Tag: Brecon

Pen y Fan SOTA Activation

Summits On The Air reference GW/SW-001, 8 points + 3 winter bonus points

Activity Summary

Weather

Date 4th December 2025

Distance: 6.74km

Ascent: 462m

Max Altitude: 886m

Time to summit: 1:18

Total time: 3:33

Cloudy / Fog

Temperature 3 ℃

Humidity 96%

Feels like -1 ℃

Wind Speed 13.3 km/h

Wind Direction WNW

Equipment Used

  • SRH770 2m antenna
  • Yaesu FT65
  • Xiegu x6100
  • 20m 1/4 wave, telescopic ground plane antenna
  • PoLo logging app on iPad mini

Parking Location What3Words

///pelt.skipped.drips

Activation Report

As December approached, it was becoming increasingly difficult to find local summits that I hadn’t activated this year. Further a field, I had been looking at Pen y Fan, a relatively easy 8 pointer, but the five hour, round trip had been a bit off putting. Then one evening towards the end of November, the SOTA stars aligned. Standing behind my wife in her office, she was planning some meetings in South Wales. As she pondered her route, I realised her route was going take her past the Pen y Fan carpark on the A470. And so we hatched a plan where we would share the driving, a win win, for us both. Especially as we were now into the season for winter bonus points.

The toilet block with an area to shelter from the rain.

After planning my activation whilst sat by a cosy log burner, I was now stood in the Pont ar Daf, National Trust carpark, waving goodbye to my wife. The carpark has toilets, with a nice area to shelter out of the rain, if needed. The parking is free for National Trust members.
At 10:17 am, I was heading out of the carpark. As I started to ascend the path, I could see the cloud hanging over the hill tops and wasn’t expecting to see any great views. Once I reached Bwlch Duwynt, I was walking in the misty conditions of the low cloud. After about an hour and twenty minutes of walking, the Pen y Fan summit cairn appeared out of the mist, confirming that I had reached the summit. As expected, there was no view to be seen, as confirmed by the video below.

Video confirming the lack of any view

I looked around for an operating position with some shelter out of the cool wind. I managed to find a small mound, that provided just enough shelter, if I was lying down on my DD Tarps magic carpet. This saved me from having to erect my shelter.

Shack for the day
Keeping low for shelter. The summit cairn can just be seen in the mist

I setup on 2m with the FT65 and the SRH770. I struggled to get a spot out initially, it turned out my sheltered position was also blocking my mobile signal. After eventually getting a spot out, the calls started to trickle in. I was grateful for the local support. Gillian M0OVW, offered to get hold of other amateurs. Someone else, sorry can’t remember who, alerted me on a local WhatsApp group. This resulted in ten contacts on 2m. I would consider that a good haul for a midweek activation.
Next up was HF, using the x6100, and the telescopic 20m 1/4 wave. After getting a spot out, I soon realised that 20m propagation was in excellent shape. As what then ensued was a nearly half an hour pileup, resulting in thirty five contacts on 20m.

Total QSO count was 45, including a summit to summit with GW4HBQ on GW/MW-006. Another very satisfactory activation.

I do have to admit, I was glad when the callers finally dried up, as I was now beginning to get cold and starting to shiver. After a bit of jogging around to warm up, I packed away. As I was packing away I witnessed a surreal scene. A group of about twenty soldiers appeared out the mist and passed either side of me before disappearing into the mist again.

Corn Du summit just about visible in the mist. The cloud is just begging to lift

I dropped to the bwlch between Pen y Fan and Corn Du, where I had reached the bottom of the cloud layer. As I looked back toward Pen y Fan, I could see the cloud was still covering its summit, but it was definitely beginning to lift.

The cloud beginnings to lift on Pen y Fan

I continued to make my way down and was back at the carpark for 2pm. I now had an hour to kill before I was going to be picked up. I made myself comfy near the National Trust staff office, whilst eating my lunch and chatting to the friendly National Trust warden. My wife arrived just in time, as I was beginning to get cold again. There is something a bit different about getting back to a carpark, and not having the shelter and warmth of a car to return to. Maybe a luxury we take for granted.


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