Sands Amateur Radio Contest Group (Morecambe)

All our yesterdays a review of our activities during 2011

2012-01-23T02:07:00.009Z

Hello Folks,

We have just seen the end of the 2011 activity within Sands Amateur Radio Contest Group so I thought it would be nice to look back at the year and mix of a special event stations and a few words on a Dxpedition a few of our members we have been involved in. The blog will finish with a few on our hopes and aspirations for 2012.

You will notice that I have not added any pictures in this blog they are all available via hyperlinks I have added within the text in this blog.

Blogs going back through the years are available to new and old readers by clicking on a hyperlink for individual months that can be found in month order in the righthand column of the blog page. There you will find all the pictures and blogs for Contests, Special event stations and DX-Pedition's going back through the years. If your looking for a particular subject then you may find the search option a useful tool.

Special Event Station GB4HCM
In March we were asked by "Heron Corn Mill" to put an amateur radio station on air as part of the "National Science and Engineering Week" which this year was focused on communications.

We put a series of antenna's up and stations were setup for both SSB and DATA. and at the last minute I received the news that the schools had expressed a particular interest in Wartime Communications. They were covering WWII as part of their course work. It was a very worthwhile event which took the children from passing greeting messages on SSB via modern radio's through to Digital communications and finally they learned about Bletchley Park and the Y stations finishing with hands on experience with vintage military morse keys.

Radio Cumbria joined us for the morning of the first day and a number of interviews with the Children and members of the group were broadcast and to our surprise the interviews were re-transmitted the following day. If you would like to read the blog and hear the interviews from this event then click on the link below.
http://m0scg.blogspot.com/2011/03/science-week-at-heron-corn-mill.html

The Royal Wedding Prince William and Kate Middleton
The callsign for this event is GB4HRH
Our next special event found us at Oysterber Farm running two stations one in Hancock's Radio Hut and the other found members braving the elements. Again this was a fantastic event to be apart of a little heath Robinson invention was called upon for the outside station because the wind would have damaged the parasol we would have liked to use. If you would like to read the blog and see what we got up too please click on the link below
http://m0scg.blogspot.com/2011/04/gb4hrh-special-event.html

The Isle of Tiree Dx-pedition 2011
In late September members of the group were invited to join with our friends in Workington to the Isle of Tiree where a good time was had by all.... Below are couple of a links to the Workington site. they are both well worth viewing
http://www.mx0wrc.org/dxpeditions/tiree-2011/

http://www.mx0wrc.org/2011/10/15m-phased-verticals-used-on-tiree/comment-page-1/#comment-500

So what does 2012 hold in store for Sands Amateur Radio Contest Group?
We have already got most of the equipment for contesting ready for use and we will be taking part in all the major contests including the RSGBCC monthly contest which are very enjoyable.

There is little doubt that there will be more experimentation done on antenna's and we may have something special to work with in Hancocks Radio Hut if everything works out.

Listen out for the special callsign GB4QDJ in June as we commemorate our Queens Diamond Jubilee and reign on the throne.

As for personal hopes and aspirations, each group member will have their own but one thing we will all have in common is to strive to improve on the skills they have nurtured along a willingness to embrace new skills as we all work together in the field of Amateur Radio.

73
Brian (G0RDH)

Sands Christmas Meal 2011

2012-01-18T02:20:00.003Z

Hi Folks,
This is a very belated blog, much to my frustration I had a logging fault which has now been sorted out.

Our last event for 2011 was our Christmas meal. The group went back to Trungs for an oriental banquet that was excellent. It was good to be able to see the year out with a social group event. I will just publish some photos from the even and move on to the next blog "All our Yesterdays" A revew of the 2011 contest and special event season.

This picture was taken by Bob G1OCK

Our network Guru Faris and Martin to his left

Emma on the left & Martin are expecting to hear the patter of tiny feet in a few months time

Paul & Steve

Just before the start of the contest season I introduced an award for the most improved member of the year. Our group chairman presented the award to Paul M6APB. I well remember the look of sheer terror on his face way back in March when it was suggested to him that he was the next operator on air after a short time observing how the radio and logging software worked, but he took the mike and squeaked out a very quiet M0SCG. Since that time he has taken part in "The National Science and Engineering work where he got to grips with PSK31 data communications, a special event GB4HRH SSB to celebrate the Royal wedding and quite a number of contests including IOTA. It has been a pleasure to see Paul and others raise their game and improve their basic knowledge, operating procedures and skills.

The prize was a weather station.

Kathy, Barrie and Stephany were also given gifts in recognition of their generosity throughout the year. Kathy and Barrie are the owners of Oysterber Farm and allow us to use Hankcocks Hut for our station, the meadow for our antenna farm and an evening meal which is always excellent often cooked by Stephany G1LAT. Barries gift was a bottle of wine and the ladies were presented with a bouquet of flowers.

Kathy, Barrie & Stephan

First Course

It was nice to meet Joe and Claire with their new arrival Oskar who was well behaved throughout the evening and had a smile for everyone.

A firm favorite with most members is the shredded duck and pancakes, Damien Annette are in the forefront of the picture with Bob, Linda, Ian and Joe as you look around the table.

Here are our newlyweds Jenni and Mark..... I will no doubt have a contract and bounty stuck on my head when Jenni sees the picture.

Our chairman Kev with his wife Hazel can be seen here. They say every picture tells a story and this one is no exception. This is Kev's second Christmas meal of the day the first being around 4 to 5 hours earlier when he attended his works meal..... despite asking for small portions at his earlier meal his pleas fell on deaf ears...... Kev is just looking at the second course out of a 5 course banquet and he's thinking "you expect me to eat that!"

Linda and Ian

This has to be one of my favorite photo's of Ian as he explains the finer points on a subject with care and enthusiasm.... I have no idea what he was discussing but I have seen this gesture so many times and its a pleasure to be able to catch it on film.

However I do have a word of caution

Taking on a two year stint as chairman of Sand can leave you like this!

No worries the tender loving care of Linda will soon have him back to normal.

All it remains for me to do is wish all our blog readers a very happy and healthy New Year from all at Sands Amateur Radio Contest Group and we look forward to working many of you during 2012

73
Brian
(The reluctant contestor)

CQWW October 2011

2011-11-25T13:50:00.001Z

Hi Folks,
Sorry for this blog being late but I am just getting used to using the iMAC after years of using the windows OS.

The manager for this event was Damien with myself as sub-manager. Damien was also our cook for the event with the exception of Saturday night when Barrie and Kathy hosted a meal cooked by Stephany.

Well here we are at the end of another contest season having just completed the October CQWW contest, and I have to say for the time of year we had excellent conditions in fact I cannot remember a better contest at Oysterber Farm for setting the antenna's up where there was no wind or rain to battle through.

The weekend started with Damien G0LLG and Paul M6APB setting up their caravan's on site ready for the contest.

Paul was able to do mixture of setting up the antenna's, work the contest station and spend time with his XYL over the course of the weekend. Damien's caravan was used by members not on air to have a place to Sleep, Socialise and have a place to go for meals.

We have been fortunate enough to have the use of Pauls trailer to store and transport most of the groups antenna's and masts etc for most of the year, a godsend in many ways because it saved group members the task of loading their cars with the antenna's masts, ropes and stakes.

The Antenna Team for Friday was:

Damien G0LLG, Hughie G4UME, Paul 2E0EET, Paul M6APB. Ian G0VGS arrived later and stayed for the full weekend after setting up the Radio equipment and Logging software. The nest of dipoles was erected for topband 80 & 40m along with verticals phased arrays for 80m & 40m was setup.

Saturday Morning as group members finished setting up the phased array verticals for the other bands of operation

Operators for the weekend included:

Brian G0RDH on the graveyard shift along with so other operating times. Damien G0LLG, Mike M0PRL, Paul 2E0APB, Paul 2E0EET and Stephany G1LAT. You may have worked the following operators on the recent DX-pedition to the Isle of Tiree: Andrew G0LWU, Hughie G4UME, Ian G0VGS.

Paul 2E0EET operated mainly during the mornings

As you can see we are using our standard setup in the form of the Elecraft K3, The Ranger 811H Linear.

My Heil headset with the HC5 Insert and the keying option of either a hand switch or a foot switch recently purchased by Ian.

The foot switch has good and bad points.... On the positive side it allows the operator to use both hands for logging and rig control as needed. The negative report is that foot switches have a tendency to move around on most surfaces however this is easily remedied by placing the switch on a piece of non-slip webbing underneath the base plate.
With the exception of most of the Antenna's, Masts and Accessories all the equipment used on our events belongs to our group members. The Ranger 811H Linear belongs to Ian's XYL and group member Linda G0YLM and it has given good service since the group was started in 2004 at nearly all our contests, events and DX-Peditions. As you can imagine the Linear is now in need of some TLC and has been returned to Ranger for a complete service prior to being put into retirement.

If there has been a running theme throughout this years activity which was not planned by the group but welcomed none the less and this has been Experimentation with Antenna's and Personal training and achievement as new members come into the group. I will be posting a special end of year blog that will cover these area's in the next blog "All Our Yesterdays 2011" at the end of the year.

Thanks to all members who took part in this event and to Barrie and Kathy for allowing us the use of Hancock's Radio Hut and hosting our much looked forward to meal on Saturday night. Stephany was our cook for the meal and nobody left the table feeling hungry.

Mike M0PRL seen in a few of these photo's tried the impossible by trying to pour the contents of a carton of double cream over the fantastic fruit crumble made by Stephany with the last of the hand picked summer fruits. Mike is of to Antartica again for a three month tour.

Hopefully the link below will work and allow you to view a collection of pictures I have taken during the course of the weekend.

Picture Gallery

This blog is shorter than normal due to time constraints but I hope you enjoy the content.

73
Brian G0RDH
The Reluctant Contester

The gallant Dxpeditioners

2011-11-06T13:57:00.001Z

The lads on the return to the mainland from the Tiree DXpedition

Linda G0YLM

Final Day

2011-10-07T17:07:00.000+01:00

We are in the final hour or so of operation on most bands but will
probably leave 40m running tonight and pack it in the morning. 20m has
proved fruitful to VK and 15m has brought in Thailand and India.
The weather has been glorious today albeit still windy! We will end
up with more than 12000 QSO's in the log by the end of the operation
here.
We have hit most of our objectives including DXCC on all bands. We
have only missed DXCC ON 15m by 10 countries using SSB but this will
be added as an objective on the next dxpedition.
We travel home tomorrow morning and we will have very fond memories of
our time on Tiree

Eating Well

2011-10-06T12:49:00.001+01:00

At this point can we take some time to give thanks to our two chefs Paddy and Mick! The guys have fed us each day, starting with the famous DX breakfast and finished each day off with a marvelous dinner. Ok, it's been late in the evening sometimes as the beer has flowed freely!

The famous honey glazed gammon!

All plated up, a real feast!

Stormy Thursday!

2011-10-06T12:43:00.001+01:00

Today is exceptionally windy and wet. It doesn't start raining, it
just rains! One minute nothing and then completely wet.
We have had 2 issues crop up today. The rain static on 40m hits 20
over 9 at times and makes it impossible to hear anyone. The second
issue was between 10m on the FT2000 and 40m on the K3. When 10m keyed
on the Yaesu, it was 10 over 9 on 40m. This turned out to be phase
noise from the FT2000. Once we moved 10m to one of the K3's, the
problem completely disappeared. Brendan had been noticing the noise
floor rising on 30m when the Yaesu keyed up on 17m before any
modulation! Very poor show Yaesu!

We expect to hit our target of 10,000 Q's later today and we have had
some remarkable contacts including Afganistan, Reunion Island and
Mauritius. Runs to Indonesia and India have been common. Once we are
home and have had time to interrogate the logs I will post more of the
highlights

By the way, they call our hobby wireless?

Ian G0VGS

A Few Photos

2011-10-06T08:19:00.001+01:00

Steve Operating the 80m station

Andrew and Brendan both dealing with pileups on SSB and CW

Paul on one of the five stations we have running!

Tuesday

2011-10-04T15:50:00.001+01:00

A much slower day today with difficult conditions. Still managed to
work VK6 on 20m but the band noise is a killer :(. Paul just managed
to get Uganda for a new country on 15m but progress is slow. The WX is
better today after the strong winds overnight but we are promised
60mph winds for Thursday. We can only hope that the aerials can stand
it! So far they have. We have managed 5,500 contacts as of this afternoon. Everyone is having a wonderful time, even Hughie ( or is that Hugo)

Some of the team enjoying Mark and Paddy's DX Breakfast!

Ian G0VGS

Windy Monday

2011-10-03T17:54:00.001+01:00

We woke up this morning to extremely strong winds and some minor
repairs were required to some of the verticals. This has been the
theme of the day really with plenty of wind and some rain. Currently
we think everything is as secure as we can make it and we have
totalled 3600 Q's so far. I have been taking plenty of video and I
will edit this on return and post it for viewing.

Here is a picture of the homemade tuning stubs we have been using.

Ian G0VGS

Hot Off the Press

2011-10-02T15:11:00.001+01:00

One of the cottages seen through the 15m array

The view of our beach

Ian G0VGS

Sunday. First Full Day

2011-10-02T14:51:00.001+01:00

An absolutely lovely day on the island today with full sun and very
little wind. We continue to put up aerials and Paul continues to make
stubs to counteract the ensuing interactions! :)
We now have all 5 stations working and the contacts are flying in!
Japan was easy this morning on 17m and DX is coming in all the time.
We have a 264 ft doublet which is proving superb on 40m at the moment.
The 4 element vertical phased end fire array on 15m is working really
well too. We are using a vertical Moxon rectangle on 20m right by the
water and a vertical for 30m. We also have a 2 element vertical phased
array for 10m which is also getting us contacts. The computer
networking is working wonderfully well and N1MM is brilliant as
always. Considering the amount of work done we should crack the 1500
QSO barrier today and if we can make it 2000, even better!
The weather is due to change tomorrow which is a shame as currently I
can think of no better place to be in the world at the moment. It is
absolutely perfect.

Ian G0VGS

Landed on Tiree

2011-10-01T11:26:00.001+01:00

After a long journey up to Oban to catch the ferry we have just arrived on Tiree. The crossing was very calm and we had a good breakfast on board. Just disembarking now! It has rained overnight here but the weather is fine now.
Hope to start putting the antennas up as soon as we get to the cottages. With a bit of luck we will be on HF by late afternoon on a few bands at least!

Ian G0VGS

MS0WRC Visit the Isle of Tiree

2011-09-30T12:51:00.001+01:00

Starting tomorrow, late Saturday 1/10/2011, Sands Contest Group and Workington Radio Club will be operational from the Isle of Tiree (EU008) for one week. They will be operational on all HF bands and all modes. This year it is the turn of Workington Radio Club to use their callsign MS0WRC.

Please visit our blog every day as the week unfolds and we hope you enjoy following our latest adventure.

Linda G0YLM

Sands Contest Group Return to Sunderland Point

2011-09-19T19:43:00.007+01:00

Hi Folks,

It was that time of year again when we have the pleasure in taking part in IOTA 2011 from Sunderland Point.

The peace and tranquility of Second Terrace before Sands Contest Group arrive, looking back in a northerly direction towards Terrace One.

As you can see not an antenna in site. This small strip of grass is highly valued by the local resident as an area they can sit on a fine summers day and hear nothing but the lapping of the waves when the tide is in and the birdsong of the vast variety of birds as they migrate throughout the year. This view is taken from halfway down the Second Terrace looking in a southerly direction.

By way of a change to the normal format of the blog I thought I'd give you a little potted history of Sunderland Point before moving on to the contest itself.

You can see this house located near the carpark as you enter Sunderland Point the current owner has lived their for over 50 years. The house was in real bad shape when it was bought due to the previous owner living upstairs in her oldage that being over 90yrs old.

You may notice a difference between the roof at the back of the house to that of the front. This is because the front part of the house was added in the 1800s. The original house was that of the local Anchor Smithy complete with forge and living accommodation. The current owners had the porch built on to the house after being flooded out two or three times.... All this despite the high wall surrounding the house.

If you wander to the end of First Terrace you will find yourself outside what used to be the local pub "The Ship Inn" a short distance up the country lane on your right you will find Up Steps Cottage.

The lower part of the cottage was used as a brewery for the pub with the upper part being used for accommodation.

