GW/NW-055 Moel Offrwm

GW/NW-055  Moel Offrwm

20/10/2016

The first of three over the next two days

The cark park at SH 745211 was quite full when we arrived.  Most of the walkers were following the Precipice Walk and had already departed when we arrived.  Toilets are also available in the car park.

The car park and toilet block

My GPS track...1.52 km to the summit

Leave the car park from the South end, cross the road to a track leading to farm…..a few hundred meters along this track take the small path to the right which leads you towards the summit.

 Cross the road then up the path towards the Wardens van

Take the new path which leads to the summit

This path is being upgraded and according to the Warden working on the improvement the intention is to take it all the way around the base of the summit and eventually improve access to the summit itself.  

Follow the track until.....

...the hole in the wall...turn right immediately after the wall and...

...follow the wall to the summit

This is a nice summit with good views down towards the Mawddach estuary. 

The Mawddach estuary in the distance

Setting up next to the square cairn

I opened the activation with a couple of 2m contacts to Don and Mike then spotted myself for 60m. The bands were behaving today and I ran just 5 watts from the FT817. A few nice QSOs on 60m then an s2s with John TQE/p  before moving to 40m…thanks John

10:51z	GW0PLP	144MHz	FM	Don
10:57z	MW6WMW	144MHz	FM	Mike
11:03z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
11:04z	G4WSB	5MHz	SSB	Bill
11:04z	G0VWP	5MHz	SSB	Terry
11:05z	M0MDA	5MHz	SSB	Mick
11:05z	GI4ONL	5MHz	SSB	Victor
11:06z	G0FEX	5MHz	SSB	Ken
11:06z	G4IAR	5MHz	SSB	Dave
11:07z	GW6DGU	5MHz	SSB	Roy
11:08z	GM4COX	5MHz	SSB	Jack
11:09z	G0HRT	5MHz	SSB	Rob
11:12z	G8ADD	5MHz	SSB	Brian
11:15z	GW4ZPL/P	144MHz	FM	John
11:28z	GW4TQE/P	144MHz	FM	John s2s

My visit to 40m… still on 5 watts resulted once again in a pileup of chasers with good signals from all over the UK and EU…I was even breaking through Barry M0IML’s wall of noise down in Kent.  Half way through the pileup Val had to throw a large plastic bag over my head as it started to rain resulting in a wet log book..soon eased off and the sun appeared again :) 

The Cairn on this summit is a massive ugly square of stones….Bill G4WSB explained that he had been on top to see if it had a hole in the middle but found nothing..makes you wonder why it was built that way?

Another pileup..Rhobell Fawr GW/NW-021 to the right

One new callsign that really threw me today was M6HMK...it was that of an XYL...as I was sending the signal report my brain was trying to think of her name...it was a real 'Doh' moment. Transpired it was Helen, XYL of Simon G4TJC. I had only congratulated her a couple of weeks ago on the new callsign :( Anyway well done Helen and it looks like we have a new chaser and possibly a new activator for SOTA.

11:35z	EI9GLB	7MHz	SSB	Jim
11:37z	EA2CKX	7MHz	SSB	Pedro
11:37z	PA7ZEE	7MHz	SSB	Geert
11:37z	M0IML	7MHz	SSB	Barry
11:38z	GM0AXY	7MHz	SSB	Ken
11:39z	M0NTC	7MHz	SSB	Gez
11:39z	GM4YMM	7MHz	SSB	Christine
11:40z	M3FEH	7MHz	SSB	Karl
11:40z	ON4CAS	7MHz	SSB	Egbert
11:40z	G3RDQ	7MHz	SSB	David
11:41z	M6HMK	7MHz	SSB	Helen
11:42z	G4IAR	7MHz	SSB	Dave
11:42z	PA0SKP	7MHz	SSB	Sake
11:42z	G0RQL	7MHz	SSB	Don
11:42z	G0FEX	7MHz	SSB	Ken
11:43z	ON4FI	7MHz	SSB	Karel
11:43z	ON4TA	7MHz	SSB	Phil
11:44z	G4GEW	7MHz	SSB	Peter
11:44z	G0HRT	7MHz	SSB	Rob
11:47z	G4ZRP	7MHz	SSB	Brian
11:47z	MI1AIB	7MHz	SSB	Paul
11:48z	G4EOW	7MHz	SSB	Peter
11:48z	G1BLJ	7MHz	SSB	Steve
11:49z	PA0B	7MHz	SSB	Rob
11:49z	DK7ZH	7MHz	SSB	Manfred
11:50z	G8VNW	7MHz	SSB	Nick
11:50z	G4PCE	7MHz	SSB	Richard
11:51z	G4WHA/A	7MHz	SSB	Geoff
11:52z	GI0OXG	7MHz	SSB	Joe
11:54z	G0DDX	7MHz	SSB	Geoff
11:55z	G7BGA	7MHz	SSB	Geoffrey
11:55z	MM3PDM	7MHz	SSB	Peter
11:58z	OE7PHI	7MHz	SSB	Hansjoerg
11:59z	CT1HIX	7MHz	SSB	Gomes

Cadair Idris GW/NW-009 in the clouds

My visit to 20m was short lived with only ten contacts, however it was nice to hear Luther N4DA calling in from the States along with some new callsigns for me.

12:05z	DM1CM	14MHz	SSB	Rob
12:07z	OK2PDT	14MHz	SSB	Jan
12:07z	SA4BLM	14MHz	SSB	Lars
12:08z	OK1SDE	14MHz	SSB	Borek
12:08z	EB5TT	14MHz	SSB	Frank
12:09z	N4DA	14MHz	SSB	Luther, Cartersville, GA
12:09z	OK3KW	14MHz	SSB
12:10z	S52NZ	14MHz	SSB
12:11z	IZ2BKA	14MHz	SSB	Giorgio
12:11z	SP9AMH	14MHz	SSB	Mariusz

Packing up...come on Val

We only saw one other couple on this summit but no doubt with improvements to the access it could become quite busy. It was back to the car for coffee and a sandwich before we headed North towards Llanbedr and our B&B for the night…we would be tackling Y Llethr and possibly Moelfre in the morning.

My activation set up:-  (HF) Yaesu FT817 (5 watts) (4Ah LiPo),  UK-MX 50M linear (for 817) on 20m using 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