GW/MW-012 – Carnedd Wen

 

GW/MW-012 – Carnedd Wen

01/June/2021

Long and hot walk

After seeing a photo on the SOTA Reflector of the river ford by Phil G4OBK who had visited the summit a few days previously I decided that it was time to tick this one off the list. I parked at SH 949129 and made my way down to the ford..easy peasy today. My friend matt G8XYJ used plastic bin liners for his crossing which kept his boots nice and dry. As always, I had my waterproof socks on but the level was so low I barely wet my boots. After hundreds of activations in all types of weather and terrain (bogs) my waterproof socks have kept my feet dry…touch wood they’ll continue to do so.

GPS track by Phil G4OBK

The ford

Good track with several locked gates

Locked gate...entrance to the forestry

Through the forest

It's three and a half miles to the summit and the sun was beating down. No flask today for coffee but an extra bottle of water.

Time for a rest and a  drink

Phil reported a caravan on the way up..it was still there with a nice smell of bacon in the air. Seems as if it's something to do with research going on in the forestry.

Moss samples

The summit and quarry

Viki was in full swing on her summit, so after setting up a quick ‘Summit to Summit call and we completed the exchange on both 2m and 70cms. Rod followed on 60m and gave me the frequency with Don G0RQL easily qualifying the summit for me then a nice run of chasers and an s2s with Mark up in the Lake District…thanks Mark.

09:53	M6BWA/P	144MHz	FM	Viki s2s WB-015
09:55	M6BWA/P	433MHz	FM	Viki s2s diff band
09:57	M0JLA/P	5MHz	SSB	Rod s2s WB-015
10:00	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
10:02	G7BGA	5MHz	SSB	Geoffrey
10:03	G0VWP	5MHz	SSB	Terry
10:04	G0FVH	5MHz	SSB	David
10:06	GW4OUU	5MHz	SSB	David
10:07	M0NOM/P	5MHz	SSB	Mark s2s LD-047
10:09	G8XYJ	5MHz	SSB	Matt

 

Set up above the small quarry

With my spot up for 2m I had a nice run including fellow club member Les who had gone /p to get me in his log…thanks Les. It was great to get so many members of the Facebook ‘GW Summits on the Air’ group in my log  with Matt G8XYJ making a recording of my contact with him and uploading it to group. I finished my run on 2m with a nice s2s with friends Mal and Ian on Waun Rydd..thanks both.

10:13	MW0RHX	144MHz	FM	Richard
10:14	GW8PSJ/P	144MHz	FM	Les
10:15	G8XYJ	144MHz	FM	Matt
10:17	GW0JAI	144MHz	FM	Glyn
10:19	MW7GWR	144MHz	FM	Dave
10:20	M1MLM	144MHz	FM	Ben
10:21	2W0IWM/P	144MHz	FM	Ian s2s SW-004
10:22	GW6OVD	144MHz	FM	Mal s2s SW-004

 

My office above the small quarry

I carefully crossed to clip in the 80m coil and the spot brought an immediate response including fellow club member Andy GW0JLX and regular WAB and SOTA chasers.

10:37	EI3GYB	3.5MHz	SSB	Michael
10:37	G0FEX	3.5MHz	SSB	Ken
10:38	2E0FEH	3.5MHz	SSB	Karl
10:39	2E0AGB	3.5MHz	SSB	Allen
10:40	GW0JLX	3.5MHz	SSB	Andy
10:41	G3CWI	3.5MHz	SSB	Richard
10:42	G4WSB	3.5MHz	SSB	Bill

As there was a distinct possibility that a CME would disrupt the bands I’d packed the linear so I plugged it into the system and fired it up for 40m. Great run on this band including an s2s with Christoph. Don’t really think the CME arrived but I had fun with 30 watts.

10:53	G0FEX	7MHz	SSB	Ken
10:54	S57S	7MHz	SSB	Aleksander
10:54	ON3YB	7MHz	SSB	Lucas
10:55	DL1CR/P	7MHz	SSB	Christoph s2s DM/NS-110
10:56	ON8PHD	7MHz	SSB	Philippe
10:57	GI0AZA	7MHz	SSB	Esther
10:57	G8ADD	7MHz	SSB	Brian
10:58	DJ5AV	7MHz	SSB	Michael
10:59	OS2AD	7MHz	SSB	Pat .. Special Callsign
10:59	EA2CKX	7MHz	SSB	Pedro
11:00	EA2IF	7MHz	SSB	Guru
11:01	EA1DHB	7MHz	SSB	Ricardo
11:02	G3CWI	7MHz	SSB	Richard
11:02	2E0FEH	7MHz	SSB	Karl
11:03	G8CPZ	7MHz	SSB	Andy
11:03	MM0XPZ	7MHz	SSB	SW
11:04	G4IPB	7MHz	SSB	Paul
11:05	G4PFK	7MHz	SSB	Graham
11:07	2E0NAQ	7MHz	SSB	Nick
11:08	GW4GNY	7MHz	SSB	Martin
11:09	M0JKS	7MHz	SSB	Dave
11:10	G1BLJ	7MHz	SSB	Steve

 

The trigpoint behind me...must have been a fantastic view from here before the forestry

I changed the setting on the linear and put up a spot on Sotawatch. Yes, a mini pile-up but I had expected more?  I felt the linear and it was cold…doh. In my haste to change the band switch I must have switched the linear off so it was only 4 watts running through the linear into the EFHW. Who says that QRP and EFHW doesn’t work!

11:17	OE6GND	14MHz	SSB	Gerhard
11:18	EA2DT	14MHz	SSB	Manuel
11:19	F4WBN	14MHz	SSB	Christian
11:20	HB9IIO	14MHz	SSB	Daniel s2s BE-102
11:21	SV3IEG	14MHz	SSB	Dinos
11:21	EA7GV	14MHz	SSB	Jose
11:21	HB9MKV	14MHz	SSB	Rudi
11:22	EA5K	14MHz	SSB	Miguel
11:36	MW0TYM/P	144MHz	FM	Alastair s2s NW-004

Thanks to Alastair for my final contact of the day with a nice s2s to Y Garn in North Wales on 2m-FM.

Some of my contacts (from SOTA mapping)

My view...not coming back to this one

My activation set-up

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

HF Antenna – End-Fed - 49:1 Unun with loading coil for 80m. Adapted for 60m also

HF Antenna support – 6m Sotabeams Carbon Fibre Fishing pole

Linear – MX-P50M..no ATU for 40/20m

******

VHF/4m Antenna support – 5m Life’s a Breeze Glass Fibre Fishing pole

(VHF) Yaesu FT2- 2m/70cms-FM (5watts) into a ‘Slim G

Thanks everyone for the contacts

73 Allan GW4VPX