GW/MW-002 Great Rhos

60m working well today

GW/MW-002 Great Rhos

31/03/2016

I studied Mal GW6OVD’s route to Great Rhos starting at SO157-655 but decided as I wanted to try something out I would stick to a route that I knew and leave Mal’s route till next year (see Sotawatch - Summits).

My GPS track

Once again starting at Haine’s Mill SO/2036-6042 and parking on the strip of tarmac on the bridge we made our way North to the summit. 

Blue sky

Turn left here and follow the Bridleway..red flag flying

Cross the bridge.

Long steady walk to the bwlch

Busy on the range...can't publish my other pics as I might get into trouble :)

One of many warning signs...keep out

The bwlch and gate

It’s 2.99 miles to the summit with a long stiff climb to the bwlch and gate at SO/1873-6201. 

Snow on Pen y fan

They are watching us.....

Now as we approached SO/1848-6327 I told Val to keep an eye out for a very faint path which would lead us WNW....we found it just as we approached what looks like the remains of  large hedge....it was well worn but hidden slightly. We followed this looking for another path that would lead us North to the trig…we found it at around SO/1815-6334 and followed a well trodden but squelchy path to the trig.

Trig in the distance

There is no problem to spot yourself from this one so with a comment on my spot saying I would be QRV in 5 minutes I soon had a nice pile-up underway with nice strong signals and good reports all round.

Fishing pole bungeed to trig

Pile-up :)

11:02z	G4WSB	5MHz	SSB	Bill
11:02z	G6TUH	5MHz	SSB	Mike
11:03z	G4FGJ	5MHz	SSB	Gordon
11:04z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
11:05z	G6DFM	5MHz	SSB	John
11:05z	G7AFM	5MHz	SSB	Phil
11:06z	GW4BKG	5MHz	SSB	Steve
11:07z	GX0AXC/A	5MHz	SSB	David
11:08z	G8ADD	5MHz	SSB	Brian
11:08z	G4IAR	5MHz	SSB	Dave
11:08z	M0MDA	5MHz	SSB	Mick
11:09z	GW2HFR	5MHz	SSB	Jonathan
11:09z	M0TVU	5MHz	SSB	Paul
11:11z	GI0HWO	5MHz	SSB	John
11:11z	GI8SKN	5MHz	SSB	David
11:12z	G1BLJ	5MHz	SSB	Steve
11:12z	MW0XOT	5MHz	SSB	John
11:14z	G4IOQ	5MHz	SSB	Tony
11:15z	G0TDM	5MHz	SSB	John
11:16z	GW1CLH	5MHz	SSB	Paul

Comments from chasers on 60m warned me that conditions on 40m were not favourable so I plugged in the linear. A comment by Mike G6TUH on the spots saying that I was having a coffee break enabled me to change the links and set up the Chinese box of tricks :)  

Finding a frequency

The band was favouring EU but when I moved to 7.160 and the WAB net a few UK chasers made my log.

11:28z	DJ5AV	7MHz	SSB	Mike
11:28z	EA2CKX	7MHz	SSB	Pedro
11:29z	ON2OY	7MHz	SSB	Erik
11:29z	DL2EF	7MHz	SSB	Franz Josef
11:29z	EA2LU	7MHz	SSB	Jorge
11:30z	ON2BDJ	7MHz	SSB
11:31z	G7BGA	7MHz	SSB	Geoffrey
11:34z	SM6CNX	7MHz	SSB	Dan
11:35z	MM3PDM	7MHz	SSB	Peter
11:36z	PA3DIP/M	7MHz	SSB	Cor
11:36z	2E0KVJ	7MHz	SSB	David
11:37z	G7AFM	7MHz	SSB	Phil
11:38z	DL9CP	7MHz	SSB	Joerg

As  soon as I’d finished on 40m I set about adding my 80m extensions from the 20m links and was delighted when 10 chasers made the log many of which were happy to get that 80m contact for various awards.

11:50z	G7AFM	3.5MHz	SSB	Phil
11:50z	G0FEX	3.5MHz	SSB	Ken
11:51z	G4IAR	3.5MHz	SSB	Dave
11:51z	2E0KVJ	3.5MHz	SSB	David
11:51z	G6TUH	3.5MHz	SSB	Mike
11:52z	G0BFJ	3.5MHz	SSB	Brian
11:52z	G4SQA	3.5MHz	SSB	Dave
11:56z	G0RQL	3.5MHz	SSB	Don
11:58z	GW2HFR	3.5MHz	SSB	Jonathan
12:03z	GI4ONL	3.5MHz	SSB	Victor

I was delighted with the activation and set about dismantling the HF gear telling Val that I would visit 2m shortly. It was now getting cold as the sun had disappeared and we had seen a few flakes of snow.

Set up with 80m links...if you can zoom in

One end of 60/40/20 dipole and 80m extension behind

However, my phone rang and Victor GI4ONL informed that GI/SM-018 Slievekirk was a rarely activated SOTA summit and that Esther GI0AZA/p was there and calling on 7.160Mhz. I told Victor that I had taken most of the HF antenna down, however, I just could not resist…a quick dash to put everything together again although during the contact I looked at the SWR meter on the FT817 and could see something was not quite right…one link not connected?..even off frequency in my haste.....thank you Victor and especially Esther for not only was it an s2s but also a t2t for WAB.

12:16z	GI0AZA/P	7MHz	SSB	Esther s2s t2t TP3070
12:31z	GW1CLH	144MHz	FM	Paul
12:36z	G4ILI	144MHz	FM	Grant

As I had alerted for 2m I gave a few calls with only two replies but nevertheless they were very pleasant chats…thank you Paul (also 60m) and Grant.

My activation set up today:-  (HF) Yaesu FT817 (5 watts) (4Ah LiPo),  UK-MX 50M linear (for 817) and (4Ah LiPo),  3 band link dipole (60/40/20 (+80m extensions),  (VHF) Yaesu FT270 (5watts) & cable tie dipole for 2m - 7m Fishing pole.

Thanks everyone for the contacts and the spots.

73 Allan GW4VPX