SOTA in South Wales - 8 summits in a day on 2m FM

It was 7.15 am last Friday 15th August 2015  when I met up with my driver and fellow activator for the day, Geoff Fielding, 2E(W)0NON who had driven down from Malvern, near Worcester. I had driven over the Severn Bridge (Toll charge £6.50 return) from Bristol. We met on a pub car park in Langstone, just off the M4 near Newport, which is where I left my car for the day. We were continuing where we left off in January when we activated 16 South Wales summits in four days. 

Our eight summit round in South Wales starting out from Newport

Our plan today was to activate 7 or 8 one point Summits for SOTA on VHF. The weather was misty and wet, and it stayed like that until around 1.00pm. Two golf umbrellas were used to keep our radio equipment dry. A maximum of 20 minutes activation time per summit has been built into the schedule, with 10 minutes set up / take down time. The rest of the allotted time being given over to driving from point to point and then walking up the hills to the summit for our activations.  All 8 summits would be "SOTA Complete" for me as an Activator, as I had made contact with them all from home several times before, as a SOTA Chaser. 

Equipment:

Yaesu FT-1500M 50 watt transceiver

7 AH LiFePo4 Battery X 2
(50 watts used for 4 contacts on each summit then power reduced to 20 watts)
1/2 Wave vertical dipole

5m long fishing pole & bungies

Vehicle used: Subaru Legacy Sports Tourer (Diesel)

Backup Equipment: Yaesu VX-170 - Yaesu FT-817 - HF link dipole (None used)

The only way to cram this amount of activations into a one day operation in daylight is to operate "smash and grab style" on 2m FM, which is what we did. HF equipment was carried as a backup but was not needed as all summits were qualified on VHF FM using the 145 MHz 2m band. 

GW/SW-037 Craig yr Allt

Duration: 0740z - 0833z 

Time to reach summit on foot: 11 minutes

Operation time: 18 minutes

Contacts made: 7

A gloomy outlook for our activation of Craig yr Allt SW-037

There is just room to park a car at the entrance to the waymarked footpath on the lane at grid reference ST 1299 8509. We turned right off the main path after 150m to climb via a well used path to the summit. 

Our first contacts were with Simon, G(W)4TJC and his son Jamie M(W)6TJC. Both were operating /A from a hotel near to our location. We arranged a rendezvous with Simon on our next summit. The take off from all the summits visited across the Bristol Channel was superb and we made contact with a long time SOTA friend in Peter G3TJE, who I often work from home when he is activating using Morse Code.  Another regular called in. This was Rod M0JLA from Hereford, who was worked before we pulled the rather damp plug...


GW/SW-034 Garth Hill

Duration: 0904z - 1003z 

Time to reach summit on foot: 13 minutes

Operation time: 6 minutes

Contacts made: 5

For this one we found a parking place before some cottages on Heol Goch, a road that runs along the southern flank of Garth Hill. A public right of way leads into the access land to join the Ridgeway Walk.  We were soon at the trig point setting up. After a short qualifying activation and just as we were packing up we were joined by Simon G(W)4TJC who was taking over on the summit fromus and intending to use the 10m and 6m bands. This was the last day of the summer period for the 2015 SOTA Challenge and Simon was anxious to get a few more points... It's not the first time I've met up with other activators on a summit, and this certainly won't be the last! We had time for a chat and a photo opportunity...

The writer with SOTA MT Member Simon G(W)4TJC

I think the last SOTA Management Team member I met on an activation was Andy MM0FMF, when he was on his way up Blencathra LD-008, and I was on my way down. 

GW/SW-027 Mynydd y Glyn

Duration: 1041z - 1204z 

Time to reach summit on foot: 26 minutes

Operation time: 15 minutes

Contacts made: 8

Parking place at the public road end of the track to Cefn-coed Farm

After two easy ascents it was time for a longer walk of just over one mile up to Mynydd y Glyn. We parked at the road end to Cefn-coed Farm (good job too - there was nowhere to park up the farm road) and walked up the track which is a public right of way. It had stopped raining for a while - great!

Track of our walk and G(W)4OBK the writer on the summit

The route was gated and the summit was easily accessible even though it was just outside the nearby access land. On the summit we noticed this unusual device around 50m from the trig point:

This is the Triton Wind Profiler which is a remote sensing system providing data to a company interesting in developing wind farms.

