GW/SW 029

GW/SW 029   31/03/12. - Foel Fynyddau

Height  370 M /  1214 ft

Grid reference SS 782936 


Today this summit was the first of two planned for activation. Arriving at the foot of the mountain where there is plenty of room for a few cars to park.


The path starts as a rocky road taking the first gate on the left (gate was open on the way up but was looked on the decent). There is a narrow path through a gate which then runs along side the forest on your right to the summit.

Where does this go !

Arriving at the summit where there is plenty of room a 2M beam & a 4M Slim Jim was set up, but not a match for the three masts which impose on the area. Contacts were soon made and was able to activate the summit. At the summit the views of the surrounding area where you can see all of Swansea Bay and the industrial views of the Port Talbot steel works a summit well worth a visit.

Last of the summer wine !!!

Mobile station !!!

2M Contacts made with

MW0TMI
GW0UHO
GW4ZUJ
GW4SXA
2W0LMM
GW0GVY/P

4M Contacts made with
MW3BBQ

GW/SW 006 & 007

GW/SW 007  Fan Nedd  17/03/12. 

 Height 663M / 2175 ft

Grid reference SO 913184

GW/SW 006 Fan Gyhirych 17/03/12

Height 725M / 2379 ft

Grid reference SO 881191

A few members of Aberdare Amateur Radio society decided to activate SOTA summit GW/SW-007 (Fan Nedd ). The group consisted of Mal (GW6OVD), Phil (MWOPJJ), Corinne (Foundation Student), Alex (MW6AZP ) and Me (Andy—GW7RKC). We arrived at a spot on the road  just East of Fan Nedd at about 09:20am and began to make our ascent toward the summit. 

Set-up begins on 007!

The terrain was fairly steep, but good progress was made, arriving at the summit around 10 am. We wasted no time in setting up the equipment in preparation for the activation. 

Mal (left) operating on 4M FM, Phil & Alex (right) 2m FM

 Mal opted for 4m operation using his handheld and a homebrew Slim Jim on a guyed fishing pole. Phil and Alex set up to work 2m fm using another Slim Jim anchored to the Trig Point!

 

Weathering The Storm!

 Shortly after everything was up and running, the wind picked up and it started to rain. The image to the right shows Mal sheltering and operating  inside a makeshift tent, ably assisted by other group members!

Fortunately the ‘squall’ quickly subsided and we all got down to the serious business of the activation! By about 11:15am we had completed the activation achieving many good contacts on 4m and 2m. 

At this point Mal and I decided to continue on to the second summit of the day (Fan Gyhirych) which was clearly visible to the West of  Fan Nedd. We descended into the valley between Fan Nedd and Fan Fraith, when we reached the bottom it got fairly wet and boggy underfoot which slowed us somewhat, once through this we managed to pick up the pace and covered approximately 4km to the summit of Fan Gyhirych in just over an hour. 

Mal's homebrew Slim Jim working well on Fan Gyhirych

To travel light  we had left the fishing pole ‘masts’ with the other club members and just activated the summit with the 2m SlimJim, again anchored in the Trig Point. 

Andy - GW7RKC

As we began the activation, we had reasonably bright skies with great views all around, this was not to last however, and 40 minutes into the activation we were hit with another cloudburst, this time it was hail! 






We had enough points for the activation, and with conditions deteriorating, we decided to call it a day and head back.

Mal - GW6OVD

The image below shows the route taken........

GPS Log Of Route

And here's a 'fly through' video of the route, created from the GPS tracklog.

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog entry, please drop by again to see our future SOTA adventures, all the best and 73.....


Andy - GW7RKC