GW/NW-067 Moel-y-Gest SOTA Activation

Jump to SOTA GW/NW-067 Details of Activation and Logbook

Moel-y-Gest

Moel-y-Gest is a small summit, just to the west of Porthmadog. It looks taller than it actually is because it almost rises out of the sea at Morfa Bychan, to the south. The rocky peak is at 263m (863’) and affords those that reach it spectacular views of the Llyn Peninsula, Snowdonia and way down the Cardigan Bay coast. Atop the summit is an ancient hill fort that enjoys a good defensive position in all directions.

Previous activations of this summit have demonstrated that the hill is a marker for RAF aircraft flying from Valley (Anglesey) on training exercises. They tend to fly across from the Llyn Peninsula and either bank left at this point to fly up through the vallies of northern Snowdonia, or right to fly down towards Cadir Idris and the Mach Loop. Whilst activating many years ago with my young son, David waved at a pilot that was flying roughly level with the summit and about to bank left. As the Hawk departed the hill he dipped his wings in reply to the wave.

Details of GW/NW-067 Activation

Date of Activation
11th July, 2026

Callsign used
GW7LFC

Weather conditions
Sunny, about 29 Degrees C, with a light breeze on top of the summit, little breeze off it.

Equipment used
Yaesu FT5D handheld transceiver with the stock rubber duck antenna. Heil HTH-Y headset. Fjallraven rucksack.

Software used
SOTA Goat app and HAMRS Pro logbook on my iPhone, but also available for Android.

Bands, modes and power used
2m using 5w of FM.

Station setup
The station was setup perched on a rock just inside the activation zone – radio in one hand, phone in the other. All very precarious and Heath-Robinson, but it worked..

How did the activation go?
I didn’t realise it, but it’s been over two years since I’ve activated a SOTA summit. In the middle of May 2024 my wide broke her ankle and my walking partner was never able to come out walking over difficult terrain. I’m not blaming her, mind, it’s just that I haven’t really thought about going out on the hills again since.

This last weekend we went and camped down at Black Rock Sands. About a mile from us was Moel-y-Gest, so I thought it would be rude not to attempt the climb. Given that I haven’t done a summit in a while, I’m not quite as fit as I once was and it was a hot day (29-31 degrees). As it happens, I love the heat and it doesn’t really phase me, even when exercising, so I was quite happy to undertake the walk – unlike my son and niece who declined the offer to accompany me.

This is a summit that I am familiar with, having completed it three times previously over the years. I usually start the walk from Porthmadog side of the hill, opposite the Lidl store. The ascent is steep on paths that are liable to move over time as the ground is not the most stable. However, it’s a relatively straight-forward climb, normally. The paths are marked on the 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey map, but this time my GPS was giving me erroneous locations and I did miss some of the paths I was looking for. This wasn’t helped by the undergrowth having grown over the areas were I believe (and the map indicated) the paths I wanted were located. As a result, I had to put my finger in the air and just try and guess my way up.

I did get above the tree line by following a wall and ended up to the east of the lower summit atop the hill. The views from here run up the plain north of the Cob towards the mountains of Snowdonia and are superb – despite that this is one of the smaller hills in the area.

From there, it was around the first summit towards the second higher summit that is in the activation zone. The walk was about a 1KM, but it was made difficult by the very high bracken and ferns. I’m about 6′ tall, but most of the time the vegetation was about 5′ high and quite dense, so seeing the actual path was difficult. It was also difficult to see obstacles on the ground and I did take a few stumbles along the way. At one point the ground just dipped away from me and down I went to be swallowed whole by green stuff. At other times I did see the depressions in the ground and I was walking beneath the top of the ferns – these were some big ferns.

