400 Contacts So Far

It was about 11.00am this morning when both stations were finally up and running together. It has been a busy day with loads of visitors coming to see what it was all about, both Amateur and people who had never come across our hobby before. All operators are working pileups on both stations and 40 meters has been particularly good for short skip. The local people are fantastic and spent well into the early hours of the morning with us! Today is proving to be a fantastic day and has seen some great radio, more reports tomorrow........

A Lovely Evening For It

It was a lovely evening down at Sunderland point. The 50' mast took a bit of getting up but by about 21.00 gmt we had the dipoles out for the lower bands and both stations set up. Putting the Spiderbeam together now and looking forward to a busy day. Bex is the chef tonight so we won't go hungry.

Weather is looking good!

All looks set for fair weather this weekend for our Special Event Station. Antennas will be up on Friday and the station set up and tested before starting with the GB2AOS callsign early on Saturday morning. We aim to work until late Sunday evening on as many bands as conditions permit. Check an earlier entry on this blog for the history of Sunderland Point and links to this event and we look forward to hearing you on the air.....

Lets Go Fly a Kite....

a


First trials today of our prototype box kite which we will use to fly antennas for the lower HF bands. The kite you see was quickly put together using bamboo, insulation tape and polythene bags in little under an hour by Chris and Bex. It is not the most beautiful kite you will ever see but it flies and is quite capable of lifting a long wire!! More experimentation will take place over the next few weeks, perhaps with several designs, then we will decide which design suits the group best and get out and do some simple, portable radio.

GB2AOS Special Event Station

The end of April will see us at Sunderland Point for a Special Event Station marking 200 years since the Abolition of Slavery. The station will be active over the weekend 28/29th April on as many bands as we can manage, conditions permitting!
Sunder or asunder means apart and when the tide comes in this tiny village, which was once a thriving port, it finds itself cut off from the mainland at Overton.

Just over a mile of single track road winding over the mud flats and sand marshes connects it to the mainland at low tide. It's hard to imagine that once ships from the West Indies and North America docked here, plying their trade in cotton, sugar and human lives as part of the infamous 18th century slave trade. But there are reminders, and most of the people who come are looking for Sambo's Grave.

Sambo (or Samboo, as the gravestone indicates) -- I don't suppose anyone knows what his name really was -- was an African and probably no more than a boy. He was a black slave who arrived at the port with his master. He was taken ill, probably with some European disease to which he had no immunity, and he died. Because he was black and not a Christian he was not buried in consecrated ground. His body was interred in land that was once behind the inn, but is now a remote spot on the windswept shore with nothing between him and the vast sea that brought him from his homeland so far away.

For a long time the grave was unmarked, until some years later a retired schoolmaster discovered the story and raised some money for a memorial. He also wrote the epitaph that now marks the grave:

'Full many a Sand-bird chirps upon the Sod
And many a moonlight Elfin round him trips
Full many a Summer's Sunbeam warms the Clod
And many a teeming cloud upon him drips.
But still he sleeps -- till the awakening Sounds
Of the Archangel's Trump now life impart
Then the GREAT JUDGE his approbation founds
Not on man's COLOUR but his worth of heart.'

Sentimental it may be, but its contents show an awareness of changing attitudes towards people from other places.

Now the grave is well visited and fresh flowers have always been laid by people who come from not only curiosity but maybe also a twinge of conscience that such a thing could have happened not just to 'Samboo' but to countless other humans like him.

The Strange Effects of Contesting!

Wow, what a weekend! Over 600 contacts made over the 48 hours and everyone is still recovering from lack of sleep. Kev and Brian made the last few contacts, with Stateside starting to boom in again in the hours of darkness. Now we are looking forward to April with 50th birthday celebrations for Brian and Ian and also early retirement for Ian in a few days. Sands are also putting in place final plans for a "Special Event" station at the end of the month and we will let you know the details in the next few days. April also sees another leg in the 80 metre Club Calls Contest. So plenty to do to keep us active....

Onward....

A very successful contest so far, nearly 500 contacts up to now in fairly poor conditions. Ian managed a lovely contact into Tasmania and Kev was thrilled with his first qso into New Zealand. There seems to be some good DX around and as well as doing the contest it allows some of our members to work new countries they may not have. Sunday morning is quiet so far but there is some confusion as to how early it is as Linda managed to put one clock 2 hours back instead of an hour forward as we go to British Summertime! Kev, as usual, made one of his famous "hashes"for supper last night. Also we are taking any spare time to sign the Mull QSL cards for a personal touch!

CQ WW WPX Contest

In just over 5 hours the CQ WW WPX Contest will start. One of the biggest contests of the year is looked forward to by many Amateurs. All is set up ready for midnight and we hope conditions will be favourable this year. The weather report is good and the beam can be wound to its full height, although there is still the problem with the rotator, hopefully this will be fixed in the coming weeks as the last few months have been very busy. Kev ( or is it Ken? ) promises one of his famous Corned Beef Hashes, with loads of garlic, to feed the troops and Bex has provided some "Goosenargh Cakes" which might not last beyond the first few hours!!
Good luck to everyone taking part over the next 48 hours whether its a serious attempt at points or just for fun. Lets hope for a good contest!

Its Kev NOT Ken!!!

Well there had to be one thing on the QSL cards that was wrong! Kev G6FKE has noticed that they have spelt his name wrong on the back of the card and he is actually named as Ken! Ok, so its only one letter wrong but it means a great deal when you have gone through the last forty years or so being called Kev. Unfortunately going through 2000+ cards to alter them is not really an option or we would be here all year. So, for all you lucky guys who recieve one of our cards, please take special note of the names just for our Kev!

Norbreck Radio Rally

This sunday will see us at the Blackpool rally. We have a display table and a selling table to raise money for group funds. Looking forward to meeting friends, both old and new. Please come and say hello and we will be delighted to have a chat. It should be a good day as the Blackpool rally is the biggest rally in the northwest of England and always draws a good crowd! Enjoy the day!

Silent Key M3FWW

It is with great sadness that we tell you about the death of Sue M3FWW. Sue was one of the founder members of Sands Contest Group and a very dear friend to us all. Although Sue did not involve herself much with radio and contests she was always there for us and joined us for social meals and outings. Sue will be sadly missed by us all and our thoughts are with her husband Bob G1OCK.

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.

Weekend Over

Contacts were well down on last year in the ARRL contest, we managed to get just over 200 contacts but propagation was against us this year. Still we have enjoyed ourselves and virtually everyone had a spell at the microphone. Next up is the data section of the Club Championships tonight if conditions allow.

Slow and Steady

Conditions are not good so far in the ARRL contest and we haven't worked through the night as the band seems dead in the early hours of the morning. Progress is slow but thats not to say we are not enjoying ourselves. Also finding time to sort the logs out from Mull and getting ready to print the labels out for when the cards finally arrive!!

ARRL SSB 2007

Midnight sees the start of the ARRL SSB contest for 2007. We hope to operate the full 48 hours but that will depend on how good conditions turn out to be. We will be operational from G0VGS/G0YLM's station and will be using the Yaesu FT1000 MKV. We will not be using the linear this weekend as we like to keep the neighbours happy! Looking forward to a good weekend and some serious contesting, just hope the weather keeps reasonable so we can get the beam to full height!