Sorting Out

The QSL cards for Mull are here and we spent a good few hours on saturday sorting them out. Things certainly go quicker when there are a few of you. We managed about 800 cards in the course of the evening and we hope to put in some time later this week. Then they will need sending off to the RSGB to be distributed out.

QSL Cards for Mull

Finally the QSL cards for last years Isle of Mull DXpedition are ready! We should receive them early next week from the printers and get them ready to send out very soon after that! Sorry about the long delay but we hope you enjoy the finished article. We may have to draw lots to decide which lucky person sticks the QSL labels on all the cards and puts them in order ;-)

Christmas Meal

Last night was the annual group Christmas dinner. As usual we were at the Hest Bank Hotel where once again the food, wine and service was excellent. It doesn't seem 5 minutes since our last Christmas there. Everyone is now looking forward to the holiday period and some serious contesting in the new year!

QSL Cards for Mull

Sorry to be so long in getting the QSL cards for the Isle of Mull sorted, it should be happening anytime soon. Expect the cards after the Christmas period now as things are fairly frantic but we have not forgotten about them.

A New Member!

We would like to welcome Paul G4TUZ as a new member of Sands. Paul joined us for our weekly meeting last night which, as it happens, was a very busy one. Plenty to discuss including CQWW which is only a few days away. Kev G6FKE and Linda G0YLM have volunteered to keep the troups well fed and watered during this 48 hour contest. It will be interesting to see how conditions compare with the last 2 years, especially on the lower bands in the early hours of the morning. Of course the clocks also go back one hour the same weekend which always throws everybody a bit. We will be using a Yaesu FT1000 MKV at 100w, a Force 12 C3SS beam for 10/15/20m with a trap dipole for the lower bands. Win-Test again will be used throughout the entire contest.

Incoming QSL Cards

We are starting to receive some QSL cards directly to us. Please bear with us for return QSL cards as it may take several weeks to get the cards printed. It is great to know so many of you require them and we hope that the finished article will be pleasing on the eye! The one above is not the one that will be going out to you, just an idea from one of our club members. In the meantime work is continuing on the home website with several ideas influencing the end result! Hopefully the new site will be online later this week.

Hunt for QSL Cards

Trying to find a good source of QSL cards for the Mull trip. We have managed to contact LZ5DB who is based in Bulgaria, he seems very good and very cheap as well and can even print out our logs from an ADIF file to save us writing them all out by hand. Should work out around 100 Euros+ postage for 2000. www.qslservice.com Take a look!

Leaving the Island

We are just about to set sail from the Island. It is an absolutely wonderful day, very calm, just right to be crossing back to the mainland, although Kev is looking green around the gills already. We eventually left the 40m vertical up until this morning as it only took 10 minutes to pack that station away. Kev managed to work Bolivia and Iceland on PSK31, a nice final touch. We expect to get back home around 6pm, it will then take awhile to unload the gear. It will be nice to sleep in our own beds tonight!

Thats It Then!

Having our last few contacts on 40m and the station is well on the way to being packed down. Its raining again but overall the weather has not been too bad. The last of the logs and the photos will be put on the homepages when we get back tomorrow evening. Its been a fantastic week and we have learnt a lot, some things we may have done differently and its very possible we will be here again next year. Our thanks to Dave g6crv for his help with Win-DRM and getting the logs, diary and photos back to the website, our thanks also to all the amateurs that have worked us and shown their support! We will report back on the blog when we have returned safely to Morecambe. Best wishes to you all!

Nice Day for It!

Beautiful morning here on the island so, if the rain holds off, we may get a few more contacts in before we start packing up. Yesterday was a good day on 20m, it wasn't the quantity it was the quality! We managed contacts with the Falklands, Mexico, Chili and British Virgin Isles to name but a few. Ian and Chris managed to untangle the 15/20m elements on the Spiderbeam that had tangled in the gales using the sota pole and a lot of luck. We now stand at nearly 1900 qso's, it would be nice to hit the 2000 mark but, at this stage of the solar cycle, we don't think it will be quite possible with the time we have left! The logs are now on the homesite from yesterday and Win-DRM has worked wonderfully in transferring all the information on 80m. Right breakfast time and then, maybe an hour or two on 40m before we finally pack down.