GW/SW-025 Cefn Eglwysilan

Duration: 1244z - 1318z 

Time to reach summit on foot: 6 minutes

Operation time:  10 minutes

Contacts made: 6

The trig point on SW-025 Cefn Eglwysilan - Bill G4WSB/P visited here in August 2014 and left his mark

This is one of the easiest summits to reach in South Wales. Eglwyslian Road runs across the  flank of the hill at 327m and the top is just 55m higher at 382m ASL. It is quite close to Pontypridd, above Taff Vale, which is a place with some social history after a well known legal case involving a strike by workers, played a part in the formation of the Labour Party. 

Phil 2(W)0NON and Phil G(W)4OBK on Cefn Egwysilan

Returning to the car we had our lunch before proceeding to our next summit. 

GW/SW-030 Mynydd Machen

Duration: 1424z - 1515z 

Time to reach summit on foot: 16 minutes

Operation time:  10 minutes

Contacts made: 6

There was just room to park at the end of the path which leads to the plateau of Mynydd Machen. The large mast on the summit did cause some intermittent intermodulation problems on 145 MHz, but in between the bursts of noise we were able to complete six contacts before moving off. 

The comms installation on Mynydd Machen SW-030 caused considerable interference to reception on 145 MHz

GW/SW-024 Mynydd y Lan

Duration: 1542z - 1623z 

Time to reach summit on foot: 12 minutes

Operation time:  8 minutes

Contacts made: 5

Another hill with masts on it but this time there was no problem with interference to our reception - it looks as though this W/T Sta is now redundant. To the left of the locked gated entrance to the track is a large solar farm.

Solar farm leading up to Mynydd y Lan GW/SW-024

This looks to be a very secure installation with cameras. The track used leads into gated access land on the plateau where the summit is located. We operated 10m down from the highest point which was more convenient, more sheltered and well within the 25 meter drop zone, despite the slight dip between the two points.  

Redundant masts on SW-024 - overtaken by technology

GW/SW-019 Mynydd Twyn Glas

Duration: 1651z - 1812z 

Time to reach summit on foot: 31 minutes

Operation time:  12 minutes

Contacts made: 8

Geoff puts his Berghaus coat on as we get ready to walk up to SW-019 from the sheepfolds there

This was the extra summit we did not think we would not have time for... In the event we had pulled back over an hour from our planned schedule so we went for it, despite it being the longest walk of the day at just over 1.5 miles each way. There is plenty of parking over the cattle grid near some sheepfolds, and a track follows pylon lines almost to the summit trig point: 

By the time we got back to the car we were pretty well shattered, but there was time to squeeze in a final SOTA Complete near to where we had met up in the morning. This was the well visited "drive on" summit of Wentwood. 

GW/SW-033 Wentwood 

Duration: 1856z - 1924z 

Time to reach summit on foot: 2 minutes

Operation time:  15 minutes

Contacts made: 11

Geoff puts his coat on again - this time we were at Wentwood SW-033

A winding tarmac road through woodland leads up to the car park for Wentwood, where most of the highest part of the forest has been felled and replanted with saplings. A two minute walk took us to a convenient tree stump on which we fastened the fishing pole.

Operating position on Wentwood GW/SW-033

We were anxious to get finished and return to the pub four miles away where I had parked my car earlier - for some food and a celebratory pint.  There were plenty of callers (11) though before the frequency went quiet and then we packed up. When we reached the pub it was just going dark and it was rammed out with folk. The waitress said it would be at least 45 minutes before we could be fed.... so we left and went down the road to the M4 roundabout for a "go large" McDonalds instead, disappointing maybe, but quick and easy and we enjoyed it. 

We still have unfinished business in South Wales, so we will be returning in due course to complete the final eight summits needed to finish the area off. 

Total Contacts: 57
Battery Power used: One 7 AH LiFePo  only 

Distance Walked: 11 miles

Height ascended on foot: 2300 feet

Distance driven on circuit from Langstone, Newport: 108 miles

If you visit these easy to access summits in South Wales I hope you find this report useful. 

SOTA Italy July 2015 - Chasing and Activating

We had a family holiday in Tuscany in July 2015. There were 8 family members over four generations from Great Grandma down to Granddaughters all together for two weeks. We rented a villa for two weeks near Manciano, a town which is midway between Pisa and Rome. Three of us flew into Pisa via Easy Jet from Manchester while the other family members flew into Rome from Bristol and from Sydney, Australia. 

As I have done for several years SOTA Operation forms part of my holiday.  On this tour I carried my Yaesu FT-857, one 7 AH LiFePo4 battery, a link dipole antenna, a 5m travel pole and the other bits and pieces necessary to support my station. It seems to get easier to transport radio gear through security now with more people carrying electronic gadgets such as tablets, and laptops etc and I had no problem at either airport in getting through the scanners. As usual all electronic items were taken from my rucksack and placed in the trays on the conveyor belt. 

