Wednesday 19 August 2015

GW/NW-022 Moel Eilio



Another fine day

GW/NW-022  Moel Eilio

17/08/2015

Val and I  had booked into a B&B at Caernarvon for a couple of nights for the target summits of Moel Eilio and Moel Cynghorion GW/NW-030. These can be done as a pair in one day but not for us as we wanted to do a little sight-seeing around Caernarvon.  The weather forecast was looking good for the activations,  Moel Eilio being the first of the two.
Caernarvon castle and the Aber swing bridge

Moel Eilio in the distance 
The parking spot for Moel Eilio is only a few miles down the A4085 from Caernarvon, turn left at Croesywaun (near Croeslon/Waunfawr)and head East to SH 5506 5984 (plenty of room for parking). It’s 3.01km to the summit on a well defined path/grass track with a fence a little further up. 


My GPS track


Moel Eilio here we come


Menai Straits and Ynys Mon

GW4VPX/p already on summit and setting up
 This proved to be a very busy summit and I had to answer quite a few questions as to what I was doing. There is also a large cairn on top but it was a no-go area today as there was a swarm of wasps at the entrance. 
 Now where is that lead?...Snowdon behind.
Initially we were surrounded by midges but the breeze soon picked up and we we not bothered for the rest of the activation. I bungeed the pole on a new fence away from the cairn and within minutes John GW4TQE/p was calling from GW/NW-002 Carnedd Llewelyn with an s2s and my first contact of the day...thanks John. 
GW4VPX/p on 2m....Lleyn Peninsula in the distance
David M0YDH called me to say that he was on his way to G/LD-029 Illgill Head hoping that I would be around for an s2s....of course :)  Very soon up pops Mal and Phil on GW/MW-009 Beacon Hill which surprised me as I thought I would have to work them on HF...great stuff...thanks everybody.

09:49z
GW4TQE/P
144MHz
FM
John s2s
09:50z
GW4ZPL/P
144MHz
FM
John
09:59z
M0YDH/P
144MHz
FM
David
10:03z
GW4TJC/A
144MHz
FM
Simon
10:05z
M6ANX
144MHz
FM
Peter
10:09z
GW6OVD/P
144MHz
FM
Mal s2s
10:10z
MW0PJJ/P
144MHz
FM
Phil s2s
10:11z
M6PTH/P
144MHz
FM
Paul
 A busy summit with Val enjoying the sunshine
With a spot via RRT 60m proved quiet today with only three contacts nevertheless it was nice to have a chat with the three of them.
10:22z
G0RQL
5MHz
SSB
Don IO70uv
10:25z
M1ACB
5MHz
SSB
Steve
10:28z
GW6DGU
5MHz
SSB
Roy
 No!..I'm not asleep
40m was disappointing for UK stations but I managed a good run of EU chasers and I made up my mind to return to 40m a little later to see if band conditions might have changed.
10:40z
G6TUH
7MHz
SSB
Mike
10:40z
EA2DT
7MHz
SSB
Manuel
10:41z
DL8DXL
7MHz
SSB
Fred
10:42z
HB9MKV
7MHz
SSB
Rudi
10:42z
SP9AMH
7MHz
SSB
Mariusz
10:44z
ON5IB/A
7MHz
SSB
Peter
10:44z
HB9AGH
7MHz
SSB
Ambrosi
10:46z
GW6OVD/P
7MHz
SSB
Mal s2s
10:47z
EA2LU
7MHz
SSB
Jorge
10:48z
GW2HFR
7MHz
SSB
Jonanthan
10:48z
DL2EF
7MHz
SSB
Franz Josef
20m was not much better although a few chasers did manage to make my log with only a few giving me poor signal reports...the linear was in use.
11:16z
IZ8OFO
14MHz
SSB
Carlo
11:16z
SP9AMH
14MHz
SSB
Mariuz
11:18z
F5PLR
14MHz
SSB

11:19z
CT1MO
14MHz
SSB
Amadeu
11:19z
EA3VM
14MHz
SSB
Clemente
11:21z
IN3NJB
14MHz
SSB
Roberto
11:21z
SP3EWP
14MHz
SSB
Wlodzimierz
11:22z
OM5DP
14MHz
SSB
Martin
It soon went quiet and my attention was drawn to David M0YDH/p calling from Illgil Head and another s2s was in the bag....thanks Dai.  I was surprised to hear my friend Roy from Cardigan coming through with such a good signal..nice one Roy.
11:33z
M0YDH/P
144MHz
FM
David s2s
11:36z
GW6DGU
144MHz
FM
Roy
My set-up with linear
Back on to 40m to try and give the UK chasers a chance but to no avai,l the only bonus being an s2s with Chris G1PCR/p on Skiddaw G/LD-004...thanks Chris and I hope that will be a complete for me at the beginning of the month......LD here we come ..eh Barry IML :)
11:44z
LA8BCA
7MHz
SSB
Terje
11:48z
ON5SWA
7MHz
SSB
Francois
11:50z
DL8FQ
7MHz
SSB
Rolf
11:51z
DL6FBK
7MHz
SSB
Paul
11:52z
ON8DN/P
7MHz
SSB
Etienne
11:53z
MW3ZVB
7MHz
SSB
Graham
11:56z
DL1AVK
7MHz
SSB
Bernd
11:58z
PA3CDN
7MHz
SSB

12:00z
PA2CVD
7MHz
SSB
Cor
12:00z
EI9GLB
7MHz
SSB
Jim
12:01z
OZ/DO3MKB/P
7MHz
SSB
Michael
12:17z
G1PCR/P
7MHz
SSB
Chris s2s
Back at the Car Park...the way to Moel Eilio is down the track 
End to a perfect SOTA day...now where's the pub :)
Thanks everyone for all the contacts and s2s..certainly is a nice little summit with some lovely views.  A text from Barry M0IML asking if I had enjoyed HIS summit as he had visited it 18 times when he lived in the Nantlle valley....certainly worked for me on both VHF and HF (despite conditions) :)

73 Allan GW4VPX

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