Tom Read - click to email meBDXC ISWL WAB SOTA RSGB IOTA - see my radio page for more detailsLiam & Jimmy

Cadair Berwyn 2011

 

Many factors influenced this idea of an overnight stay on Cadair Berwyn's summit.  Perhaps the earliest were in the relatively young days of SOTA, and reading about the backpacking SOTA expeditions of John G4YSS, Jon GM4ZFZ and Richard G3CWI. I certainly wanted to try that for myself, and had indeed sampled it with a cheap £7 tent on local hills, to at least get some ideas about what I would need to do it properly.  I was also interested to see how many QSOs I could make in a single activation, and I wanted to file a highly competitive entry in the August session of the RSGB 2m UK Activity Contest series. All this came together to plan an overnight stay on Cadair Berwyn GW/NW-012, 830m ASL, with activations on the 2nd and 3rd of August 2011.

In the planning and preparation phase, I exchanged emails with Phil Facey, proprietor of the Tan y Pistyll cafe, a usual start point for Cadair Berwyn. Phil said there was free parking back down the road a bit, or overnight parking in his locked field and retreat campsite for £4. I decided to go for that, and Phil emailed me the access code for the gate, as I would be arriving before the cafe opened.

Tent pitched on summit    Summit of Cadair Berwyn

Also required was a proper backpacking tent, and I went for the Karrimor Ultralite, which I picked up from my local Millets at a reduced price. I did consider getting a lightweight self-inflating air mat as well, but decided to take one of my existing foam sleep mats. This will be reviewed for next time, as I didn't have the most comfortable night's sleep!  A lightweight down sleeping bag was also needed, and I picked up a duck down mummy bag from Tesco - for £7! This was light, and kept me warm at night, so proved good value. The killer was going to be the two 7Ah SLABs I figured I would need to operate HF CW all day then a 2.5 hour VHF SSB contest!

The rucksack was quite a weight when I picked it up, with the radio, key, mike, 40m dipole, 20m MM, SB5, decent Aircell 7 feeder, plus 2 litres of water and three meals worth of grub added. Furthermore, it was a hot and humid morning when I arrived at Tan y Pistyll, so the microfleece and Berghaus jacket were added to that!

I had set off from Macclesfield around 5.30am on Tuesday 2nd August 2011, and made for the M56. Chester services provided the McDonalds breakfast before I turned down the M53, A55 and A483 towards Oswestry. From here, the directions were simple - follow the B4396 until I saw the right turning for the waterfall.  At the cafe, I entered the code and the gate swung open for me. Before setting off, I downed a bottle of Tropicana orange & mango juice, a bottle of water, a can of Red Bull and a Mars Bar. I wasn't going to allow hydration or energy shortcomings get in the way!

Awesome views from the summit    40m dipole ready to go

I pulled on the heavy pack, and it was - heavy. But comfortable, so I powered myself along with my Leki poles and climbed into the field with the public footpath. It was rapid progress along the track to the footbridge, and I looked forward to one of my favourite sections of walking in SOTAland. This is the path that contours along the side of the U-shaped valley up to Llyn Lluncaws, quickly gaining height, but without the usual physical strain associated with doing so.

After negotiating the boggy section, I was climbing steeply up above Llyn Lluncaws. Halfway up, I was tired and decided to sit on a rock for a while, and pore over the map. Once resumed, I was mindful to work my left a little to avoid the exposure of where the path is very close to a steep edge for a time. I overcompensated and worked my way on steep grassy ground that slowed my progress. When I attained the main path just below Moel Sych, I stopped for another rest and a snack, and 'phoned Jimmy with a progress update.

The rest did me good and I was up Moel Sych in no time when I got going again, and the traverse from there onto Cadair Berwyn was similarly rapid. So far so good, I had reached the summit of Cadair Berwyn with my heavy pack in reasonable time. I paced around assessing the best place to pitch my tent, and selected a grassy area in between the large stone shelter and the rocky outcrop at the true summit.

Looking across to the true summit from the tent    Tom MW1EYP/P

 

The Karrimor Ultralite went up reasoanbly well and should be a breeze to put up and down in the future. I decided to set out my sleeping mat and mummy bag before erecting the 40m dipole. The weather was nice, so I sat outside the tent and began my activation on 40m CW. But after only a few QSOs, the rain started to come down, so I announced "QRX RAIN" and dragged everything inside the tent. Some stations continued to call me repeatedly, while some tried to tell them about the QRX, and others just sent "HI"!

