Gyrn Moelfre Hike - GW/NW-049 SOTA (2020)

Summits on the Air Activation Report

Activation Date: Sunday 12th July, 2020.
Activator(s): Richard M1HAX.
Summit: Gyrn Moelfre, North Wales, Wales.
Summit ID: SOTA reference GW/NW-049 (2 points).
Summit Height: 523m elevation, 237m prominence.
Summit Location: Lat./Long. 52.85577, -3.21266. Maidenhead Grid IO82ju.
Distance: 4.2km travelled with 275m of ascent.
Difficulty: SAC Grade T1.^(?)
Elapsed Time: 1hr 30m (including operating).
Weather: Feels like 18.3°C, 20 kph SW wind, 52% humidity.
Radio Equipment: Yaesu FTM100D, MFJ-1714, Zippy 4200mAh 4S LiFePo4.
Callsign Used: MW1HAX/P.
Contacts: 13 (2m FM).

Trip Notes

Gyrn Moelfre, located in Powys, mid Wales, near the Shropshire border, is a mountain positioned southeast of the Berwyns, separated by Afon Ysgwennant. Llansilin village rests on its southwest slopes. Notably, Gyrn Moelfre has served as a venue for the British Downhill Series and other downhill events.

I followed the route previously published to SOTAMaps by Gerald MW0WML. I found road access to the start point poor (narrow, rough, steep) and if doing this hill again I would seek to approach from another direction. There was roadside parking for one car. Luckily, there was nobody about.

A bridleway and then faint paths across grassy sloping farm fields route up towards the shoulder of the hill. The last short walk along a field boundary to the summit is very scenic with great views.

At the summit I set up my radio equipment on the trig point. The hill felt quite remote however to my surprise a small group of walkers arrived as I was preparing to operate. They had ascended from the south side of the hill.

I operated on the 2-metre band, running my Yaesu FTM-100D at 50 watts. Enjoying the sunshine and views I worked a number of other stations, including two summit-to-summit contacts. SOTA regular Allan GW4VPX was on the summit of GW/MW-028 Frenni Fawr in South Wales, giving me a 5/5 signal report.

After making peace with the reality I would need to drive back down the unpleasant access road, I descended the northern side of the hill to the car to head home.

Photos

Below are some photographs taken during my activation of Gyrn Moelfre on Sunday 12th July, 2020.

Walking Route for Gyrn Moelfre

The interactive map below shows my GPS track taken to the SOTA activation zone for Gyrn Moelfre. The GW/NW-049 summit area is marked on the map with a blue pin icon.

You can download the route shown above as a GPX file suitable for use with most GPS devices. This file is provided for information only, to support your own walk planning and research (it may contain navigation errors, detours and/or safety hazards). The route downloads provided here are governed by the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.

Station Log

I logged the following 13 amateur radio contacts operating as MW1HAX/P from GW/NW-049 Gyrn Moelfre on Sunday 12th July, 2020 (all times shown are UTC):

In the notes field I will usually log the other operator’s name and the signal report they provided. In accordance with the Summits on the Air rules, I do not make a log entry where a complete exchange of callsigns and signal reports was unsuccessful.

Additional Information

The following resources may be helpful to walkers, mountaineers and SOTA activators interested in Gyrn Moelfre:

• Sotl.as Summit Page for GW/NW-049 Gyrn Moelfre.
• Hill Bagging UK Summit Page for Gyrn Moelfre.
• Google Earth view of Gyrn Moelfre.
• Wikipedia entry for Gyrn Moelfre.

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