I set up my station at the Villa for chasing and on two days I packed it all up into my rucksack to go activating. 

My first effort activating Mont Calvi I/TO-304 was aborted after I tried to access the summit via a working quarry. I was turned back by two workers who returned me to my car in their 4X4. I then attempted to visit I/TO-314 Le Cornate but due to an unfortunate mistake in the Italian SOTA Association Manual I went to the wrong place many miles from where the summit was located! My day was completely wasted, but after researching a route to Mont Calvi more thoroughly I returned there a week later for a successful activation. I won't talk about my dreadful wasted day again or the politics of the Italian SOTA Association - lets just say it isn't good and the administration in that country needs to get better!

SOTA Chasing from Tuscany

I was able to erect my 5m pole on a veranda adjacent to the villa where we stayed and with an extension coax cable I set up my station in the lounge. My basic station was a far cry from what I use at home, but I managed to make over 40 SOTA Contacts and several more contacts with friends such as G4OOE, G4SSH, M0IML, ON4UP who were operating from their homes as SOTA Chasers whilst I was at the villa. 

The antenna and pole - temporary chaser installation in Tuscany for I/G4OBK/P

The operating position inside the villa - air conditioned 

SOTA Activation from I/TO-304 Mont Calvi

After my aborted attempt a week earlier I was determined not to fail again... This time I approached the summit from the opposite side to the quarry where I was turned back. 

My GPX track is available in the SOTA Mapping Project (Thanks Rob DM1CM)

There was a parking place by the road just as it got too rough to drive along it without causing damage to the floor of my Ford Focus C Max hire car...

From this point the road got rougher and then it improved back to asphalt, as so often happen. It got steep leading up to a hairpin bend and I realised that I could not have got further in the Ford than I did. The trail was well marked (Path No.3 it seems) and in around one hour I was on the summit...

The path ran up through scrub and thin trees, bush walking some might call it. I lost the path near to the top where it steepened but only for a short distance and I was soon at the cross, and I noticed a metal box with log books inside it. Off course I added my name and comments in English to the log!

I was impressed - here were six logbooks going back years. This is not something you would find in the UK. 

Equipment used:

Yaesu FT-857 running 50 watts from 7 AH LiFePo4 battery

Link dipole for 6m - 10m - 20m - 30m bands on 5m travel pole 

Palm Key with Pico Memory Keyer (GI4ONL built)

So, after a drink it was time to set up the station with the pole against the metal cross. Radio conditions were great on 10m and 6m for the 2015 SOTA Championship, and I made lots of contacts there and on the other bands. No one visited the summit while I was there and I saw no one on my way up back down.

I/G4OBK/P Operation from Mont Calvi Tuscany 08 July 2015

It took me over two hours to make 70 contacts, but many were found by the "search and pounce" method by tuning around 10m and 6m bands. I'll just display these special contacts as the list otherwise is rather long...

There were lots of familiar callsigns there, and it was great to get them on the 10m and 6m bands. Best DX on 6m was undoubtedly EA8EY in La Palma, Canary Islands. 

View from Mont Calvi I/TO-304

I enjoyed a steady walk down and then the two hour drive back to the villa, stopping en-route for a beer and sandwich. Surprisingly this was the most convenient summit to where we stayed, despite there being probably over 50 summits nearer with the necessary 150m prominence but these summits are at present unlisted. Work to resolve the problems of the Italian SOTA Association (I am told) is taking place once the right volunteers come forward to study the topography. 

I must thank my wife and family for putting up with my SOTA Fever on and off for two weeks whilst we were together in Italy...

Winter Hill activation G/SP-010 23 June 2015

UPDATE October 2020 - see notes regarding access at bottom of page

I had some business to attend to in Chorley Lancs, so at short notice I decided to activate Winter Hill G/SP-010 (1 point) on my way back to North Yorkshire. The summit lies between Bolton and Chorley on the West Lancashire Moors.

I left the M61 junction 6 near a prominent football ground at exactly 2.00pm and rejoined it at 4.00pm following this activation. The time spent on air was just over one hour and this produced 19 contacts - mostly on the 28 MHz, 10m band. 

Parking up on Winter Hill - within activation zone 

The summit houses many communications installations including the main terrestrial TV Transmitter for North West England. My previous visit involved a walk of several miles. This time I simply drove up to the activation zone via grid reference SD 653122 (Makinson Moor) and parked in a footpath junction gateway just before the TV mast at SD 660143. I then walked 300m to the same point at 440m ASL as where I activated this summit in October 2008. The highest point on the plateau is at the trig point within the gated communications site at 456m ASL. 

