SOTA - Mynydd Llangorse - GW/SW-015

Mynydd Llangorse - 515m, 2 points
Association: Wales Region: South Wales
Latitude: 51 55 56 N, Longitude: 3 13 28 W
Grid Reference: SO 159267, QTH Locator: IO81JW

Arriving back at the parking area, cars were now double parked and backed up on the muddy verges. I moved my car to allow a large camper van to squeeze into a spot in front of me, blocking me in, but agreeing that they would move before my return at 1630! There were now people and cars everywhere, all out enjoying the fine weather.
A quick bit of lunch and then up the hill to the next summit.

No sign of Mike, but another quick setup and quickly into a pile up.

The Shack

My newly acquired SOTA watch alerted me to the fact that I'd been spotted (as if I hadn't already guessed!).

Spotted!

What was to throw me more, was when it beeped a few minutes later with a message that John, MW0XOT/P, was also active on the same summit! I scanned the skyline, and sure enough, over in the distance towards the trig point I could see a mast swaying in the breeze.

Needless to say, a short while later John approached and introduced himself, just as I was winding up with QSO #47.

Log

For the secont time today I had a S2S with YU1WC/p, this time on YU/ZS-068.

After a bit of a chat with John it was soon time to pack up as the sun got lower in the sky.
A slow descent to the car, stopping to chat to numerous walkers asking the usual fishing related questions!

Shadowy figure looking back over to Mynydd Troed

Summary

Log2Map

SOTA - Mynydd Troed - GW/SW-009

Mynydd Troed - 609m, 4 points

Association: Wales Region: South Wales
Latitude: 51 57 21 N, Longitude: 3 12 54 W
Grid Reference: SO 166293, QTH Locator: IO81JW

Uncharacteristically, I chose a weekend day to do some SOTA activating. This of course meant that I probably wouldn't be alone on the hilltops!
And so it was. When I arrived at the parking spot on the coll between Mynydd Troed and Mynydd Llangorse, there was only a single parking spot left and there were already numerous people on the hillside.

I quickly grabbed the parking spot, booted up and started off for the summit of Mynydd Troed.
As I approached the summit of Mynydd Troed, I was surprised to see the unmistakable sight of an antenna sprouting above the trig point.
Who should be there but Mike, GW7HEM, working Vicky (M6BWA) for a S2S on 2 metres.
A brief introduction and I found a spot to quickly setup out of the wind under my tarp.

The Shack

I was just finishing off my first QSO (and S2S) when Mike departed for Mynydd Llangorse, where I sort of expected to see him later.

There was a fairly steady stream of walkers arriving and I was glad I'd not set up right by the trig point. Custom was brisk, and I soon had 51 QSO's in the logbook, including S2S with YU1WC/p on YU/ZS-078, Z35m/p on Z3/WM-046 and DL/HB9JOE/p on DM/BW-629.

Log

Having operated for an hour, I didn't bother with 30 meters but instead  packed up and headed onwards for Mynydd Llangorse.

The sun was out and it was a fantastic day.

Pen y Fan in the distance

Summary

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SOTA - Mynydd Carn-y-cefn - GW/SW-014

Mynydd Carn-y-cefn - 550m, 2 points

Association: Wales Region: South Wales
Latitude: 51 46 9 N, Longitude: 3 10 46 W
Grid Reference: SO 187085, QTH Locator: IO81JS

The sun remained shining and I made my way to the Golf Club approach road where I parked on a wide verge near a gateway. It was then up the track to the summit. An easy one this to navigate, you only need to bushwhack the last few hundred metres to find the trig point.

Track almost to the summit

 Once again I left a calling card for any following activators!

I wuz ere...

The nice thing about this summit is the scaffold pole next  to the trig point. It makes a great pole support. Unfortunately, some time in the last year, it has got bent and is no longer vertical. Reluctant to guy the mast for the sake of a few extra metres in height, I just made do with what was on offer!

Bent pole

Business was brisk as normal with 47 QSOs quickly in the log. S2S was courtesy of Ian, GW8OGI/p on Tal y Fan - GW/NW-040.

With the sun setting it was time to make tracks and head for home after a good day out on the hills.

Sugar Loaf in the distance

Summary

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To round the day off nicely, this fellow decided to bark at me as I passed his territory on the way back to the car!

SOTA - Coity Mountain - GW/SW-012

Coity Mountain - 581m, 2 points

Association: Wales Region: South Wales
Latitude: 51 45 55 N, Longitude: 3 6 56 W
Grid Reference: SO 231080, QTH Locator: IO81KS

For a bit of a change, I decided to park today at the Railway station on the Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway, rather than the usual  Big Pit Museum car park.
This wasn't any closer to the trail head, but was slightly more convenient when moving on later in the day to the second summit.

I still had the horrible trek across the bog and brush to reach the access road up as far as the disused mine workings. Maybe someday I'll just walk the full length of this road rather than bush whacking!

The weather was fine with blue skies and a keen icy wind.

Posing by the reservoir

There was still snow on the upper flanks of the hillside, so I duly left a calling card for following activators.

Calling card - SOTA Fever.

 It didn't take long for the calls to roll in, once I had set up, with conditions being very good and an orderly pile ensued. 

Staying out of the wind

  A crackle on the 2 metre hand held, turned out to be Vicky, MW6BWA/p  on Waun Rydd - GW/SW-004. A quick call and I netted my one and only S2S for this activation.

Good views

Whilst Coity is a pretty uninspiring summit, it does command some reasonable views of the beacons on a clear day.