This is where a young African refereed to as Sambo was cared for but sadly died. He is thought to have been the Captains cabin boy who became ill with a western disease possibly something as simple as the common cold. Following the lane to the foreshore you will see signs directing you to a plot of land for his grave that was created several years after his death. Because he was not a christian he could not be buried in the church yard in Overton. His grave is visited by local school children and you will find painted rocks around the grave.

It is worth noting that all the slaves landed in Lancaster were treated as free men and women, many found their way into the service of the good and the great of Lancaster and well cared for..... It was something of a status symbol to have a coloured servant in your employ.

For those who are interested in a more detailed history there's a paperback book written by Hugh Cunliffe called "The Story of Sunderland Point from Early days to Modern Times which went into print 1n 1984 my copy dates back to 1991. If anybody is interested in buying a copy please contact the Maritime Museum in Lancaster.

Sunderland Point was built by Robert Lawson between 1715 & 1720 and its said that if you removed the telephone box, street lighting and TV antenna's, Sunderland Point would look pretty much as it did when it was built. Second Terrace now has a walled garden at the front of the houses that has been added at sometime after the warehouses were converted to houses. You will be able to see the changes made in the two pictures below.

This is a picture taken in 1910 by George Gilchrist and shows the warehouse's used to store goods. It also shows the original "Cotton Tree" so named because of the cotton like buds it produces.

I took this picture was during our visit this year. The original cotton tree was blown down during a severe storm. The base of the tree was left in place and from this a new tree has sprouted.

Looking at the two pictures you can see how the warehouses were converted into very nice cottages

The Merchants Tower
The merchants tower was sited in such a position that views were available looking both out to sea and as vessels entered the mouth of the River Lune.

The building was extended at a later date extending from the tower which allowed its function to become a more functional home. The crack seen here in the rendering looks as though it follows the line of the extension.

There were two lighthouses at built at Cockersand's and I have no wish claim credit for the excellent information available by clicking on the link below which is offered as a mixture of personal diary and historical detail and well worth your time reading. However I will use a few extracts to give you some form of a timeline but this by no means tells the full story please read the entry offered in the link below..

This picture is part of a collection of images I have collected over the years.

"The purpose of both these lights was to guide shipping through the channels of the River Lune into Glasson where sea going boats could reach the port of Lancaster or by connecting to the Lancaster canal could reach Kendal in the Lake District."
"The rear Light was known as Cockersand Lighthouse and was built in 1847 to the plans of Jesse Hartley, the Dock Engineer to the Port of Liverpool (1824 to 1860)" "It was a square timber framed tower approximately 54 feet tall and supported by two wooden props at each corner. Where the timber props reached the ground they were incorporated into four separate single storey buildings of similar construction to be used as the living accommodation for the keeper."

Janet Raby was lighthouse keeper until 1943

"The keepers for both the lighthouses for the first 100 years was the Raby family with Francis Raby in 1847, followed by Henry Raby in the late 1870s and finally Janet Raby and her brother Richard Raby who held the positions until the end of 1945. The second and final family to take the baton was the Parkinson family with Thomas and Beatrice Parkinson and their son Richard. In 1948 Mrs Parkinson obtained notoriety when she appeared in national magazines as the only woman lighthouse keeper in Britain. This is a claim often made from time to time and no doubt her husband, who continued his duties as lighthouse keeper to both lights and retired in 1963, turned a deaf ear to her claims."

The current stone lighthouse was built on Plover Scar 1847 and is known as "The Front Light"

http://www.mycetes.co.uk/a/page111.html

If you would like to learn more about "Lost Lighthouses" around our coast please click on the link below this is an excellent site.

http://www.mycetes.co.uk/a/page13.html

The link below was made in 2008 and tells a little of the history of Sunderland point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ytJOsaVecw

I had better stop this trip into past history and get back to the subject of IOTA 2011 before I bore you all to sleep.

First and foremost must be our thanks to Damien our Contest manager who although in severe pain made the trip out with his 4x4 to take the trailer to Sunderland Point for us. Sadly he could not take part in the event itself and we missed him.

Event Mangers:

For each event we look for two volunteers who will act as event manger and deputy event manger. Their job is to find out who is available for the event, make sure we have all the kit we need and sort the food and drink out.

Antenna Team:

Full of high hopes and exceptions members of the group collected the antenna's on Friday afternoon and headed for Sunderland Point. The tides were kind to us allowing full access before the road was covered again around 10pm that night but we were limited for time due to a much looked forward too birthday meal for Bob G1OCK.

Ian G0VGS and Kev G6FKE had organised their work time so that they would be available to help put the antenna's up this gave them the added bonus of a long weekend. Ian and Kev set to work putting the Spiderbeam together for the event and all had that sickening feeling when it was found that we could not make it resonant on a number of bands. It was hoped that just one band was in need of tuning.

He we see Ian holding a section of the Spiderbeam mast vertical whist the basics of the beam are put together. The end result was that the Spiderbeam was not used for the contest.

The original though was that the antenna dimension's for each band would need to be measured and adjusted, but later thinking brought us back to a potential problem with the Balun which has caused us problems in the past.... Test will be carried out on the whole antenna starting with the balun in the near future.

Hughie G4UME and Martin M0ZIF looked after putting the nest of dipoles together and later helped with the fiberglass verticals which were built in the form of phased array's

Faris M0FZA came down to sort our networking out.

Time and Tide Stop for No Man

Peter Gilchrist getting his boat ready for full tide.

This picture was taken as the tide was coming in around 10am on Sunday morning this was expected to be one of the larger tides of the year and it certainly came in at some speed. You can see that the single track road is just starting to be covered with the water draining into the gully just to the left of the warning sign. The next picture was taken a little while later and you can see that the road is completely covered with only the markers visible to give you some idea where the road is.

We are always very careful to get details about tide times and conditions but for people who are not local traveling the single track road is potentially life threatening. Whilst taking the pictures above I noticed a car that had driven part way down the road whilst the tide was coming in. Fortunately the car managed to turn round in time.

I have included a link below to the Lancashire Evening Post where you can read how dangerous can be if your caught out by the tide.

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/saved_from_a_water_tomb_1_1309169

Our Venue for IOTA

The Reading Room

Equipment used for IOTA

Below you can see Ian G0VGS checking that the N1MM logging software is working correctly and the both the Run and Mult stations can be seen with the logging software interacting between each station.

Mike M0PRL is checking that his Mult station is ready for use as soon as the contest begins.

Both stations are K3's with the only differences being that Mikes station has a second receiver fitted and a Pan adapter. I covered the use of the pan adapter in some detail at in the IARU blog so don't intend to repeat anything except that it worked extremely well.

The Mult station was run primarily on CW and made for an interesting and informative experience for all who used it.

Our main Run station was another K3 supplied by Ian G0VGS along with a Ranger 811H Linear Amplifier.

The Ranger 811H Linear and it is not something that I have profiled in any depth in all the years we have used it although it has been an excellent piece of equipment. They come up for sale on the secondhand market from time to time and even with the secondhand price it has to be said that they are a considered purchase. There are plenty of reviews available on the Net if you want to see what users think of them but if your interested in the Spec then take a look at the home page http://linamp.co.uk/?page_id=598

Operators for the weekend were:

Hughie G4UME

Hughie was finally defeated in the wee small hours of Sunday morning and he has started an intensive search on the net for a sleeping bag long enough to include his feet.

Paul M6APB joined us for the weekend and it was not long before he had the hang of running the Run station under the watchful eye of eye of Hughie G4UME and other group members. Paul learned how to operate a Run Station on a spot frequency and by the end of the weekend he had worked more stations than any other member.

It was a pleasure to watch him grow in both confidence and experience as he learned how to operate the Elecraft K3 proficiently load and operate the linear and control the frequencies with an ever increasing knowledge and authority. Paul has just started training for his intermediate license in which we wish him well.

Mike M0PRL on the Mult Station

Mikes Morse Key

Martin & Emma

Martin joined us for a few hours on Saturday afternoon and operated the Run Station.

Ian G0VGS operated both the Run and the Mult Station

Kev G6FKE

Like Ian Kev operated both stations

I think it's time we adopted Pippa as our group mascot... She has attended every IOTA operation since the group started ready with her bags packed with "Round Thing for us to throw" She keeps the group's moral up during our off air time and a more faithful dog to Kev you would have difficulty to find.

Brian G0RDH

I operated the Mult station for a time along with the Run station which was thoroughly enjoyable.

Steve G1TLQ

Steve joined us and did a little operating early on Saturday and we also have to thank Andrew G0LWU for his input.

We had an excellent weekend and beat our score from 2010 which was one of our aims. It was later noted that our logging had less errors in due to the run station operating for most of the time on a spot frequency.

Again on behalf of the group we would like to thank the local residents of Second Terrace for putting up with us for another year.

This Blog has been a mixture of our radio event and local history..... I hope you have enjoyed it and maybe taken something from it to visit what is a beautiful area with a sense of history and fantastic wildlife.

“World Flora & Fauna” or the mysterious case of the obligatory Bacon Bun

2011-09-04T12:12:00.030+01:00

Jewel In The Crown

Hi Folks,

I'd like to thank Stepany G1LAT Ray a good friend and summit walker and Barrie G1JYB for going out and working an event that's new to me and I dare say many others. I'd also like to thank Barrie for putting fingers to keyboard and giving us an interesting report for the Blog. Barrie is also the photographer for the event.

I have added a few bits here and there and pictures of the coiled antenna and the Elecraft tuner have been borrowed from the respective websites.

I hope you enjoy reading Barrie's blog entry as much as I have.

Brian G0RDH

(The Reluctant Contester)

On Wednesday 31^st August 2011 and after our obligatory Bacon Bun and Coffee in Kirkby Lonsdale Steph G1LAT, Ray and myself G1JYB drove to the Car Park: SD 55237-76163 and within 30 minutes we were at the Trig Point and setting up the Station.

This time we were focused on HF 20m and not our normal VHF, the reason for our visit was to activate the area for “World Flora & Fauna” an Amateur Radio International Award Program. Take a look if you have never heard of it before.

http://www.m0oxo.com/world-flora-fauna.html

Anyway the equipment we used was as follows:

Radio ~ Yaesu FT817ND

There are plenty of reviews and sites where you can find information on this excellent feature packed transceiver. I have just included a link to http://www.yaesu.com for general information.

Mast ~ 7m Telescopic GRP Fishing Pole.

Antenna ~ M0CVO OCFD (Off Centre Fed Dipole)

This antenna will operate on 40, 20 and 10m without an ATU and 80, 60, 15, 6 and WARC Bands with an ATU.

4:1 Balun

The picture below can be found on the m0cvoantennas website. It was found to work very well for the Flora and Fauna activity and was easy to set up, the whole station was up and running very quickly.

http://m0cvoantennas.webs.com/apps/webstore/products/show/1190179

Power Supply

Lightmax 5000 High Discharge Li-Po Battery ~ 14.8 Volts with G8BME Voltage Reducer. A BIG thanks here to Frank for designing and constructing this vital piece of equipment for us.

Tuner

Elecraft T1 Auto Antenna Tuner ~ a fantastic piece of kit, but not needed on this occasion.

Inside the Elecraft T1

If you would like to learn more about the Elecraft T1 tuner please click on the link below where you find more images and information on the Elecraft website

http://www.elecraft.com/T1/T1.htm

As we were only QRP it was great to work many stations all over Europe from Russia to the Azores, it’s amazing how many stations were interested in working and collecting the WFF area, more popular than SOTA. We also worked SOTA of course on 20m, 4m & 2m.

Stephany and Ray checking a few things out before operating.

Stephany working 4m

Hutton Roof Crags is a real Jewel in our area for going Portable and I can recommend it to you all. It takes 30 minutes to walk to the summit from the Car Park and as well as being a SOTA & WFF location, it is also fantastic for any portable operation that you may be interested in, a very flat summit, so no problem erecting antennas and if need be a tent could be erected to give a very comfortable Portable Shack, give it a try one day.

Ray taking some personal time in contemplation and enjoying the view

This is a lovely view of Morecambe Bay from Hutton Crag

Hope that I may have inspired some of you to give Hutton Roof Crags a go, I guarantee that you will do well up there and the noise level is BOODIFUL.

Tarafernaw.

73s & Great DXing.

bAz g1jyb

Ham Radio Operators Do It With FREQUENCY

Congratulations to Mark and Jenni on their wedding day

2011-08-09T14:26:00.022+01:00

Hi Folks,

A change from the normal Blog as we congratulate Mark and Jenni on their Wedding Day.

Mark M0DGK is a founder member of Sands Contest Group where he takes part in some of the 24/48 hour contests as well as the RSGBCC SSB contests where he shares my station for the event.

But back to the wedding.

Marks family, bridesmaids and friends were transported in style in a 1948 AEG Regal 33 seat coach. This coach has appeared in some period films and dramas.

The wedding was held at a lovely church in the village of Leck not far from Jenni's family home. The WX could have been be better but if you want a wedding to remember you'll have to go a long way to beat this one.

Jenni and Mark were at the altar and the vicar asked the age old question "If anybody knows of any just reason why Jenni and Mark should not be joined together in holy matrimony please speak up now!" The Church was silent but from outside we heard a whopping crash of thunder followed seconds later by a flash of lightning. This raised a few smiles and chuckles, the storm continued throughout the service and in a strange way added to the magic of the service. Whilst Mark and Jenni went into the vestry to sign the register we were treated to some live music played by the bridesmaid with the red hair seen below on the Celtic harp. She was later joined by her partner on electric guitar.

Jenni, Mark and the Bridesmaids

Our happy couple left us to the mercy of Florence as we headed back to the reception held in the recently refurbished Storey in Lancaster.

Traveling in style this was to be a memorable experience as Marks dad popped the champagne corks and then the fun began.

The Lancashire country roads are narrow and merciless with potholes and bumps for what seemed to be the whole return journey. Poor Florence was limited on suspension and the trick was to try and drink the champers before the next pot hole, where you were bound to drench yourself or the person sitting next to you. For the Bride and Groom and all the guests no expense was spared and Jenni and Marks families gave us all a wedding to remember for all the right reasons.

All the members of the Sands Contest Group wish Jenni and Mark a long and happy life together as they start their journey as a married couple.

One note of concern was the silver rolling pin and large spoon Jenni was carrying as they left the church.

The next Blog will be on our adventures at Sunderland Point as we took part in IOTA 2011

73
Brian G0RDH
(The reluctant contestor)

SOTA activation 26th July Great Knoutberry Hill

2011-07-28T01:04:00.012+01:00

Hello Folks,

Sands Contest Group are looking forward to the coming weekends activity as we take part in IOTA 2011 from Sunderland Point, if your taking part in the contest we look forward to working you under our contest Callsign G1T.

However the Contest is a few days away and it was great to see the following message was sent out to the Sands Group by Barrie G1JYB. I thought it would make a nice change to look at some of the other activities our members get up too, along with Barrie's words of encouragement to Sands Group Members to give this location a try.

So I will leave you with a few thoughts from Barrie. The photography in this Blog was done by either Barrie or Stephany

PS
You might note that in the true Sands style food is never far from Barrie's thoughts!

Bye for now
Brian
G0RDH

Yesterday Steph g1lat activated Great Knoutberry Hill and it just reminded me that it is a high hill that any member could activate or work DX from with only a short walk from the Car to the summit.

Its a great ride out to Dent Station up the old Coal Road, just continue on for a couple of miles past the Station and the track is on your RH side, allow an hour to walk up at a very leisurely pace, it can be done easily in a half hour but with equipment, you don't want to kill yourself. Choose a nice day, check Ribblehead Weather Station before setting out and go for it.

http://www.mylocalweather.org.uk/ribblehead/

Don't forget to call at Inglesport for a "Cavers Breakfast" on the way and also pop in to Dent Station for a trip back in time and on the way home go via Barbondale and call at Kirkby Lonsdale for an Afternoon Tea, SOTA can be very laid back you know.

Parking place and of Dent Station.

You would be very disappointed if you expected to get off the Train and walk with your luggage to Dent Village, you will see what I mean when you GO SEE.

Give it a GO, Steph and I will come with anyone that wants to, as long as we get the Breakfast and the Afternoon Tea, ha ha.