Conditions were reasonable on the ten meter band so I made a good number of EU and UK contacts for the 2015 SOTA Challenge. I used 70 watts output from my FT-857 to a link dipole, and then added a few contacts on 20m CW. I count the best QSO as being on 28.470 MHz SSB with my friend from Bregenz, Herbert OE9HRV/P, who was on the summit of OE/VB-524 Zwerms.

G4OBK/P SOTA Operation near to the flagged public footpath - the moor is boggy but very popular with walkers and cyclists from the nearby conurbation. The main TV mast is left of photo. There were no problems with RFI on HF

During the activation several passers by stopped out of curiosity to ask me what I was doing, a brief explanation was given and they left me alone to continue with the activation. All in all the detour to Winter Hill was worthwhile and after joining the M61 again at 4.00pm I was back home before 6.30pm. 

Log above from my activation of Winter Hill and current UK Activator positions in the 10m-6m 2015 SOTA Challenge

I obtained some information from Darius M0KCB after his activation in October 2020. There are now two cattle grids on the private access road at Makinson Moor. These are located at SD 65664 12717 (original) and 65772 12857 (new).  The new gate at the cattle grid is locked outside normal working hours, so be advised if you pass through you run the risk of your vehicle being locked in. Please note the warning sign located at the new cattle grid.  There is room for 4 cars to park at the south side of the new cattle grid pictured below:

Thanks to Darius for passing on this useful information...

GM4OBK/P Scottish Borders Day - 4th June 2015

An early start was needed for a solo border raid up Teviotdale in the Scottish Borders. I had planned to activate three summits in a day, with a round trip drive of 305 miles taking me north of Langholm on the A7 historic route to Edinburgh... 

Room to park next to a gate access on the side of the A7 - my car on left is pointing in the Langholm direction

There was no parking up the access track to Eweslees Farm at NY 388973 and there was a warning sign on the bridge stating that parked vehicles there had caused accidents. So I turned my car round and parked 100m from the bridge, just off the road on the verge. 

Schedule of the day as it went:

Depart Pickering North Yorkshire 05:50 am

Arrive Eweslees Bridge in Teviotdale 9 miles north of Langholm 08:50 am - Walk start 09:10 am 

GM/SS-118 Wisp Hill Arrive 10:13 am Depart 11:21 am (10 previous activations)

GM/SS-136 Pikethaw Hill  Arrive 12:14 am Depart 13:34 pm (8 previous activations)

Arrive back car at Eweslees Bridge 14:15 pm

Drive to Mosspaul Hotel (2 miles) - Walk start 14:40 pm

GM/SS-146 Ellson Fell Arrive 16:00 pm Depart 17:28 pm (12 previous activations)

Arrive back car at Mosspaul Hotel 18:15 pm

Return home at 21:40 pm after fast food stop at Penrith KFC

Motored mileage: 305 miles Distance walked: 9.5 miles Total Ascent: 3315 feet

Screenshot of the two separate walks - GPX files were uploaded into the SOTA Mapping Project

Summit 1: GM/SS-118 Wisp Hill

Access to the open fell was via gates at NY 38910 97437 and NY 38990 97608. From there I decided to walk over the flank of Whin Fell - mistake. This was what Yorkshiremen call "Haggis Walking" I'm not sure why. I found it very hard on the ankles. For sure I would have been better going up the ridge on to Whin Fell as the drop to the saddle after it was minimal. That saddle was eventually reached by walking up the right hand side of the burn.

Walking up from the saddle north of Whin Fell to the summit of Wisp Hill SS-198 (595m ASL)

The was a fence corner running off the top of the summit of Wisp Fell which provided a convenient point to fix my 5m fishing pole. 

Equipment used for the activations of SS-118 and SS-136:

Yaesu FT-817ND 6 watts output from 14.4V 3.3 Ah Laptop LiPo battery

Palm Morse key with Ultra Pico Memory Keyer

Link dipoles for 30/20/17m and 15/10/6m bands on 5m pole

I had a very comfortable 32 minute activation on Wisp Hill GM/SS-118

Commercial Radio Mast on Comb Hill one mile away and 80m below me on Wisp Hill

I started operating on 30m and worked 4 stations before the band went quiet. 20m was more vibrant though, especially so on SSB. Best DX was with Joao CU3AA in the Azores and SV9RGI in Crete. After that I took down the longer dipole and substituted my shorter one to try to get some points on the 10m band for the 2015 SOTA Challenge. Just one contact with John G0TDM in Penrith was completed as there was no skip into Europe at the time. For the first time today I was trying out a memory keyer on a summit. This is the Ultra Pico unit, which my friend from Northern Ireland Victor GI4ONL, had purchased on my behalf when he bought one for himself. I found it very useful - enabling me to send out CQ calls and "TU" confirmations in Morse at the push of a button. 