Log

Log2Map

Summary

With 61 QSOs in the log it was time to pack up and make my way to my second summit, Mynydd Carn-y-cefn, GW/SW-014

SOTA - Divis - GI/AH-004

Divis - 478m, 2 points

Association: Northern Ireland  Region: Antrim Hills
Latitude: 54 36 38 N, Longitude: 6 1 10 W
Grid Reference: J 280754, QTH Locator: IO64XO

After a few days of very strong winds, rain and snow, finally the forecast was for a bright day with winds abating during the morning.
With only limited time available, I set off for nearby Divis.

Arriving at the NT carpark the car was rocked and buffeted by the strong wind and the summit was enshrouded in cloud. Barely visible were the bottom of the Black Mountain, BBC masts.

Summit somewhere in the clouds.

Undeterred, I booted up and started my way towards the summit trail. I wasn't long before I was in amongst the clouds and being almost blown off my feet by the gale force winds.

Trig point at summit.

At the summit I opted to set up on the eastern side of the radio station in order to get some shelter from the wind. The noise of the wind whistling in the mast and fence made it difficult to hear!

QRV

Temperature rising!

A  short battle with the pole in the wind soon had me QRV on 40 metres.

The pack must have been waiting in the wings, because one CQ had a wall of stations immediately pouncing.

A nice run on 40m pulled in many of the usual suspects together with a S2S in the bag with Heinz, HB9BCB/p, on HB/BE-157.

QSYing to 20 metres coincided with the lifting of the cloud, and the revelation of beautiful blue skies! The wind still howled.

First contact on 20m was with regular activator Roger, F5LKW/p for a S2S on F/AM-662.

As usual he had the video running and provided a few seconds of my QSO from his end.

Jan, OK2PDT/p, on OK/VY-031 also called in for a final S2S, and I wound up proceedings with hopping across the pond to net  Robert AC1Z in New Hampshire.

A gust of wind detached the antenna, and obviously signalled that time was getting on and I needed to depart.

A nice walk back with the weather improving all the time. By the time I arrived at the car it was a balmy 5ºC.

Warming up

The two missing Antrim Hills, on my list, will have to wait another day.

I'll be back for more breakfast activations...

Breakfast

Handwarmers

I suffer from cold hands and have to be mindful of exposure to the elements when the temperature starts to tumble. Whilst I can manage to operate CW whilst wearing  gloves (somewhat erratically at times), the issue still often arises where I need to take my gloves off, for a short period of time, during an activation. Even a brief exposure to ice cold wind and rain can leave me virtually incapacitated if I don't take extreme care.

Aside from really good gloves (multiple pairs), in winter,  I always carry hand warmers with me.
These are in the form of disposable packs based on iron oxide, together with my Zippo warmer which runs on lighter fuel.

I found out the hard way, that the expiry date on the disposable pads, is not there just for show.
I have a whole stack of pads I bought from Go Outdoor when they were selling 4 twin packs for £1.
With an expiry date of October 2014, I can confirm that they produce no heat when using them a year after that date!
My Zippo is used mainly to rewarm my hands after packing up my gear, but I like to keep a disposable pad inside each glove during the actual activation.

Shopping around on eBay for a replacement element for the Zippo, I came across small Japanese hand warmers, a pair of which is the same price as a single replacement Zippo element.

For £7 a pair, I thought it would be worth giving them a shot; at worst I'll have two replacement elements for the Zippo (they are the same size).

They arrived in 12 days from Hong Kong and first impressions are very favourable.

The £3.50 hand warmer.

Complete with their own little pouch, I couldn't really fault the quality for the meagre cost.
They're a bit rough around the element housing, but I didn't buy them for their highly machined finish!

Use.
Luckily they arrived on a morning of sub zero temperatures, so I put approximately 5 ml of lighter fuel in each, lit them, and placed inside my gloves and went for a walk to the local shop.

Firstly, these get really quite hot. Much warmer than the Zippo, but then again they are using the same heating element and only have about half the surface to heat up. Outside of their pouch they were verging on too hot to touch.

Comparative size

Comparative size

Dimensions

Being small enough to tuck into the palm of my gloves, my hands were impressively toasty by the time I got home. Much superior to the disposable heating pads.

I left them to burn out, which took a shade over 4 hours; 10 or 15 mls of fuel should easily last me an all day trip.

Whilst I've only had the single use so far, initial indications are that these will perform well for me when used inside my winter mitts.

The Zippo needs careful management when in use. If the case gets cold it will extinguish and become impossible to light. I will have to see how these smaller devices perform.

Specifications (approx):

Japanese hand warmer = 31g (inc pouch), 67x46x15 (mm)

Zippo handwarmer = 78g (inc pouch), 100x70x15

Disposable pad = 42g, 85x56x10

Multiple choice!

I bought these from eBay seller delhanway2009, but there are many other sellers selling identical products. Prices change on an almost daily basis. Mine were £3.50 with free delivery.

I'm not endorsing the product or seller, but initial indications are that these will be useful to me during the winter weather.

UPDATE:


A further update after some testing.
I filled the both handwarmers with 5 ml of Poundland lighter fuel (other makes are available).
They lasted for 3 hours.
Extrapolating that data, the consumption is ~ 1ml per 36 minutes, or 1.7ml/hour.
A temperature probe inside the pouch revealed the max temperature reached was 65.2ºC



I've now used the warmers a couple of times and am very happy with the performance.