GW/MW-008 & MW-007

GW/MW-008 & MW-007 Banc Llechwedd-mawr & Drosgol

09/03/2019

More wind than we bargained for

We have been having quite a few storms lately in West Wales. After a night of extreme rainfall the weather looked good for a visit to the summits around the Nant Y Moch reservoir. What we hadn’t bargained for were the gale force winds that were still with us in the morning.  By we I mean Paul M0PLA who made the long trek from Telford for a joint activation with me. The plan was to leave a car at each end of the linear walk which takes in the two summits and about 5 miles of walking in total. We left one car at SN 736886 then drove around to SN774879 above Maesnant and the beginning of our journey.  

From car to GW/MW-007..Bridge is at SN 779892

It was evident at the starting point that we would encounter some high wind speeds on top as there would be nothing between us and the Irish Sea.

On our way

It’s always a struggle up to the top of Banc Llechwedd-mawr (for me anyway) because as the name implies it is very steep!  

MW0PLA/p..he's fit now...

We had difficulty standing at the cairn so had to drop down a few meters out of the wind which did not make it conducive to getting 2m contacts on what is already a difficult VHF summit. The activation did not get off to a good start as the only answer to our 2m calls was from Don GW0PLP and despite a spot we decided to QSY to HF and 60m and a really low antenna. 

As high as we dare

It was evident that 60m was long as the only answer we had was from Paulo in Portugal!!. Things were looking grim as the antenna was already nearly touching the ground at the ends so with the weight of the 80m coils most of it would be on the ground. With a bitterly cold wind we managed to raise one end of the antenna with my walking stick and hunkered back down to see what 80m was like.  Result, with a mini pile-up we qualified the summit with reports that nothing had been heard from us on 60m…thanks everyone.

10:03z	GW0PLP	144MHz	FM	Don
10:21z	CT2IWW	5MHz	SSB	Paulo
10:35z	G0BFJ	3.5MHz	SSB	Brian
10:37z	GB0WAB	3.5MHz	SSB	Ken
10:37z	G0FEX	3.5MHz	SSB	Ken
10:39z	G3UKV	3.5MHz	SSB	Martyn
10:40z	G0RQL	3.5MHz	SSB	Don
10:42z	G7LMF	3.5MHz	SSB	Graham
10:42z	G7WAB	3.5MHz	SSB	Graham
10:45z	2E0FEH	3.5MHz	SSB	Karl
10:46z	GW4ZHI	3.5MHz	SSB	Bryn

MW0PLA/p summit of MW007....Our next summit in the distance MW-008

Second bridge at SN 766888

Arriving at the second bridge 

It would be a long walk to Drosgol with another steep climb to the summit. We stopped for lunch by the bridge between the two summits and thankfully we were protected from the wind. 

Nice warm drink

Feeling warm again we headed over the bridge and once more into the buffeting wind. I was glad to see the cairn and we soon hid inside. Paul raised the 3 element beam just above the top of the cairn and hung on.

Looking for contacts on 2m

It was another difficult session but luckily some of the West Wales mafia were around and support was drummed up with a couple of texts…the problem was the Wales v Scotland rugby match was about to start. I did mange an s2s with Andrew M1CJE/p up on Kirk Fell G/LD-014, but sadly Paul never managed to complete the s2s.

12:50z	GW0PLP	144MHz	FM	Don
12:54z	2W0WMW	144MHz	FM	Mike
12:58z	GW0JAI	144MHz	FM	Glyn
13:12z	GW4ZHI	144MHz	FM	Bryn
13:17z	GW4XXF	144MHz	FM	Bruce
13:22z	M1CJE/P	144MHz	FM	Andrew s2s G/LD-014

Another warm drink before we depart..

Another coffee to warm up and then out to brave the wind..there would be no HF on this one as the wind was far to fierce…it was time for a rapid descent as it was a long way back to car number 2. From the summit head West and try and pick up a quad trail which will take you to the derelict farm at  SN 752886 and the road alongside the reservoir...it was a different world down at reservoir level.

Heading for car number 2

Thanks for the company Paul...looking forward to the next time

Our activation set-up

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

VHF:- Yaesu FT817 and 3 ele beam

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

Antenna support – 5m Fishing pole with end supports

Thanks everyone for the contacts

73 Allan GW4VPX & Paul M0PLA