Cheers

--
bAz g1jyb

Ham Radio Operators Do It With FREQUENCY

IARU 2011

2011-07-08T23:29:00.037+01:00

Sands Amateur Radio Group Take Part in IARU 2011

Hi Folks,

Kev G6FKE took on the role of event manager with Brian G0RDH backing him up as deputy Manager for this contest. The last blog covered the over all preparation for the IARU contest and Friday 8th of July found us proving that preparation was well worth while. A small team of 6 members booked time out of work or made time allowing us to set the antenna's up the day before the contest.

We were well aware that a bad weather front was moving in on us early Friday afternoon and with this in mind we made an early start collecting the 30ft mast, antenna's and accessories.

Please note that nearly all the photographs used can be enlarged by clicking on the image so that you can see more detail. The photograph will appear in a new window, if you see a + when your mouse is over the image it can be enlarged again.

The use of Paul M6APB's trailer was a godsend because all the equipment could be taken directly into the meadow saving us a lot of time and effort.

Mast and Antenna setups

Team work is essential for any successful project whether its a commercial enterprise or as in our case setting up for the IARU Competition. The group split into two working parties.

The Nest of Dipoles

Hughie's Team

Both Paul's 2E0EET and M6APB set to work with Hughie G4UME erecting the 30ft mast that would take the nest of dipoles for 160m, 80m & 40m. They were at the planning stage here,working out the best location to site the mast.

Now that a suitable location has been identified they set to work erecting the mast in line with a metal base plate that stops the mast sinking into the meadow.

It may look like Paul's got a bad back, Hughie's trying to catch a line and Kev's lost the will to live but trust me, there is method in this madness.

Whilst 2E0EET made sure the mast was held in place, Hughie G4UME and Paul M6APB set to work fastening the guy lines. A lanyard and pully was already in place at the top of the mast so that the nest of dipoles could be raised easily.

Our Vertical Antenna's

This picture shows the 40m vertical
Kev and Ian set to work building the vertical antenna's for the event, they were in the form of guyed fibreglass verticals with the antenna wire secured with a small amount of insulation tape running down the mast. A box fixed around a metre off the ground supplied three bolts. A bolt top centre for the antenna, and bolts on either side to take the ground plane. An SO259 is located at the base of the box for connecting the coaxial feeder.

It's hard to believe that less than an hour after this picture was taken we were in the midst of showers of rain.

The antenna's in use at this event were:

A Nest of Dipoles covering 160m,80m and 40m
A 40m Vertical
Phased Arrays for 10m 15m & 20m.

Its a little difficult to see here but the picture below shows the 15m & 20m phased array used in the contest. The electric fence posts were used to keep the radials off the ground.

All our antenna's are tested and where necessary adjusted so that they operate to their full potential.

Contest Day

Ian returned early on Saturday morning to setup the radio, linear and the N1MM logging software the group find so enjoyable to use.

Giving Ian's K3 a rest, Mike Clarke M0PRL brought his K3 station. Mike has recently returned from an 18 month tour of with the British Antarctic Survey team where you may have been lucky enough to work him as VP8DMH from Rothera Base.

The radio is fitted with a second receiver identical to receiver fitted to the main VFO allowing operators to sample true diversity reception at its best.

The groups contest callsign G1T (Golf One Tango) is ready to hit the Airwaves

Ian G0VGS

Ian G0VGS was the first to operate, he was looking forward to operating Mikes Station with its Pan Adapter and listening to true diversity signals.

A lot of time and effort had gone into the antenna systems and overall preparation for the contest by many members and now was the time to enjoy the fruit of our labour's.

Ian enjoyed himself so much that time went by too quickly for him before it was Paul 2E0EET's turn on the radio.

Elecraft P3 Pan Adapter

The Elecraft P3 Pan Adapter has been available since 2010 but this contest is the first hands on experience I have had using the K3 with the P3 Pan adapter and it was a very enjoyable experience.

I have included direct links found on the Elecraft P3 page which includes the PDF file on how to set the Pan adapter up, A link to the Eham P3 reviews page and finally the full Elecraft Web address for the P3 that give good detailed information and more links.

App Note: How to Set Up and Interpret the P3 Display (pdf)

eHam P3 Reviews

http://www.elecraft.com/P3/p3.htm

Other equipment used was the Ranger 811H Linear Amplifier
The Heil Pro Headset & Mic
Sony Dynamic Stereo Headphones MDR-V6

Operators for the event

Kathy M3YOG

Kev G6FKE acted as mentor for Kathy M3YOG who despite hosting many of our contests with her husband (Barrie G1JYB) had never really wanted to take part in the event itself.

A rare picture of Barrie G1JYB without his hat!

The time passed quickly and Kathy was surprised to learn that She had been operating for an hour. One of her latter contacts being with a Japanese station. I spent some time listening to Kathy as she operated and she projected her voice clearly leaving no doubt of what she was saying. Talking with Kathy later she told me that she had really enjoyed the experience.

Paul 2E0EET

Paul 2E0EET and M6APB are two of our newest members and it has been a pleasure watching them grow in confidence, experience and technical ability with each competition they attend.

Paul M6APB

Steve G1TLQ

I promise you that Steve G1TLQ did not pose for this shot, It was taken after Steve completed a few hours operating in the contest. Steve was just chatting with Mike before setting off home.

More on the operators later......

Its time to look at our Saturday night menu

Now that's what you call a Cow Pie

Barrie and Kathy hosted the event and we were treated to a Steak Pie to die for cooked by Stephany's son Spencer. For those of us old enough to remember traditional school dinners and those large trays in front of the dinner lady with the pastry cut into squares, well that's around the size of the tray seen in this picture.

The pastry was cooked to perfection covering succulent beef complimented by a real rich beef gravy. It was a gastronomic delight. Vegetables served with the steak pie were creamed sweet and normal potatoes, carrots and garden pea's

There were those amongst us who had seconds and my only mistake was saying to barrie.... "Just a small portion please" The plate that came back had more on it than my original first course. Barrie with a twinkle in his eye said "get stuck into that!"

To balance things out a little Stephany had prepared a delightful fresh fruit salad served with double cream. This time it was Ian's turn to go for the small portion.

Back to the Contest Operators

Hughie G4UME

The elder Statesman of our group Hughie spent some time on the radio and enjoyed making some night time contacts. He ended up spending the night with the graveyard shift not through choice...... He hadn't forgotten where he parked his car this time, however he had forgotten to bring his jacket down with him after the meal. The Cartledge Family had locked up and were safely tucked up in bed and his car keys were in his jacket pocket.

Mike M0PRL

Mike spent some enjoyable time on Cw using the Begali Key before retiring for the night. It was good to be able to supplement our standard SSB contacts with CW

I took over from Mike and continued operating CW on the 40m/80m bands until around 2:15am when Kev completed the rest of the night.

Kev G6FKE

Breakfast

Breakfast consisted of Lorne Sausage, Bacon, Mushrooms and fried Egg served on a large Bap. Breakfast was cooked by Kev on the contester's versatile George Foreman Grill.

Everyone who wanted to spent some time on the G1T station on Sunday morning

Mike enjoying a break before working the last two hours of the contest on Sunday.

Thanks to Barrie and Kathy for hosting the event for us and supplying us with the food on Saturday Night....

I don't give recommendations out lightly I must also put a word of thanks in to Spencer for cooking up another masterpiece of gastronomic delight in the form of the Steak Pie and Stephany for her Fruit Salad

The Bridge Inn Tatham

Spencer is the Chef The Bridge Inn Tatham where you can be sure of excellent food and drink in a real country pub.

(This picture was taken by Dave Mulligan 10th October 2010)

If you enjoy a little Sota/WOTA Why not make your base at Oysterber Farm.

Along with the Cottages there is also a small Caravan site all with Power and WiFi is available upon request. They are open all year round and Barrie & Kathy will do their utmost to make your stay one to remember for all the right reasons.

http://www.oysterberfarm.co.uk

Well that's about it for this blog.... Our next event is IOTA at Sunderland Point 30th -31st of July..... If your in the area why not drop in and visit us you'll be assured a warm welcome.

73
Brian
(The Reluctant Contester)

Getting ready for the IARU Contest

2011-06-19T22:55:00.008+01:00

Hi Folks,

As I mentioned in my last blog we are nearing the end of the doldrums between April and July and this is a good time to set to work maintaining masts, antenna's and auxiliary equipment needed for the contest season.

Fibreglass Masts

Our group chairman Ian G0VGS and I started with the fibreglass verticals.

Each vertical was completely dismantled and cleaned with silicon before being reassembled a section at a time.

Individual sections.

The use of the silicon spray served a number purposes.

It allowed sections to be cleaned and lubricated. Next time we put the masts up they should glide easily into position

It also allows the mast to repel water more easily and may even help a little with wind resistance.

Spiderbeam Mast

Whilst Ian and I worked on the fibreglass masts Paul 2E0EET and Hughie G4UME set to work doing the same thing with the spidermasts

Damaged Sections

Identifying Damaged Sections

Paul and Hughie also identified the damaged sections. The section number was recorded and its diameter was measured ready for us to place a replacement order.

Our Antenna Case

Repacking the Antenna Case

Although packaged correctly most of the antenna's were to all intents and purposes thrown into the box anywhere they would fit. This is not a recommended practice because it makes life difficult for the next event.

Ian G0VGS set to work repacking the box as it should be.... feeder boxes to the right, antenna's bagged and marked for each band in the centre, Parts for the phased array in the left, lanyards and other accessories along the front of the case.

Despite a poor weather forecast that predicted rain we had a lovely sunny afternoon to carry out the work which took less time than I anticipated no doubt helped by us working as a well coordinated team.

A job well done... roll on the contest!

Our Callsign for the contest is G1T (Golf One Tango) If your taking part in the contest we look forward to working you.

73
Brian

The Reluctant Contestor

Keeping busy during the HF Contest Doldrums

2011-06-05T12:18:00.025+01:00

Hello Folks,

As we sit in the HF Doldrums between contesting, Sands Contest Group members have been busy with various radio related activities. Chris, G4LDS, despite recovering from major heart surgery around four weeks ago, has continued his experiments making an array of baluns he's eager to test.

Paul 2E0EET has completed a Sota Activation of Cross Fell and entered an interesting blog on his adventures that you can read below.

Barrie G1JYB and Stephany G1LAT have had a really enjoyable holiday to Greece where along with cycling around the countryside they made many new radio amateur friends.

Mike M0PRL has just returned from an 18 month tour with the British Atlantic Survey team where in his rest time he managed many a pile up and the list goes on.

From the time the group was formed there have always been members who have an interest in working mobile or setting a station up in a field.

Location, Location, Location.
Some members don't have the luxury of putting antennas up at their home QTH due to lack of space etc. Others have a very high noise floor on HF as the evenings draw in. I normally operate my HF station from home but thought I'd have a shot at operating the next RSGB CC SSB contest from a remote location. For that I would need a mast, an antenna and a radio to operate mobile with. Whilst I freely admit a dipole hoisted between a couple of trees would be a simpler method of putting a station on air, I have a mast so thought I'd give it a shot.

Strange Weather and Band Conditions
We have had some interesting weather over the last few months. We had some lovely weather in April whilst May has been a mixture of wet and sometimes cold days and June is not shaping up too well.

The Secret of Success
The secret of success in everything we do relies on maintenance of our equipment along with planning, preparation and testing the complete station before we need to use it for a contest or special event. Band conditions we have no control over but even in poor conditions we can excel knowing that we have done everything we could.

Band Conditions
Conditions on HF have also been very mixed due to solar flares and sunspot activity, making radio conditions very difficult. If you would like to see information about up to date sunspot activity or the lack of it, the site below is an excellent source of information.

SpaceWeather.com

Learning how to set a mast up safely and effectively
We had a glorious day on Saturday with plenty of sunshine and a light breeze so Mark M0DGK and I made use of the excellent conditions to get used to setting up the 26ft Clarke mast for the first time. It was used by Martin M0ZIF during the DX-pedition to Arran last year but not setup to its full potential.

The 26ft Clarke mast has its own carrying harness to keep it safe during transit or storage.

The Mast telescopes down nicely into sections which is placed on a well made base plate seen below.

The base plate is secured with a couple of metal spikes and the mast sits snugly into a rubber cup that allows it to be left free standing at that point if you wish. The white lines on the base plate show you the direction for each of the three spikes. You measure just six paces from the white line for each of the three stakes.

It's that well made down to the smallest of detail accessory. The collar half way up the base section is fitted with a little spirit level so the you can centre the mast.

The guy line spikes have welded drilled sections allowing you attach the three guy line with spring clips to the first collar which is tensioned off to create a stable platform for the other sections to be guyed and raised.

This picture shows one of the spring clips and a very well thought out device that allows you to tension the guy line very easily before attaching the clip to the stake.

We could really do with buying some of these for the groups antennas where we spend a lot of time winding guy ropes around the stakes.

A pulley and lanyard are attached to the top section before the mast sections are raised allowing the antenna to be lowered if needed without having to lower the whole mast.

Then it's just a case of raising the mast a section at a time. You know when each section is fully extended because the section stops rising. An excellent safety feature is incorporated in the mast design, if you loose your grip or wish to take the mast down each section has a dampening mechanism allowing it to come down slowly.

The antenna wire consists of a centre wire surrounded by cloth and then the outer green sleeve. It has no memory which stops it getting kinked or knotted.

The Antenna wire was measured out at 66ft for each side to give us an 80m dipole. Adjustments will need to be made so that it is resonant for the main areas of the band we wish to use. Unfortunately we didn't have the room to put the antenna up in my garden but that can be done on site.

My home HF radio is to large for portable operation and for some time now I have been looking into buying a set that would cover my needs as a mobile/backup base radio. I looked at what is commonly called the Shack in a Box a radio that covers all mode HF/VHF/UHF frequencies. I scoured eham for reviews and looked at video presentations put forward by fellow Radio Amateurs but it was two friends Linda G0YLM and Mark M0DGK who brought me down to earth with one question.

"What do you want the radio to do that you have not got covered with other sets?"

My answer was do some mobile HF operating from time to time with a radio that could double up as a base radio when needed.

I looked around for a set that would fit my needs and chose an old friend in the Kenwood TS-480SAT. It's not the nicest looking radio when the head is attached to
to the base but that is not what it was designed for.

I managed to buy a brand new set at a Used/Secondhand price. Apart from being taken out of the box to make sure it worked, It had never been used.

I have used the set for just over a week now, and it ticks all my boxes. The radio has good ergonomics in the way the buttons are laid out. I know the voice chip available for the set is probably the best I have heard. Reception is excellent and TX works well straight out of the box.

My first introduction to the set came a good few years ago when a friend of mine who is blind (He hates the term Visually Impaired) asked me for help when he bought the Kenwood TS-480HX. I guided him through the controls and buttons and went through the manual with him.... He has fantastic memory recall and can operate the radio as quickly as a sighted person.

The difference between the SAT and the HX:

TS-480SAT is 100W and has an excellent built in antenna tuner.
TS-480HX is 200W but has no built in antenna tuner and it costs a little more.

73
Brian
The Reluctant Contester.

SOTA Activation With 2E0EET

2011-06-05T09:54:00.001+01:00

Perhaps not a noted hill because it is not part of the Lake District Doggy Baggers destinations.
Cross Fell, 85 meters smaller than Scafell Pike - England’s Highest, comes 5^th in the scale surprisingly.
England’s highest hill outside the lakes, Cross Fell is no soft touch.

It’s been on my mind to get this one SOTA’d for a while, and Friday appeared a good day, when the Helm wind was at its minimum.
For the 1^st time, I decided to weigh my total “Cargo” – 16.3kgs. No small load for a diminutive like me! Most of the weight is in the slab used to power the amplifier, and before you say it, yes it is needed; I don’t want to go back because of no contacts!
The 817 is reasonably light, but very stable. Much has been said about the new Elecraft, but for me it has to prove its worthiness; hype from sofa sedentary will not prove it can stand extreme conditions. For instance, my 718 has been from -27c to 21c during operation. This even caught out the much hailed BHI filtering (now removed). ‘Guess those who write, sit all day.

