GW/MW-001 – Plynlimon

 GW/MW-001 – Plynlimon

15/04/2021

Sunny but freezing in the breeze

Thanks to everyone who called me today whilst I was on Plynlimon GW/MW-001 (6 points).  Parked at SN 797 840...still £5.00 I'm afraid.

My route to the summit today

This is new

Nearly there

46 in the log with some challenging contacts using QRP on VHF and HF. The sun was out but it was freezing in the breeze. I'm glad I set up outside the cairn as the summit and circular cairns were busy but all keeping well away from me .. crazy man talking to himself with fishing rods in the air 😀... nevertheless I did have some nice conversations all socially distanced. i.e shouting...

I set up outside of the cairn

Good run of chasers on 2m although not without issues which need to be resolved. The battery on the FT270 (5 watts) went flat immediately and I had to change over to the Wouxon KG-UV8G (9.5 watts on 2m) which also had some issues so I think some testing needs to be done before the next outing.

09:35	2E0YYY/P	144MHz	FM	Mike on G/HSP-021
09:44	MW0OFA	144MHz	FM	Frank
09:45	2E0PWJ	144MHz	FM
09:46	MW7GWR	144MHz	FM	Dave
09:47	MW0VLO	144MHz	FM	Barry
09:47	2E0AGB	144MHz	FM	Allen
09:48	2W0LLJ	144MHz	FM	Jenny
09:49	G4HQB	144MHz	FM	Philip
09:50	M0OVW	144MHz	FM	Gillian
09:51	G8XYJ	144MHz	FM	Matt
09:52	GW8SFT/M	144MHz	FM	Dave
09:52	2E0BTR	144MHz	FM	Geoff
09:53	2W0LVE	144MHz	FM	Chris
09:54	GW6OVD	144MHz	FM	Mal
09:58	2W0BML	144MHz	FM	Ben
09:59	GW0MHK	144MHz	FM	Len
10:03	G4IOQ	144MHz	FM	Tony
10:05	GW4XXF	144MHz	FM	Bruce
10:06	GW3KCQ	144MHz	FM	Eric
10:08	GW4ZPL	144MHz	FM	John
10:09	GW8GLW	144MHz	FM	Irfon
10:12	2E0XYL	144MHz	FM	Karen
10:13	G0RQL	144MHz	FM	Don

 

60m was not working and only two close chasers made the log. Others had been listening but couldn’t hear me. 80m was better.

10:20	MW0OFA	5MHz	SSB	Frank
10:22	MW0VLO	5MHz	SSB	Barry
10:32	2W0LVE	3.5MHz	SSB	Chris
10:35	G0FEX	3.5MHz	SSB	Ken
10:36	G0RQL	3.5MHz	SSB	Don
10:38	G4OBK	3.5MHz	SSB	Phil
10:39	MW0VLO	3.5MHz	SSB	Barry
10:39	2W0LLJ	3.5MHz	SSB	Jenny
10:40	GW4JQP	3.5MHz	SSB	Peter

 

80m loading coil in place

Nice view from my seated position and out of the wind

Although there were good signal reports on 40m and 20m the calls dried up quickly and I did have a feeling that the battery for the KX2 was not performing as before so a replacement is needed I think.

10:43	MW0VLO	7MHz	SSB	Barry
10:44	F4WBN	7MHz	SSB	Chrisitian
10:50	DJ5AV	7MHz	SSB	Michael
10:50	EA2DT	7MHz	SSB	Manuel
10:51	EA1DHB	7MHz	SSB	Ricardo
10:51	EA2CKX	7MHz	SSB	Pedro
10:52	2W0LLJ	7MHz	SSB	Jenny
11:17	SM5LNE	14MHz	SSB	Jan
11:18	MW0VLO	14MHz	SSB	Barry
11:18	EA5K	14MHz	SSB	Miguel
11:19	SV3IEG	14MHz	SSB	Dinos
11:20	2W0LLJ	14MHz	SSB	Jenny
11:23	EA7GV	14MHz	SSB	Jose
11:24	OM8KT	14MHz	SSB	Martin

 

Visitors in the lower cairn

My route down..nice circular route today

My activation set-up

HF:- Elecraft KX2 (8 watts) and 4Ah LiPo

HF Antenna – End-Fed with loading coil for 80m

HF Antenna support – 6m Sotabeams Carbon Fibre Fishing pole

******

VHF/4m Antenna support – 4m Life’s a Breeze Glass Fibre Fishing pole

(VHF) Yaesu FT270 2m-FM (5watts) into a ‘Slim G

Wouxon KG-UV8G (7.5 watts)

Thanks everyone for the contacts

73 Allan GW4VPX