Great Orme 2008

We had big intentions - and alerts to match - of hitting Snowdonia for two days after sailing back from GI. However, as we landed at Birkenhead on the morning of Tuesday 1st April 2008, the weather was horrible and Jimmy wasn't feeling too well. I was rather tired having lay awake as the ship was thrown up and down many metres at a time during a rather rough crossing!

Great Orme GW/NW-070

Jimmy and I decided to drive into Snowdonia anyway, and see if things improved. We arrived at the parking spot for Pen Llithrig y Wrach GW/NW-013 and Creigiau Gleision GW/NW-028, just in front of Tryfan GW/NW-006. Jimmy still wasn't too sure about his tummy, and the weather was worsening. After much deliberation, we agreed on a cop-out plan of activating the Great Orme GW/NW-070 and heading home.

The new SB270, set for 2m-V and 70cm-H

Another view of the SB270 aerial, with 40m and 80m dipoles above

This meant we now had plenty of time to activate how we liked and play radio. After sticking the pay-and-display ticket in the car and walking up to the trig point, we then dropped down the other side of the summit, and loitered around the back of the summit complex and cable car terminus structures, deliberating on the best shelter from the considerable wind. We eventually settled on a grassy bank with a lovely view North East over the Irish Sea. It turned out we were lucky. The rain never came all day, it was sunny, and we had total shelter from the wind. It was cold, but we donned two fleeces each under our jackets, so kept warm effectively.

Cable car supports with summit trig behind

Cable car supports with summit trig behind

I set up the lot. The 80m dipole and the 40m dipole were erected on the same fishing pole, so it had six lines radiating from it instead of the usual three! I then set up, for the first time, my new SB270 beam.

A summary of our results, from an activation lasting from 1218 to 1630 UTC is:

74 contacts, 9 band/mode combinations. I also wanted to do 15SSB, 15CW, 6SSB, 6CW, 6FM and 2CW - but failed due to lack of condx/response. One summit-to-summit contact was with Roger G4OWG/P on Rombalds Moor G/NP-028. The drive home was most unusual, in that it did not involve a lengthy queue on the A55. Many thanks to the following stations, all worked with 5 watts:

G3RMD	Cheltenham	Frank	80m	CW	T
ON4CAP	Oostkamp	André	80m	CW	T
G4OBK	Pickering	Phil	80m	CW	T
G4CPA	Crosshills	Geoff	80m	CW	T
MX0BCQ/A	Crosshills	Geoff	80m	CW	T
GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike	80m	CW	T
M0COP	Little Stretton	Pete	80m	CW	T
EI2CL	Dublin	Michael	80m	CW	T
G3OHC	Selby	Graham	80m	CW	T
GW4BVE	Pool Quay	John	80m	SSB	T, J
M3XLG	Thornton-in-Craven	Chris	80m	SSB	J
G4OWG/P	Rombalds Moor NP-028	Roger	80m	SSB	T, J
ON4CAP	Oostkamp	André	40m	CW	T
DL2KDW	Eschweiler	Robert	40m	CW	T
PA3CWG	Hellendoorn	Ron	40m	CW	T
DL8YR	Aachen	Peter	40m	SSB	J
F4CTJ	St Valery en Caux	Karim	40m	SSB	J
HB9AGH	Zurich	Ambrosi	40m	SSB	T
PA0XAW	Anna Paulowna	Age	40m	SSB	T
DJ5AV	Heiligenberg	Mike	40m	CW	T
HB9AAQ	Haag	Fred	40m	CW	T
F6NEO	Rilly La Montagne	Alain	40m	CW	T
DL6UHA	JO71HR	Hans	40m	CW	T
DL2EF	Krefeld	Frank	40m	CW	T
HB9AGH	Zurich	Ambrosi	40m	CW	T
G1LAT	Wennington	Stephany	2m	FM	J
M3RNX	Bolton	Alfred	2m	FM	J
G0HDX	Clayton-le-Moors	Roy	2m	FM	J
MW0BYT	near Bethesda	Ross	2m	FM	T, J
G4BLH	Brierfield	Mike	2m	FM	T
M0IGG	Walney Island	Steve	2m	FM	T
G0HIK	Ireleth-in-Furness	Nick	2m	FM	T
M3UGN	Forest of Bowland	Eddie	2m	FM	T
MW0IDX/M	Colwyn Bay	Roger	2m	FM	T
G3NPJ	Heswall	Alan	2m	FM	T
G4USW	Barrow-in-Furness	Bill	2m	FM	T
G1NVY	Prescott	Ken	2m	FM	T
G4BLH	Brierfield	Mike	2m	FM	J
G4BLH	Brierfield	Mike	70cm	SSB	T
G4BLH	Brierfield	Mike	70cm	CW	T
G3OHC	Selby	Graham	2m	SSB	T, J
G4OBK	Pickering	Phil	2m	SSB	T, J
GW0DSP	Connahs Quay	Mike	2m	SSB	J
G4BLH	Brierfield	Mike	2m	SSB	J
G3IZD	Barrow-in-Furness	Ivan	2m	SSB	T, J
G8AXW	near Blackpool	Dave	2m	SSB	T
MW3GKI	Anglesey	Nick	70cm	FM	T, J
GW3ETN	Kinmel Bay	Peter	70cm	FM	J
F2LG	France		40m	CW	T
SM3TLG	Norrala	Hans	40m	CW	T
HB9RE	Zurich	Fritz	40m	CW	T
DL3HWO	Raguhn	Herbert	40m	CW	T
F6JOU	Marignier	Alain	40m	CW	T
HB9EAA	Hofstetten	Nik	40m	CW	T
ON4ON	Dadizele	Danny	80m	CW	T
DJ5AV	Heiligenberg	Mike	80m	CW	T
G4OWG	Rawdon	Roger	80m	CW	T
G8ADD	Birmingham	Brian	80m	SSB	T, J
2E0EDX	Blackpool	Ian	2m	FM	T
M3UUO	Blackpool	Daryl	2m	FM	T
M3WAZ	Blackpool	John	2m	FM	T

