Moel Famau SOTA Activation

Summits On The Air Reference GW/NW-044, 2 Points + 3 Winter Bonus Points

Activity Summary

  • Date : 15th January 2026
  • Distance : 5.55 km
  • Ascent : 217 m
  • Max Altitude : 555 m
  • Time to Summit : 0:44 hrs
  • Total Activation Time : 2:20 hrs

Weather

  • Cloudy
  • Temperature 3 ℃
  • Humidity 94%
  • Feels like 2 ℃
  • Wind Speed 8.6 km/h
  • Wind Direction S

Equipment Used

  • Icom IC705 (10w)
  • 2m Flowerpot antenna (homebrew)
  • SOTABEAMS Carbon 6 pole
  • PoLo logging app on iPad mini

Parking Location What3Words

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Activation Report

This report is for the first of two SOTA summits activated on the same day. The first summit, Moel Famau, is the subject of this report. The second summit, Foel Fenlli, will be detailed in a separate report.
Both of these walks were out and back, from the same carpark. The carpark is located at the top of Bwlch Pen Barras, at SJ 16148 60577. There are actually two carparks, separated by the road, and so there is ample parking. The charge for parking all day is £6.

Looking across to the larger carpark across the road

It was just after 9am, when I started walking up the well worn path to the summit of Moel Famau. The path is straightforward, with a couple of steeper sections closer to the summit. I did notice a defibrillator, at the top of the first steeper section. A testament to how many people visit this summit. After about 45 minutes I had reached the summit, I took a few moments to take in the views. Its not hard to see why this summit is so popular, with the amazing views.

The summit was unusually quiet, and so I pondered the idea of operating from the Jubilee Tower. After climbing to the top of the tower, I was surprised to see that nobody was up there. So I setup my station, using my rucksack as a support for the carbon 6 pole.


After spotting myself, I soon had nine, 2m FM contacts in the log. I also managed a summit to summit, with John, GW4TQE, on Mynd-y-Briw, GW/NW-060. With all of the callers on 2m FM worked, I changed mode to SSB. I then then worked five more stations on that mode. Although, there were some duplicate contacts on SSB, the contacts still count towards this years SOTA, 2m SSB challenge.

Activation log for the summit.

After finishing up, I packed away, and then headed back down to the car. I had some lunch in the car before starting out again, this time to activate Foel Fenlli.

The interactive map below shows a track of the route taken. You can zoom in or out to change the scale. The map can also be shown in full screen. The GPX track can also be downloaded using the link below the map.

Download file for GPS

Further information can be found on the SOTA resource page for the summit