An early start for a longer day completing the Black Mountain three peaks challenge.
GW/SW-002, Waun Fach – 811m, 8 Points
The walk up Waun Fach was going well until our navigator decided to take a short cut straight up the side of Pen Trumau, which was rather hard going. We reached the top just in time for a summit to summit contact with Vicki, MW6BWA and Rod MW0JLA, both on SW-014. This was quickly followed by another summit to summit with David on NW-043, a busy day out on the hills.
GW/SW-002 Log
GW/SW-009, Mynydd Troed – 609m, 4 Points
Back down from Waun Fach it was a quick drive around to the col between Troed and Langorse for the second assault of the day. This time I tried the route anticlockwise around the mountain which I think was a bit shorter than the usual clockwise and also missed out the infamous gate.
It didn’t take long to reach the top. The steps in the mud seem to be getting more pronounced and as the weather had been fairly dry recently they made the climb up much easier. This time I set up the beam on top and soon had 9 contacts in the log including Vicki and Rod again for a second summit to summit over to SW-012.
GW/SW-009 Log
GW/SW-015, Mynydd Llangorse – 515m, 2 Points
We were soon back at the col, didn’t stop though and pressed on straight up Langorse. An easy two point walk to finish the day although more of a challenge radio wise. This is well known as a difficult summit to work VHF as it is largely surrounded by taller peaks. We set up short of the true summit as that is another 600m walk and back to gain only about another 5m height.
I set up the beam and soon worked Vicki and Rod once more, they were still on SW-012. I also managed Emyr on SW-006 and then just as I was leaving the summit I caught Roger over in England on WB-016, luckily I was only just out of the activation zone so I quickly ran back up into the zone for a nice final bonus S2S contact.
GW/SW-015 Log
Altogether another fine day out on the hills and 23 extra SOTA points earned.
Journey Details
Date – 6th January 2019
Postcode – LD3 0EU & LD3 7UL
Parking – SO 186 290 & SO 160 283
Radio – Kenwood TH-D74 + 50W PA on 2m
Antenna – 2 ele dipole & Nagoya NA771
Band – 144 FM
Contacts – 5 + 9 + 8
SOTA points – 8 (+3) + 4 (+3) + 82(+3) = 23
Group – Myself, Peter & Richard
Walking Route Summary
