Sunday 27 November 2016

Three on the Welsh Borders

Three on the Welsh Borders

25/11/2016

G/WB-015 Callow Hill (1 point)
Callow Hill was our first target of the day so an early start from home ensured we reached the parking spot early but we were still 30minutes behind time when we arrived on summit…oh dear.  
My GPS track -1.49km
Sign in need of some TLC
Details of the Folly on top
Approaching the Folly
The Folly...not open today...cracking morning
This summit would be an unique and a complete for me so I was hoping the bands were in good shape. The intention was to activate this and meet up with David M0YDH and have a joint activation of Heath Mynd G/WB-007 later in the day.  I qualified the summit within minutes as 60m was working well with contacts into Wales, England, Ireland, Scotland and Geert making the trip from the Netherlands.
11:36z
EI3GYB
5MHz
SSB
Michael
11:37z
G0VWP
5MHz
SSB
Terry
11:37z
G0RQL
5MHz
SSB
Don
11:38z
G7BGA
5MHz
SSB
Geoffrey
11:39z
G0FEX
5MHz
SSB
Ken
11:39z
G6TUH
5MHz
SSB
Mike
11:39z
G4IAR
5MHz
SSB
Dave
11:40z
G3RDQ
5MHz
SSB
David
11:40z
GW6DGU
5MHz
SSB
Roy
11:40z
GW0PLP
5MHz
SSB
Don
11:41z
G0ELJ
5MHz
SSB
Dave
11:41z
G8VNW
5MHz
SSB
Nick
11:42z
GM0AXY
5MHz
SSB
Ken
11:42z
M0MDA
5MHz
SSB
Mick
11:43z
G4WHA/A
5MHz
SSB
Geoff
11:43z
GI0OXG
5MHz
SSB
Joseph
11:44z
MM0GGI
5MHz
SSB
John
11:45z
PA7ZEE
5MHz
SSB
Geert
11:46z
G0FVH
5MHz
SSB
David

By the Trig on Callow Hill
On to 40m and David M0YDH/p on G/WB-006 Caer Caradoc Hill was in the log with an s2s then a steady flow of EU chasers with only Mike G6TUH, Terry G0VWP and Karl M3FEH being heard and in the log from the UK.
11:52z
M0YDH/P
7MHz
SSB
David s2s
11:56z
ON6ZQ
7MHz
SSB
Christophe
11:56z
SP9AMH
7MHz
SSB
Mariusz
11:57z
EA2CKX
7MHz
SSB
Pedro
11:58z
DJ5AV
7MHz
SSB
Michael
11:58z
HB9DHA
7MHz
SSB
Reinhard
11:59z
ON7MD
7MHz
SSB
Michel
11:59z
ON5SWA
7MHz
SSB
Francois
11:59z
IW3AGO
7MHz
SSB
Heinrich
12:00z
G6TUH
7MHz
SSB
Mike
12:01z
ON7AH
7MHz
SSB
Dirk
12:01z
DL1CR
7MHz
SSB
Christoph
12:01z
G0VWP
7MHz
SSB
Terry
12:02z
OK2PDT
7MHz
SSB
Jan
12:02z
HB9DQM
7MHz
SSB
Manuel
12:02z
SA4BLM
7MHz
SSB
Lars
12:02z
DJ6OK
7MHz
SSB
Oliver
12:03z
F5LMK
7MHz
SSB
Schmidt
12:04z
M3FEH
7MHz
SSB
Karl
12:05z
DL3HXX
7MHz
SSB
Lothar
12:06z
ON4VLM
7MHz
SSB
Leon
12:07z
OE3RGB
7MHz
SSB
Rainer
12:07z
DL1CST
7MHz
SSB
Claudia
A few calls on 2m brought three responses and a few chats before a text from David saying he was packing up…time to move….
12:11z
M0LXQ
144MHz
FM
Mark
12:15z
M0CQE
144MHz
FM
Paul..Oldham
12:18z
G6IQL/M
144MHz
FM
Vince

G/WB-007 Heath Mynd (1 point)
We made good time to the parking spot and decided to eat our lunch as David had not arrived. I parked off the road on the mountain next to our intended route so that David had enough room for his car. 
My GPS track-1.64km
On our way
Not far to go
A text from David saying he would be late as he was slightly lost due to diversions but to get going and start the activation without him.
Activation underway..Corndon Hill in the distance-another SOTA

