Northern Ireland Aviation Enthusiast's Forum
General Aviation Discussion => Spotting Locations => Topic started by: introducingmike on May 20, 2019, 10:46:25 PM
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Hiya everyone, long time no post I’m afraid. Next week I will be going to Pwllheli in north wales and will be taking a run to the loop. I was wondering if anyone could please tell where the best one or two spotting positions are. What frequency’s best and camera settings please. Any help is much appreciated, thanks in advance! :)
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I'm sure some of the adults will be along shortly, but I've only done Cad West ( good view and the Sun was well positioned ). There's a small parking area at the foot but it fills up quickly. If you're halfway fit it's not difficult to climb but you'll want to take your kit and provisions in one go, and a monopod makes a useful walking pole for the steeper sections.
If you have a small, light two-man tent I'd recommend that since it always seems to be windy up there.
Scanner and 360Radar website give sufficient advance warning.
Camera settings: I was mostly about 300-400mm on a 1.25x cropper; most dramatic shots are done long and tightly framed. Shutter as slow as you can go and FPS as fast as possible :). Polarising filter handy to cut glare on canopies and to keep aperture well open, like a weak ND filter.
On the downside there's not much RAF stuff going through at present.
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It hasn't been busy for about a year now, although you could be lucky and get a Yank "surge".
NATO Low Fly on 278.00 is your best bet for a frequency. It's been a while since I was there last but I never managed to get mobile reception for 'net access. (Three).
Edit:- Meant to add, Pwllheli itself can be a good spot if there's training going on in Cardigan Bay.
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Great stuff guys, thanks a bunch for the info! We enjoy a good walk, so won’t be too disappointed if we don’t spot anything.