GW/NW-061 Y Golfa Report

Old Reflector
1

This is a strange little summit, almost forgotten. It lies just outside of Welshpool and although there are alternative routes, I’ve always approached it by driving up to the Golf Club Car Park. The road to the car park is via a very narrow single track, with few passing places and BTW, try not to run any of the sheep over on your way to the Club House. You’ll need to pray a car doesn’t come from the other direction or you will have a problem!

Time to the summit is between 15 and 20 minutes and is approached by crossing a few fairways and keeping your head down to avoid any golf balls. There are good views from the summit which is a bit restricted for antennas, unless you’re working vertical.

This summit had seen very little HF activity and virtually none on the higher frequencies. Therefore, when I started off on the 20m band, I ran into a big pile-up of unique, 2Q and every man and his dog chasers. I’ve worked enough pile-ups to manage them comfortably, however, this one was a real scrum.

While trying to work Barry N1EU in NY, I pleaded with the pile-up to standby, however, rather frustratingly, a number of chasers refused to pipe down. I suspect that it may have been the chasers who joined the pile-up to see what all the fuss was about, not the regular SOTA Chasers. Thanks to Barry for being so patient, nice to get him in the log again.

On the VHF side of things, working this summit vertical on FM is a real challenge. Even the mighty collinear had its work cut out, as this summit is surrounded by many hills making take-off difficult. A beam would be distinct advantage here, but I’m not into beams. As for qualifying this summit on an HT and rubber duck, I suspect there’s more chance of Income Tax being scrapped.

The higher HF frequencies produced a bit of DX for a change with a nice 5500Km hop to the border of Asiatic Russia and my first SOTA JA contact for ages.

Thanks for the S2S with Tubby and Karen.

Total number of contacts 127, 80 HF and 47 VHF.

Once again, thanks to all the chasers.

73 Mike
2Q0YYY

2

In reply to 2E0YYY:

Hi Mike

Glad to see you had alot of fun from the hill, clearly the WX must have made it more enjoyable.

I need to revisit the hills around Welshpool, I will try and get up them on a Sunday if I get half a chance.

I found it quite a surreal experience being sat next to the trig point seeing golfers below me take their shot and hearing the ball whizz about!!

Stingwern Hill is well worth a visit Mike, although watch out for the cattle, when I went up there they were running around like raging bulls!!

73

Matt G8XYJ

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In reply to 2E0YYY:

Glad to see you had alot of fun from the hill, clearly the WX must
have made it more enjoyable.

Thanks Matt, bit of a chilly wind to start with, but this dropped later in the day. No sign of rain for a change.

I need to revisit the hills around Welshpool, I will try and get up
them on a Sunday if I get half a chance.

I found it quite a surreal experience being sat next to the trig point
seeing golfers below me take their shot and hearing the ball whizz
about!!

Even funnier is watching the sheep graze on the fairways and seeing fences around the greens to prevent sheep doing…err what sheep would do naturally on the clubs beautifully manicured greens!

One of the local dog walkers popped over for a chat and he told me, he thinks area is common land, hence the sheep grazing. No Rangers to worry about up there, then.

Stingwern Hill is well worth a visit Mike, although watch out for the
cattle, when I went up there they were running around like raging
bulls!!

Thanks for the tip, Matt

73
Mike 2E0YYYY

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In reply to 2E0YYY:

Take a 2m beam up Y Golfa and you get heckled by golfers asking whether the TV reception is any good. Anyway, what’s all this cheating driving to the clubhouse? Sounds a bit like Bradnor G/WB-011, another keep your head down summit. :slight_smile:

73, Gerald G4OIG

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In reply to G4OIG:

In reply to 2E0YYY:

Take a 2m beam up Y Golfa and you get heckled by golfers asking
whether the TV reception is any good.

LOL, indeed, Gerald. One chap took a look at the fishing pole antenna and asked how many I’d caught? I told him he was the third one today :wink:

Having activated this summit a couple of months ago, I knew a beam is the best way to go for VHF. Nevertheless, I persisted with the collinear.

The Y Golfa members are very tolerant of people walking across the course and yesterday a couple of them stood and chatted for about five minutes.

Anyway, what’s all this cheating
driving to the clubhouse? Sounds a bit like Bradnor G/WB-011, another
keep your head down summit. :slight_smile:

There are a couple of steep bits on the ascent from the club house, Gerald. Honest :wink:

73 Mike
2Q0YYY

6

In reply to 2E0YYY:

LOL, indeed, Gerald. One chap took a look at the fishing pole antenna and asked how many I’d caught? I told him he was the third one today :wink:

I didn’t get that response Mike. Fortunately I activated this summit in the pre-SOTApole days when I used to carry a 4 metre 1" diameter ally mast with me… like when I was fit!

I’ll give you the credit for the steep bits on the ascent. It certainly feels like you are sitting up in an eyrie when you operate from the trig.

So you’re off to Bradnor next then - to collect more stray golf balls to sell as a sideline at the next rally? :wink:

73, Gerald G4OIG

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In reply to G4OIG:

In reply to 2E0YYY:

LOL, indeed, Gerald. One chap took a look at the fishing pole
antenna and asked how many I’d caught? I told him he was the third one
today :wink:

I didn’t get that response Mike. Fortunately I activated this summit
in the pre-SOTApole days when I used to carry a 4 metre 1"
diameter ally mast with me… like when I was fit!

I’ll give you the credit for the steep bits on the ascent. It
certainly feels like you are sitting up in an eyrie when you operate
from the trig.

So you’re off to Bradnor next then - to collect more stray golf balls
to sell as a sideline at the next rally? :wink:

Yeah, off to Dunstable on Sunday, WX don’t look too clever though :frowning:

I may do much better selling brollies, rather than batteries and golf balls :wink:

73 Mike
2E0YYY

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In reply to 2E0YYY:

Interesting report Mike. I activated this with Dei / M0YDH a while ago and we parked on the main road where the public right of way with the shortest distance to the summit leaves. However, it was a steep climb and there were discrepancies between the path marked on the map and what was actually on the ground!

I had no QSO’s at all on 2m - both FM & SSB. Dei, however, had a pile-up on 40m which I continued to work to qualify but the QSO’s kept coming along with the rain and shortage of time. There were still many stations calling when we had to pack up.

I think your idea of parking at the golf club is much better and it is definitely an HF hill.

Alastair Hopkins, MQ0TYM

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In reply to M6ALR:

Hi Alistair,

I had no QSO’s at all on 2m - both FM & SSB. Dei, however, had a
pile-up on 40m which I continued to work to qualify but the QSO’s kept
coming along with the rain and shortage of time. There were still many
stations calling when we had to pack up.

Certainly not a summit for the RSGB 2m contest :frowning:

I’ve had to buy the VHF contacts I’ve made from this summit, by running between 20 and 40 Watts into the collinear. Bad news for the SLABs :frowning:

I think your idea of parking at the golf club is much better and it is
definitely an HF hill.

Easy walk from the car park with just one steep bit of no more than a couple of hundred metres.

If you’re feeling really lazy, s’pose, you could always hire a golf buggy from the pro shop :wink:

73 Mike
2E0YYY