MCV returns to NW

Old Reflector
1

Hi all/

After about a year of inactivity I plan to return to North Wales for a week or so of summit activations. My intention is to drive up this Friday and start on Saturday with a route that I have always wanted to do. I know it’s been done before but…NW-005/004/003/006. Me and NW-005 aren’t the best of friends but fingers crossed this time I’ll stay on my feet!
I also intend to do the WAB contest on Sunday 6th from Carnedd Llewellyn NW-002(1000-1400UTC). Note I’m not allowed to use the calling frequencies during this time so I could be anywhere on 2m , so if you know your WAB area that will help me lots (but do still call me if you don’t). After the contest has finished I’ll call on 2m FM/SSB calling channels to mop up any I’ve missed.
The rest of the week will see activations as and where I manage. I’d like to knock off NW-007 which is a glaring gap in my uniques.
All this of course depends on the weather. If the weekend forecast is that bad I’ll delay departure until later in the week and the big walk will be on another day.

Cheers

Mick 2E0MCV

2

In reply to M3MCV:

I hope everything goes well for you Mick. Paul G4MD and myself both had a word in Elidir Fawr’s shell-like and she says she will be kind to you this time around.

Will be looking out for you on the summits, especially during the Lleyn Peninsula mini-expedition on Tuesday 8th / Wednesday 9th. Like yourself, everyone in the group is hoping for decent weather. Surely we must have some soon…

73, Gerald

3

In reply to G4OIG:

Gerald/

Sorry if I’m being stupid but are there any details posted of your Lleyn peninsular trip? If I know you’re going to be down there, might tempt me to try a few myself

Mick

4

In reply to M3MCV:

Gerald

I’ve found details of your expedition, hopefully I’ll work you from a few of them.

I’ve also just noticed apparently there’s some kind of event going on with lots of people walking over Elidir Fawr, Y Garn, Glyder fawr and Tryfan on the same day as I’m planning to do them. Could get busy up there

Mick

5

In reply to M3MCV:

When Thomas and I did the Glyders and Tryfan earlier this year there were at least two races/events going on at the time and we kept getting mistaken for a checkpoint - something to bear in mind perhaps.

Rick

6

In reply to M3MCV:

Sorry if I’m being stupid but are there any details posted of your
Lleyn peninsular trip? If I know you’re going to be down there, might
tempt me to try a few myself

Hi Mick,

I didn’t want to hi-jack your thread, but here are the basic outlines.

A group of 5 of us split into 2 teams are planning to activate at least 6 summits over Tuesday 8th / Wednesday 9th September. The activation of Mynydd Enlli NW-072 is subject to the boat running and will affect our schedule, so we have kept it a bit vague until we know more about the weather. The other summits are pretty obvious if you have Google Earth and the excellent MAJ file hooked up, but for non-Earthies they are NW-050, NW-058, NW-064, NW-066, NW-068 and NW-075. The action starts around 8 a.m. on 8th September with Enlli the second summit (for the entire group) all being well.

I’ve placed a general alert on the AR Forum and there is a note on Summitsbase as well. Bands will be 80m, 60m, 40m, 20m, 2m and 70cms - possibly 30m if I have time, but no promises.

It would be good if you do come over our way, either to hook up via radio or in person and join us. There should be plenty of microphones to pass across to you! If you want more details, email me as per my QRZ.com address, though as I said, the weather will dictate what actually happens.

All the best for your loftier activations! The NW-006 to NE-005 ridge is a beauty. I can also recommend NW-020 + NW-024 if you are a glutton for punishment.

73, Gerald

7

Update:

First, Mick MCV will try to join us for Bardsey or if not another summit / summits. He could pop up on any frequency, but may prefer to give 2m FM a go, so please look out for him. If he isn’t with us, he will try to get up a summit or summits to work us.

Second, the weather looks like the wind may be too high for us to get to Bardsey on Tuesday 8th. If this is the case then we will resort to Plan B all round and will need to start at 07:00z (earlier) in order to make the boat which sails at 09:00z. The alternative is to activate NW-072 first and do two summits afterwards, but we will decide what we want to do on Tuesday evening.

We hope to work as many chasers as possible on the various bands.

73, Gerald and the rest of the Lleyn-Bardsey group.

8

In reply to G4OIG:

Best of luck to all operators taking part in this expedition :slight_smile:

I will listen first thing on HF before I go to work, a VHF/UHF path looks impossible from here, with some of the highest summits in Britain directly in the way! :wink:

I hope the weather is kind to you.

