Made my way up past Cwm Idwal onto Y Garn. It was very windy on top as I set up on 20m CW. I got a few in the log from around Europe before making a couple of contacts on 2m FM. I just used an extended whip aerial as the wind was too strong to hold up my slim Jim aerial.
It was even windier on Glyder Fawr but the views were stunning. As I was setting up, I dropped my Kenwood THF-7E handie onto the rocks. Luckily it still worked, although the volume knob was bent. It’s the only handie I’ve ever bought, which I got not long after SOTA started so I was relieved that it still worked OK (all my other radios are kit built).
I managed a S2S with HB9HZC/P on 20m CW amongst the other callers, the band seemed to be in good shape, and then after working a few on 2m FM I packed up and made my way towards Tryfan.
Last year I experienced torrential rain on Y Garn and Glyder Fawr so omitted Tryfan, this year with the weather so good I was looking forward to scrambling up Tryfan again.
The scramble up Tryfan was a delight, by this time the wind had eased as I enjoyed the commanding views from the summit bathed in sunshine. On 20m CW I had few contacts around Europe including a S2S with G4TGJ/P which was interrupted by a F35B fighter making a deafening low pass. On 2m FM using my Slim Jim aerial my best DX was MI0TLG who was a cracking signal.
Fantastic day in the hills with very few walkers around. Ham2K PoLo portable logger again worked great, very easy to use, even uploading the log on each summit.
Many thanks to those who called in, especially Bruce GW4XXF who worked me on all three summits.
73
Roger MW0IDX
Kenwood THF-7E
HB Slim Jim aerial
QMX
Dipole for 20m band
SOTA Beams tactical mini mast
You had some cracking views there! My summit was a lot lower but it gives great views over to the Yorkshire Dales with G/NP-005, G/NP-010 and others.
I saw your spot on 20m but didn’t really expect to hear you so it was great to get the S2S. You initially got me as G3TGJ but you must have got my resend ok although you have still logged me as 3 instead of 4.
I was also confused as to which summit you were on. You sent me GW/NW-006 but the spot was for GW/NW-003. I was pleased to see that you had uploaded your log before I did mine which confirmed that you were indeed on Tryfan. I notice that a few others have probably logged you on the wrong summit. Did you alert for Tryfan?
I was using a homebrew superhet rig with EFHW on a 6m Decathlon pole.
It’s brilliant isn’t it? I too upload logs “on the hill”. I’ve dared the “pre release” versions. A couple of releases have been a bit unstable, but on the whole each one is a big improvement.
Sad to say it’s taken over from VKPortalog for me at present. I remain immencely grateful to @VK3ZPF for all his work on that app. I’m certainly not deleting it! You never know I might go back to it.
Likewise Richard, thanks for the S2S. I’ve corrected my log with your call. Thanks for the heads up about the alert. I set off earlier than expected and edited the alerts for Y Garn and Glyder Fawr en-route, but I forgot about Tryfan. I’ll look into the contacts later and email the other callers.
Thanks Gerald, pity I was in mid QSO when the jet/s flew over, would have been a nice photo.
Yes, Ham2K has matured very quickly into a fine logging app. I like the ability to tap on a sota spot and have that go straight into the log window, great for chasing S2S. Next I will try importing an adif from iFTx (FT8) into the Ham2K log, that would be neat.
Great report: well beyond my capabilities - one of those is enough for me in a day!
Glad the Kenwood survived. I love my Kenwood THF-7E: use it for monitoring when walking and sometimes on summits when weather is too bad to get FT-817 out, or as on my most recent SOTA trip, the FT-187 decides it’s going to go intermittent on 2m transmit .
Thanks Caroline, I always get great audio reports with my Kenwood. Its had its SMA socket replaced twice, I did a mod to use it in the US and its been in dreadful weather conditions over the years, but its still going strong!
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