Last Radio Day

We have virtually decided to make today our last day on the air. The ferry back to the mainland is booked for 10am Saturday morning and the weather forecast for tomorrow is heavy showers. We would like to get everything packed down and dried out before it goes in the cars. Its a big job and we also need to inspect a slight bend on one of the 15m elements on the Spiderbeam. It will also be nice to have an evening to ourselves as this has been a holiday for some of us as well. We will, however, still be looking out for radio contacts as late as possible today!

The Trouble with Ticks!

Our first tick and hopefully our last. Bex was the first to have a tick removed from her person, but seeing both her and Chris are both vets it was removed in no time! Good news on the weather, the wind is slowly abating and it even looks as if the sun may soon break through.

Shack for the Lower Bands

Ian g0vgs operating the other station which is mainly on 40/80m. Here you can see the Kenwood TS2000 and one of the laptops using Win-Test.

The 20m Shack

Thought it was time we got some pictures back of the two shacks. Here is the station using the Yaesu FT920, Ranger 811H into the Spiderbeam for 10/15/20m.

Still Aloft!

We decided not to tilt the mast and beam over yesterday despite the worsening conditions. It was a gamble but it seems to have paid off. The spiderbeam was non the worse for wear, which proves just how well consructed these german beams are! Propagation yesterday was very poor but a steady rate of contacts was made and we were still working Stateside at midnight. Bex is also keeping a firm grip on a box of chocolates that Kev and Ian bought her yesterday as a way of thanking her for the excellent cooking!

Windy Wednesday!

With gales forecast for later today and overnight we have to make a serious decision as whether or not to drop the mast and Spiderbeam over. The wind is really picking up and although the mast isn't bending, the beam is bouncing around a bit. Ian and Kev are on their way back from a wee bit of sight-seeing and we shall probably make our minds up when they get back. Having said all this it may give us more of a chance to concentrate on the lower bands, conditions today have not been good on 20m anyway. Anyway its time for lunch here, who knows what the rest of the day will bring....

Tobermory Tripping

Ian and Kev have decided to have a trip out to Tobermory on the east side of the island this morning after their frantic day on radio yesterday. The rest of us are staying back at the cottage and are on 20m and working 80m while conditions are reasonable. The weather today is fine but its getting very windy although we think the rain will hold off until evening. The 40m vertical blew down in the night, one of the guy ropes had snapped. We may put it back up later depending on how strong the wind gets.

Soaking SOTA

Was it worth going up Ben More? Well it was quite an experience and very damp. This picture shows us at the summit before the weather came in. We called on 20m and 40m in vain, but with 2w we did not manage any contacts on HF. We did, however, manage to activate the summit with 6 contacts on 2 metres. Got back to base quite late in the afternoon, very tired. By the end of the day though the team on 20m had passed the 1300 qso mark.

Fast and Furious

Today has been quite hectic with over 1100 contacts logged overall by 17.00 hours. Most of the activity has been on 20m with a few contacts on 80m as well. The Ben More contingent landed back just before sunset and we shall tell you how they got on tomorrow. Lots of very loud stations worked today both in Europe and the USA/Canada. Over the next 3 days though we will be listening in particular for QRP and DX stations, its just been so busy....

Blogs and Logs!

Unfortunately we cannot show all the details of the Mull logs on our website due to a ruling by the ARRL. This is to prevent false claims for claiming DXCC! So time and mode of the qso are removed for now. You can still see the amateurs we have worked and the order in which we have worked them. Over 250 qso's since breakfast and time for a spot of lunch....