When I arrived at the large rocky crag that forms the second summit I was unable to find the path around the it to reach the highest point due to the vegetation and I didn’t fancy making my own way through the high undergrowth as it is on a slop. As a result, I got out my phone and used the SOTA Goat app – it’s got a great feature called the ‘Tracker’ which gives you a compass bearing and distance to the summit. However, it also tells you when you’re in the activation zone, so using this I was able to find a spot, perched on a nearby rock, where I could operate from. Unfortunately, as I was so close to the rocky crag that towered above me, I thought that I would be precluded any contacts towards the Llyn Peninsula to the south-west of me.

I have to say that as I got higher up the hill, the still wind experienced at the bottom of the hill had been transformed into a gently breeze and even I was appreciating it by this stage.

Listening across 2m on my Yaesu FT5D and standard rubber duck yielded absolutely no confidence that I was going to activate this summit at all. The views from this side of the hill are truly spectacular ranging right down the coast of West Wales on my left and the Llyn Peninsula to the right – so it was worth the climb just to see these. Given it’s a smaller hill – you really do get the feeling that you’re standing on top of the world from up here.

Fortunately, at a campsite in Morfa Bychan that is at sea level on the seaward side of the hill, were sat my wife, Alison (M6COV), and son, David (M3LFC). So I knew I was guaranteed at least two contacts. These contacts were made and logged and then several CQ calls were made. First to reply was MW0AEV, Llew, in Llanbedrog. That blew my theory out of the water about the rocky crag preventing me from making contacts in that direction.

I’ve known Llew for years and used to work him from home in Ormskirk. This always puzzled us as to why we could work each other as the Snowdonian mountains are in the way – Snowdon in particular. However, research led us to an article that appeared in RadCom many years ago about knife-edge refraction on one of the ridges running off the Snowdon peak. When we plotted our two locations on an OS map it turned out that our line-of-sight route went over this very ridge. Unfortunately, the wet sappy leylandii trees in a neighbours house at the bottom of our garden put paid to these contacts.

Anyway, I digress. Several minutes later I made contact with Andy, MW0WEE, down in New Quay (the Welsh one). Not a bad distance with the handheld and rubber duck – obviously the height and flat calm sea helped.

After the activation was completed, it was off down the hill to the camp site. It’s about 2KM and much less steep, though those tall ferns and bracken were a menace. As I dropped down so did the breeze and stagnant heat became a feature. I had taken two litres of water up the hill with me, but they were gone by the time I was 1KM away from base. Fortunately, there is a pretty well stocked shop in Morfa Bychan so it was visited before I walked the final half-kilometre on flat ground back to where we were staying.

When I arrived back everyone asked what had happened. It had, admittedly, taken rather longer from the start by Lidl to get back to our base for the day than I had planned for. The going up the hill was slower, I did get lost at one point going up the hill and that cost me about half-an hour, and the high vegetation above the tree line and down the hill definitely slowed things down. Furthermore, about twenty minutes to make four contacts wasn’t a great operating rate – but I was grateful to all that worked me. And then, “Why’s there blood running down your legs?” was asked. I definitely felt the effects of walking through the bracken, it was on the painful side sometimes, but hadn’t noticed that the bracken had cut me in several places. It was only superficial, but putting the sun oil on the following day stung rather a lot.

All-told, this wasn’t the easiest activation of GW/NW-067 Moel-y-Gest I had made, but then I’d never made the ascent in July before when the undergrowth is in its prime. However, after over two years of not attempting the activation of a summit – I’ve got the bug again so I’m going to getting out there a bit more, albeit without my long-suffering wife. Love you dear. 🙂

Notable contacts
Only the four required to qualify the summit, unfortunately. Very quiet on the air.

Pros and cons
It’s always a good summit to hang around a while on to admire the views, but if you’re after fighter jets, then you’re better off tackling this one on a weekday.

Observations and lessons learned
I think activating this summit in July probably wasn’t a good idea, I might wait until the spring or autumn next time, when the ferns and bracken are not at their peak and I can see the paths better.

GW/NW-067 Map Logbook