73,

Mark G0VOF

9

In reply to G0VOF:

Many thanks for the best wishes Mark. Hopefully we will catch you on the “earlies”. Looks damp tomorrow and dry on Wednesday!

The boat is definitely not running tomorrow (Mick please note as your mobile is switched off or out of range), so we have agreed a final schedule which is as follows:

Tuesday 8th September…Wednesday 9th September
Team CFJ NW-075 / NW-058 / NW-064…NW-068 / NW-072 / NW-066
Team GP NW-050 / NW-066 / NW-068…NW/064 / NW-072 / NW-058

Anyone want a wake up call as I go out the door at 1.50 a.m.? Nah, thought not.

73, Gerald

Edit: just realised we need to be on the first summit on Wednesday at 07:00z, so the Breakfast Club will need to be on parade on both days.

10

In reply to G4OIG:

Hi again Gerald,

Yesterday I monitored the alerted frequencies on 80m & 60m from about 06:00z to 07:35z when I left for work. Once at work I checked in here & found that Carolyn GW6WRW/P had posted that it was too windy for HF, so I missed out yesterday. I believe the weather did pick up later & HF was used with some big signals reported along with some good contacts on VHF / UHF.

This morning I was a bit late out of bed,but as soon as I was up I checked in here & saw a couple of spots for HF :slight_smile:

I listened for Carolyn on 60m, but the band wasn’t working over such a short distance that early & I could barely tell she was there. I switched to 80m & heard John GW4BVE/P very well indeed, stronger than Mike G4BLH who is only 10 miles away from me! After working John I went to do my morning ablutions, & upon returning listened on 60m again, but the band was just not working for me.

I switched back to 80m & after a bit of tuning around I heard a Welsh station having a nice ragchew with Paul GW4MD/P a little bit up the band from John’s earlier frequency. Paul was not very strong & with the QSB at the time I think it would have taken a bit of time for us to complete a valid QSO,although I did copy his summit details as he gave them to the Welsh station.

I was quickly running out of time as I needed to leave for work so I abandoned any attempt at working Paul & as he hadn’t been spotted, I spotted him on that frequency. I hope my spot was of some assistance to those chasing this morning, & of course to Paul :slight_smile:

I would liked to have tried VHF / UHF even though the path from here does look impossible, but having no permanent VHF / UHF beams at this QTH I really would not have time to put anything up, as I would have to take it down before leaving for work. I was ten minutes late as it was this morning, & that was only due to HF! HI!

I see from today’s spots that some surprising contacts have been made on VHF / UHF today. I am assuming Mike G4BLH posted his spot for 70cms after working Frank GW3RMD/P, if so then I may even have been in with chance on 70cms myself, although Mike does have a better take off than me in that direction. It is quite obvious from Phil G4OBK’s spot that he had worked Frank. :slight_smile:

With some serious terrain between GW/NW-066 & Pickering, I think that is a fantastic contact on 70cms! :slight_smile:

A big well done to all operators, I’m sorry I only managed one QSO, but that dreaded four letter word “work” got in the way.

I don’t know how, but I’ve managed to get a week off work in a couple of weeks time. At 9 days, it will be the longest break I’ve had for over 5 years, including Christmases! I am already weighing up what I am going to do that week, maybe a few more of the Southern Pennines, or the odd Northern Pennine.

I was even looking at Lake District campsites this lunchtime!

No, maybe that would be a little to ambitious for me :wink:

Once again, A big thank you & well done to all operators :slight_smile:

73,

Mark G0VOF

11

In reply to G0VOF:

Hi Mark,

Many thanks for the report and the best wishes for the group. We could not have had two more contrasting days weather-wise. 60mph gales, 30m visibility, driving rain on the first summit on Tuesday to sunny and a virtually cloudless sky yesterday. A number of the activations on Tuesday were seriously compromised, but at least the group did as much as we could. I can’t say that fighting to control a 2m dipole against the wind with it raised only to 1.5 metres was much fun, especially with water running down my arm, but I thought things could only get better… and fortunately they did!

Many thanks to everyone that came on to work us. We had a great time in an area of considerable natural beauty. Most enjoyable.

And to those reading this, please don’t forget that Mick 2W0MCV/P is still over in Wales and looking for contacts until his return, probably sometime on Saturday.

73, Gerald (and the rest of the Lleyn-Bardsey group)

12

It was good to see Mick activated Y Lliwedd NW-008 today and was posted for Snowdon NW-001 later. I get the feeling Tryfan NW-006 might be getting a bashing tomorrow before his official leave permit expires!