15:30z
G0RQL
5MHz
SSB
Don
15:30z
G6TUH
5MHz
SSB
Mike
15:31z
G0FEX
5MHz
SSB
Ken
15:36z
G4WSB
5MHz
SSB
Bill
15:36z
G4IAR
5MHz
SSB
Dave
15:37z
G0VWP
5MHz
SSB
Terry
15:37z
G0SGB
5MHz
SSB
Steve
15:51z
GW6DGU
5MHz
SSB
Roy
15:52z
GW0PLP
5MHz
SSB
Don
15:53z
G0WFH
5MHz
SSB
Chris
I had logged 8 chasers by the time a flustered YDH arrived in the Cairn so I soon got him qualified by handing him the microphone. 
YDH arrives
I had already primed some of our regular chasers to ‘stand-by’ for when he arrived so thank you everybody…you know who you are… 
Time to move but not before....
M0YDH gets the Geocache :)
We had noticed that the sun was dropping down over the horizon and it was getting dark when David announced that we had a slight problem…Whist parking, he dropped the car into a ditch so would need to be extracted from it and could I help? We got down off the summit in the dark…surveyed the situation with a torch and then with tow rope attached and ‘diff lock’ engaged he was soon back on the road…never a dull moment when M0YDH is around :)…an adventurous day I think. 

We bade farewell to David then Val and I headed for Ludlow where we had booked into an hotel for the night and  hoping to meet up with Matt G8XYJ. It transpired he had a party so we agreed to meet up the next time when we were in the area…plenty more one point unique summits to tick off close to Ludlow.

26/11/2016
G/WB-018 View Edge (1 point )
The next day we headed for View Edge. A rather uninspiring one pointer but nevertheless a good summit if you want to start activating,  indeed most of the summits in G/WB are excellent as an introduction to SOTA. 
Park on grass verge walk NE then left over a stile then use PROW (follow blue line)
The actual summit is on private land but the Activation Zone is very large. I set up a few hundred meters in from the road using bungees to strap the pole to the stile. I had an excellent run of chasers on 60m and I think one of the best I’ve had in quite a while.
10:32z
G0RQL
5MHz
SSB
Don
10:33z
G0VWP
5MHz
SSB
Terry
10:33z
EI9GLB
5MHz
SSB
Jim
10:33z
G6TUH
5MHz
SSB
Mike
10:34z
G4IAR
5MHz
SSB
Dave
10:35z
G3WGE
5MHz
SSB
Keith
10:36z
G0NKZ
5MHz
SSB
Kenn
10:36z
GI0AZA
5MHz
SSB
Esther
10:37z
GM4WHA
5MHz
SSB
Geoff
10:37z
MK0BKV
5MHz
SSB
Damian
10:38z
M1MAJ
5MHz
SSB
Martyn
10:39z
M0JLA
5MHz
SSB
Rod
10:39z
G4WSB
5MHz
SSB
Bill
10:39z
M0MDA
5MHz
SSB
Mick
10:40z
G8ADD
5MHz
SSB
Brian
10:41z
G7AFM
5MHz
SSB
Phil
10:42z
G0FVH
5MHz
SSB
David
10:43z
G4ILI
5MHz
SSB
Grant
10:43z
G3ZIY
5MHz
SSB
Richard
10:45z
G3XKT
5MHz
SSB
Tony
10:46z
G0TDM
5MHz
SSB
John
10:46z
G7BGA
5MHz
SSB
Geoffrey
10:47z
G3XFA
5MHz
SSB
Rob
10:47z
G0GWY
5MHz
SSB
Geoff
10:48z
G0FEX
5MHz
SSB
Ken
10:49z
M0IOK
5MHz
SSB
David
10:50z
G3RMD
5MHz
SSB
Frank
10:51z
G8VNW
5MHz
SSB
Nick
10:52z
PA0B
5MHz
SSB
Rob
10:53z
GM4COX
5MHz
SSB
Jack

Bungee pole to the stile
Despite an s2s with Juerg 40m was not working all that well with some sort of QRM and very soon the chasers dried up and I quickly pulled the plug and went to talk to some walkers who had shown an interest in what I was doing.
11:03z
HB9BIN/P
7MHz
SSB
Juerg s2s
11:05z
LA8BCA
7MHz
SSB
Terje
11:05z
EA2CKX
7MHz
SSB
Pedro
11:05z
PA1BR
7MHz
SSB
Pascal
11:06z
F4FWO
7MHz
SSB
PERRIER Sylvain
11:07z
MM3PDM/M
7MHz
SSB
Peter
11:08z
EA2DT
7MHz
SSB
Manuel
11:09z
EB2JU
7MHz
SSB
Jos? Luis
11:09z
DD5LP
7MHz
SSB
Ed
11:10z
OK2PDT
7MHz
SSB
Jan
11:10z
G0VWP
7MHz
SSB
Terry
We were soon homeward bound after three successful activations and an enjoyable few days away from home. Three completes as well and Winter Bonus is looming :)

 My activation set up:-  (HF) Yaesu FT817 (5 watts) (4Ah LiPo) using 12V 4 Ah LiPO battery,  3 band link dipole (60/40/20 (+15m+80m extensions),  (VHF) Yaesu FT270 (5watts) into a ‘cable tie’ dipole.. Antenna support - 7m Fishing pole.

Thanks everyone for the contacts
73 Allan GW4VPX

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