The first run of contacts stopped after 20 on 40m CW and 1 on 40m SSB. It was time to put up the 20m vertical with groundplane and enter the Lion's Den of the WFF pile-up! This then brought about a run of 82 QSOs in 63 minutes.  With the frequency empty, and the weather much improved, I decided on a change of scenery. I walked up to the very summit and perched on the rock there with my handheld, with a very steep and long drop plunging ominously beneath my feet. I tried not to look down, but as I was only using handheld with rubber duck at this point, I needed the best vantage point possible.

It ended up being a pleasant interlude of 15 contacts on 2m FM, mostly with known friends, acquaintances and family(!) and a further six on 70cm FM. The first S2S of the activation came with MW6BDV/P on Foel Offrwm GW/NW-055.  I returned to the main stations to play 20m once again, and the hour gap had been sufficient to liven up the interest in working me once again. I worked pretty much continuously for the next 2.5 hours, all CW apart from one S2S QSO with HB9BQU/P on Haglere HB/OW-025. A CW S2S was made with CT1BWW/P on Monte de Penha CT/MN-033. Another break with the handheld brought only Ron GW4EVX on 2m FM before a mad session on 20m CW of 27 QSOs in 18 minutes! I put the 40m dipole up again, but attracted only five more stations into the log.

Great view over Llyn Lluncaws from the 2m operating spot    20m antenna by the tent

It was now about 50 minutes before the start of the 2m contest, so I had my dinner - aromatic duck wrap and Ginsters Pepper Steak Slice (recommended by some Manchester comedian who once did the warm up slot for a blues band gig I did) and made the decision to set the SB5 up right on the summit.  The wind had dropped considerably, so I felt it would be OK to set up right at the top. I spotted an (apparently well-known) "armchair rock" at the summit that I could sit in for the contest, and set up the SB5 at 4m AGL on the SOTA pole close by. I carried up my 817, SLAB, microphone etc up from the tent and settled down for the contest.

It was very busy, and finding a frequency was difficult. This certainly affected my QSO rate in the first hour, as I was playing S+P instead of running, but at least it meant that the bulk of the multiplier squares were safely in the log. By the end of the contest at 10.30pm BST, I had made 86 contacts, into 16 UK multiplier squares. Outside the UK, I worked F1VNR/P in JO10AT and my best DX - DF0MU, 727km into JO32PC. S2S contacts were made with 2E0DHT/P on Winter Hill G/SP-010, Matt M3WDS/P on Cleeve Hill G/CE-001 and an astonishing genuine 59 both ways QSO with Robert GM4GUF/P on Tinto GM/SS-064.

It had been a good contest, but I felt I ended up short by around 20 QSOs and 2 multipliers. At the time of writing I am 2nd in the AL section behind M0MST/P (IO92) but ahead of G4HGI (IO83). The night was still mild and still, so I flipped the SB5 over to vertical polarisation and called on 2m FM. To my surprise, this initiated a most enjoyable hour of chatter, distributed across 22 contacts.

The "Armchair Rock" - operating position for the 2m contest    Armchair Rock

I then needed to spend some time carefully dismantling the 2m set up in the dark on Cadair Berwyn's summit, before re-erecting the 20m antenna next to the tent. 20m CW ops resumed at 2330z, and were also enjoyable as I received calls from known SOTA chasers in North America. As well as USA and Canada, I also worked 7X (Algeria) and CE (Chile) which were very satisfying. Mark G0VOF in Blackburn was also worked!  Many thanks to all the worked me on the Tuesday part of the activation:

