GW/MW-004 & 005

Summit Information for GW/MW-004

Pen y Garn - 610m, 4 points

Association: Wales  Region: Mid Wales   

Latitude: 52 22 43 N, Longitude: 3 46 2 W

Grid Reference: SN 798771, QTH Locator: IO82CJ 

Today's Sunrise: 08:17 UTC, Today's Sunset: 16:03 UTC

Today I am revisiting Pen Y Garn (GW/MW-004) and wanted to try a different  route to the summit. Starting from the very narrow B road at SN 791-753 I headed north east for a short distance then soon after passing the derelict buildings I headed north west following the fence line for a few hundred meters.

I joined the main track at SN 788-757 and followed this all the way to the summit, some 3 kilometers away.

Its quite a gradual climb most for the most part, as the track zigzags  its way up the mountain following the eastern edge of the forestry.

At the summit there is a well constructed cairn where I set up and sheltered from the very strong winds. 

Visibility had been fairly good until now but it wasn't long before the mist closed in and it was hard to see more than 20 meters.  After struggling for quite some time trying to get the mast up in between the strong gusts, I eventually settled down for my first activation of the day.  

Date:15/Dec/2013 Summit:GW/MW-004 (Pen y Garn) Call Used:GW6OVD/P 

Time	Call	Band	Mode	Notes
11:00z	GW8LJJ	5MHz	SSB	Derek
11:04z	G6LUZ	5MHz	SSB	Steve
11:05z	M0MDA	5MHz	SSB	Mick
11:06z	G6ODU	5MHz	SSB	Rob
11:07z	G3YPQ	5MHz	SSB	Phil
11:08z	G0RQL	5MHz	SSB	Don
11:10z	MRW6LMI	5MHz	SSB	Richard
11:10z	M0JLA	5MHz	SSB	Rod
11:12z	G8VNW	5MHz	SSB	Nick
11:13z	GW1YQM	5MHz	SSB	Richard
11:14z	G0LGS	5MHz	SSB	Stewart

Summit Information for GW/MW-005

Llan Ddu Fawr - 594m, 2 points

Association: Wales  Region: Mid Wales   

Latitude: 52 19 5 N, Longitude: 3 46 36 W

Grid Reference: SN 790704, QTH Locator: IO82CH 

Today's Sunrise: 08:16 UTC, Today's Sunset: 16:04 UTC 

For my second activation activation I drove to SN 784-683 which is less than 7 kilometers as the crow flies, but by road took around 35 minutes.  I parked by the cattle grid overlooking Llyn Teifi res. and could see the vehicle track slightly further along the road heading in the right direction.  After followed the track for a few hundred meters it became very vague so I then followed the fence for a kilometer or so until it headed west.  I continued on north towards the summit but soon found myself trudging through ankle deep mud and progress slowed considerably. On the horizon I could could just about make out the silhouette of what I thought might be the trig point, but it turned out to be one of the many concrete post dotted around this area.

The actual trig point I was to discover, lies inside the dry stone cairn at the summit.

Soon after I had set up and made my first contact it started to rain heavily and combined with the strong wind, keeping the radio and log dry became very difficult.  This was to be my 100th SOTA activation, and there was no way I was leaving that summit until I had enough contacts in the log to qualify.  After making a further six I decider to call it a day.  All in all, an odd sort of day, one minute you could see for miles, the next, just a few meters.  Its at times like this GPS comes into its own, and if I ever revisit this one, I'll certainly be digging out my wellies!  By the time I got back to the car I was a little damp to say the least, and after a nice hot cup of coffee started the long drive home.  

73, and  thanks to everyone who helped with today's activation's of  Pen y Garn and Llan Ddu Fawr

Mal (GW6OVD/P)

Date:15/Dec/2013 Summit:GW/MW-005 (Llan Ddu Fawr) Call Used:GW6OVD/P 

Time	Call	Band	Mode	Notes
13:19z	G0TDM	5MHz	SSB	John
13:40z	G0BNJ	5MHz	SSB	Bernard
13:42z	G8VNW	5MHz	SSB	Nick
13:43z	G6ODU	5MHz	SSB	Rob
13:48z	M0MDA	5MHz	SSB	Mick
13:48z	G6OUZ	5MHz	SSB	Steve
13:50z	G0SUF	5MHz	SSB	Simon