Setting off from Kirkland, the journey had about three sections where steepness warrants rests – in my case, many! It’s the first time I have been on Cross Fell when visibility was good. Views across the Solway, Lakes, Dales and Yorks Moors must make this unique. About half way up, I came across a large patch of orchids in full flower; quite surprising to me at this altitude.
The terrain is very varied: Deep peat bogs, dried grass, screes and rocks. With little signs of any paths, I decided the only way was up. Straight up through the summit screes and the magical moment of seeing the trig-point some 200 metres ahead after hours of slogging.

One job remained to be done. I did a circle of the large Cairn(?) Four sided seat to see if I had company. A few years ago, I rescued someone here who was suffering hyperthermia. Not an easy task to get her to Greg’s Hut in poor visibility after only just making the ascent. This time, no company.

Settling down and assembling my antenna I was ready to go. Unfortunately my water supply has now dried up on this very hot day. Not good.
I had only just settled when M0ZIF called me. Many thanks Martin, I knew I could rely on you, and I am sorry you had such a long wait. I must also apologise for being selfish in asking you not to “spot” me.
I ruined your glory I now realise, but I didn’t want to attract the SOTA “circus” which was inevitable anyway I suppose, and I did.
No more local contacts though, but I’m used to that!
Mike G4BLH told me that he usually has a poor reception in Barlick, but he had me down as 9+.
As most of my 20 contacts were at least this distance, my slab was worth the extra grunts.
50 minutes after M0ZIF, my QRZ’s ran out and I made a quick QRT. 16:50 and a long drag back to the car.
It was a long drag; no drinks and excessive heat had started to catch up. Towards the end I became lost having missed an indistinctive FP. I needed to go through several fields to retrack. Behind me I heard the expected ATV whilst I was opening a gate. Mind made up that I was going on regardless of the consequences, I said without turning, “Sorry I got lost, and I’m knackered”
The farmer was old school fortunately. He said that going through that gate wasn’t going to help me, and I should jump on his quad. I didn’t need asking twice, but he only took me a couple of hundred yards to a tarmac road! I was very thankful, now reaching exhaustion, but him having driven off, I realised I had left my Barmah Roo hat on the back of the quad. Little I could do too tired to pursue, £60 down the drain!
The tarmac road brought back memories of Army days, when the trucks never turned up and we had to march 3 miles after a weekends manoeuvre. It’s funny how you go into marching stance. By the time I arrived within sight of my car, I had to lean against a gate, thighs threatening cramp.

Glad to be back to the car, I could quickly reflect: 16km’s walked; 885mtrs total ascent had been a long day. I arrived back at Carnforth Co-Op to take on a much needed isotropic at 21:30 – a long day indeed.

Some stats: ascents(start elevation to summit) of the 4 higher SOTAS
Scafell Pike - 910m, 96 activations
Helvellyn - 821m, 153 activations
Skiddaw – 851m, 126 activations
Great Gable – 727m, 75 Activations

Cross Fell – 885m, now 66 activations
Never saw a Doggy Bagger all day!

Paul 2E0EET

GB4HRH Special Event

2011-05-08T18:34:00.024+01:00

Hi Folks,

This is an update to the short Blog I posted last week on our special event station GB4HRH

One of the Official Royal Wedding Photographs

Sands Contest Group are proud to have been able to put the Special Event Station GB4HRH on air to commemorate the Royal Wedding of HRH Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Please use EQSL for any greeting or cards you would like to post.

Operators for the event included:

Paul 2E0EET, Brian GR0RDH, Kev G6FKE, Steve G1TLQ, Stephany GR1LAT, Linda G0YLM, Paul MR6APB, Ian GR0VGS, Andrew GR1LWU, Mike M0PRL

You can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them

As you can see from the picture below spring has sprung and there's nothing nicer than seeing newborn lambs in the field.

The weather forecast on the day of the Royal Wedding was fine and Sunny although all members taking part suffered with the effects of wind over the weekend.

We operated this special event station from Oysterber Farm and we are very grateful to Barry and Kathy for their hospitality. One happy caravan owner has proudly decorated his plot with bunting and flags in celebration of the Royal Wedding

The picture above shows our nest of dipoles going up covering 80m/40m and was the first of many. The picture shows the guy lines being tied off making sure that the mast is a vertical as possible whilst ensuring there is enough give in the mast to flex a little with the high winds we experience at this location.

We had verticals up for most of the bands including a vertical 20m Phased Array again to see how that preforms. We also had verticals out for 15m, 10m and 30m

You have seen many indoor pictures of the group operating from Hancock's Hut but its fairly rare to see it from the outside.

Another View of Hancock's hut out side where we can see Linda G0YLM, Bob G1OCK and last but not least Kev G6FKE reclining in the foreground. It may look like Kev's asleep but don't let that contented easy going look fool you..... He's like a coiled spring ready to bounce into action at a moments notice.

Saturday Morning

The event started for us at 10am on Saturday morning sadly we were not able to put the four stations on due to circumstances beyond my control. We were hoping to have a dedicated data station up and running via a Kenwood TS-2000X.

The stations that were operational included:

The Elecraft K3

Our main station operating from Hancock's Hut was the K3 with the help of a linear gave us up to 400w output. Although we were disapointed not to have the Ts-2000X available to run data as promised, the Elecraft K3 ran both voice and data communications during the course of the weekend and this was our main HF DX Station. For more information on this radio and its capabilities please click on the hyperlink below.

http://www.elecraft.com

Our Second SSB Station was the FT-897

One of our newest members Paul M6APB loaned the group his radio. Paul was not available to operate on Saturday but made some good contacts on Sunday. I operated most of Saturday morning via a nest of dipoles for 40m & 80m. I ran on 80m for as long as possible before switching to 40m.

I guess I had better explain the super cool and groovy lay out seen here. It was a fine sunny day but because of the strong gusting wind it was not safe to put a parasol up, had we done so one of the group members could possibly have been seen doing a comic version of Mary Poppins over nearby fields and meadows.

The Heath Robinson quick fix you can see here shaded all the equipment from the sun and allowed us a better picture of the screen.

Linda G0YLM took over from me and worked a pileup before passing the operating position on to Ian G0VGS

Ian G0VGS

This radio belongs to Paul M6APB and its the first time he's had the opportunity to try it out on HF. Paul has the special Nov to operate MR6APB in honour of the Royal Wedding. The FT-897 is an all mode radio covering nearly all the HF bands along with 2m,6m, 70cm. Please click on the hyperlink below for more detailed information on the set.

http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=102&encProdID=0372FA803B7BBADBF3076C94ACA7A8C5&DivisionID=65&isArchived=0

Its worth noting that there are plenty of reviews on all the radio's via the internet with eham being a popular forum for text based information and YouTube is great for seeing radio's in action and how amateurs worldwide have utilised the sets for their personal needs.

Main HF Station in Hancocks Hut

Steve G1TLG operating PSK31

It was good to see Stephany on air for the first time in Hancocks Hut. Stephany operated during the middle of the afternoon on 20m.

A keen radio amateur Stephany applied for the GR1LAT and set herself a goal to work as many countries as possible before 2400 on the 9th May. She is also very keen on SOTA and I think she has also done the odd WOTA activation.

The welcome return of Mike M0PRL

The group are really pleased to have Mike M0PRL back after serving 18 months with the British Antarctic Survey Expedition at Rothera Base.... More on that later.

If you worked our 20m Station late on Saturday afternoon it's likely to have been Mike you spoke too.

Food for thought

Once the radios had been switched off for the night those members who could let their hair down and enjoyed some good company and those of us who couldn't dreamed of days gone by whilst enjoying the company of other group members.

No contest or activity at Oysterber Farm would be complete without the Saturday night feast put generously put on for us by Barrie and Kathy and we were treated to food of gastronomic delight.

Ian and Stephany preparing to tuck in.
We had:

Freshly baked crusty bread
Baked Potato's
Minted Lamb Burgers
Sausages
Cheese and pineapple on sticks
A large selection of salads

The little white flowers in this salad dish were edible wild garlic... Other Salads were delicately drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

Ian was not having seconds, he went back for them later. We had a variety of sweets on offer to finish the meal off.

And it goes without saying that the wine and amber nectar flowed freely throughout the evening

As the sun started to set at Osterber Farm heralding the end of a special day we had one last suprise in store.

Our final treat of the night was an insight into the fantastic 18 months at Rothera Base along with a photographic presentation by Mike M0PRL which included this clip of time lapse photography. He just set the camera up and left it to fill his memory card.

I have included a link to Mikes site where you can look at some of the fantastic photography he has done http://clarkema.org/vp8dmh/

Sundays GB4HRH Operation

When I arrived at Oysterber Farm members were well into stations calling in from the UK and Europe.

Our Host Barrie G1JYB was good enough to let me use his station to run the weekly Morecambe Bay Net on 2m. The net runs most Sundays between 11am and 12pm covering much of the Fylde Coast and parts of Cumbria

Just having a listen around the band before opening the net.

The radio used is no longer made by Yaesu but the FT-847 still commands good money on the secondhand market and was a pleasure to use.

I have included a YouTube link showing the radio in Sota action on 2m filmed by G4JNN in 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp9ccC_QU44&feature=related

Sunday was something of a blur to me after 1PM and if you were one of the few stations I worked on 20m please accept my apologies.... I took over on the station for a short time but found it impossible to concentrate. This was due to a medical condition I have.

The best I can describe my very short time on the station is as callsigns came in it was like verbal dyslexia and an overwhelming need to liedown before I fall down.

Another member of the team took over from me and I laydown down on a bed seat in Hancocks Hut and woke up 3 hours later. I missed a pileup that Kev G6FKE worked through and another that Ian G0VGS cleared.

I awoke to find Paul operating and all the masts with the exception of the nest of dipoles had been taken down, coaxial cable coiled and everything ready for packing

Paul M6APB
All UK radio amateurs had the opportunity to apply for the special prefix which allows them to operate the call until Midnight on the 9th May.

You will no doubt here heard some of the operators over the last week using

MR0SCG, MR6APB, MR0ZIF, GR0LWU, GR0VGS, GR0RDH.

In closing I'd like to thank you for taking the time to view this blog, The Sands group members for their time and company and last but not least our hosts Barrie G1JYB and Kathy M3YOG for hosting along with Stephany who does so much work behind the scenes.

If your looking for a great self catering holiday and maybe doing some SOTA activations, then Oysterber Farm is a great place to act as your base and is open all year round. You will not be disappointed. http://www.oysterberfarm.co.uk/

Photography by Brian G0RDH unless otherwise stated.
73
Brian GR0RDH

Science & Engineering Week at Heron Corn Mill

2011-04-21T00:34:00.015+01:00

Hello Folks,

I'm sorry for the delay in posting this blog but I hope you will find this blog as much fun to read as it was for members of Sands Contest Group to take part in.

During the autumn of 2010 Heron Corn Mill asked the group to consider putting a station on air during National Science and Engineering week. They felt it was an appropriate event for us to take part in because the topic this year was Communication.

Our first day started early at 8.30am with BBC Radio Cumbria's reporter John Bowness preparing few pupils from Archbishop Hutton Primary School with the type of questions they would be asked when interviewed live on air around 9am.

(All the BBC Radio Cumbria links in this blog are copyright to BBC Radio Cumbria which we have used with grateful thanks)

Ian Maude G0VGS explained to the pupils what Amateur Radio was and a little about what they would see in the exhibits when they returned later in the day with the rest of their class.

Ian was asked to send a little Morse code at the start of John's introduction to the first of four reports from Heron Corn Mill. Ian thought long and hard about what he would send, should he follow in Samuel Morse's foot steps and send "What God Has Wrought ?".... No he decided to send the immortal words "Hello Mum".

To listen to the broadcasts please click on the blue hyperlink

Ian's First Interview

Once the introduction was out of the way, the pupils were asked a little about what they had seen during their short tour of the exhibits.

Our First Group of the day from Archbishop Hutton Primary School

Each group that came to visit Heron Corn Mill was greeted by Ian who introduced the Sands Contest Group members and explained a little about the exhibits they would see during their visit.

The children were then split into groups who rotated around each of the exhibits and experienced aspects of radio communication both old and new. We were fortunate that each of the schools attending supplied enough teachers and helpers to allow us to split the pupils up into small groups

The pupils groups rotated around the exhibits which included:

A look around the different types of aerials we were using
A station using psk31
Single sideband voice communications
WWI and WWII radio's and Morse keys

Data Mode PSK31

Paul M6APB can be seen here operating PSK31 whilst Damien G0LLG explained to the pupils something about this data mode and what they could see on the computer screen as Paul made contacts world wide....

Paul was very happy when he worked an Australian Station.

Pupils Passing Greeting Messages on Single Sideband

The SSB station was operated by Damien G0LLG and most of the group members at one time or another during the event.
Pupils were encouraged to pass greetings messages to pupils of other schools who were taking part in National Science and Engineering Week.

Here we can see Andrew G0LWU with a pupil passing a greetings message.

Andrew is a local Scout leader in the village of Overton where he lives. Andrew tries to make time each year for the Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) which is an international event where Scouts around the world are introduced to Amateur Radio.

Andrew enjoys operating most modes on radio but has a passion for data.

Along with taking part in national and international contests throughout the year, Andrew also enjoys operating special event stations and going away on DXpeditions which normally means a lot of driving and a few ferries to some of the islands off the coast of Scotland.

This picture was taken on Thursday afternoon by Bob G1OCK and shows Linda G0YLM almost being mobbed on the SSB Station.

Paul 2E0EET making contacts with radio stations around the country on 40 meters. Damien is explaining to the pupils what they could see and hear on the radio.

Martin operating Data modes using a homemade interface

Martin M0ZIF ran our second data station and operated Olivia, PSK31 and a commercial mode called Hellschreiber that was invented in the 1920s.

Ian's Second Interview

Over the course of the morning there were a number of interviews. Ian was asked about the display of historic wartime radios and commented on the the equipment used at Bletchley Park and the Y stations. Pictures of the radios are seen below.

The National HRO Receiver. I have added a youtube link showing a HRO in use.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNLRPagRm_Q

A Rare Halicrafters Sky Champion. This model was only in production 1938 - 1939. I have added a youtube link below showing its successor in use

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gloax6OFV4w

An RCA AR-88 receiver. I have added a youtube link showing the AR-88 in use

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anWOaQ_DYW4&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

The link below is quite good showing a modified R1155

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqcsENHNbM4&feature=related

We also had an 1154 transmitter and an 1155 receiver on display. Its my understanding that these sets were made by Marconi but due to the large number of sets needed for the war other companies were asked to manufacture them under licence.

This is a mockup display of the radio operators station in a Lancaster Bomber. This display can be seen at the IWM Duxford (This image was found on their website and belongs to the IWM Duxford)

I have added a you tube link below showing an 1155R in use
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqcsENHNbM4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5DgxUH1WVQ

The Morse key seen here is affectionately refereed to as a Bathtub Key. Being made out of Bakelite (an early form of plastic) the key is fireproof.

In the event of a plane being shot down or developing engine problems over enemy territory, the key would be pressed down and the metal clip seen to the left of the picture would be clipped over the flange to blow the transmitter's PA tubes rendering the transmitter useless to the enemy.

Also on display was a WWI MkIII Trench Set Receiver. Ian also explained a little about some of the more unusual morse keys on display.

WWI Trench Set Receiver

This set is in need of restoration

Ian's Morse Interview

Ian was asked if he felt Morse code was a thing of the past to which he replied "although it was not used on ships any more it was still used by many amateurs"
He also explained that Morse Code was an international language where operators could hold a conversation and understand each other even if they didn't speak the same language.

Radio Cumbria's reporter John Bowness described to the listeners an unusual morse key that was fixed behind the pilots yoke and was intended for communication with other aircraft using either the upper or lower lights on the aircraft's wings

Also on display was a replica of a morse key designed by Alfred Vail who had a background in engineering

Alfred Vail

One of the keys available for the pupils to use was a replica of a key designed by Alfred Vail who was a partner with Samuel Morse

Ian's wife Linda agreed to give an interview where she was asked about her experiences as a woman in amateur radio. She gave a positive reply saying that although there were not as many women in the hobby, there was a good number of active amateurs and on air clubs.

Linda's Interview

The display of WWI and WWII radio equipment

The largest display at the event covered WWI and WWII communications. Audrey from Heron Corn Mill told me that many of the schools had specifically requested this type of display with an emphasis on WWII and Morse Code. It was a subject currently being taught at the schools

Pupils looking at the codebreakers Y service radio exhibit

I was keen that the pupils should have a hands on experience with the RCA AR-88 and other radios so that they could see how the mechanics of the radios worked. None of the radios were powered up but they were not allowed to touch inside the radio, just look.

