Not when it’s frozen solid. The only time I now venture up there!
Pete
There are still plenty of boggy bits to stick a spike into, but there is a motorway developing along the ridge now. They seem to be setting boards to contain the water and preserve the bog away from the path.
Photo from a few weeks ago:
73
Adrian
G4AZS
1 Like
Ah yes Adrian. Last time we walked from Gadair to Waun Fach there was a massive line of the builders bags of stones. I’d forgotten all about that. That looks like a heck of an improvement. Normally the 1km or so between the 2 needs 2km of walking zig zagging around the bogs 
I’ve been trying to source an extendable pole at a reasonable price in North America (or anywhere that ships to Canada) for a little while now, and recently stumbled across this gem: http://www.banggood.com/3_6-8M-Fiberglass-Fishing-Rod-Super-Hard-Ultra-Light-Hand-Fishing-Pole-p-922299.html
With expedited shipping the 8m version comes in at around $50 CAD.
Be interesting hearing how it is. The 8m one is 33% lighter than mine and packs smaller.
I use the 20 foot version of the Shakespeare Wonderpole which I was able to find in a local (Montreal) fishing supply store. I’ve had mine three years, but if I recall correctly it was just over $20 in 2012 - it’s likely more now. I’d prefer something longer and more robust, but the price was right and it’s incredibly light. It’s a little unwieldy, packed length is about 4 feet. Mine definitely needs replacement but I think I can afford $25 every three years or so.
Malcolm VE2DDZ
1 Like
WOW thats lighter than anything I’ve seen. and half the size of the 7M packed.
Always used the 7m Sotapole with my 40/20 link. However recently tried a much smaller and Lighter4m pole in the Brecons… seemed to work fine on both bands!
Chris G1PCR
Just been to my local Go Outdoors shop and picked up a pole for £8.47!
I’ve been looking to replace the 4m pole which got broken by a gust of wind on the Isle of Mull last year 
The pole at Go Outdoors is on sale at the moment and I was told by a member of GO staff that they’re probably not going to stock them for much longer.
The pole collapses to 49cm and is 5m long when extended. I’ve been keeping an eye on these kinds of poles but the prices are very steep, you’re talking in the region of £20 with delivery from online sources.
Not tried the pole out yet but it looks suspiciously similar to the Spirit of Air Pocket Pole in build style and quality (same far East manufacturer?).
Might be of interest to some.
73, Colin M1BUU
my latest edition to my 8m telescopic pole a collapsible 6m moxon
Karl
2 Likes
For those that do not need a lot of height a pair of well seasoned bamboo poles about 7’ each make excellent walking poles and lashed together make a fine mast.
C
1 Like
I use one of these, the 7.2 m version:
I toss the top section as its to light and then glue a piece of cord to the top using the traditional fishing rod method. I can get the centre of a dipole up 5m which is almost always enough. It collapses to a short enough length to fit in a pack.
I buy them 2 at a time. Have just put the second one into service as the first one is U/S after 4 years. They are cheap enough to not worry if you bust one to badly. Did I mention they are cheap???
I do have a heavier 10m pole but rarely use it.
Compton
Only have one 10m pole which weighs about 900g and goes down to 1.2m. it lets me use a 10m in length half wave antenna as a vertical (almost) for 20m band.
I use a Sotabeams travel mast and a Chinese fishing pole I bought on Amazon. The fishing pole is so much lighter. It’s about 18ft. Tried to buy the same fishing pole from amazon again but it’s out of stock. So I bought 2 of these on ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/222553725541
I bought 2 of the 7.2 meter ones. Haven’t had a chance to use it yet. Listing says carbon fiber but seems more like fiberglass to me.
I’ve found the SOTABeams 10m travel mast to be quite delicate even though it is substantially heavier. I’d second most advice - use the 7m or 8m rather than the 10m unless you specifically need the height (I’m currently thinking about building a static car delta loop for 20m which may require 10m masts for example).
Regards, Mark. M0NOM
Has anybody tried to use carbon-fibre poles?
Textbook advice says that they could work for inverted vees but not for verticals due to the conductivity of the material. Now, I would be interested to know how much of an effect you would expect, since
-
I assume that the carbon fishing poles will still be of a rather high-resistance material; I mean they are not pure copper or steel, so the practical effect might be limited.
-
They are a lot lighter and smaller than fiberglass ones, for instance, there is one 5m that collapses to 38 cm and weighs a mere 197g:
- The better quality manufacturers of fishing gear tend to produce carbon ones only.
Any ideas / experiences? 200 g for a 5m mast sounds pretty promising, but I would want to use it with my loaded vertical described here.
Martin
Martin, I think the carbon pole will work fine with your loaded vertical, but the resonant length is likely to change. A few years back I did many activations with a 7m carbon pole supporting a vertical wire into an antenna tuner and it seemed to work fine.
Barry N1EU
Thanks, Barry! As my future vertical will include my T1 auto-tuner, I guess I can live with changing resonance. I plan to design a new version of my 40-30-20m loaded vertical, but this time
- the coil will be closer to the center, i.e. in 1,6 - 2 m height, and
- I will generally use my Elecraft T1 tuner as a fixed component in the setup, because for my activations, I need to be QRV as quickly as possible, and differences in deployment and soil need to be balanced out.
The 197g 5m pole from DAM is a promising component for this 
Martin
1 Like
Mine arrived where the ends were cracked and they slide right out with no friction to keep them in place. It seems each one is off a bit. So what a waste of money NO MORE CHINESE stuff for me after waiting 60 days for it to arrive.
However, I did find a local sports store selling a 16 foot rod that works as it should for $20
The carrying case from the ebay rod will be used for my surf rod.
Sadly, the ebay rod is Rubbish as they say but I prefer Garbage
john ve3ips