Decided to have another go (and get bonus points) by going back up Moel y Gamelin
The plan was 2m and HF. After a 30-40min walk to the top I arrived at a rather breezy summit.
Unpacked and got the mast out and what I thought might help support the mast while I got the guy ropes setup, I tried to use the jack handle from a Defender bottle jack… Didnt really hold in the wind.
Got the guy ropes out the bag only to find they guy ropes looked like knitted spaghetti. After about 30mins of un-tangling the guy ropes in the strong wind, I was ready to get the mast supported. (one rope was a bit tangled but useable)
I was going to use my HF lnked dipole for 20m and 40m but I decided to try my old 10m EFHW via an external ATU-100 fed by the FT-857.
Eventually got setup just as two walkers sat down about 5ft away from me. After a quick chat, I said, dont mind me if I crack on.
Set a frequency, listened for 5 mins or so while I got pen and pad ready and a quick drink - nothing heard. Set a spot and called CQ and then two station appeared who were testing a setup. They told me the frequency was good and I got on with it.
15 European stations in the log.
1 UK/Wales station - MW0IDX
1 S2S with HB9EAJ/p on DM/BW-003
Also EA2DT - I heard the ‘DT’ and recognised the call sign straight away.
As the wind was getting a bit stronger and rain was appearing behind me, I called CQ for the last time - Nothing heard so I packed up.
Headed back down the hill and put my kit in the Landy and then to the Ponderosa Cafe for coffee and cake.
While there I did ponder the option of doing Cyrn-y-Brain but the rain had started and was nearly 15:00. Decided to head home.
Next time I think I will try the 10m EFHW fed from the base of the mast and take wire to the top and then to a guy rope and down to the ground.
Sorry John, I haven’t had any spots through on my phone at all today for some reason otherwise I’d have given you a shout, or lent you some guy ropes.
This is where I attach mine and it seems to work well, also on Moel y Gamelin:
Cheers Pete. Not sure why you didnt get an alert?
I managed it in the end with the guy ropes - cheers for the offer. When I got home I made some out of cardboard for now.
For me, the central ring is some 10mm thick rubber I cut into a disc. I will be mounting this further down - or remake it out of old chopping board.
Is that picture take on the left or the right of the summit as you approach from the cafe?
I make winders from the covers of ring files (from charity shops) with a loop of elastic to secure the winding. Much lighter and less bulky than commecial winders - but the guys can still get into a bit of a tangle in high wind unless you leave as little unsecured guy as possible. Thank you for showing a picture of a mast that looks even less vertical than mine usually does and I have less excuse as mine is much shorter and is made of overflow water pipes. My excuse that is that one of the poles contains a bamboo cane (a tip given me years ago to strengthen the pipe) which has got wet so often (those trips to NI-land!) that it is permanently bent!
Well done for braving the wind and rain - we stayed at home today (and for the rest of the week judging from the forecast).
73 Viki M6BWA
These are the thin, about 0.5mm, stiff plastic sort that you can easily cut with scissors to a butterfly wing shape based on a rectangle about 80 x 100 mm - much bigger and they become floppy. I wind them twist free “figure of 8 style” the same as the RG174 (which is on larger hard plastic winders from SOTAbeams). The guys are too long, have an intermediate loop for short guying and if the terrain requires it (crag edges and areas of slabby rock) I tie a thumb-knot loop where I want to put the peg. Important to untie when taking down or the knots seem to stiffen up after the next use.
For mast attachment I have tried everything from string loops to a 5mm length of brass pipe with wire loops soldered on. The snag with all of them is that unless the diameter is exactly right they tend to stick and scratch the mast sections. Exactly right being just large enough to drop to the bottom of a section and rest on the top of the next one. I must find out why the current one now passes this point under wind load and jams just below it.
The hard plastic of a chopping board has been suggested by others - I have yet to try it.
Good luck ,
73,
Rod
As I have 4 different poles (Decathlon 6m Carbon, Decathlon 5m fibreglass, Life’s a Breeze 5m fibreglass, unknown 5m fibreglass) I have several different guying yokes.
Diabetic test strip plastic containers make a good centre. They’re a soft plastic so they don’t scratch and 26.6mm in diameter. I attach the guys to the centre with 2x heavy duty Ty-Wraps. I also have a few yokes that are 2mm piece of flexible plastic, triangular in shape, guy in each corner and larger hole for the pole.
My original triangular yoke is going strong still, made in Dec 2006!
It was on the left side to get a bit of shelter from the wind when sitting down.
The summit and the right hand side were covered in broken glass when I was up there in the summer.
#3 is a reducer for 6m carbon pole, it goes first then #2. Made from 22mm pipe with the inside filed gently to increase the clearance by few 1/10ths of a mm.