Some of the pupils tried on the WWII headset with the headset cups made from Bakelite. I asked them if they found the headsets comfortable to wear and was given an emphatic no! I then asked them to imagine what it must have felt like to wear them for 8 or more hours.

They really enjoyed the experience of exploring the radios and under guidance understanding a little of how the worked.

Each of the pupils was given a morse practice sheet which displayed letters and numbers and their Morse symbols.

The final part of the display included a working replica of the Alfred Vail Key along with keys that were used in WWII. Time was limited and I was expecting to have a couple of volunteers from each group to send a Morse character. However, to my surprise when I asked for volunteers just about all the pupils put their hands up.

Although it meant that we were going to overrun on time all the pupils had an opportunity to send Morse code.

A couple of Amateurs using the key some years ago

Along with the Alfred Vail replica key and some military keys we also had a wooden key that was originally made for a scarecrow festival for pupils to send Morse code with.

Clockwork Morse Databurst encoder and sender

If I had time I introduced the pupils to a clockwork databurst encoder that was in use in the 1960's with the SAS. The unit used magnetic tape and a tape recorder head. It was geared to move a set distance as each character was pressed.

Once the message was encoded it would be put onto the clockwork sending unit which would be attached to a radio. The unit would transmit Morse at 300 words per minute. A recording of the databurst would be slowed down and decoded by the receiving station.

The recorded tape cartridge was spring loaded and rewound itself ready for the next message once released from the sending unit.

This was an excellent event enjoyed both by the group members and the children but more importantly each of the pupils had an interactive experience of Amateur Radio and learned a little more about wartime communications.

Although there are plenty of pictures and information in this blog it was a team effort to put together and I would like to thank all who took part for the work they put in behind the scenes.

I hope you have enjoyed the blog as much as I have writing it.

73
Brian

CQ Worldwide WPX Contest 2011 " Anatomy of a Contest"

2011-03-27T20:35:00.032+01:00

Hello Folks,

This was intended to be a blog on "National Science and Engineering Week" at Heron Corn Mill.... I'm sorry for the delay but I have to get permission to use some audio clips from BBC Radio Cumbria .... We'll hopefully have that sorted within the next week. However we are not short of things to talk about, so here's the Blog on our last contest.

The CQ Worldwide WPX contest was unusual in a number of ways this year so I thought I'd put a blog together "Anatomy of a Contest" based on how we put our contest together and what we aim to achieve this year.

All our contests start with our contest manager Damien G0LLG who posts a spreadsheet in the documents section of our group website where members are asked to indicate if they are free to participate, list two hour slots for operating and they are also asked to confirm if they need food during their time with us.

Damien G0LLG

Martin M0ZIF

Damien was out of the area for the contest so Martin M0ZIF volunteered to take over the practical duties of being contest manager and QM for the event where he made sure:

A Venue was available to host the event
He had a team to erect the Antenna's
A Radio for operating and a computer for logging were both available
Everyone was up to date with the plans for the weekend
and last but not least everyone was fed and watered

It soon became apparent that large number of members were unable to take part in the contest which left Martin with a dilemma....

Did he have enough members available to run the event?
Should he restrict the operating hours to daytime hour only?
Should he cancel the event?

Martin assessed the options and decided that he would run the event as normal but the emphasis would be aimed at allowing the newer members of the group to gain experience with guidance and advice being given via the more experienced members attending.

This was both a positive and innovative approach that worked, building on skills like putting the antennas up in a new environment. It also allowed members to get used to equipment like the Elecraft K3 effectively and how to load up the linear amplifier correctly.

The group have a number of radios available for use in a contest and although we use the K3 a lot, we also use the following radios.

FT2000D

The 2000D is usually taken out to IOTA as a second station where it's 200W output complements the main station that uses the Linear. We also tend to use it for special events and DXpeditions where it's usually found on 40/80m as a ragchew station.

FT-920

This has proved to be an excellent radio that is very easy to use and ideal for all members of the group to operate.

TS-2000 and TS2000X

The TS-2000 has earned a great deal of respect since it was launched and its durability can be seen throughout the years as it has undergone numerous upgrades. We have used both the TS-2000 and the TS-2000X on many occasions both as a backup radio and for events like Contests, Special Events and DXpeditions. Martin's TS-2000X was used more recently as a data station during Science and Engineering Week at Heron Corn Mill.

Sands Contest Group does not own any radios these are provided by the members as needed.

We started our contest year by introducing a competition to find the most improved contester of the year and this could be any member, old or new. The most improved member wins the prize of a weather station that will be presented at our Christmas meal and I have to say that the field is wide open.

Back to the contest preparation

Thanks to Andrew G0LWU who allowed the group to operate from his conservatory.

Martin arranged a working team to set the antennas up for the bands we planned to use which consisted of a Dipole for 80m and verticals for 40m, 15m and 10m. A phased array was setup for 20m that worked very well.

Hughie and Ian are in the process of building another phased array for 15m and we look forward to seeing how well that works.

Teams were setup to assemble the various antennas safely.

It is important of make sure that the boxes and the coaxial cable are water tight and that both were marked up so that the antenna could easily be identified.

We continued to find that the electric fence posts we used last year were effective to mount the ground plane radials, even when the terrain was not particularly helpful

Good use was made of the full garden and consideration was used whilst planning where each antenna should be sited. This picture is looking back down the garden towards the conservatory where the station was sited.

We have not used our nest of dipoles in this contest because of the lack of space but all members have new and old have erected a whole array of antennas and enjoyed the experience of experimenting and assessing how well they work. Antenna design and experimentation is one of the few areas in amateur radio that does not cost the earth.

Our group chairman Ian was not intending to operate during this contest but sadly Martin had to go home due to illness (Martin was later diagnosed with glandular fever and will be out of commission for a few weeks......). Ian filled the gap and lent his support and experience to the new operators along with other members of the group.

As mentioned earlier we used the K3 for the contest. For those of you going to the Norbreck Rally in Blackpool, Ian and Kev will be displaying the K2 and K3. Pop along to the group stand and say hello.

It was good to have Hughie back after his holiday and it was not long before he took up his role as elder statesman and group foreman. Sadly he missed the International DX Contest at the beginning of the month and with all honesty I can say we missed him...

One of his pet hates is seeing someone standing around with their hands in their pockets when there's work to be done. Hughie is old school and lets you have both barrels should he think you're slacking or not doing your job properly.

Sands Contest Group Special Offer for a limited time only

Should you have any members of your contest group that needs whipping into shape, his services are available at very reasonable rates! We had to confiscate his Cat O' Nine Tails due to complaints from members spouses, so your members should be pretty safe.

Back to the Contest

Operators for the weekend included two new members Paul M6APB and Paul 2E0EET.

Paul M6APB

Paul has been gaining experience in contesting starting literally at grass roots level, learning how to put the antennas up and although it may not have dawned on him, he's learned quite a lot. Paul has actively taken part in both erecting and taking down antennas at various event. At the recent Science and Engineering Week he ran PSK31 on SSB .

During the WPX contest he operated on 15m where he had a live Mic in front of him, and although nervous at first soon grew in confidence and learned how to use the K3 effectively and how to load and operate the linear. Paul has now added SSB contesting to his skills and in the space of a week, he's also included operating PSK31 Data at Heron Corn Mill.

I thought I'd get some input from our newest members on how they felt having operated in a contest for the first time and asked them for their thoughts.

Paul summed the experience up with the following words. Terrifying, exhilarating, satisfying and he felt a very positive sense of achievement.

Paul 2E0EET

Our other Paul has only done SSB so far. In much the same way as M6APB, Paul has started at grass roots level understanding how the antennas are put up.

He started operating SSB with the group making his debut at Science and Engineering Week which had pressures of its own when you're trying to operate with a good number of children and teachers looking over your shoulder. However the experience has emboldened him and it did not take long before he was in the groove learning how to operate a new radio and getting used to loading the linear.

When I asked Paul for his thoughts he said, the experience had been fun and enlightening. He had learned how to use the logging software and in his time away from the radio he enjoyed talking about different aspects of amateur radio with other members of the group.

So what are we looking forward to in the next few months?

On the weekend following the "Royal Wedding" we hope to put a special event station on air to celebrate the occasion that will be 30th April 1st May.

Our aims for the rest of the year are to continue taking part in both contesting and special events, a few members will be joining our friends from Workington in a DXpedition later in the year..... But the most important aim is to continue enjoying ourselves in everything we do where we aim to hone are operating skill and as always enjoy each others company.

In closing we wish Martin a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him again soon.

Sands Contest Group will be at the Norbreck Rally 10th of April..... If you're able to attend, pop by our stand and say hello!

73
Brian

The continuing tales from Oysterber Farm

2011-03-04T22:31:00.017Z

Hello Folks,

Here we are at the beginning of a new Contest Season and looking forward to a good International Dx Contest.

Members of the group started collecting the equipment around 10am and we arrived at Oysterber Farm around lunch time.

Antenna's for the contest consisted of a nest of dipoles covering Topband 80m and 40m

a 20m vertical with phased array and verticals for 40m, 10m and 15m

Damien was good enough to take his caravan and it was used as an area for sleeping and socialising during the contest. This worked well for the group leaving Hancock's Hut free for contesting without much in the way of background noise.

We were low on the number of people who were available to set the Antenna's up and it was great to see our newest members Paul m6APB and our other Paul 2E0EET helping out at the event. The rest of the team consisted of Frank G8BME, Martin M0ZIF and Damien our contest manager.

Operators for the event were:

Joe 2E0JEX

Martin M0ZIF

Andrew G0LWU

Ian G0VGS

Looking left to right the picture show Paul 2E0EET and our second Paul M6APB who popped in during the contest to learn a little about the logging software and operating practices during a contest. The pictures above were taken at Heron Corn Mill which is the subject of the Next Blog.

Kev G6FKE taking a well earned break on the ipad after his daytime nap and evening meal .... all joking apart he did work the graveyard shift with Brian and Mark and he was getting ready for another graveyard shift with the aid of Joe and Ian.

Other operators were: Damien G0LLG our contest manager, Brian G0RDH, Mark M0DGK and Chris G4LDS

It would be remiss of me not to mention Barrie and Cathy who hosted the contest and provided food cooked by Stephany's son Spencer who is an accomplished chief at a local restaurant.

The group beat last years score which is always nice to do.

Thanks need to go to Damien for making sure that times were covered by asking members to enter 2 hour blocks of time they could operate. Damien also acted as QM for the event and made sure those who asked for it were thoroughly fed up throughout the contest.

The next Blog will be available shortly covering National Science and Engineering Week at Heron Corn Mill.

73
Brian (The Reluctant Contester)

Heron Corn Mill and Science Week

2011-03-02T13:28:00.001Z

Sands Contest Group are taking part in Science Week from Heron Corn Mill in Cumbria and will be active on the Wednesday 16th & Thursday 17th of March using the callsign GB4HCM. The subject for Science Week 2011 is Communications and the group will be active on 20m 40m and 80m between 10am and 4pm each day operating both SSB and DATA modes and there will be a number of interactive displays.

For more information visit GB4HCM on QRZ.com

73
Brian Watson G0RDH

The life and times of Bernard Licence G4DCG

2011-02-07T00:26:00.028Z

As many of you may know Bernard Licence G4DCG went Silent Key just before Christmas and I feel it only fitting that we celebrate his life and times as a radio amateur.

I know his early life involved serving in the RAF rising to the rank of pilot officer during WWII. From looking through his DVD collection his interest in aviation never wained as he explored the history of everything from the aircraft of WWII up to present day aviation. There was even a homemade copy of a movie based on Donald Campbell's life and ill fated trials with Bluebird on Conniston Water.

I was to learn that Bernard's favorite type of music included Jazz and Big Band in many forms with bands like: Stan Kenton, Count Basie, Shep Fields and his rippling rhythmn Orchestra, The famous Jazz drummer Gene Krupa, he also enjoyed listening to vocalists like Diana Shore, Ella Fitzgerald and last but not least... The Rat Pack of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.

Another of his interests was the Motorcar especially the history of MG and Jaguar.

Bernard worked for BT in a managerial position before enjoying a good lengthy retirement overlooking the Lune Estuary a very advantageous location that many radio amateurs myself included can only dream about.

But back to amateur radio:

Ian G0VGS was asked to visit Bernard a few weeks before he went Silent Key so that he could document his radio equipment, this was not the easiest of meetings because it was clear at that point that Bernard was very poorly and Ian had known Bernard for many years. Bernard was to loose his fight with cancer just a few weeks later.

Ian Linda Bob and Damien returned to dismantle and take the equipment away a few weeks after Christmas with the intention of offering it for sale to the local amateur community.

One of Bernard's solidstate radio's of choice was Yaesu's FT757GX. Developed in the 1980's the radio had an output power of 100w on SSB and CW but was limited to 25w AM/FM. Full specs below.

SPECIFICATIONS
Type: Amateur HF transceiver
Frequency range: TX: 10-160 m + WARC
RX: 0.5-30 MHz
Mode: AM/FM/SSB/CW
RF Power output: FM/SSB/CW: 100 W
AM: 25 W
Receiver system: N/A
Sensitivity: N/A
Selectivity: N/A
Image rejection: N/A
Voltage: 13.5 VDC
Current drain: RX: Max 2 A
TX: Max 20 A
Impedance: 50 ohms, SO-239
Dimensions (W*H*D): 238*93*238 mm

Although not a contact of Bernards you and see and hear an FT757 in action on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npdm7ty9F9E&feature=related
Yaesu FT757GX listening to VK4SY on 80m

Having tried the FT-757GX Bernard upgraded to the Yaesu 767GX and what a great radio this is.

This is a very versatile radio giving you 100w on HF and the added plus benefit of installing optional 6/2/70 10w modules. Having read the reviews of everyday radio amateurs on eham, I don't think I found anyone with a bad word for the set.

Once this radio was put on the market it didn't take long for a buyer to come forward with his money to buy the radio. To all intents and purposes the radio really sold itself. After getting the set home the new owner stripped it down and gave it a service and enjoys using it on a daily basis.

Here's a you tube link if you would like to see a video of set in action with 2E0HTS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI4hw_ENgn8&feature=player_embedded#

Another video of a Topband QSO with G0RRL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XXBnykzq4s&feature=related

Bernard also had a number of classic valve transceivers and receivers in his collection that was nice to see.

Halicrafter SX-110

G4DCG helps to extend the range of the DX-Cluster.

Before the day when the internet was freely available access to the DX Cluster was acheived via packet radio. Ian G0VGS was very grateful to Bernard for allowing him to install a X1J node set up of 3 TNC's and 3 radios that allowed access to the cluster from the Fylde area. The callsign was GB7LA.

Antenna's.

One of Bernard's area's of experimentation was in the field of antenna construction and whilst he had professionally made beams by people like Cushcraft he also experimented with wire antenna's, traps and baluns.

Damien G0LLG and myself took on the job of dismantling the antenna's setting off from Morecambe on a very foggy Saturday morning most of which cleared by the time we reached Bernard's home, however the frost was to stay with us all day.

Our first task was to examine the site and work out a plan that would allow us to work effectively and safely. You might see why from the picture below.

After assessing the situation It was decided that we would start by lowering the vertical sections of the mast and then slowly tilting the mast so that we could gain access to the beam sections.

Damien Lowered the mast slowly whilst I checked for any problems as each section came down. One section did give us a little trouble but this was fix by applying a little lubricant.

Once the mast was lowered vertically, I took over on the other winch and Damien helped guide the mast down and looked out for snags caused by the bushes you can see on the right side of this picture.

I secured the winch and we set to work taking each antenna section apart. Before removing the section it was marked so that we had a reference point for reassembly. Once removed each section was laid on the ground in line with its position on the boom. There were one or two sections that needed a little encouragement to come apart but a little WD40 sorted that problem.

Once all the sections were removed we reassembled them making use of the marks and marked them up that the antenna could be put back together again with ease.

Once the boom had been removed we turned our attention to the rotator and finally the coaxial feed cables to the mast. Sadly 90% of the coax was water damaged.

