Radio Tales from West Wales and beyond...: EI/IE-055

EI/IE-055 – Clogrennan Hill

07/11/2018

Window of opportunity (4^th EI activation)

The weather forecast had promised a nice morning with a storm coming up from the SE around 12:00am. I’d looked at Clogrennan on the map and also at a report from Phil ON4TA on Sotawatch/Summits. By looking at the map I thought I could walk to the exact summit from the road which is only a couple of hundred meters South of the summit. The summit is on or near an old quarry but when we arrived at the quarry entrance I understood what Phil had meant and once again it would mean I would have to activate from the roadside as access is well and truly impossible with a lot of barbed wire around the fields and quarry.

Locked gates

Arrived....my activation location

Parking near the large communications complex and well within the Activation Zone I set up my 7m pole on a fencing post with both ends of the dipole tied on to yet another barbed wire fence. The response to my spot and CQ call was amazing for 60m. 27 chasers made my log so thank you everyone.

11:55z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
11:56z	G4WSB	5MHz	SSB	Bill
11:57z	G4OBK	5MHz	SSB	Phil
11:58z	M0TMD	5MHz	SSB	Helen
11:59z	G8ADD	5MHz	SSB	Brian
12:00z	G6LKB	5MHz	SSB	David
12:01z	G0VWP	5MHz	SSB	Terry
12:02z	EI6KI	5MHz	SSB	Laurence
12:03z	EI3GYB	5MHz	SSB	Michael
12:04z	G0HRT	5MHz	SSB	Rob
12:04z	G3VXJ	5MHz	SSB	Bob
12:04z	M0JLA	5MHz	SSB	Rod
12:05z	ON5SWA	5MHz	SSB	Francois
12:05z	G0ELJ	5MHz	SSB	Dave
12:06z	GI0AZA	5MHz	SSB	Esther
12:08z	G4OOE	5MHz	SSB	Nick
12:18z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
12:20z	EI3GYB	5MHz	SSB	Michael
12:21z	G0VWP	5MHz	SSB	Terry
12:22z	DG1NPM	5MHz	SSB	Norbert
12:23z	G4AZS	5MHz	SSB	Adrian
12:24z	G4OBK	5MHz	SSB	Phil
12:24z	M0TMD	5MHz	SSB	Helen
12:25z	GI4ONL	5MHz	SSB	Victor
12:26z	G8ADD	5MHz	SSB	Brian
12:27z	G4KRN	5MHz	SSB	Alan
12:28z	G3BJ	5MHz	SSB	Don

My activation location with the summit and quarry behind

Roadside activation

The wind was picking up and dark clouds were moving in so I quickly opened the links and went straight to 40m. Band conditions were not good but nevertheless quite a few regular chasers made my log. It all went quiet so I packed up quickly before the rain came. Interestingly enough I didn’t have any problems with the Communications complex and even VHF and UHF were clear of any interference.