GW/MW-030 – Stingwern Hill

 

GW/MW-030 – Stingwern Hill

14/May/2021

The bands opened up…..

I parked at SJ131015 and walked down the road to the fence for access on to the PROW. The barbed wire at the access point has been cut so getting over the fence is ‘relatively’ easy. It’s just a pity that with a few bits of timber this could be a really easy access point as I can see damage being made to the wire fence in the future.  Once again I followed Phil G4OBK’s GPS track from SOTA Mapping (and instructions from Matt G8XYJ).... 250m and you are on summit!

...a few bits of timber and this could be a really easy access point

From the spots I could see that John G4TQE/p was on 60m but Mal GW6OVD who’d been sitting on the frequency told me that John had just moved to 40m…thanks Mal. A quick s2s shout and we made it quickly followed by Matt G8XYJ/p on 2m…thanks both.

09:24	GW6OVD	5MHz	SSB	Mal
09:27	GW4TQE/P	7MHz	SSB	John s2s GW/NW-061
09:31	G8XYJ/P	144MHz	FM	Matt s2s G/WB-018
09:34	G0TFD	144MHz	FM	David
09:36	G4HQB	144MHz	FM	Philip
09:37	M7SDO	144MHz	FM	James
09:41	G0KKQ	144MHz	FM	Ed
09:43	2W0BML	144MHz	FM	Ben
09:47	2E0BTR	144MHz	FM	Geoff

 

...all set up and ready to activate

Good run of chasers on 2m then quickly on to 60m which worked really well especially in to GI land. I could hear Viki calling on 2m so she and Rod were in the log for another couple of s2s…thanks both. A quick dash to insert the 80m loading coil and I was calling on 80m which produced some good signal reports.

09:54	MW0OFA	5MHz	SSB	Frank
09:55	G4AFI	5MHz	SSB	Andrew
09:56	G8XYJ/P	5MHz	SSB	Matt s2s diff band
09:57	G0VWP	5MHz	SSB	Terry
09:57	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
09:58	GI4ONL	5MHz	SSB	Victor
09:59	GI0AZA	5MHz	SSB	Esther
09:59	G4TJC	5MHz	SSB	Simon
10:00	G4IAR	5MHz	SSB	Dave

Not far from the trigpoint

10:07	M6BWA/P	144MHz	FM	Viki s2s High Vinalls
10:08	M0JLA/P	144MHz	FM	Rod s2s High Vinalls
10:10	M6BWA/P	433MHz	FM	Viki s2s diff band
10:13	G0FEX	3.5MHz	SSB	Ken
10:14	2E0FEH	3.5MHz	SSB	Karl
10:15	G7BGA	3.5MHz	SSB	Geoffrey
10:16	2W0LVE	3.5MHz	SSB	Chris
10:17	G3RMD	3.5MHz	SSB	Frank

 

Far enough away from the electricity wire

When my spot hit Sotawatch for 40m I was inundated with calls from both UK and European stations. It was great fun and it looks like we are in for some good times on the HF bands…once again fingers crossed.

10:25	EA2DT	7MHz	SSB	Manuel
10:26	2W0FLW	7MHz	SSB	Derek
10:27	2E0MTG	7MHz	SSB	Mateusz
10:27	GM6ZAK	7MHz	SSB	Andrew
10:27	2W0LVE	7MHz	SSB	Chris
10:28	F4WBN	7MHz	SSB	Christian
10:28	ON4CB	7MHz	SSB	Kurt
10:29	G4WSB	7MHz	SSB	Bill
10:30	G0FVH	7MHz	SSB	David
10:30	G0FGI	7MHz	SSB	Tom
10:31	EA2CKX	7MHz	SSB	Pedro
10:32	G6PJZ	7MHz	SSB	Andy
10:32	2E0FEH	7MHz	SSB	Karl
10:33	G3YED	7MHz	SSB	Richard
10:33	EA3KI	7MHz	SSB	Salvador
10:34	GI4OSF	7MHz	SSB	John
10:35	PA0B	7MHz	SSB	Rob
10:35	GB6DLB	7MHz	SSB	Malcolm..Dungeness Lifeboat
10:36	M3FTE	7MHz	SSB
10:37	G4TJC	7MHz	SSB	Simon
10:37	MW0OFA	7MHz	SSB	Frank
10:38	G8VNW	7MHz	SSB	Nick
10:39	G4TPJ	7MHz	SSB

 

Used the fence to lift the far end of my antenna off the ground

A good run on 20m with a bonus of 3 s2s. It was great to get my friend and fellow club member Chris 2W0LVE in the log for the third time on this summit.

10:47	2W0LVE	14MHz	SSB	Chris
10:49	DJ5AV	14MHz	SSB	Michael
10:50	OE7MPN	14MHz	SSB	Monika
10:50	EA5K	14MHz	SSB	Miguel
10:52	SP6F	14MHz	SSB	Pawel s2s SP/SS-003
10:54	DB9DIZ/P	14MHz	SSB	Markus s2s HB/VD-048
10:55	DL/HB9EAJ/P	14MHz	SSB	Stephan s2s DM/BW-776
10:56	IK2LEY	14MHz	SSB	Fabio
10:57	IV3NGF	14MHz	SSB	Igor

 

Mal had told me that 10m was open but I had my mind on my next summit so pulled the plug. As it happened it was a good move as within a few miles I came across a road closed sign so had to divert a considerable distance which put me behind time for the next one.

My activation set-up

HF:- Elecraft KX2 (8 watts) and 4.2Ah LiFe

HF Antenna – End-Fed HW - 49:1 Unun- link at 40m + extension for 60m ..with ‘clip in’ loading coil for 80m at link

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

Thanks everyone for the contacts

73 Allan GW4VPX