Damien and I returned a few days later to take down the numerous wire antenna's. This took a little longer than expected because we had to take time out for tea and biscuits followed later by some welcome Fish and Chips. With all the antenna's down and stored in a place of safety. Damien and I can take pleasure in a job well done but we never lost sight that we were dealing with the station of a well respected fellow amateur radio operator who was not just a perfect gentleman at all times, but a fellow student in the ever changing hobby of Amateur Radio. From our time taking the antenna's down we soon realised that G4DCG was a man who strived to excel to the best of his ability in all that he turned his hand too.

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog. My personal philosophy is in celebrating the life of a fellow radio amateur as we morn the loss. My glass is in perfect balance being both half empty and half full at the same time.

73
Brian G0RDH

VP8DMH/P at Fossil Bluff

2011-01-25T12:00:00.000Z

Hello and happy 2011 from Antarctica!

As well as our main base here at Rothera, we maintain and staff two forward summer-only fuel depots. These are Fossil Bluff, at 71 degrees South, and Sky Blu at 74 degrees South. Each season a mix of old and new Winterers, as well as some summer-only staff spend time in the field making sure they both run smoothly.

Fossil Bluff is an old Wintering station, with a comfortable wooden hut with bunks, and water on tap, taken from run-off from a near-by glacier. It's also on Alexander Island, one of the rarest IOTA groups, so when I heard I was being sent there for a week or two I knew I had to try and put it on air. The Bluff already has an HF station, designed for regular weather skeds with Rothera, but the rig is an Icom IC-78. It does the job for B.A.S. purposes, but lacks a voice keyer (among other amenities), so I packed up my Elecraft K3 and P3 in preparation for the trip.

I flew out to Fossil Bluff on one of our Twin Otters on the 13th of December, and spent most of the rest of the day working around the hut and setting up the HF, although I did make a couple of 20m QSOs in the evening.

Fossil Bluff Hut

Tuesday brought some more QSOs, but not many; the hut batteries weren't in good shape, and the broadband commercial dipole a little too low to the ground for good DX take-off angles. I requested a reel of wire and some other tools from Rothera on the next Otter to come our way, with the intention of building a 20m vertical to be positioned further away from the generator, but other than that there wasn't much to be done besides persevere and make the most of what the propagation had to offer.

Normally when there is flying in the area we have to do met observations every hour, which are then passed back to Rothera over HF. On Wednesday, however, no planes were scheduled to come our way, which meant much reduced met obs and more time for uninterrupted operation on the amateur bands! (OK, and a bit of reading in the sun.)

Reading on the verandah.

Thursday brought a change of companion (there are always at least two people at a field station at any given time), and the wire I'd requested. Dickie, who had been at the Bluff when I arrived, left to return to Rothera and I was joined by Alan, one of the outgoing Wintering field assistants (alpine and polar experts, and all-round Antarctic Heroes, who look after scientists in the field) and I set about the construction of a 20m vertical with his help. The project was nearly scuppered by the failure of the soldering iron, but, as for all things B.A.S., a fall-back was on hand. Our standard-issue field radio boxes include a soldering iron tip. The idea is that if a field party needs to do any soldering, they jam the tip onto a screwdriver (also provided) and heat it in their Primus stove. I'd always been somewhat skeptical of the idea, but decided to have a go. The result certainly wouldn't have won any awards for prettiness, and I'm not sure I'd like to take the 'soldering kit' to my K3, but it did the job...

Unfortunately, the antenna itself proved difficult to set up satisfactorily, and I didn't get much use out of it. Still, at least the construction was an interesting project!

Every evening, we had a regular sked with Rothera at 00:00, so before long I settled into the routine of working 20m through the day, trying to fit operating time in around met skeds and aircraft operations, and then working 40m in the evenings for a few hours after our sked.

Other than playing radio, there is plenty to occupy your time at the Bluff.

Alan making bread.

Plane visits often involve a coffee break on the verandah...

Taking a break from SSB to try to work HA0DU on CW.

The view East from the front door - the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsular over the George VI Sound, with sun halo.

Alan ready for plane fuelling at the skiway fuel depot.

The way home -- when B.A.S. say you'll be flying out tomorrow, they really mean it!

Flying a Twin Otter over Marguerite Bay on the way back to Rothera.

West Manchester Red Rose Rally

2011-01-17T00:32:00.034Z

Hello Folks,

Here's my first Rally Review of 2011. Along with Damien G0LLG, Hughie G4UME and Ian G0VGS I attended the West Manchester Red Rose Rally for the first time this year. Within minutes of joining the queue of amateurs waiting to get into the rally we were in deep conversation with other radio amateurs about their interests in the hobby and genuine interest was shown in the activities of Sands Contest group.

The rally was held in a new venue from previous years.

The George H Carnall Leisure Centre, was picked because it offered more room for stands and exhibits. I thought an A4 handout listing the exhibitors, where they were located at the rally and contact details would have been useful, however on a plus note I recognise and appreciate how much work the club officers and members will have put in to make the rally possible and would like to express my thanks to all involved.

I felt a little disappointed upon entering the rally at the lack of traders in attendance, However with these hard economic times you have to recognise the distance the big emporiums need to travel and the overheads of paying staff for their services. I'm sure the massive increase in fuel costs will have done nothing to help.

I later learned from one of the traders that the rally organisers had been let down by somebody who had booked a large number of table and failed to turn up. At this point my disappointment wained and my thoughts went to the group who had done their best to make this rally a success.

Food and Drink:

Food and drink was available at reasonable prices for example I have a potato and meat pie and a cup of tea for just under £2 There were table and chairs available to eat your food and although at first glance there was not enough Damien and I found a table to sit at because rally goers keen to get back in the halls another possibility is that Bar that open whilst we were waiting to be served.

So what of the stands and exhibits:

The only radio amateur emporium in attendance was LAM Communications who I'm sure had a busy day from start to finish.

The RSGB had a stand with all the usual goodies on offer along with help and advice available from our regional Rep Kathy Wilson and our RSGB President Dave Wilson

Kanga Kits had plenty on offer for both the seasoned constructor and those just starting out. For more information please click on the link below.

http://www.kanga-produc ts.co.uk/

Pro Whip Antennas

Pro Whip Antennas had a good display of antenna's covering most bands

If you would like to see more of their range and applications for different antenna's please click on the link below.

http://www.prowhipantennas.co.uk

Snowdonia Radio Company

Snowdonia Radio Company attended the rally and were happy to talk about the products they had on display. The company was formed in January 2008 by Simon Poyser MW0GSR and although not an old company its good to see that Simon is celebrating his third year in business. I have to confess to knowing little about the company and it products but if you would like to know more click on the link below. The website is well laid out and easy to navigate. Along with the general products take a look at the downloads link of the site that contains instruction manuals, data sheets and independent reviews.

http://www.snowdonia-radio-company.co.uk/about-src.html

Moonraker was established in 1978 and since that time I think they have covered most of the major rallys. Moonraker had a large display of antenna's and radio amateur products available at the rally and were kept busy throughout the day.

if you would like to learn more about the company and the products they offer please click on the link below.

http://www.moonraker.eu/Amateur-Radio

G4VAP Components

It was good to see Ian G4VAP in attendance selling a range of quality components etc.

I have know Ian for many years as an accomplished keen and well respected constructor. In an effort to encourage club members into the joy and satisfaction of practical home construction Ian introduced a construction competition at Morecambe Bay Amateur Radio Society with the aim of encouraging both new and seasoned amateurs to make construction projects. Ian's only pet hate was projects marked up with Dyno Tape. The construction competition is still running today and now well over a decade old. If you don't already have something this going at your club,society or group, why not give it a go?

A view of the second hall

Some old sets that caught my attention:

Those of you who have followed this blog over the last year will have noticed that where possible I have introduced pictures, basic information and links to radio sets and other equipment from yesteryear

Philips D-2999

The Philips D-2999 was produced in the late 80s and intended as a modern alternative radio for the SWL and what a good looking radio it is. The set appears ergonomically well designed boasting a direct entry key pad and 16 memories for your favorite stations and modes. Although I never switched the set on I suspect it would have sounded very good with audio produced throgh a 3" speaker at the front and a 7" speaker on top.

For a more detailed article on all the features, take a look at the web url below.

http://shortwaveradio.ch/radio-e/philips-d2999-e.htm

I loved the Russian hat modeled on to of the Eddystone Receiver..... And talking of which.

Eddystone 870

This 5 tube single conversion superhetrodye receiver was made in the Eddystone Factory Birmingham England between 1956 -1959. The casing was made out of metal and in the case of the radio at the rally it was painted in a nice ruby red.

The radio would have cost between £30 to £35 to buy when new. It may not sound a great deal but would have been a considered purchase in its day taking into account the weekly wage packet at that time.

for more information take a look at the link below

This site has loads of information on this set including circuit diagrams and well worth a visit. It also hosts a list of many Eddystone radios made throughout the years. http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/eddystone_870s87.html

Francis Norris (Radio Restorer/Collector)

It was good to meet up with Francis again who had a traders stand at the rally. Francis has a passion for radio restoration restoring both Military Radios and those sold on the commercial market.

The first thing to grab my attention was the Admiralty Morse Key.

I was surprised to find the key taken back to its base metal but Francis told me that the paint work was in very poor condition when he bought it and after starting to strip the paintwork back liked the shiny look and left it at that. The picture does not do the finish justice.

I tried the key and it was a smooth as a Rolls Royce to operate. The previous owner had set it up to perfection with a very smooth well balanced action.

British Navy Morse Key

This Morse key is manufactured in England in the 1950's for the British Navy. It is a large heavy desk top key and is fully adjustable and very enjoyable to use. On / Off Switch is provided on the front, and the cable terminates with a 4 pin Larkspur type connector.

Information accredited to the site below.
http://www.armyradio.co.uk/arsc/customer/product.php?productid=1448&cat=0&page=7&js=n

Inside the Key

The original Key also known as the NATO Key would have has a paint finish like the one below.

This Photograph is attributed to the

Morse Keys Gallery dedicata al caro Mauro Russo - IØMYQ
http://nuke.ik0ixi.it/Tastitelegrafici/tabid/478/Default.aspx

Lafayette KT-200 Communications Receiver

I could go into the history of this set and would enjoy doing so if I had not seen the URL link and the work done to create a first class review.

There is an excellent article covering the history of this radio along with original adverts before the author takes you graphically through the restoration of his set
http://www.radioremembered.org/kt-200.htm

Cossor Radio

On the commercial radio side of products available Francis had a nicely restored Cossor Radio that dates back to 1940 and was known as Model 77 upright.

Below are a couple of pictures I took of the radio Francis had for sale and I think you will admit the radio is in showroom condition.

I have copied and edited the information below from the following website

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/cossor-radio-model-77-upright-ca-1940

I believe this is a Model 77 made around 1938 - 1940.

From the internet:
A. C. Cossor Ltd. began in 1859 when the company was established by Alfred Charles Cossor in Clerkenwell, London to manufacture scientific glassware. His eldest son joined the company in 1875, and it was he who founded the A. C. Cossor electronics company. The companies expertise in the manufacture of electrical glassware such as early cathode ray tubes and X-Ray tubes, led the company to diversify into electronics. The younger son Frank Cossor joined the company in 1885, and eventually took over the running of the original scientific glassware company which exists today as Accoson, a manufacturer of sphygmomanometers.

In 1902 the company produced the first British made Braun tube.

SIZE: 21" tall x 16" wide x 9-5/8" deep

According to a send website listed below A.C. Cossor can trace its roots back to 1859 long before the discovery of radio. The article details the important roll the company had in the development of the valve. Its well worth reading.
http://www.btinternet.com/~allan.isaacs/cossorhistory.htm

West Manchester Amateur Radio Club

The following text was copied from the clubs website to give you an idea of how the club was formed by two men with a passion for radio and a vision of like minded radio amateurs getting together.

In the spring of 1981, the late Jack Williams, G4MRM, a businessman from Lowton, and Don Aitchison, G3BSA, (Club President until his death in 2008), had an article published in the Leigh Journal, calling for anyone interested in forming a radio club in the area to attend a meeting at Howe Bridge Leisure Centre, Atherton. The response was excellent and a Steering Committee was formed during the meeting. Among those attending were present members Jerry Coupe, Les Jackson, Ron Ainsworth, and, our current Chairman, Steve Daniels, to name but a few.

Please click on the link below and see what WMARC is involved in today.

http://www.wmrc.org.uk/history.htm

I hope you have enjoyed reading the review.... Radio Rally's are well worth going too, you can still find bargains in those rummage boxes and they make a great day out..... Give a thought to the organisers, they put months of work into putting these events on for us. And thanks to the traders who ship their goods from all over the UK.

73 for now

Brian G0RDH (The Reluctant Contestor)

RSGB AFS Contest

2011-01-15T23:05:00.002Z

Hi Folks,

Members of the Sands Contest Group had the pleasure of taking part in the RSGB AFS 80m SSB Contest this afternoon. It was great to hear the band so active and stations from around the country taking part.

It was particularly nice to hear so many stations North of the Border in Scotland enjoying the contest I missed hearing the on the RSGB 80m CC earlier in the week.

Today's contest was very enjoyable G0LLG, M0ZIF and myself G0RDH took part and if nothing else it honed our operating skills as we look forward to the first major 48 hour contest in March.

Thanks to everybody who worked us, it was good to hear the band so active we look forward to the next contest where we aim to build on our experience so far.

73
Brian

New RSGB CC 80m Contest season

2011-01-15T22:46:00.002Z

Hello Folks

The first RSGB CC 80m SSB contest took place on Wednesday 12th January. Ian and Kev teamed up at Ian's QTH under Ian's Callsign G0VGS and it was great to see Martin M0ZIF and Damien enter their stations as part of the Sands Group contest station.

Martin recently moved QTH and had little room to put a HF antenna out so it was something of an experiment when he erected a Windom from plans in the latest Sprat.

Damien G0LLG is also limited for space and experimenting with various antenna's including verticals.

I ran the group callsign M0SCG from my QTH via a trap dipole.

As expected band conditions were not at their best, contacts were possible but had to be worked for and this was reflected in the RSGB Robot log. My only gripe relates to a station calling QRZ without putting his callsign out often enough for passing stations to check if the station had been worked.... Its something that just takes a few seconds extra to do. I know he had done nothing wrong but I would rather not wait the 15 minutes for an ID.

73
Brian G0RDH

Starting the New Year

2011-01-06T13:50:00.001Z

As we go into 2011 we have plenty of events planned and many things happening at Sands.
Firstly we now have a permanent Special callsign GB4HCM for Heron Corn Mill. We hope to activate this callsign not only for special events taking place at the mill but also when members get the opportunity to travel to the mill to put the callsign on the air in their own time. More news on that as arrangements move forward.
We have also been hosting a regular 2 meter net on a Wednesday night. The net usually runs on 145.350, if it is free, from 8pm, and is run under the club callsign M0SCG. The net is not only for our members but welcomes anyone who wishes to call in and have a chat.
Some of our members are also providing training for all levels of Amateur Radio licensing at the local sports and social club in Morecambe, feel free to contact us for more information!
The next few months will be very busy with several major contests and local rallies. We hope 2011 will be as much fun and successful as the previous year. We are always looking for new people who want to get involved in what we enjoy doing and more information is available on our main website.
Good DX folks and see you on the bands!

Happy Christmas and New Year

2010-12-22T10:53:00.001Z

All members and friends of Sands Contest Group would like to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year. Thank you for all the support and friendship we have had in 2010. See you in 2011 and good DX to all.

Group Christmas Meal

2010-12-06T18:19:00.025Z

Hello Folks,
It's Christmas time again and a time we get together with family and friends for what was an excellent night out.

I thought I'd do something different to the normal turkey run that would find me collecting menu's from pubs around the area and asking members for their preferred choice. This year I offered just one venue to the group and thankfully they thought it was a great idea. Once agreed I sorted the venue out and our treasurer Frank invited members to part with their money.

There was a nice sweetener in that I managed to get the cost of the meal down lower than any other Christmas meal I have ever organised..... and I have been organising meals for over 20 years.

Mark and Jenni

Trungs Chinese Vietnamese banquet

Starter
Prawn Crackers
Glass Noodle Salad

Second Course

We had already had a nibble at the offerings on this plate we also had shredded duck and pancakes not shown here. I was enjoying the food so much I forgot to take any more pictures.