G4SSH

40m

CW

G0NUP

40m

CW

DL3HXX

40m

CW

DL1FU

40m

CW

G3WPF

40m

CW

ON4CAP

40m

CW

PA0HRM

40m

CW

HB9AGH

40m

CW

OK1CZ

40m

CW

G0ANV

40m

CW

OK1DIG

40m

CW

DF5WA

40m

CW

DL2DXA

40m

CW

DL2HWI

40m

CW

OK1AU

40m

CW

G3RMD

40m

SSB

PA0WDG

40m

CW

OK1ZE

40m

CW

PA1AT

40m

CW

G3RMD

40m

CW

F5ABV

40m

CW

HA7UG

20m

CW

HA5WG

20m

CW

DL3HXX

20m

CW

S51ZG

20m

CW

OK1KT

20m

CW

DL5AMF

20m

CW

DJ8WO

20m

CW

EA5YI

20m

CW

G3WPF

20m

CW

LA1ENA

20m

CW

F5SQA

20m

CW

HA3FZ

20m

CW

S59DXX

20m

CW

HA5MA

20m

CW

HA5CW

20m

CW

DL7XU

20m

CW

LA8BCA

20m

CW

EA3GHZ

20m

CW

EA3CE

20m

CW

I5FLN

20m

CW

UA6FZ

20m

CW

LY2MM

20m

CW

DL1EBR

20m

CW

OK1AL

20m

CW

UU2JQ

20m

CW

UX1IM

20m

CW

OZ4RT

20m

CW

SP9ODY

20m

CW

IW1DFU

20m

CW

HA5AZC

20m

CW

SP5KCR

20m

CW

DL1USB

20m

CW

RA3UAG

20m

CW

OM3TPN

20m

CW

S52TC

20m

CW

EA1AW

20m

CW

SQ5WWK

20m

CW

IK3GER

20m

CW

UU5WW

20m

CW

DL5KUR

20m

CW

SP2MKI

20m

CW

SM5F

20m

CW

OH3GGQ

20m

CW

RX3DBG

20m

CW

DL1LQR

20m

CW

OK1TA

20m

CW

HA0IS

20m

CW

ES1IP

20m

CW

UA3UJP

20m

CW

RU3ET

20m

CW

LZ4GL

20m

CW

OH2BLD

20m

CW

RW3T

20m

CW

OM3CFF

20m

CW

HA0MO

20m

CW

OK1RR

20m

CW

PI4DX

20m

CW

OH6RP

20m

CW

DJ2PJ

20m

CW

OK2PAY

20m

CW

UA3CS

20m

CW

UN5C

20m

CW

DL5KUS

20m

CW

RO3P

20m

CW

UR5MIJ

20m

CW

S58AL

20m

CW

OM2DT

20m

CW

DL2NAI

20m

CW

RZ1AWZ

20m

CW

VE1WT

20m

CW

SP3GVX

20m

CW

DL8ZBA

20m

CW

DL5EBG

20m

CW

R2DW

20m

CW

HA7LJ

20m

CW

SP6CCI

20m

CW

SP9BGL

20m

CW

UA9OGF

20m

CW

DK6AJ

20m

CW

SP9EWM

20m

CW

RA9MP

20m

CW

UA1AVU

20m

CW

G4FPJ

2m

FM

M3EYP

2m

FM

G6ODU

2m

FM

G3WFK

2m

FM

G1DYN

2m

FM

G6LUZ

2m

FM

G3NPJ

2m

FM

2E0VFR

2m

FM

G0HRT

2m

FM

M3XIE

2m

FM

G7VEM

2m

FM

G7SKR

2m

FM

G7VEM

70cm

FM

G6ODU

70cm

FM

G6LUZ

70cm

FM

M3EYP

70cm

FM

G7SKR

70cm

FM

2E0YYY

70cm

FM

M0TUB

2m

FM

MW6BDV/P on Foel Offrwm NW-055

2m

FM

G0UIM

2m

FM

CT1BQH

20m

CW

N4EX

20m

CW

OK1MNI

20m

CW

PA5FN

20m

CW

M0TUB

20m

CW

UR0VN

20m

CW

OK2BAQ

20m

CW

R9TO

20m

CW

DK7AN

20m

CW

DJ3SM

20m

CW

IZ5OPX

20m

CW

LY4C

20m

CW

IZ0HTW

20m

CW

RA6AR

20m

CW

DL8OK

20m

CW

ES4RX

20m

CW

OH3GZ

20m

CW

EA7TG

20m

CW

DL3JPN

20m

CW

EA1DFP

20m

CW

R9AB

20m

CW

HB9IAB

20m

CW

DL6DCD

20m

CW

EA5TS

20m

CW

RA1QD

20m

CW

ON4AVZ

20m

CW

UX2IQ

20m

CW

DF1IAQ

20m

CW

F3CW

20m

CW

PA0RBO

20m

CW

LZ1GC

20m

CW

OM1DM

20m

CW

DJ1MD

20m

CW

HA5TI

20m

CW

UA4UBW

20m

CW

M0COP

20m

CW

DF2DM

20m

CW

HB9BQU/P on Haglere OW-025

20m

SSB

CT1BWW/P on Monte de Penha MN-033

20m

CW

UT5PI

20m

CW

DL6ATM

20m

CW

S52TC

20m

CW

IZ1JMN

20m

CW

9A1DX

20m

CW

UX1DC

20m

CW

9A3NM

20m

CW

HA4XG

20m

CW

SP2AOB

20m

CW

OM3LL

20m

CW

DK1AX

20m

CW

S53AF

20m

CW

HA0LG

20m

CW

SP7SZC

20m

CW

