Apologies to HF chasers today from GW/NW-003 the PTT wire in the mic departed its contact post leaving me unable to transmit!.However 2 meters was really good on the resurrected FT290r. Certainly one of the best scrambling / walking summits in NW, with some epic waterfalls (video to follow).
Thank you to G6WRW/P for running back up to the top to make the s2s !
Jonathan.
Connection problems… ah yes. When I did “defense systems” connector problems and wiring loom problems accounted for the vast majority of all problems. We spent more time on wiring and connection issues than designing all the software for a many thousand processor system!
However, more important is that you have your FT290 repaired and that means we need to schedule another “Vintage Electric Handbag Event” for hopefully when the weather is a little bit more pleasant than last time. It was pretty poor that weekend up here.
What was the 290 fault in the end?
I don’t think these 3.5mm jack sockets are up to much abuse. I know the CW activators are always complaining of them failing abruptly and pretty much the same has occurred in this instance. I actually thought it was the soldering on the binding post but its the 3.5 !.
FT290r is a fantastic radio, and sure enough it works far better then the HT. Faults :-
The PLL harmonic filter wasn’t filtering - new 1uf capacitor, realign and its now on frequency.
The audio crackling was caused by a small 10uf capacitor on the far right hand side of the board gone leaky, this was found by putting the tip of the iron on the capacitor.
The S-meter is still intermittent, and a new mem battery and it will be back to a fully working state.
Another event would be excellent Andy, I have found a 50Ah battery for the 19 Set, with that and a three man expedition would see it possible on most summits !
ofc the F290r would be good, but that is now seeing regular use now anyway 
Jonathan
I had waited patiently for your spot to appear on one of the bands because you were one of my targets for the day. As time went on it appeared you were delayed getting to the summit or something had happened for you to abort your attempt so reluctantly I packed things way because I needed to get home.
It was only by chance that as I was listening around the bands on my Alinco DJ-7G that I heard someone in conversation with you while I walked off the hill. I had just got past the disused buildings on the transmitter access road on the wrong side of the hill so turned tail and returned to the summit.
Thank you for the contact on 2m. Glyder Fawr is on my hit list to do again when the weather is good so I can see the views (and where I’m going) because when I did it was in a white out!
Carolyn
Not so much in the way of views as it is a rocky plateau, but some spectacular approaches, to say the least. I’m probably too old to tackle the Seniors Ridge, now, even though it is probably the most spectacular approach, but I am fond of going up to the Devil’s Kitchen, following the syncline up to the col then an easy path to the summit - less crowded than Bristly Ridge. Needless to say, its on my geriatric bucket list!
Brian
Getting up there was fine, in fact my route was rather fast and enjoyable. I had no plans to abort on the way up.
I noted most people where alerting for 11:00 which in order to work a s2s here was far too early, I reduced the alerted time to 11:30 at one point but after looking at the devils appendix route again I realized this wasn’t going to be very quick so I put it back up to 12:00.
I arrived at the summit on time, however as soon as I got there the fog had appeared. Glyder Fawr as you know has a rather large summit area. I climbed to the highest point hoping it was the summit area but could not be sure. I waited patiently for the fog to lift (+30mins) and once I could see I was actually on the summit I tried the handheld. With no signal whatsoever I couldn’t spot until G6ODU came along and finally spotted me (thank you Bob) that made for another (+30mins).
After the spot came on 2m was really very busy. Had a lovely s2s QSO with Mike 2E0YYY. And then finally managed to work you Carolyn, I was aware that you might have been keen to get the QSO for the SOTA complete possibly.
10/10 for climbing back up, that is dedication upon which I really appreciated the contact. I am really sorry I didn’t get on any earlier. Spotting was out of my control there and I didn’t want to start calling until I was absolutely certain I was in the right place.
After 2m had finished I wasn’t going to to HF as the conditions where getting very bad. My face this morning feels like it has been sandblasted. I finally warmed up a bit and thought I would give it ago, set up, plugged the mic in and no PTT action Arghhh ! First failure of the homebrew rig which is allowed in my book seen as it technically had nothing to do with the radio.
