Bit late to the party due to work commitments, Sundays activation of Tor-y-foel GW/SW-013, what an interesting activationš³, the morning started with a lovely moist drive to Talybont reservoir and the start of the climb, I donned my multiple layers of clothing and had a little word with myself in the back of the van in preparation for what would felt like a 3 hr long swim in the wicked welsh hills.
The walk up to brinore and across the top was very pleasant (when I wasnāt in the clouds), and I was somewhat aided up the rather steep bank to the summit by the million mile per hour tail wind (who knew Iād be happy about a gale force wind on a summit). As I arrived at the trig, well, more the pile of pebbles at the top of a hill, I was granted a pause in the windy onslaught by mother nature and clouds cleared to reveal the true rugged beauty of the beaconsā¦and no matter how many times Iāve seen these views, they still demand a feeling of awe!
Anyway I was at the top so letās get on the air, the wind was really an issue today so I hid myself down in a ditch out of the wind as much as was practical and set about putting the antenna up, and putting it up again, and up again, then chasing it across the summit like a mad manā¦5th time lucky and we were in businessā:face_vomiting:
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I set up my nice new QRP LABS QMX ready to call out on CW to a pre arranged group by a good friend Steve MW0SAW, who is helping me greatly with my journey into morse along with Kevin MW0KXN. It didnāt go well and the conditions on summit had taken a dive, I was in the clouds the sky was leaking and my palm-mini started keying on its own (snapped wire) and my QMX filled with water!! So it was back into the bag to bring out the faithful ic-705 and bamatech key, we were on fire I managed to work Allan GW4VPX, Steve MW0SAW, Kevin MW0KXN and Lee M0VKR on the key (thanks a lot guys) before managing to squeeze into a few Hz of 40M that didnāt have someone on it to finish with a great pile up!
Again a big thank you to all that called into me on the day, as always its greatly appreciated. It was a trying day for sure and and many lessons learnt, nonetheless it was another great day of playing radio in the mountains and Iād certainly do it again.
Best 73ās
Matt MW0KAX
