Rhobell Fawr GW/NW-021

A chatty farmer and a 'Gold' Portable Professional Certificate

Rhobell Fawr GW/NW-021

25/09/2015 (Friday)

Val and I had booked into a B&B in Rhyd Ddu for this evening ready for our two summits on Saturday and Sunday.  A suggestion by Val that we activate a summit on the way up to North Wales was most welcome so I decided on Rhobell Fawr which is not far from Dolgellau and would only take us a few miles off our intended journey. During our trips up to LD and NP Barry M0IML  and I discuss routes to various summits in North Wales so this was already pencilled in on the map (thanks Barry). 

My GPS track...easy navigation..follow the wall all the way to the summit (2.79Km)

A South approach on a tarmac road to a parking spot at SH7663 2345. Now if you have a four wheeled drive vehicle you can drive all the way to SH76482453 which is what I did but be warned there is a very rough bit on the way up.

Track gets a little rough after this gate

The tarmac approach road has many gates and it was on the last gate that I said ‘Bore da’ (‘Good Morning’ in Welsh) to a farmer who was tending his lambs ready for market...that was it,  there followed 15 minutes of chat in our native language as it transpired that he had worked for many years a few miles from my home village and knew most of the people that I knew. Mindfull of my Alerted time I politely said that we must move on and with that he said ‘Get in your car and I’ll open the gate for you’ ..wonderful  start to the day.

 Follow the wall

Follow the wall

With a few texts flying around it was obvious that David MW0YDH/p and I would reach our summits at about the same time so I opened with an s2s with him from Mynydd Rhyd Ddu GW/NW-073...thanks David.

GW4VPX/p Rhobell Fawr

 The Trig

A call on 60m brought Don G0RQL to the log, a promise of a spot (thanks Don) and  I was away with many of the WAB chasers wanting the trig also...thanks everyone.

11:13z	MW0YDH/P	144MHz	FM	David s2s
11:30z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don IO70uv
11:32z	G7BGA	5MHz	SSB	Geoffrey
11:34z	EI6KI	5MHz	SSB	Laurence
11:38z	M0XRS	5MHz	SSB	Chris
11:39z	G6TUH	5MHz	SSB	Mike JO00bx
11:40z	M0NTC	5MHz	SSB	Gez
11:40z	M0JLA	5MHz	SSB	Rod
11:41z	GW2HFR	5MHz	SSB	Jonathan
11:42z	G4ZRP	5MHz	SSB	Brian
11:44z	G3TXL	5MHz	SSB	Angus
11:45z	GW6DGU	5MHz	SSB	Roy

NE..Moel Llyfnant and Arenig Fawr

I was able to self-spot for 40m and Mike G6TUH came back with a 5/9+ so the band was working well at this particular moment in time as UK chasers made the log as well as Ireland, Netherlands, Spain,  Belgium and Portugal.

11:48z	G6TUH	7MHz	SSB	Mike
11:49z	MW0BYS	7MHz	SSB	Bill
11:50z	MW0YDH/P	7MHz	SSB	David s2s diff band
11:51z	G7AFM	7MHz	SSB	Phil
11:51z	MM3PDM/M	7MHz	SSB	Peter
11:52z	M3FEH	7MHz	SSB	Karl
11:52z	MW3PZO	7MHz	SSB	Sean
11:52z	M0IML	7MHz	SSB	Barry
11:53z	ON5SWA	7MHz	SSB	Francois
11:54z	CT1HIX	7MHz	SSB	Gomes
11:54z	PA0B	7MHz	SSB	Rob
11:55z	EI9GLB	7MHz	SSB	Jim
11:56z	EA2CKX	7MHz	SSB	Pedro

 

Towards the Rhinogs

A ‘heads up’ by Sean MW3PZO and a quick link change brought Neil GW0WPO/p to my log. Neil was on a misty Snowdon whilst we had a lovely clear skies...thanks Neil.  Now as I was finishing with Neil I was aware that Manuel EA2DT wanted my summit so I announced a ‘5 up’ and sure enough Manuel was waiting along with the rest of the world :) It was nice to get a contact with Matthew KA1R (USA) so 20m was certainly working as well and I even picked up an s2s with Patrice on F/AM-362 Sommet de Nibbles...thanks Patrice and everybody who made my log.

12:07z	M3HHY/P	144MHz	FM	Lewis
12:10z	MW3PZO	144MHz	FM	Sean diff band
12:17z	GW0WPO/P	14MHz	SSB	Neil s2s
12:21z	EA2DT	14MHz	SSB	Manuel
12:21z	OE7PHI	14MHz	SSB	Hansjoerg
12:22z	SP9AMH	14MHz	SSB	Mariuz
12:22z	OE3KAB	14MHz	SSB	Karl
12:24z	KA1R	14MHz	SSB	Matthew, MA USA
12:24z	DJ1SD	14MHz	SSB	Joachim
12:24z	F4ESK/P	14MHz	SSB	Patrice s2s
12:26z	OE6WIG	14MHz	SSB	Franz
12:26z	EB2CZF	14MHz	SSB	Jose
12:27z	OE5YYN	14MHz	SSB	Sylvia
12:27z	SP9DPM	14MHz	SSB	Dariusz
12:28z	DL3HXX	14MHz	SSB	Lothar
12:29z	OE7WGT	14MHz	SSB	Karl
12:29z	OM1AX	14MHz	SSB	Vlado
12:30z	DL5MHR	14MHz	SSB	Nikolaus

Ready to head down hill

Back to the car

We made our way down from the summit looking forward to the next few days up on a couple of summits around Snowdon and hoping that the present weather would remain.

My activation set up:-  (HF) Yaesu FT817 (5 watts) (4Ah LiPo),  4 band link dipole (60/40/20+15m), (VHF) Yaesu FT270 (5watts) into a ‘cable tie’ dipole.. Antenna support - 7m Fishing pole.

Thanks everyone for the contacts and spots.

Rhobell Fawr saw me collect the Portable Professional ‘Gold’ certificate awarded by ARPOC (see my Blog list for the link)...whole range of certificates for portable operation ....well worth a look if you like collecting certificates....I’ve certainly enjoyed working towards this one and it came so easy linked to my SOTA activations...thanks everybody who gave me their Maidenhead Locator.

73 Allan GW4VPX