12:14z	G0OFD	7MHz	SSB	John
12:14z	MM0GGI	7MHz	SSB	John
12:15z	ON7TH	7MHz	SSB	Wilfried
12:15z	M3FEH	7MHz	SSB	Karl
12:16z	DL8DXL	7MHz	SSB	Fred
12:17z	ON2JA	7MHz	SSB
12:18z	SP6BBE	7MHz	SSB	Zbigniew
12:19z	SA4BLM	7MHz	SSB	Lars
12:21z	GI0AZA	7MHz	SSB	Esther
12:22z	DM5BB	7MHz	SSB	Alexander
12:22z	GM4JEJ	7MHz	SSB	Mike
12:23z	DD5LP	7MHz	SSB	Ed

Once again I had to send Val to look for a phone signal whilst I called on my chosen frequency. My spot did come up but I think Lars SA4BLM had also spotted me which started another pile-up which included some nice DX to Canada and the USA once more.  My friend Don in Aberporth also made the log possibly via ground wave…if I’d have had binoculars I probably would have been able to see him as I could see a hint of the sea and Cardigan Bay.

Nice views from the summit

Cadair Idris from the 'Cairn' !

12:31z	SP3AH	14MHz	SSB	Arseniusz
12:36z	SA4BLM	14MHz	SSB	Lars
12:38z	VE2JCW	14MHz	SSB	Jean QC Canada
12:39z	OE5YYN	14MHz	SSB	Sylvia
12:39z	N1GB	14MHz	SSB	George VT USA
12:40z	IK1GPG	14MHz	SSB	Massimo
12:41z	GW0PLP	14MHz	SSB	Don
12:41z	SP9AMH	14MHz	SSB	Mariusz
12:41z	SP8RHP	14MHz	SSB	Robert
12:42z	S56LXN	14MHz	SSB	Bojan
12:42z	OE5REO	14MHz	SSB	Martin
12:43z	S56IHX	14MHz	SSB	Marjan
12:43z	OK1SDE	14MHz	SSB	Borek
12:44z	HA2EDX	14MHz	SSB	V?li
12:44z	OE5AUL	14MHz	SSB	Peter
12:45z	ES1IP	14MHz	SSB	Raul
12:45z	DL7UCW	14MHz	SSB	Ben

Pleased with the DX

I could hear Don calling on 2m as I was nearing the end of my visit to 20m so I gave him a call picking up a few extra chasers during the visit. I really thought I was in for an s2s when Jake called in saying that he was on his way up to Cadair Berwyn but sadly he was only a third of the way up…you can’t win them all…no s2s today :(

12:48z	GW0PLP	144MHz	FM	Don
12:50z	GW4ZPL/P	144MHz	FM	John
12:51z	MW0RHD	144MHz	FM	Bob
12:55z	2W0SEY/M	144MHz	FM	Jake

It took us quite a while to wind our way back down to the valley bottom with storm clouds looming as we reached the car. 

Heading down hill - harder than you think

We had packed away and were in the car when the heavens opened up…Val caught a nice photo of a rainbow. 

The rainbow

Also we just missed a photographic opportunity when two Tornados sped up the valley toward the Mach loop..as I said before you can’t win them all.

My activation set up:-  (HF) Yaesu FT817 (5 watts) (4Ah LiPo),  UK-MX 50M linear (for 817) and 12V 4 Ah LiPO battery,  3 band link dipole (60/40/20 (+15m+80m extensions),  (VHF) Yaesu FT270 (5watts) into a ‘cable tie’ dipole.. Antenna support - 7m Fishing pole.

Thanks everyone for the contacts

73 Allan GW4VPX