Summit 2: GM/SS-146 Pikethaw Hill 

It was sun shining now and the traverse across to Pikethaw Hill was simply a case of following the fence down across Ewenshope Hill to the valley bottom at Ewes Doors and then climbing up the other side to reach the cairn on the summit (43 minutes).   

Pikethaw Hill SS-146 with the already climbed Wisp Hill to the right of the picture

There is a metal stanchion fence post hidden behind the cairn to which my antenna pole was fixed.

I was buzzed by this helicopter on the summit

As before, I started up on 30m CW (10 MHz) followed again by 20m and finally 10m for the SOTA Challenge. CU3AA Joao (Azores) was logged again but the best DX was Matt, KA1R in the state of Maine, USA. Several summit to summit contacts were also recorded...

The 10m band turned up one contact on skip. This was Rudi HB9MKV in Switzerland although regular SOTA man John G0TDM in Penrith was again worked on groundwave. As I made my way down to valley I was thoroughly enjoying my day. There was no problem strolling through the farmyard at Eweslees Farm, close to where I had parked up by the A7 which is the "Historic route to Edinburgh" according to the road signs along it.  After a late lunch and a short break back at the car I turned her round and drove two miles to the Mosspaul Hotel which was my start point for Ellson Fell GM/SS-146.

Summit 3: GM/SS-146 Ellson Fell 

Equipment used for the activation of SS-146:

Yaesu FT-857D with 60 watts output from 5 Ah LiFePo4 battery

Palm Morse key with Ultra Pico Memory Keyer

Link dipoles for 30/20/17m and 15/10/6m bands on 5m pole

The Mosspaul Hotel looked to me like it had ceased being a hotel, however there was a campsite to the rear, with flags of various nationalities being flown to attract the camper tourists passing by.  I parked on the curtilage of the site next to the A7. Permission was not sought to park there as there was no one around to ask and I wasn't blocking the entrance. 

Mosspaul Hotel - I am parked up by the large tree for SS-146

I would recommend that anyone following in my footsteps to go up the same way that I came down - which is along Penangus Hope - the curiously named glen which carries the Mosspaul Burn at the side of the mature conifer forest :

Looking down the Glen of Penangus Hope to the Mosspaul Inn from the flank of Carlin Tooth 

It took considerably longer to reach the summit due to fatigue and the fact that I was carrying an FT-857 and larger battery. The grass topped featureless summit offered no support for my antenna, so I employed a 3 point guying ring and tent pegs:

The featureless top of Ellson Fell which appeared to be rarely visited - but this was its 13th activation for SOTA!

The same operating style was again employed on my third summit of the day. The bands chosen meant close in stations in the UK were not worked, apart from on the 10m band on groundwave. I had purposely left out 40m operation due to the time factor - on what was a 14 hours day anyway. Add 40m operation to what I was already doing and it would have turned my day into a 16 hour effort, so 40m, the most popular SOTA band was omitted from the mission. 

It was taking me between 10 and 15 minutes to switch over to the 10m band after my session on 20m due to having to remove one dipole and replace it with another, so I must make up another dipole to work on 10m-20m-30m for future activations. The first part of the 6/10m Challenge ends on August 14th, but then restarts on November 15th 2015. 

Following the burn down the valley was a much better route than the one I chose to go up on. It was less tussocky and shorter.  After leaving the Mosspaul Inn I reached Penrith via the A7 and M6 (Carlisle) route in less than one hour for some fast food. It was then I realised that the assistant in KFC was the first person I had spoken to all day, apart from the 70 brief exchanges I had with radio amateurs over the radio, not having seen or passed or spoken to a single soul throughout the day...this would not have happened in the Lake District!

Stats

70 X contacts on 3 summits
4 X Summit to Summit contacts with HB9ZAP/P OE7HPI/7 ON9CBQ/P DL3SBA/P (All SSB QRP)
6 X 10m Challenge Contacts from 3 summits
3 X SOTA Complete points

SOTA UK Complete Table - Top 10

I'm now lying 3rd in the UK SOTA Complete table. Including the 3 summits bagged today I've completed 119 summits in the last year, two were confirmed as complete as a result of chaser contacts and 117 were confirmed by activating a unique summit from my side from a summit which I had previously chased.

I'm hoping to do a few more trips to the Scottish Borders during the summer. There are still a handful of border summits reachable within a day from my QTH in North Yorkshire which I haven't yet visited.  I find it easier to reach Scotland than Wales as the roads north are generally less congested than if I travel across the Pennines and Manchester.