I booked a room for nine nights in Merthyr Tydfil, from Friday 21st October to Sunday 31st October. Friday on the way to the hotel, I will try to activate a G-summit. That will be G/WB-013. Nice one for SOTA-complete.
I will try to activate as many GW/SW summits as possible. Which of course depends on the weather and my fellow traveler. At the top of my list is of course GW/SW-001. And also about five summits for summit-complete. Final planning follows prior to the day.
I hope you enjoy your visit to GW/SW-land which is close to us and we often visit. Unfortunately you have chosen the English half-term week (and the Welsh?) so the popular summits will be busy if the weather behaves. I strongly suggest you don’t go up Pen y Fan at the weekend as it, and the popular paths from the west, will be very busy. There also has been very recently some mention of the local ranger not welcoming activators onto National Trust land so choosing a quieter time and opoerating some way from the cairn is recommended. BTW it always seems to be very cold when I go there and there is no shelter but I am sure you will be prepared.
On the others you should have no problems with crowds and I hope you enjoy your stay.
73 Viki M6BWA
The weather forecast for my week in Wales does not look good. Friday even 28 mm of rain. And rain every day for the rest of the week. I hope that I can activate some summits in between the raindrops. But there won’t be as many as planned.
For today I had made an alert to activate GW/SW-008. Because it was going to be a dry day. Unfortunately, we did not manage to reach the top. It was a longer walk than planned, because just after the parking lot is a barrier. Despite the number of kilometers, we still made an attempt. But for my fellow hiker, it was just a little too far.
Sorry I didn’t activate the summit. But we’re going to try again later this week.
Tomorrow a lot of rain is forecast, so we will see what we are going to activate.
I don’t have an intimate knowledge of the area around GW/SW-008 as have only activated it once from the south. It was a long walk in. DEtails on my blog.
I hope the weather is dry enough for you to complete several activations. If you have a 2m handheld you can qualify many South Wales summits there. I know you are a very enthusiast CW operator though ,so that may not be your bag.
Bad luck with that one. The route described by G4OBK, Phil, (above) is well documented on the summit page links and is almost certainly the best one. Cows or horses on the lower fields are the only problem apart from getting lost in the very pitted area near the summit.
73,
Rod
We took the route from Trefil and found the way (almost) to the summit. We had to walk around a large fence, with the sign, no entrance. But for my fellow hiker, it was just a little too far. But next time we can go directly around the fence. We now know the way to go.
So coming week a new attempt.
Sorry you didn’t quite make it. I activated this one a few weeks ago, and it seemed like quite a maze up there. Quite liked the abandoned industrial vibe though! Best of luck with your next attempt.
Today I activated GW/SW-013, Tor y Foel. It was a vy nice day for outdoorradio. I made almost 50 QSO’s in 45 minutes. A lot of chasers and a nice pile-up. My homemade antenna did a great job Thanks all chasers.
Tomorrow, if wx is okay, I will activate GW/SW-023.
FB Tonnie, its a fine location. Glad it kept dry for you, as it appears in your photo it did. Terrible storms I understand in south Wales and southern England later on I believe.
I hope we can work again tomorrow. Slight distraction - I am fitting new carpet tiles in the shack…
Activated 2 summits yesterday. The first, GW/SW-016, was unfortunately in the fog. So the view was not so pretty. A lot of chasers, but that was because of non-SOTA chasers, who thought I was activating WWFF. That was because someone had reported this on the WWFF cluster. The second summit was, GW/SW-020. Nice view because the fog had lifted. A lot of wind at this summit. Also worked a number of K stations. So the homemade antenna works fine.
Today was a “non-SOTA” day.
Tomorrow a second attempt to activate GW/SW-008. We now know how to walk. So that’s not a problem.
Great shame that the fog was down when you activated GW/SW-016 as it is a beautiful little ridge with amazing views (and good take-off). When you come back one day have another go but on a clear day. I am fascinated by your ‘oil painting’ of your visit to Allt yr Esgair GW/SW-023 - how did you do this? Another of our favourite local little hills but very very difficult to qualify on 2m and 70cm fm with limited power - but the flowers are usually good.
Best of luck with your 2nd attempt, presumably from Trefil, on Cefn Ystrad. We have never seen this fence that you encountered up there but approach it from the West parking by the waterworks after passing the Brecon Mountain Railway. If you time it right you can wave at the steam train but probably not at this time of year. Hope the weather stays good for you on Pen y Fan GW/SW-001 and glad to see you have planned for a Friday thus avoiding the weekend hordes. It is amazingly mild here at present and Hereford, our QTH, was amongst the top in 10 in Britain for the warmest overnight anomaly, + 8C compared with the normal October temperature, 2 night’s ago. Today’s forecast is 18C day and 15C night - weird!
73 Viki M6BWA
It’s a filter in the Sony camera. I tried it just for fun.
Today we have activated GW/SW-008. We started from TREFIL. Walked in about one and a half hour up. It was again a foggy activation, but we made it. After the activation and about 35 QSO’s going down it started to rain a little bit. After getting back in TREFIL, we had a great meal in Mountain Air. And we warmed up.
Yesterday I activated GW/SW-001. I started at Storey Arms Outdoor Education Centre carpark. There was still plenty of space in the parking lot. Walked up at half past nine. After about two hours I was at the top. It had already become quite busy there, with a lot of people. I built my station a little off the top. In the meantime it had become very foggy and there was a strong wind. The 5 meter carbon mast of SOTABEAAMS kept itself tight.
A stone’s throw away was @MW0JSB/p on GW/SW-005. He called me for a successful S2S contact. Of course, our RST was 59++.
After half an hour and, about 25 QSO’s, no more chasers I walked down. At half past one we were back downstairs. There at the food truck we drank something warm. And eaten a nice fries.
Today no SOTA. Tomorrow we will going back home, and I will try to activated G/WB-013, if wx permitting and traffic.
Great to get a S2S in the log with you yesterday from across the road! I think it was all of 5km. Enjoy the rest of your trip and hope the weather is kind to you!
Back home and now a nice video made.
In the end, despite the forecasts, the weather was good. I only had one day of rain. Even the temperature was manageable. Only on the Pen y Fan it was very fresh because of the strong wind.
At almost every summit I had quite a lot of chasers on offer. It seems that there is increasing interest in outdoor radio. Besides the “regular chasers”, I still hear new calls. After a number of CQ’s, a pile-up immediately occurs.
Thanks all chasers for making it a succes. It was a nice week in South Wales.
Thanks all chasers.
The second summit was, GW/SW-020. Nice view because the fog had lifted. A lot of wind at this summit. Also worked a number of K stations. So the homemade antenna works fine.
