GW/MW-024 Rhiw Gwraidd

GW/MW-024 Rhiw Gwraidd

21/02/2018

Chasing s2s and an unique summit for me

With Viki and Rod out on a couple of summits I had planned to activate two summits that would give me more or less a ‘line of sight’ path to theirs. I parked at SO 016629 and walked North up to the farm where I asked permission to use the track to the summit…no problems.

Track to summit

I had contacted Simon G4TJC to see if he could run a check on LIDAR for me as to whether the Trig was in the Activation Zone ….the answer was ‘Yes’ by about 2m and confirmed by the Relative Hills of Britain survey.

I was soon on summit (about 1km from car) and Radio Rucksack Tools was informing me that Neil GW0WPO was on Y Llethr GW/NW-017 and active on 20m.  I had set up for 80m with the coils in place…I could hear him so I dropped down a little and tapped the Tune button on the KX2..he was soon in the log…thanks Neil. The ATU in the KX2 works really well.

I was soon away on 80m after the excitement of the s2s with a steady run of Chasers…thanks everyone

10:59z	GW0WPO/P	14MHz	SSB	Neil s2s
11:15z	G0VWP	3.5MHz	SSB	Terry
11:16z	G4WSB	3.5MHz	SSB	Bill
11:17z	MW0XOT	3.5MHz	SSB	John
11:17z	G3OKA	3.5MHz	SSB	John
11:18z	G3RMD	3.5MHz	SSB	Frank
11:19z	G4IAR	3.5MHz	SSB	Dave
11:19z	G0RQL	3.5MHz	SSB	Don
11:20z	G0GWY	3.5MHz	SSB	Geoffrey
11:22z	GI4ONL	3.5MHz	SSB	Victor
11:22z	MW0ISC	3.5MHz	SSB	Steve
11:23z	G7AFM	3.5MHz	SSB	Phil
11:24z	M3FEH	3.5MHz	SSB	Karl
11:25z	G4SQA	3.5MHz	SSB	Dave
11:26z	GW6DGU	3.5MHz	SSB	Roy

A spate of s2s followed with Viki and Rod having arrived on Great Rhos GW/MW-002 after some difficulty as the boundary for the Ranges has been altered.  Now John GW4TQE/p and I had talked the previous night regarding the possibility of an s2s from Carningli GW/MW-033..surprisingly we made it without any major difficulty…thanks John, Viki and Rod.

11:35z	MW0JLA/P	5MHz	SSB	Rod s2s
11:37z	GW4TQE/P	144MHz	FM	John s2s
11:40z	MW6BWA/P	144MHz	FM	Viki s2s
11:41z	MW6BWA/P	433MHz	FM	Viki s2s diff band

By the Trig...no significant breakthrough on 2m from Comms Tower.. a few burst of data

I was aware that I would soon have to be moving to my next summit but not without a visit to 60m. A few new callsigns made my Log..best contact was Jack GM4COX but it was a difficult QSO.

11:48z	GW0PLP	5MHz	SSB	Don
11:49z	G0VWP	5MHz	SSB	Terry
11:50z	G6DFM	5MHz	SSB	John
11:52z	GW7MMG	5MHz	SSB	Phil
11:53z	GM4COX	5MHz	SSB	Jack
11:54z	G3OKA	5MHz	SSB	John
11:55z	G0FEX	5MHz	SSB	Ken
11:56z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
11:56z	G4IAR	5MHz	SSB	Dave
11:57z	G6NHW/P	5MHz	SSB	Pete
11:58z	G4WHA/A	5MHz	SSB	Geoff
12:04z	MW6LPU	144MHz	FM	Lee

I walked back down to the farm and thanked the farmer…it was time for coffee and a sandwich then on to The Begwns GW/MW-025.

Activation set up

 (HF) Elecraft KX2 (10 watts) and 4Ah LiPo

 Antenna - 3 band link dipole (60/40/20 (+15m extensions +80m loading coils)

Antenna support - 7m Fishing pole.

VHF Yaesu FT270 and Kenwood TH-F7 & cable tie dipole 2m70cms

Thanks everyone for the contacts

73 Allan GW4VPX

GW/NW-021 – Rhobell Fawr

GW/NW-021 – Rhobell Fawr

04/02/2018

Simon’s Mountain Goat day

A belated Happy New Year to everyone.   It’s been a troublesome time at the home QTH with adverse weather causing drainage problems under the front lawn.  Last week we replaced the broken 450mm  bore concrete pipes with plastic ones. This is only Phase 1 and there is another stretch to be replaced during the next few weeks.

