Yesterday as part of my Welsh Marches Tour I visited Y Golfa GW/NW-061. This summit is part of the Welshpool Golf Club so on arrival at the club I went to the club secretaries office to seek permission to park and walk to the summit.
The club secretary said there was no problem but then noticed the SOTA badge I had sewn on the sleeve of my fleece. He pointed to it and said “are you one of those radio guys” to which I replied that I was and expecting to be asked to leave. The secretaries response was “that’s good because I have never met such a polite and well mannered group of people”.
My thanks to all me predecessors who have been to that hill for leaving a very good impression. It is also one of the most beautiful golf courses I have ever seen though I would not like to play there!
Bloody good show on the previous activators of GW/NW-061 - this is great to hear that we as Radio Amateurs are regarded with such respect. It’s a timely reminder to all of us where ever we practice SOTA to be polite and flexible and the good results can be seen here.
For those who haven’t ticked this one off, put it right to the top of your “to do” list, you won’t be disappointed.
GW/NW-061 Y Gofa, is a magnificent little summit and well worth a visit. Easy 20 minute walk to the trig point from the golf club car park. Rather surprisingly, only activated 60 times, five of them done by me. Usually, I have a chat to the curious and very friendly golfers on the way up.
Not a fantastic amount of room at the summit for antennas but manageable… A doddle using a vertical. No comms issues, great phone and Internet coverage.
Y Golfa is supposed to be a good VHF site and although easily qualified on 2m, to be honest, I still have my reservations. If you’re planning to work VHF QRP, from this one, you may wish to consider a beam.
Last time I activated it back in April 2014, I knocked off 15 VK contacts, 5 of them s2s (remember those days?) along with plenty of other DX over the course of my previous visits.
IMHO, easily one of the best summits, I’ve activated.
