Normally, during the middle of May, we head south to Shell Island to help operate the GB8SOS special event station. GB8SOS is run to highlight the work of the brave unpaid volunteers than crew our RNLI lifeboats during SOS Radio Week. Unfortunately, this year, due to unforseen circumstances the event had to be cancelled. However, I still had the leave booked from work so I decided to head down anyway and have a few days camping on my own starting Wednesday evening, 13th May. Ali would join me for the weekend itself and I’d come back home on the Monday evening.
Wednesday – rain, wind and cold
I arrived about half-six on the ‘island’ and quickly found a spot that had good clear views in all directions for when I was operating the amateur radio station. It was also far enough away from the beach so as to lower the effects of the high winds that were battering the coast. Unfortunately, the new awning we’d purchased, and used just once to-date, proved impossible to erect on my own in the winds. I concentrated of getting the trusty Snowdonia Radio Company (SRC) HF-360 vertical HF antenna up instead. That was a lot more successful.
Walking for the RNLI
Given it’s the RNLI’s fund-raising month, I needed to get my miles in – you can still sponsor me if you like. I’d committed to covering 100 miles during May which is a little over 3 miles a day. So I thought I’d best start a loop of the island that would see me walk just over three-and-a-half miles – mission accomplished if successful. Unfortunately, the short sharp showers resulted in me walking between toilet blocks, sheltering and continuing to the next toilet block. In the end, I covered just over a mile before I’d had enough. By eight o’clock I was in bed, cold, damp and wind battered.
Thursday – walking, weather and a new pump
I awoke early on Thursday, around six o’clock, to more of the same weather but I managed to fit a slightly shorter walk in than the previous evening before starting to think about how my day was going to pan out. During the previous day’s attempts to raise the awning the hand pump had broken. So I decided to pop over to Porthmadog and visit a couple of outdoor shops in the hope I could obtain a replacement, but no dice. It also happened to be where the cheapest petrol, for miles around, was located so I filled up whilst I was there.
Back on Shell Island I struck out – I never thought that the on-site outdoor shop would have a pump, so hadn’t tried there before trecking over to Porthmadog. I guess I should have done as sitting proudly on the wall was exactly the same pump that came with the awning. So back to the pitch and off to work I went. It took a lot longer to erect than it did the last time we used it, but I put that down to the strong winds and the fact that I wasn’t thinking logically at first. But, by lunch time, it was up and secure.
On the air as G7LFC
With the awning up, the amateur radio station was installed and, between a few more walks, I managed to start working other stations using FT8 around lunchtime. I only managed contacts on 20m (14MHz) and 15m (21MHz). For some reason Xiegu G90’s built-in tuner wouldn’t match the antenna on 17m (18MHz) so I couldn’t work the stations on there. 12m (24MHz) and 10m (28MHz) seemed dead as a dodo throughout the whole trip. The stations I worked were all European with the exception of one located in Brazil that I worked later in the evening. Activities ceased for the day around eight-thirty and, following another short walk, I was tucked up by half-nine. High winds and those pesky heavy rain showers had dominated the day.
Friday – less rain, more sun
Friday broke with lots of sunshine and that was the day’s main theme, accompanied by more of those high winds. However, I had a late morning and didn’t get up until about eight thirty. Breafasted, I was operating again on 20m and 15m by ten-fifteen and the final contact was made just after seven in the evening. Whilst the wind still pounded the van and awning, the sun took the edge off the cold temperature. The weather was much more conclusive to walking and I managed a combined total of more than eleven miles over the course of the day – including three full circuits of more than three-and-half miles each. A very pleasant day indeed, aside from the wind, I finally landed in bed about half-nine, well tired.
Saturday – operating as GB8SOS
Saturday was the day Ali and Duke arrived from Lancashire and we were joined by our daughter and her friend, and our friend Simon, MW0GSR, from the Wales Digital Radio Group (WDRG). Simon lent moral support as we all huddled inside the awning for the majority of the day keeping warm and dry. The radio was operated using the special event callsign GB8SOS, which is the one Simon had applied for several months previous. We had managed to rescue the special event, if only for one day rather than the four we had originally planned for. Conditions weren’t brilliant, but contacts continued to be made on 20m and 15m – the issue with tuning on 17m persisted. Unfortunately, the party had to break up too soon as the tide was due in around 19:00 (local). The only access road to the ‘island’ floods during high tides, so failing to get off the island in time would render Rebecca, her friend, and Simon stranded on it until nearly 23:30 (local).
Sunday – time for home
By Sunday, I’d had about as much rain, cold and wind as I could take. Having Reynauds puts me at a disadvantage to everyone else as I’m still cold when everyone else feels warm. Whilst it was dry and sunny for much of the morning, I decided to pack up with Ali and return home a day early. We were off-site just after lunch time and headed north towards the A55 Welsh Expressway. I could mot resist stopping off for tea at Wetherspoons in Llandudno with Ali. The Palladium is a converted early twentieth century cinema complete with the stage, balconies and boxes intact. Even though it’s now a pub, it still retains its ambience.
Bodes well for a warmer summer
All told, the time away was a good experience. The van proved a better overnight accommodation unit than an ordinary tent would have been, but for the seagulls thinking the roof rails were a suitable perch. The awning retained warmth, where none were to be had due to the way that the ground sheet attaches to the walls, keeping out much of the draughts. The roof mounted Ampro antennas provided a reasonable alternative to my normal 30′ high SRC HF-360 fibreglass vertical. And, Shell Island, though its normal windy self, proved once again to be an amazing campsite.
This bodes well for further camper van trips over the coming year.
Equipment used
- Transceiver: Xiegu G90
- Antenna Snowdonia Radio Company HF-360 fibreglass vertical on speaker tripod
- Cable: M&P Pota-Flex 7