Our alerts and original plans for Sunday 22nd June 2008 were for the pair of Pen Llithrig y Wrach GW/NW-013 and Creigiau Gleision GW/NW-028. I think we had already, subconsciously decided to cancel on the Saturday night. We were tired out, had a broken aerial, a broken radio, fuses to replace in the SLAB and a car full of soaking wet boots, clothes, coats and gear.

On Sunday morning, we were in no rush to exit our youth hostel bunks, and had a lie-in until 8am. Then we went over to the main Swallow Falls Hotel building on the same site and upstairs to The Tavern, which is an incredibly large cafe and bar. The breakfast was good value. Cereal, fruit juice, tea/coffee and toast, followed by Full Welsh cooked breakfast. Well, that's what it said on the menu. Jimmy pointed out that it was exactly the same as a Full English, while I countered that given the staff cooking and serving it, it should perhaps be called a Full Polish. Whatever, it was nice, and at £5 each, a good value start to the day.

We knew that our route home would take us close to Llandudno, so we agreed we would do a zero point repeat activation of Great Orme GW/NW-070, using our 2m FM handhelds - our only remaining working gear. En route, we were in mobile contact with Roger MW0IDX who invited us round for a brew after the activation.

Tom on the activating position on Great Orme! Jimmy tries to stay on his feet!

We noticed the trees alongside the A470 being battered by the wind, and figured that the situation a couple of thousand feet higher could be pretty hostile. Indeed, the weather forecast on the notice board at the youth hostel that morning had outlined a dire situation with the wind. On the top car park on Great Orme GW/NW-070, it was very difficult to open the doors of the car and get out, and this at only 600 feet ASL. We just took our handhelds, logbook, pencil and camera in our fleece pockets (our coats were still too set to be used) and struggled around to the other side of the summit complex building. We found the best shelter to be on a concrete stairway at the rear of the cable car station, but it was still pretty grim!

Bus, destoyed by the wind on the summit

The VHF QRM from this notorious summit was at its notorious worst, and most contacts were difficult. We managed to make several each, but a couple of stations at the end that we heard call initially, disappeared before the QSOs were complete. Upon returning to the car park, we found two large smashed windscreens strewn across the tarmac. After a struggle, we got the doors of the car open and got into the relative safety of the inside of it. It was being rocked violently though, so I wasted no time in driving off the car park. Just around the car was an Arriva bus, minus windscreen, which had been blasted out by the wind when it had opened its passenger doors on the top car park! Jimmy grabbed a ghoulish photograph, and we made a sharp exit! Many thanks to the following stations, all worked on 2m FM with 5 watts:

MW0IDX	Kinmel Bay	Roger	T, J
M3TMX	Dalton-in-Furness	Jordan	T, J
M1AVV	Dalton-in-Furness	Simon	T
M0JFE	Fleetwood	John	T
G4ZRP	Wirral	Brian	J
G0SLR	Warrington	Roy	J
2E0NHM	Warton	Nigel	J
M3NVJ	Mossley Hill	Colin	T
2W0HMS	Bangor	Eu	T

The cups of tea at Roger MW0IDX's QTH in nearby Kinmel Bay were most welcome, and we spent an enjoyable hour there chatting about all things SOTA, hillwalking and radio. We then hit the road, and were home by 4pm, a relatively early Sunday homecoming for a SOTA trip. The car was buffetted by strong sidewinds all the way along the A55. The higher reaches of Snowdonia would have surely been no-go areas today!

Not a bad old SOTA outing: 3 days, 5 activations, 1 new activator unique (3 for Jimmy) and 25 points ... even though we returned 10 points lighter than originally intended!