16/05/10 GW/NW-053 Moel Gyw
We left the house around 9:30 in the morning to arrive at the summit in time for the 10:00 (UTC )start I had planned for. We used the car park at the motel on the opposite side of the road to Offas Dyke path, and soon began the accent, well more of a stroll along a track to begin with but never mind, it soon gets steeper.
After leaving the farm track we passed through a couple of fields before arriving on a much more well defined path heading around the base of the summit, navigating using a Garmin Vista HCX loaded with the latest build of the OSM base map (http://www.openstreetmap.org/)
The final accent was quite steep but the views at the top were certainly worth it. So after a quick break we decided to start setting up the station, which used to take all of a minute to assemble the beam, but today was the debut activation for my FT-857 running of a battery pack kindly donated along with a bag and 80m dipole; by Ron (GW6ZDH) -We also planned to have a go with the dipole as no 80m activations had taken place on this summit -
So the pole was stuck into the hole in the top of the trig, the 2m beam was attached and the coax attached to the rig, then we stretched out the dipole taped it to the top of the pole and attached that to the rig.
As usual I started the activation on the Wouxun KG-UDV1 hand held, with the diamond whip attached which quickly pulled in Steve GW7AAV in Connah’s Quay, who then spotted me on SOTA watch. I knew Jimmy (M3EYP) was about today activating the nearby summit of Moel Famau, and asked Steve if he knew if they had arrived yet, he said that they wouldn’t be to long, so I gave a quick call on my preferred SOTA frequency of 145.575 and was quickly called 3 stations, before Jimmy and his Dad Tom called in for two Summit to Summit contacts. Three more contacts followed including yet another Summit to Summit with Moel Famau.
We then decided to try out 80m. So after a quick call to Steve to get a spot for me on 3.666. After three or four very long CQ calls I wasn’t sure I was getting out to well, so spent a minute scanning the band, I could hear plenty of GM stations, so went back to my frequency and continued to call. To be finally answered G4OBK who located in North Yorkshire, he gave me a report of 53, but said I was fading in and out, and after signing with him and giving a couple more calls we decided to give 2m SSB a try, after all there was a competition on all weekend and I was hopeful it would reveal some contacts.
And what a good choice it was, and after another spot from Steve the contacts just rolled in. Another twelve contacts in all, including my first Scottish station GM8OTI, and another summit to summit with G8HXE/P on Pendle Hill.
So after that we decided to call it a day, and began to pack away the station, and then headed off the summit back to the car.
A great activation, being the first 80m activation from Moel Gyw, and my first HF activation.
Just need to plan where to go next weekend, or the weekend after. Most likely the latter as it’s a bank holiday, and it will give me three days to get some more summits in, is anyone in the club up for activating Tal Y Fan?
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1010 GW/NW-053 144MHz FM GW7AAV
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1014 GW/NW-053 144MHz FM G7SKR/P
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1015 GW/NW-053 144MHz FM 2E0LAE
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1018 GW/NW-053 144MHz FM GW3RBM
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1020 GW/NW-053 144MHz FM MW3EYP/P S2S GW/NW-044
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1022 GW/NW-053 144MHz FM MW1EYP/P S2S GW/NW-044
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1023 GW/NW-053 144MHz FM G0SLR
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1025 GW/NW-053 144MHz FM 2E0PHJ
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1028 GW/NW-053 144MHz FM 2W0TDX/P S2S GW/NW-044
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1050 GW/NW-053 3.0MHz FM G4OBK First HF SOTA contact
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1058 GW/NW-053 144MHz USB MW0IDX
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1059 GW/NW-053 144MHz USB 2E0BMO
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1101 GW/NW-053 144MHz USB 2E0VNB
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1103 GW/NW-053 144MHz USB GM8OTI First Scottish contact
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1105 GW/NW-053 144MHz USB 2E0FSR/P
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1107 GW/NW-053 144MHz USB G3JIR
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1109 GW/NW-053 144MHz USB G8HXE/P S2S G/SP-005
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1110 GW/NW-053 144MHz USB G4LAA
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1111 GW/NW-053 144MHz USB GW4RWR/P
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1112 GW/NW-053 144MHz USB G1EVRAW
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1114 GW/NW-053 144MHz USB G0VOF
MW6CSS/P 16/05/10 1116 GW/NW-053 144MHz USB G4FPJ