Skewered Sirloin in Lemon Grass
King Prawn Filo
Crispy Aromatic Duck

Main Course
Sizzling Stuffed King Prawn
Fillet Steak Cantonese Sauce
Crispy Chicken in Barbecue Sauce
Crispy Shredded Beef
Chicken in Satay Sauce
Cantonese Roast Duck
Yung Chow Fried Rice

The only sad part of the evening was that Kathy and Barrie were unable to join us from Oysterber Farm, they had their gladrags on the car was warmed up and running but it started to snow just minutes before they were due to off . They were not worried about getting to the meal but were worried they would not be able to get home again.

Here's a picture Barrie took showing the meadow we use for our antenna farm during contests

It would be rude of me not to post some pictures taken by Stephany in Wennington a few miles away from Barrie and Kathy's

Those of you into SOTA might recognise the elevated heights in this picture.

So a good night was had by all and found us heading home around 10:45 after enjoying good food, drink relaxing in the company of friends..... A really nice way to round off an enjoyable contesting year as a group

Ray, Stephany, Julie, Andrew

Steve and Frank discussing Mulders law of chopstick applications in a nuclear environment.

Well that's about it for this blog apart from to wish all views a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

73
from all at Sands Contest Group

GQRP Convention 2010

2010-11-20T13:32:00.007Z

Hello Folks,

Here's a basic report on another excellent GQRP convention held at Rishworth School. Members of Sands Contest Group attended the convention for different reasons not least to meet up with old friends, look around a good Radio Amateur based convention and listen to excellent talks in the lecture theater. It goes without saying that we all enjoyed Meat and potato pie followed by apple pie, and rumor has it that some even went back for seconds the food was so good.

One of the nice things about this convention is that its truly an amateur radio based event where the only time you see a computer working is in a supporting role to demonstrate a radio amateur based product.

Electromagnetica Replica Crystal Set.

Although I did not buy the item pictured below, it was beautiful to see and had I the money I would have been tempted.

(please note that you can increase the picture size by clicking on the image and in most cases increase again by clicking on the enlarged image)

This replica Crystal Set was made by an Amateur and it was being sold for a charity for £80

The set is housed in a nicely finished wooden box and a lot of time was obviously spent winding the coils.

Sadly I watched the set being boxed up at the end of the day unsold.

Alfred Vail Morse Key

I managed to pickup an Alfred Vail replica Telegraph key made by Kent Keys.

I have learned that my version of the key which has a satin finish, was only made until around Serial No. 250, from that time on the brass was given a highly polished finish. The key is still available along with information of its size etc on the link below.

http://www.kent-engineers.com/vailkeyinfo.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neneOCKmcw0

The keys are well made and work surprisingly well but its always interesting to look back to the reason why the key was made in the first place and how it played its part in revolutionising communications in its day.

Alfred Vail

This is a picture of the original key which is housed at the Smithsonian Institution Washington DC

Key and Telegraph
The Vail Register
Edited by John Casale, W2NI

"On Friday, May 24, 1844 at 8:45 a.m., the telecommunications era in the United States began with the successful receipt of the message "What Hath God Wrought." That message was received on a telegraph register designed by Alfred Vail.

The link below with give you access to the full article including pictures of the telegraph register invented by Alfred Vail

http://www.antiquewireless.org/otb/kt0501.htm

As with many things in the history of communications the road was not always smooth and its my personal feeling based on the link below that Vail has not received the recognition he should have for his part in history.

You may find the following link interesting.... Its informative and well worth your time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo0hSZ9R_Xk

Its fascinating to think that this was a time of innovation and a communications revolution was taking place when Morse, Vail, Marconi, Tesla to name a few dared to put their thoughts and theory's to the test...... A parallel in our time would be the advent of the computer and the internet. Below is an interesting film showing what are now vintage radio's being made at the Tesla Phillips Radio Factory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpGYdgELqZo

Then of course there are all the scientists.....

GQRP Convention Speakers for 2010

Ian Keyser G3ROO Clandestine Radio around World War Two

One of the reasons I attended was to listen to G3ROO's talk on WWII Clandestine Radio and I was not disappointed. Ian had traveled up from Kent to give the talk and brought with him a number of exhibits. Ian explained the history of the famous suitcase sets used by SOE. He introduced details of the set itself starting with the (Mk1 Paraset) a little of the history, Ian believes there are only two Mk1 sets in the UK

B2 suitcase set designed by Major John I. Brown

Ian took us through a number of circuit diagrams explaining the curcuity of the set

http://www.milradio.com/clandestine_gal.htm

Please click on the link for a short video of this set taken in the Science Lab just after lunch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRcFG0w_Nzo&feature=mfu

A MkII Paraset

for more information on the Paraset take a look at the following sites they are well worth your time.

http://www.mines.uidaho.edu/~glowbugs/paraset.htm
http://www.qsl.net/ik0moz/paraset_eng.htm

The Paraset Project
How to make a replica Norwegian Style.
LA5MT - Asbjørn (Mike) Ursin

http://www.qsl.net/ik0moz/LA5MT_Paraset.htm

Mk 26 Receiver

Ian discribed finding the Mk 26 Reciever in the attic of a collector collector friend when he was looking around. Sadly nothing is known about the set apart from the fact that their are only three known in the UK. and the curcuit diagram is availabe.

Picture located on the site below

http://www.milradio.com/clandestine_gal.htm

MCR1 Biscuit Tin Set

MCR1 Biscuit Tin Set manufactured in 1943

Ian gave a good description of the Miniture Communications Reciever 1 and brought along his own set for people to look at. Ian said he would be happy to turn the radio on later in the Lab but it failed with grim regularity

For more details on this set including maker, overall size of the unit and frequencies of operation please look at the site below. go down to Spy Set and select UK in the index.
http://www.radiomilitari.com/r.html

1950's British Embassy Set

Although not a spy set Ian was able to show us a set that could be used in the Embassy or in the event that the embassy was over run, it could be transported easily to a safe house. Ian explained that the set was fully self contained with everything needed to operate found in the side pouches of the canvas carrying case. The set operated between 2 and 8MHz and Ian knows of some decent distances covered transmuting on 1/2w. The earlier types of this transceiver were housed in a wooden box. I have attached a link under the photograph to the VMARS site where details of this radio along with a good picture of the Transceiver on page 4 of the small pdf file.

The Embassy Set
SR128 (also known as Mk.128)

http://www.vmarsmanuals.co.uk/newsletter_articles/valve_manpacks.pdf

Thanks to http://www.vmars.org.uk/ for allowing a link to link their site, it's a great organisation and excellent resource centre.

Books & DVD's

If your interested in the work of the Y service then I can highly recommend "The Enemy is Listening by Aileen Clayton published in 1980"

The book gives a personal insight into how the Y service worked not only in the UK but other countries during WWII. It's still available in both hardback and softback, however If you can't find it on line then you should be able to order it via your local library.

Enigma Symposium 1997

1997 edition of the highly detailed accounts of the histories and achievements of Y Unit. Major Hugh Skillen was a codebreaker and linguist who worked at Bletchley Park from D-Day to VE Day.

Although collated by Major Hugh Skillen the symposium is made up of talks given by individual speakers at the symposium/reunion of people who worked at Bletchley part and in the Y service and makes for good factual reading from firsthand accounts. The book is A4 sized and has 194 pages. You will need to pay p&p extra.

Contents:

Y section in the field (No.2 Canadian SW/SW1 Section)
Teaching Japanese Morse to the Royal Indian Airforce/German Naval Intercepts (Submarine warfare in Atlantic and Far East)
Swiss Enigma's
Collossus Revealed at last
Enigma Still Lives
Huts 11,11a,11b
Working Collossus
German Diplomatic Papers
The Ultra Americans
The US Converter 209
SCUs and SLUs
Comparison with the battle of France and the Battle of Kursk
The Testery
HMS Petard retrieval of documents from U-559

Appendix

Hitlers Apologia 1937
The History of WW2

Why am I going into so much detail?
This is probably the last chance people will have to buy a new copy of this book which is one of a series no longer available. When Major Skillen died a few years ago his wife donated the remainder of his symposiums to BP and this is the last volume available and at £1.99 its a steal of a price.

http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/shop/index.rhtm/130825/cat.html

Other books by Major Skillen well worth looking out for are:

Spys of the Airwaves 1989 ISBN 0 9515190 X
Knowledge Strengthens the Arm 1991 ISBN 0 9515190 1
Enigma & its Achilles Heel 1992 ISBN 0 9515190 26

These books are in Hardback standard size. You should be able to order a copy to read from your local library who will probably have to send off for it.

I can also recommend an excellent DVD by (Grindelwald Productions) "The Secret Wireless War" produced in 2002

The DVD has two 1 hour documentaries "Beyond Bletchley Park" tells the story of the RSS in part One and "Black Propaganda" is covered in part 2. I suggest you shop around for the best price on this item because prices do vary. It is available from Amazon new at £13.99 which seems a reasonable price.

Roy Cavanagh GM4VKI Cold War Transceiver

A photograph of Roy's R-354 Spy Set.

Roy GM4VKI complimented the talk on Clandestine Radio's by introducing a cold war transceiver, Russian spy radio set (Bumblebee) . He explained how agents would buy a 35mm film..... nothing strange in that this was an everyday item sold worldwide in chemists and camera shops for SLR camera's. Roy went on to explain how this film could be used for more sinister use.

The film is pulled from its canister... there was no problem with the film being exposed to light because it was not going to be used for taking pictures. The film would be split down the middle in effect creating two 16mm strips each with sprockets on one side. Holes were punched into the film using a specialised cutter, each hole punched represented a coded part of the message.

Once the message was completed the film would be offered to a slot at the bottom of the keypad and loaded to a start point via two buttons seen on the left of the keypad.

This radio had a number of options available to the operator to help him/her get their message through.

Option One
Encode your message through hole cut into the film using the keypad. This can be done quickly because the information was passed at 300 wpm.

Option Two
In the event of the film jamming etc a message could be typed in directly via the keypad.

Option Three
If all other methods failed then an agent could use the small morse key located at the top of the keypad. This was the least favoured method because it made the agent vulnerable to detection.

Morse Key located above the keypad.

The link below is a very informative site for information about the set and its accessories
http://www.cryptomuseum.com/spy/r354/index.htm

Ian took a good number of radio's with him and both Ian and Roy had radio's in operation for everyone to see in one of the labs after his talk.

Roy Lewallen W7EL. A QRP Field Day

George introduced Roy Lewallen to a packed lecture theater at the convention.

Roy regaled us with stories about his introduction to the American QRP Field Day. He made the point that this was not a contest but rather a time where qrp amateur radio equipment could be field tested for use in local or national emergency's, not only the transmitters but also antenna's and masts Etc.

During his talk he showed us a number of antenna's he has used over the years, methods of getting antenna's over tree including a Slingshot, and he introduced us to his basic tool kit which covered most eventualities.

It was an interesting look at QRP Field in the USA

EZNEC
Although not mentioned during his talk Roy Lewallen is the creator of a very good program called EZNEC which allows you to create and test antenna's in a virtual environment. If you would like to see some screen shots and information about the program please take a look at the this link http://www.eznec.com/

Dave Starkie G4AKC
HF Bicycle and Pedestrian Mobile
Working DX whilst on the move

Dave Starkie gave an interesting talk on his passion of operating both Bicycle and pedestrian mobile. Dave described his stations pointing out the positives and negatives in operation. Dave counts himself lucky to live on the seafront in Blackpool.

Dave demonstrated a few of the antenna's that he uses and how they are adapted for different bands along with Solar Power on one of his other stations.

Battery Power Supply

ATU

Mobile Alinco Radio

Dave filled us in on his WORLD RECORD CONTACT LONGPATH BLACKPOOL ENGLAND TO CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND.
21,100Km on the longpath on 20 Metres SSB. To listen to the contact please click on the link http://www.youtube.com/user/G4AKC

If you would like to see a two page breakdown of Dave's equipment including photographs you'll find it published in the August 2010 edition of Radcom or on this link created by ZS1JHG for "Ham Radio Nation"

http://hamradionation.com/document.php?user=ZS1JHG&document_id=217&title=bicycle-mobile-by-g4akc-mr-bicycle

David Stockton GM4ZNX TECHNICAL FORUM

Sadly I was not able to stay for the final event of the afternoon although I feel sure it would have been an interesting Forum

Buildathon 2010

Photograph taken from the GQRP Website and taken by John G7NSN click on the link below to view other photographs in this series from the 2010 convention. http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnv2544/sets/72157625123120343/

Project: A Manhattan style CW Transmitter for 40 metres This could be a companion to the receiver of last year’s Buildathon or a useful little transmitter in its own right.

http://www.gqrp.com/rishworth.htm

Exhibits of Clandestine Radio in the Classroom

I am sorry to report that I have no information to relay on this set seen on the left of this picture.

Para-set MkII

QRP Exhibits

Sudden 40m Surface Mount Receiver by G3WBB

20m Receiver by Nick MW0NJP / ON4NIC

160m & 80M AM/SSB/CW Transmitter

The Touch & Go 80m QRP Transmitter built in 2010 by G4UMB

The Touch Keyer built by G4UMB

Pixie Set Construction Project built from a circuit in Sprat 1993

The Clippy Dot Dash Keyer

Ever had a problem reading your FT-817 display?

FT-817 image taken from the internet

Then take a look at this little gem!

The FT817 External Display built by G6SSF with remote keypad option.

I should have photographed the Remote Control which if memory serves me correctly was a programmable one remote does all.... It certainly worked well in the demo I saw.

Unless otherwise stated photography by Brian G0RDH

Well that concludes my review of the 2010 GQRP Convention I hope you have enjoyed my ramblings..... If you have never been and live outside the area, get a few friends together to help share the fuel bill and pay a visit..... you will not be disappointed! Rishworth School, is on the A672 (Ripponden) road from junction 22 on the M62.

73 for now
Brian G0RDH
(The Reluctant Contestor)

CQ WW SSB Contest

2010-11-15T15:51:00.029Z

As summer gives way to autumn the group sets to work preparing for the last major contest of 2010. Its always a time of uncertainty for us because the Wx is so changeable and we have to be prepared for a last minute change of venue in the event of bad weather, however the weather was kind to us and we were privileged to witness an autumnal mosaic of colour as the countryside and animals get ready for winter.

(Please note that if you click on the images they are enlarged for a better view)

This is the first contest we've been involved in since returning from a highly successful and enjoyable DX-Pedition to the Isle of Arran in September. Damien G0LLG has taken on the responsibility of Contest Manager and although not in the best of health, with the help and support of his partner Annette they have lead by example in so many ways.

Antenna's masts and accessories were collected from storage and we headed up to Oysterber Farm arriving in the early afternoon on Friday, the day before the contest. A small group of members set to work putting the masts and antenna's up for the 2010 CQ WW SSB Contest which once running lasted for a full 48 hours.

This picture shows Damien instructing the team on which of the guy ropes to either add or release tension on before tying them off. under his guidance the mast will have a good vertical length without sections bending out of shape. This is the mast that will support the nest of dipoles Topband, 80 and 40 metres.

A welcome place for rest and relaxation

Damien and Annette's Caravan along with the big tenty thing were sited in a fenced off paddock at Oysterber Farm for touring caravans. Whilst Damien and the rest of the team got busy with the antenna's, Annette set to work pumping the inflatable mattresses up ready for contest operators to get some much needed sleep away from the station. The Caravan was also a place where members could meet and socialise away from the contest. The antenna seen in this picture is our 20m phased vertical.

Technical and Antenna Team
Damien G0LLG, Faris M0ZFA, Martin M0ZIF, Paul M6PEW, and Hughie G4UME were joined by Ian G0VGS to set the antenna's up and many were just finishing off at 7pm. Faris set our internet link up and Ian made sure the computer was setup with the N1MM logging software..

We have found an effective way of adjusting ground-planes that can be seen in this picture. We purchased packs of electric fence posts from the internet. They are fairly cheap, offer a number of height settings for the wire and very lightweight.

Antenna's used for this event were:

Nest of dipoles: Topband 80 and 40
20m Phased Vertical
40m Vertical
15m Vertical

One of the funniest things we saw whilst putting the masts up was Hughie walking down the field with a flock of sheep following behind in perfect pace.... if Hughie stopped, they stopped. Sadly I could not get the camera out in time to catch this. The picture above was taken the following day of our very own Dr. Doolittle.