UR8IF

20m

CW

9A2NA

20m

CW

DJ5RE

20m

CW

DL2NAI

20m

CW

OK2BFY

20m

CW

YT1UM

20m

CW

OM2DT

20m

CW

F8CRK

20m

CW

RV1CT

20m

CW

UA9YE

20m

CW

SV2DGJ

20m

CW

HA1RW

20m

CW

DL1MDV

20m

CW

9A3KS

20m

CW

DJ9EG

20m

CW

I0KHY

20m

CW

US2LX

20m

CW

UA1ARF

20m

CW

DL1WH/P

20m

CW

OK2EI

20m

CW

4Z5AV

20m

CW

E74A

20m

CW

OE7PHI

20m

CW

YU3MMM

20m

CW

UY5UO

20m

CW

I2ZBX

20m

CW

YO2BBX

20m

CW

DL3HWD

20m

CW

IS0LMM

20m

CW

DL3JST

20m

CW

GW3KWX

20m

CW

IV3EAD

20m

CW

DL6KVA

20m

CW

E74UB

20m

CW

DJ1WJ

20m

CW

HA1ST

20m

CW

ON4IS

20m

CW

NS7P

20m

CW

DL4MO

20m

CW

ON4ALJ

20m

CW

SE6Y

20m

CW

GW4EVX

2m

FM

9A4MF

20m

CW

9A1CTL

20m

CW

UA6AUA

20m

CW

RU4HD

20m

CW

UW3QG

20m

CW

DF1BN

20m

CW

IS0HFE

20m

CW

IK1GPG

20m

CW

DL2ZBO

20m

CW

DL8DXL

20m

CW

LZ3SM

20m

CW

UT1PO

20m

CW

HB9BIN

20m

CW

RU9SL

20m

CW

SP9BGL

20m

CW

OK1FHD

20m

CW

SQ5STN

20m

CW

OE1KLW

20m

CW

US3IX

20m

CW

UT3IJ

20m

CW

UA4WJ

20m

CW

SP9EWM

20m

CW

E77AW

20m

CW

LZ1YW

20m

CW

EX8MJ

20m

CW

EA3NT

20m

CW

RZ1AG

20m

CW

DL6UNF

40m

CW

ON3ND

40m

CW

G4WSX

40m

CW

HA3OD

40m

CW

OE8SPW

40m

CW

G3WZD/P

2m

SSB

2E0DHT/P on Winter Hill SP-010

2m

SSB

M0SJS

2m

SSB

G3MEH

2m

SSB

M0GHZ/P

2m

SSB

M1MHZ

2m

SSB

G3WFK

2m

SSB

M0COP/P

2m

SSB

G4HYG

2m

SSB

G4JLG

2m

SSB

GW4EVX

2m

SSB

M5HFJ

2m

SSB

G0WTD

2m

SSB

G4JQN

2m

SSB

G0BWC/P

2m

SSB

G1SWH

2m

SSB

M1CNY/P

2m

SSB

M6XJP

2m

SSB

2E0TXT/P

2m

SSB

2E0LES

2m

SSB

M3OUA

2m

SSB

G3UVR

2m

SSB

M0JBC/P

2m

SSB

2W0RXX/P

2m

SSB

GW0NWR/P

2m

SSB

G4XKC

2m

SSB

GM4GUF/P on Tinto SS-064

2m

SSB

M0WAY

2m

SSB

M3WDS/P on Cleeve Hill CE-001

2m

SSB

M3EYP

2m

SSB

G8TIC/P

2m

SSB

G3NYY/P

2m

SSB

G0XDI/P

2m

SSB

G4RRA

2m

SSB

M0RDW

2m

SSB

MI0SMK/P

2m

SSB

G4DEZ

2m

SSB

G4WJS

2m

SSB

GI4SNA

2m

SSB

M0BUL/P

2m

SSB

GD8EXI

2m

SSB

G8XYJ

2m

SSB

G0CER

2m

SSB

2E0CVU

2m

SSB

G0ODQ

2m

SSB

G1TST

2m

SSB

DF0MU

2m

SSB

2E0VPX/P

2m

SSB

G7HOA/P

2m

SSB

2E0VFR

2m

SSB

GW4RWR

2m

SSB

G4FPJ

2m

SSB

G8DTF

2m

SSB

GW8ASD

2m

SSB

G3XNO

2m

SSB

2E0ORC

2m

SSB

G0OWP

2m

SSB

G8ZRE

2m

SSB

M6ASL

2m

SSB

M3RNX

2m

SSB

2E0BMO

2m

SSB

G0GRI/P

2m

SSB

G0LGS/P

2m

SSB

M0GVG/P

2m

SSB

M5DND

2m

SSB

G7DWY

2m

SSB

GW4ZAR

2m

SSB

G4BLH

2m

SSB

G4BEE

2m

SSB

G4IRC

2m

SSB

M0WEM

2m

SSB

G0BBL/P

2m

SSB

G4APJ

2m

SSB

M0YJT/P

2m

SSB

2E0HRD/P

2m

SSB

M0MST/P

2m

SSB

MW6OXO/P

2m

SSB

G8EKG

2m

SSB

M0AEJ

2m

SSB

G2BQY/P

2m

SSB

G3PYE/P

2m

SSB

G3VCA

2m

SSB

2E0VXX/P

2m

SSB

F1VNR/P

2m

SSB

G6UBM

2m

SSB

G1SMI

2m

SSB

2E1HQY

2m

FM

G0HIZ

2m

FM

M0RDR

2m

FM

M3XUT

2m

FM

M0JRB

2m

FM

2E0HRD/P

2m

FM

M0WEM

2m

FM

M3WEM

2m

FM

MW0RSS

2m

FM

M0MDA

2m

FM

G4DIP

2m

FM

MW0DAD

2m

FM

G7DNM

2m

FM

G7XYZ

2m

FM

G1JHB