Our lawn!!

Anyway,  Simon G4TJC was on 999 points and only needed another one to get his Mountain Goat status.  I had promised him some time ago that I would join him for the important activation and after a few e-mails we decided on Rhobell Fawr GW/NW021 (6points + 3 winter bonus).  We met at SH 797249 having decided to use Gerald’s (MW0WML) ascent track from the Sota Mapping Project  https://www.sotamaps.org/tracks.php

Trig in sight

It was -2C when we left the cars and we soon hit the snowline and a sharp wind from the NE….it was going to be cold on top…it was probably -10C+ by the Trig. 

Cadair Idris GW/NW-009 in the distance

We had already decided that 2m was to be first band as we knew that quite a few chasers were waiting for us.  I helped Simon put up the Slim Jim  and within 6 minutes Simon qualified the summit.  The fourth contact in his log was Helen 2E0VMD/p..Simon’s wife who had gone out on a hill to chase him on his Mountain Goat day…success.

GW4TJC/p Mountain Goat ..pile-up

Happy MG

11:11z	M0VTD/P	144MHz	FM	STUART
11:16z	GW4ZPL/P	144MHz	FM	JOHN
11:17z	MW0ISC	144MHz	FM	STEVE
11:18z	2E0VMD/P	144MHz	FM	HELEN
11:21z	2E0DIJ	144MHz	FM	DUANE
11:24z	2E0JKR	144MHz	FM	RON
11:26z	G4ZWY	144MHz	FM	STEVE
11:27z	GW4TQD	144MHz	FM	John
11:27z	G7LMF	144MHz	FM	GRAHAM
11:29z	IE9GLB	144MHz	FM	JIM
11:32z	2E0VMD/P	433MHz	FM	HELEN
11:37z	M1EYP/P	144MHz	FM	TOM,IO93BM
11:41z	GW3XRM	144MHz	FM	DAVE
11:43z	GW4UKU/P	144MHz	FM	PETE
11:45z	2E0ICE	144MHz	FM	PAUL
12:05z	G8MKT/P	144MHz	FM	Chris,IO83XD
12:21z	MW1CJE/P	144MHz	FM	Andrew,IO81JS
12:29z	M0JLA/P	5MHz	SSB	Rod,IO82QL

Simon’s Log

I soon left Simon to his 2m pile-up and set up my HF station starting on 60m…it was really cold now but the run of chasers made up for it.

Our stations ..VPX on 60m

KX2 in use  

11:12z	M0VTD/P	144MHz	FM	Stuart
11:16z	GW4ZPL/P	144MHz	FM	John
11:17z	MW0ISC	144MHz	FM	Steve
11:18z	2E0VMD/P	144MHz	FM	Helen
11:25z	2E0JKR	144MHz	FM	Ron
11:37z	M1EYP/P	144MHz	FM	Tom s2s
11:50z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
11:52z	G4WSB	5MHz	SSB	Bill
11:54z	G0EVV/P	5MHz	SSB	David s2s
11:54z	G4IAR	5MHz	SSB	Dave
11:55z	G8ADD	5MHz	SSB	Brian
11:56z	G3RDQ	5MHz	SSB	David
11:58z	G0HRT	5MHz	SSB	Rob
11:59z	GI4ONL	5MHz	SSB	Victor
12:02z	GM4WHA	5MHz	SSB	Geoff
12:06z	G8MKT/P	144MHz	FM	Chris s2s
12:22z	MW1CJE/P	144MHz	FM	Andrew
12:29z	M0JLA/P	5MHz	SSB	Rod s2s

My Log

60m soon went quiet so to keep warm I made my way over to Simon who said that once Rod and Viki were in the log we would head down and out of the cold wind.  Although we could hear Viki calling she could not hear us due to interference from the communication systems on her summit…sorry Viki.

He's got the badge

A final pic by the Trig and we made our way down to a sheltered spot for coffee and a piece of Christmas cake as a celebration of Simon’s MG.  We followed Gerald’s descent track which was fun but not recommended in foggy conditions.

Activation set up

 (HF) Elecraft KX2 (10 watts) and 4Ah LiPo

 Antenna - 3 band link dipole (60/40/20 (+15m extensions +80m loading coils)

Antenna support - 7m Fishing pole.

Thanks everyone for the contacts

73 Allan GW4VPX & Simon GW4TJC