Anyway we did it in the end 
Thanks to Bob as well, because I am sure it wouldn’t have occurred otherwise !
Jonathan
Not for a complete just the points, I’m chasing another personal challange. The only NW summit I need to chase is Elidir Fawr GW/NW-005. I keep missing it.
Carolyn
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Well there is three that I plan to do towards the end of the year, Elidir Fawr is one of them. I was thinking of combining it yesterday, but that just isn’t practical in the Winter. Could even do it tomorrow if I finish today, I will think about it.
I am trying to chase the entirety of NW, If I pick up the key I will get it done much faster.
Jonathan
Devil’s Appendix? Is that the VS route on Clogwyn y Geifr? I would guess that it was very wet and coated in swarfega at this time of the year!
Brian
Devils Appendix is the very top of the kitchen ( I believe ?) , you can see it on the mapping project actually. This the way I descended.
On the Ascent I was looking to make up time so I took a somewhat risky option of scaling the left bank to the famous kitchen route and came up to Llyn Bochlwyd. There is a ridge which leads directly to the summit here which has obviously been scaled a few times, once again I didn’t follow the path as I wanted a more direct route up the ridge. I didn’t time it, but it was fast.
Jonathan
It sounds good. I did a bit of googling and found the Devils Appendix waterfall, the name was unknown to me, its not in any of my guides, so it may be a fairly recent naming.
To a climber the Devils Appendix is a very severe route up the crag just to the right of the Devils Kitchen opening, not technically difficult but usually wet and slimy, first climbed in 1937 and best repeated after a long drought by climbers in a hurry to get to the Vaynol Arms! You can see roughly where it goes in your video, the skyline of the crag just after you pan past the Kitchen, if I have your position sussed out properly.
Brian
Devils Appendix is now really only done as a winter route. It needs a good long freeze thaw period to build it up.
Click on the pictures for a set taken during an ascent in April 2013. Steve Long is a UIAGM Mountain Guide and acquaintance of mine.
It is not me climbing with him… he’s a bit better than me (British Understatement at its best).
Flickr Gallery - Devils Appendix
73
Gerald
MW0WML
Wow - just wow! The conditions must have been terrific, it looks Scottish Grade V, about a grade harder than I used to lead at! The rock route goes up just to the left of the ice fall - if I remember correctly it was one of Menlove Edwards nasties, he used to love to battle with wetness, vegetation and steep, loose rock! (Shudder!)
Brian
Hi Brian, it is nominally Grade VI,6. But as we both know winter grades are dependant on conditions. I suspect this was quite a bit harder as some of the falls hadn’t touched down fully so it ended up as swinging out onto hanging icicles and climbing them.
My blood ran cold typing that sentence.
(Jonathan - sorry for hijacking your post, but I thought it might be interesting to a few folk)
73
Gerald
MW0WML
Carry on Gerald, Its fascinating. I am still looking through those photos thinking “how the hell !”
Having being next to it I know how huge that rock face is, and I am sure you do as well, amazing stuff.
I heard you on the WebSDR on 2m I ran up the hill with my handheld to work you on Moelfre, but I just missed you 
Jonathan
Darn! Sorry Jonathan, I did 50 mins and I was getting a bit chilly. I was also keen to get to Rhialgwm so I could get it done before it was too dark. Just about achieved that, I got back to the car at just before 17:00 without switching the head torch on, but I only managed it because it was on a good track.
73
Gerald
MW0WML
Ah! In my day the grades only went up to V! I remember even on a medium grade route, SC Gully on Stob Corrie nan Lochan, grade III, I had to get past an awkward bit by hand-jamming between two huge icicles! Still, even vertical ice is reasonably easy if you have decent tools and the know-how to use them, the real gut-watering stuff was rock-face climbing with everything verglassed - chip it off to get the holds that you could see but not touch, clean out cracks to insert protection nuts, suspecting that they would never hold, I was in a way glad that marriage and a family gave me an excuse to stop, though even now I miss it! An adrenaline junky, I suppose…
Yes, I apologise to Jonathon, too, a little diversion caused by the name of a climb getting attached to a nearby feature!
Brian