Damien did a sterling job organising operating slots so that the event was covered, operators worked for two hours before another member took their slot. I started the ball rolling 1am till 3am....

Hughie arrived well before his allotted time, but he came baring a freshly made flask of coffee and biccy's that are never turned down. Damien took over from Hughie and later set too as QM for the event preparing breakfast.

Bacon, Irish Sausage, Tomatoes and Free Range Eggs. Ian has been very passionate about us using free range egg's and Damien and I learned why as Ian related his experience as a BT engineer.

Ian told us of visits he had to make to sites where battery hens were kept and how upset he became after each visit at the conditions these hens had to live. I'm not on any crusade in mentioning this but both Damien and I were touched by his sincerity and feelings as Ian relayed his experiences.

Looking back down the meadow towards Hancock's Hut..... The beam antenna was not in use by the group, but Barrie has enjoyed some good contacts on it over the last few months.

Hancock's Hut and a lovely holly bush overloaded with red berries.

Operators during the day were on Saturday:
Hughie G4UME, Brian G0RDH, Damien G0LLG, Ian G0VGS, Faris M0ZFA, Andrew G0LWU

A lovely view taken in the early morning from the front of Oysterber Farm. If you enjoy activating the SOTA summits you can see one in the distance behind the tree's many will have climbed.

Saturdays Evening Meal:
Barrie Kathy and Stephany treated us to a great 3 course meal on Saturday night. Ian stayed with the Station to keep the points coming in and I took over operating at 9pm.

Starter: Homemade Potato and Leek Soup

Potato and Leak soup made by Barrie with plenty of double cream. (Those bowls are larger than you think, there was no skimping on portions)

Lemony-garlicky lamb stew with a Greek influence

Have you ever seen a happier man!

The link below shows the recipe Barrie used
http://www.mumsnet.com/Recipes?call=RecipePage&pid=2464

Barrie also gave me a few tips in area's he had modified from the original recipe seen below in a green font.

I also added a generous helping of Black Greek Olives, a tin of Tomatoes and of course a couple or three glasses of Wine, I used Red as I had no White, I have done it with both and it doesn’t matter.

The real secret is to marinade it at least overnight and if possible I like to leave it for 2 nights in the Fridge, of course stirring it regularly.

2 hours in the Oven is fine, I have also done it using the Slow Cooker, even better, there was too much on Saturday to do it that way though.

The rice was cooked by Barrie's wife Kathy and cooked to perfection complimenting the rest of the meal perfectly. Kathy works tirelessly behind scenes in the kitchen playing such an important part in making sure the evening is an event to remember.

Sweet: Apple and blackberry pie

This was made by Stephany with fruits she collected from the farms apple trees and hedgerows.

Barrie bringing our sweet to the table with Stephany wondering how she managed to make such a big pie.

The pie was served with double cream, much needed to keep the graveyard shift a little warmer in the night.

I can taste this sweet just by looking at it.... beautiful!

Whilst we were all enjoying the meal, Ian opted to stay with the station and get a few more points in the contest.

I took over at 9pm to allow Ian to get some food and rest. Ian returned at 11pm to give me a break.

I took over from Ian again operating into the Wee small hours of the morning when I was joined by Damien.

Damien worked the rest of the night until the daytime operators arrived.....

It's Breakfast time again!

Here's a few pictures of our vertical masts and antenna's

Ian used a new pole bought the at the GQRP convention a week before the contest, this was broken by one of the sheep who thought it made a good scratching post. Around a foot was broken from the base but we were able to carry on. Since the event our Elder Statesman Hughie has modified the base of the masts with UPVC overflow pipe which works great.

Over night a few rams managed to get into the meadow which is fenced all round either by fencing or thick hedgerow.... Its a mystery how they got in and they were not all that eager to leave.

Back to the contest
Sunday was another good day for contesting operators for the day were:

Damien G0LLG, Ian G0VGS, Chris G4LDS, Martin M0ZIF, Andrew G0LWU, Kev G6FKE

This has been a good contest with many parts of the world worked, all the bands were good to us and Kev particularly enjoyed his time on topband which was new territory because the group have been working all the other bands.

Damien and Annette were good enough to treat the group to Steak Pie and Chips for Sunday nights meal.

Our thanks go out to Barrie and Kathy for hosting the event and supplying another feast for our Saturday evening Meal.

Damien and Annette for all the work they put into the event both as Contest Manager and hospitality.

And of course thanks to all the stations who worked G1T (Golf One Tango) during the contest.

And thanks to everybody who takes the time to read my ramblings during the course of the year.

This is the last major Group contest for 2010 but we will be active during the RSGB Sprints and other contests during the festive season.

The next Blog will cover the GQRP Convention

73 for now

Brian G0RDH
(The Reluctant Contestor)

Some final thoughts before "Sailing Home"

2010-10-10T19:26:00.024+01:00

Hello Folks,

Its just over three weeks since we left the Isle of Arran after a DX-pedition filled with a mixture of good and bad weather and the odd disaster but a week that can truly be described as memorable.

Paddy is leaning across the wing of Marks car as Mark frantically tries to take the St. Georges Flag off his mobile whip for fear of upsetting the locals.

On our final day I took Paddy and Mark down to the local pub in the village of Kildonan

Nice picture by Paddy

Another of Paddy's pictures

The propeller seen above was salvaged and hung on a barn wall close to the pub. I have done a little research on the propeller since arriving home and discovered that it's thought to be the prop from an American Wildcat aircraft. These aircraft were commonly used on aircraft carriers. Its thought that this prop had been ditched overboard from a carrier.

A major film you can see these plane in action is "The battle of Midway"

This is the second DX-pedition that we have had the pleasure of working with Steve, Paul and Mark from Workington and the first time with our CW operator Brendan from Ireland, each of whom brought their own expertise to the event that we were all able to learn from.

Over the course of the week we were able to run six stations and experiment with an array of antennas. We had a nest of dipoles for 160m, 80m and 40m at a height of 15m, fed with one coax for the ragchew station.

We used switchable 2 element vertical 1/4 wave phased arrays for 20m and 40m.

We used a 1/4 wave vertical for 30m on a 12m mast

We used a 5/8 vertical for 17m

We used 1/4 wave verticals for 15m and 10m

When the mast arrived, we erected a 1/4 wave vertical for 80m on an 18m mast. This had a coil at the base for matching.

We also used 2 unterminated 100m beverages, one running north/south and the other east/west which worked very well.

We also had small beams for 6m, 2m and 70cm

We had great food prepared and cooked by Paddy and Mark. This was our last evening meal and what a meal it was. Mark can be seen below just checking the Gammon Roast. The crackling was glazed with honey and marmalade.

As the sun goes down on our final evening on the Isle of Arran we tucked into our evening meal.... Gammon and Veg followed by Chocolate Pudding topped with custard.

An army marches on its stomach and we were treated to many excellent meals. Full English breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and a two course evening meal served with white or red wine.

Each of the Dx-pedition members took something home with them as they reflected on their personal experiences. The pictures above have Steve taking a little personal time before breakfast enjoying a Wainwright moment in the peace and tranquility that the Isle of Arran has to offer.

Ian G0VGS giving Smudge the farm cat a last fuss before breakfast.

Here's a picture of the DX-pedition members just after breakfast on our last morning on Arran

We managed to get an earlier ferry than planned which saved us an hour or two, getting home just after 4pm. By the time we had unloaded all the equipment it was just gone 5pm.

Thanks to all the stations who worked us over the week and to everybody who made this DX-pedition possible.

73 Brian G0RDH
The reluctant Contester

2010-09-23T23:14:00.022+01:00

Hello Folks,

Thursday was not the best day for operating for either those staying on site and operating the DX-pedition stations or the people who decided to make Thursday their day out to explore the Isle of Arran.

This picture was painted by Sally Morton and hangs in the lounge where the 80m ragchew radio is located. The paintings are of the lighthouse and fog horn at Ailsa Craig.

SOTA
The first Sota activation failed to reach its objective of activating Cir Mhor, a SOTA site which was attempted by Andrew G0LWU and Steve G1TLQ. Conditions during the climb deteriorated and it was decided to abort the activation.

A second activation from Goat Fell took place on Thursday. Unfortunately one of the team had to pull out at the last minute due to heath issues which left Hughie G4UME and Paddy to attempt the climb but a bad weather front moved in preventing them from reaching the summit.

Paddy is a seasoned and widely experienced walker and climber and made sure both Hughie and himself were clear of danger at all times in what can be treacherous walking conditions.

Hughie G4UME on Goat Fell on the Isle of Arran

The weather was fine when they set off but can change very quickly

Although they never made it to the summit, they managed to climb to 2,300ft before turning back to more sheltered land and an eventual pickup by Andrew G0LWU at a pre-arranged time.

These pictures were taken by Hughie and Paddy on Goat fell before the weather closed in.

Upon his return Hughie filled his bath to the top and had a much needed soak and Paddy went to the lodge for a shower and change of clothes before checking the progress of the evening meal

After a drink and warm by the fire Hughie settled down for some 80m activity before our evening meal.

Focus on G4UME

Over the course of the blogs I have had a bit of fun at Hughie's expense and he has taken it really well. Putting the fun to one side, Hughie is a much valued member of the group and a true amateur in every way. During the week he has been active in setting the antennas up, operating on most of the bands learning to operate the K3 and FT-2000D and embraced data communications with a passion via PSK 31.

He is no longer the self proclaimed elder statesman of Sands Contest Group but acclaimed by all. Hughie has a wealth of experience in amateur radio to pass on and if you have time for a story get a fresh pint, pull up a chair and prepare to be amazed.

Mobile operations

Steve and Paul from Workington went out to operate from a mobile site, something that worked well on Jura two years ago when they had to close down for a short time to let the equipment cool down! They told me that they were disappointed with their trip out mobile with only a limited number of stations worked.

On the plus side a much awaited vertical mast for 80m arrived Thursday morning and they wasted no time in getting the mast and antenna erected for 80m. They put the antenna to good used later in the day upon returning from mobile operations and it was not long before they had a pileup.

Focus on Damien G0LLG

Damien joined the group at the beginning of 2010 and he has embraced the activities of the group from day one. Damien joined the DX-pedition at the last minute and has operated most of the stations including some early morning activity on 80m. Like many of the members Damien has learned a lot from the DX-pedition but also in experimenting with new antennas not previously used by the group.

Finally

We have all learned a great deal from the overall experience of the DX-pedition not least from the skills gleaned from the guys from Workington who were more than willing to discuss their thoughts and knowledge on antennas and operating techniques. We must not forget Brendon our CW operator who also setup the IT for the DX-pedition along with Ian so that every station could interact with the log, see what other bands were in operation and use the Internet as needed.

This is the final Blog from the Isle of Arran itself. The majority of antennas will be taken down during Friday ready for our departure on Saturday morning but more will be posted on what has been a memorable experience when we get home.

73
Brian G0RDH
(The Reluctant Contester)

2010-09-22T14:08:00.030+01:00

(And Now for something Completely Different)

Hello Folks,

SOTA

I will hopefully be able to enter a report giving information about a SOTA activation on Goat Fell by our two elder statesman Hughie G4UME and Paddy on Thursday. Martin M0ZIF got up early with every intention of leading them but had to back out at the last minute due to ill health.

80m Mast Disaster

We had a disaster on Wednesday when the 80m mast broke as DX-pedition members tried to put it up. This was due to wear and tear and nothing to do with the winds or bad techniques in putting it up.

Focus on our cooks (Food Glorious Food)

The focus on this blog will be on two of the most important members of the DX-pedition Mark and Paddy who have fed the troops and acted as our rapid emergency response team.

Mark and Paddy have kept us well fed with a full English Breakfast to start the day, Sandwiches for lunch and a monster of an evening meal of which I would defy anyone to claim they are hungry after eating it.

My favorite has to be the Sunday evening meal in the form of Roast lamb which is marinated over night in an array of herbs to bring the flavour out. Here's some pictures to help you understand what I am referring too.

Paddy Prior to Roasting

Paddy's Carvery

Roast Lamb, Yorkshire Pudding, Roast Potatoes Carrot and Swede, Cabbage, Pea's and Gravy

Damien and Andrew getting tucked in.

Hughie wondering where to start.

For those of you who have worked him on CW, this is Brendan with his (You have got to be joking face on as he wonders where to start)

and finally
Ian who knows exactly where to start!

Sunset on Sunday Night

Ian Operating a cats whisker.

Ian giving Smudge a little fuss.... She still looks like a kitten but is in fact 9 years old. I am told that she had a litter a little too early and this has stunted her growth.

I spent a little time with her and she would roll for you on command which was cute.

Reports on Band activity so far.

At the beginning of the week Brendan started activity sending CW and things have been that busy with him you have to book an appointment two days in advance in the hope of getting a short interview..... That's not because he is anti social, just merely that he seems to be working so many CW stations..... However I have a theory that he's pulling the wool over my eyes by recording a a few hours of activity and playing it back through the headphones as a loop.

Ian reported that he had a good run on 15m during Wednesday with many stations from Japan and Asiatic Russia and a Stateside station. This was done over Marks K3 Station.

Focus on G0VGS and his station

Pictures of Ian's Station

Ian's station has been run successfully for PSK 31 and Ian, Andrew, and Hughie

Andrew working 20m on Ian's K3

Heres a you tube link showing Andrew working 20m on Ian's K3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K6JmpTgySU

This picture of Steve operating the 80m ragchew station was taken by Ian using his iPhone from a distance of around 15ft and its not bad at all.

Focus on Martin M0ZIF's Station

It has not for the want of trying but the VHF/UHF station using Martins equipment has been something of a disappointment for him despite him putting a lot of personal effort and expense into his station especially on the antenna side. although I have been able to relay information from people wanting 6m contacts too him. Here is a short clip taken by Martin M0ZIF showing his antenna array as he pans his camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXTcCCIT3NQ&NR=1

Martins Station is a TS-2000 with an EP 925 Power Supply, LDG KT100 Tuner

LDG Tuner Specifications
• 0.1 to 125 watt power range (SSB and CW),
100W on 6M.
• 2000 memories for instantaneous band changing.
• Controlled from Kenwood Tuner button on the
transceiver.
• Works with any Kenwood radio that is
compatible with the AT-300 antenna tuner.
• Partial radio list: TS-50, TS-480, TS-570, TS-
690, TS-850, TS-870, TS-2000.
• Tuning time: 0.1 to 6 seconds full tune, 0.1
seconds memory tune.
• 1.8 to 54.0 MHz coverage. Built-in frequency
sensor.
• Tunes 4 to 800 ohm loads (16 to 150 on 6M), 4
to 3200 ohms with optional 4:1 Balun.
• For Dipoles, Verticals, Vs, Beams or any Coax
Fed Antenna.
• Optional external Balun allows tuning of random
length, long wire or ladder line fed antennas.
• Includes Kenwood interface cable and coax jumper. Ready to use right out of the box.
• Small Size Enclosure: 6.5L” x 6.5W” x 1.25H”.
• Weight: 2 pounds

I refer to the DX-pedition as being a K3 Convention with K3's forming the backbone of our radio operations at Drumla Farm. Heres a picture of one of the Workington Amateurs Steve operating one of the K3 Stations on 18MHz

A Lift on 80m

As usual with 80m signals, there have been ups and downs but none more so than with Bill G0GNE which has to be one of the more unusual contacts. He was operating from his sideloading Forklift

I am not going to spoil things for Bill by posting any more of his pictures.... Take a look on QRZ.com under his callsign G0NGE and you can learn more about him.....

Thanks for the call Bill it made me smile to hear about your working conditions in Leyland.

And in the best tradition of News at 10 and the Two Ronnie's...... And Finally!

Most Wanted

Sorry Hughie, I could not resist doing something with this picture after reviewing the pictures of the day.

Hughie G4UME the self proclaimed Elder Statesman of the group waited for a break in the showers and went out by himself to break the mast down into its component parts.... Well done that man.

For those who are regular visitors to the blog you may have noticed that I have had a whole load of fun at Hughie's expense..... But he is a treasure always there to lend a hand when the call goes out and in true old school style lets you know if he thinks your slacking.

For those who miss the first picture here it is:

That's it from this Blog