2m

FM

G3XQE

2m

FM

G4GVZ

2m

FM

MW3PZO

2m

FM

M0DWQ

2m

FM

GW7SBO

2m

FM

M3LVY

2m

FM

M6DLT

2m

FM

VE2WFF

20m

CW

VE2JCW

20m

CW

UR5ICW

20m

CW

N1ZX

20m

CW

G0VOF

20m

CW

7X4AN

20m

CW

CE2/VE7SV

20m

CW

RD4CAQ

20m

CW

WW4N

20m

CW

VE1AL

20m

CW

In fact Mark was the also first to call me after midnight UTC (1am BST) on Wednesday 3rd August 2011, to claim his "double points", and I was rather pleased that VE2JCW amd NS7P did likewise. After working seven, no-one else called, and I couldn't find any DX that I wanted to call. I was absolutely shattered, so rather pleased to be bedding down in my new duck down mummy bag.

In the morning, I put up the 40m dipole, hoping for a Cloud-before-work style pile-up on 7.032MHz CW, but it wasn't to be with only F5CEL being worked. I would have liked to have called again on 2m FM via the handheld prior to leaving the summit, but I had exhausted the battery.  After packing everything away, my rucksack was not as heavy, as the weather was not as great as the previous day, so I had my fleece and jacket on. Also, I had eaten nearly all my food, and drunk a good proportion of my water. I cracked on with the descent, but found myself clutching for the map when the ground in front of me appeared to be rising up again!

It turned out I had missed the swing to the left to descend the way I had ascended, but it was OK as this was the path that took a more direct route back to the cafe. The steeper descending required towards to top of the waterfall was not so welcome, but I was soon on the old mine track and dropping down to the footbridge.

Back at the cafe car park, I bumped into Phil Facey. I thanked him for his email help in the planning stage, and to my surprise he started asking me about amateur radio, and how he could go about getting into it! It seemed he was already well aware of radio amateurs beginning their SOTA ascents of Cadair Berwyn from that point. Maybe the Tan y Pistyll will become an iconic amateur radio/SOTA cafe in the future!

A chocolate fudge brownie and a can of Red Bull was, by design, waiting for me in my car. I was worried that I was going to be feeling very tired for the drive home, but this sugar and caffeine fix seemed to work, as did spending most of the journey chatting on repeaters to my son Jimmy M3EYP.  The final totals for the activations were as follows:

Tuesday 2nd August: 369 QSOs
40m CW: 25
40m SSB: 1
20m CW: 212
20m SSB: 1
2m FM: 38
2m SSB: 86
70cm FM: 6
DXCCs: 41 - 4X, 7X, 9A, CE, CT, DL, E7, EA, ES, EX, F, G, GD, GI, GM, GW, HA, HB, I, IS0, LY, LZ, OE, OH, OK, OM, ON, OZ, PA, RA, S5, SM, SP, SV, UA9, UN, UR, VE, W, YO, YU

Wednesday 3rd August: 8 QSOs
40m CW: 1
20m CW: 7
DXCCs: 4 - F, G, VE, W

Many thanks to all the SOTA chasers that worked me on the Wednesday activation:

G0VOF

20m

CW

N2MGT

20m

CW

VE2JCW

20m

CW

NS7P

20m

CW

G3WPF

20m

CW

N1WQ

20m

CW

VA2SG

20m

CW

F5CEL

40m

CW