GW/SW-041 Black Mountain

GW/SW-041 Black Mountain

08/02/2017

Misty today

We parked the car at SO236350 on Gospel Pass and the beginning of the path up over Ffynnon y Parc  to the trig on Hay Bluff.  

Looking back down at the car and Gospel Pass before heading into the mist

Into the mist

We couldn’t see the top of the climb as it was shrouded  in mist. ..it would be one of those days.  It’s easy navigation as there has been considerable improvements to the paths on top to prevent further erosion and to avoid the boggy ground.  

Reaching the trig on Hay Bluff

At the Trig we headed SE on a path which forms part of Offa’s Dyke Path.  On reaching the 695m contour line you can be confident that you are well within the Activation Zone. This is an interesting summit as you can give your callsign as being in either  Wales or England..depends on which side of the path you activate from…you are on the border. 

On Offa's Dyke Path...Not far to go....Allan has heard an s2s possibility :)

As I approached the summit I could hear Viki on Craig y Llyn GW/SW-010 saying that they would soon be moving on to their next summit…panic …s2s opportunity disappearing!!!   I hastily erected the fishing pole with only the cable-tie dipole attached but I had lost Viki somewhere….thank goodness she soon popped up again and was actually calling for me…s2s in the log.  My FT270 is a dedicated 2m rig so I had to swap it for the FT817 which Val had dug out for me from the dry bag in order that Viki and I could have a 70cms contact.. a breathless Rod also made my log as he had sprinted over from his HF station to get the s2s..thank you both.

11:34z	MW6BWA/P	144MHz	FM	Viki s2s
11:38z	MW6BWA/P	433MHz	FM	Viki s2s 70cms
11:43z	MW0JLA/P	433MHz	FM	Rod s2s

By this time I was well past my Alerted time for 80m and I still hadn’t put up the HF antenna…didn’t take long to get going though.  I sent a spot via RRT using the SMS function as there was no 3/4G signal. 

Busy on 80m

I called out on 3.760 as this is a frequency that the WAB uses and I did have SO23 up for grabs as well. Ken G0FEX was monitoring and came back to me immediately with a promise to ‘drum up some support’ from the rest of the WAB gang….thanks Ken…80m was soon buzzing.  I played around a little with the linear but soon came to the conclusion that even 5 watts was working well today. Also I think that many chasers have gone to the trouble of sorting something out for this band in preparation for what may be turbulent band conditions over the next few years….many made my log using low power also…thanks everyone..great fun.

12:02z	G0FEX	3.5MHz	SSB	Ken
12:04z	G0RQL	3.5MHz	SSB	Don
12:07z	2E0KVJ	3.5MHz	SSB	David
12:08z	EI9GLB	3.5MHz	SSB	Jim
12:08z	G0GWY	3.5MHz	SSB	Geoff
12:08z	G0VWP	3.5MHz	SSB	Terry
12:09z	GM4WHA	3.5MHz	SSB	Geoff
12:10z	G1YFF	3.5MHz	SSB	Jake
12:10z	G0HIO	3.5MHz	SSB	Mike
12:11z	G4WSB	3.5MHz	SSB	Bill
12:12z	GI4ONL	3.5MHz	SSB	Victor
12:12z	M3FEH	3.5MHz	SSB	Karl
12:13z	G8ADD	3.5MHz	SSB	Brian
12:14z	G0TDM	3.5MHz	SSB	John
12:15z	G4SQA	3.5MHz	SSB	Dave
12:15z	G4IAR	3.5MHz	SSB	Dave
12:16z	G8VNW	3.5MHz	SSB	Nick
12:16z	PA0SKP	3.5MHz	SSB	Sake
12:17z	G1BLJ	3.5MHz	SSB	Steve
12:17z	2E0SCS	3.5MHz	SSB	Stephen
12:18z	G0FVH	3.5MHz	SSB	David
12:19z	GW6DGU	3.5MHz	SSB	Roy
12:20z	PE1PIC	3.5MHz	SSB	KeesJan
12:21z	MM0XPZ	3.5MHz	SSB	Steve
12:21z	GW4GNY	3.5MHz	SSB	Martin
12:23z	G4GEW	3.5MHz	SSB	Peter
12:25z	M6HMK	3.5MHz	SSB	Helen
12:26z	2E0GBK	3.5MHz	SSB	Keith
12:28z	GB2IWM	3.5MHz	SSB	Colin

Delighted with my success on 80m and having announced that I was moving to 60m it was nice to hear so many chasers from 80m calling in on this one as well. Thanks also to my friend Simon G4TJC on spotting me once he heard me pop up on Hack Green..even spotted me on 2m later before I had a chance to hit the send  button on RRT :)

12:36z	G8ADD	5MHz	SSB	Brian
12:38z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
12:39z	G4IAR	5MHz	SSB	Dave
12:39z	EI9GLB	5MHz	SSB	Jim
12:39z	G0VWP	5MHz	SSB	Terry
12:40z	EI3GYB	5MHz	SSB	Michael
12:40z	G0GWY	5MHz	SSB	Geoff
12:41z	G1YFF	5MHz	SSB	Jake
12:41z	G0TDM	5MHz	SSB	John
12:41z	M0MDA	5MHz	SSB	Mick
12:42z	G4PDF	5MHz	SSB	Bob
12:42z	G4FGJ	5MHz	SSB	Gordon
12:44z	MW0BYS	5MHz	SSB	Bill
12:44z	GM4WHA	5MHz	SSB	Geoff
12:46z	G4OBK	5MHz	SSB	Phil
12:49z	DL3HXX	5MHz	SSB	Lothar
12:50z	M0AGJ	5MHz	SSB	Alan
12:50z	G1BLJ	5MHz	SSB	Steve

By this time Val had made a cup of coffee to warm us up as the mist was not really shifting with the occasional snowflake finding it’s way into our bothy bag.  I had promised to give a call on 2m and was delighted when Steve G1BLJ popped up for his third contact with me..one on each band..thanks Steve.

12:55z	G4ENZ	144MHz	FM	Martin
12:58z	G1BLJ	144MHz	FM	Steve
13:01z	G0SDD	144MHz	FM	Chris

We had been on summit for an hour and a half so it was time to head down as dark clouds were gathering in the distance.  

Clearing as we headed back..it would soon change again.

It did clear slightly as we headed for Hay Bluff but as we reached the car the mist came in again and  it soon started to rain…good call.

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

Thanks everyone for the contacts

73 Allan GW4VPX