Setting Up for Field Day

Usual weather, of course, for this year's RSGB Field Day. It is raining and quite windy but no where near as bad as some of the previous years. Setting up is nearly complete and we have about 15 minutes to go the the start of the contest. Everyone is in high spirits and looking forward to the weekend ahead.

Field Day Dawns

Yet again, with the autumn definitely showing its teeth weather wise, it is SSB Field Day this coming weekend. This year Sands have decided to enter the restricted section and work with a simple dipole and 100 watts only, to be fair we cannot hope to compete with some of the bigger stations out there. It will just be nice to fire up the generator and enjoy the weekend without worrying about winning any prizes. Lets hope that the event is not cursed with the usual bad weather and we see some sun.

Day of the Cross Bay Walk

Well, what a day for it! The weather was very bad right up to and during the walk. For this reason Kev and Ian decided to not go out on the tractor, in fact we were not sure the walk would go ahead at one point. For those not familiar with Morecambe Bay conditions out there are very dangerous and there have been deaths on many occasions apart from the walks, hence the need for caution. Here is a report from one of the two stations we set up..GB2GSB at Arnside Knott.

We set off on time as planned for what promised to be an enjoyable day covering the 25th Anniversary of the Galloway's Society for the Blind Cross Bay Walk. We set off in sunshine but looking across the bay we could see this would not last long once we were in Cumbria. It started to rain not long after we arrived at Arnside Knott and changed our original plan of operating from the hillside in favour of an area that afforded us some shelter from the wind and rain. The team today consisted of Frank G8BME, Brian G0RDH and Steve G1TLQ, Gary M0RGB was hoping to join us later. Setting the 80m Dipole antenna up went well, and with the aid of Andrew G0LWU, who later went round to our other station GB4GSB at Kents Bank, things went smoothly after a minor adjustment to the dipole. Considering our location plans had changed we did well in scouting a location for the antenna and planning a safe and methodical way of getting the station on air. Our station consisted of a K2 Tranciever running 100w into an 80m dipole, and a zero noise floor that most amateurs can only dream about. It was a good call to operate from the car because a few bad weather fronts moved in but did not last long. 80m was very quiet considering this was the lighthouse and Lightship weekend and from contacts we made and listening around it soon became evident that overall conditions were poor with many stations suffering with QSB. Most of the stations worked were Lighthouse stations and despite the poor conditions we were able to make contact with stations around the UK. Early afternoon saw a break in the wx and we got to see some spectacular views from Arnside Knott that no other location could afford some of which have been included for you too see. 73 Brian G0RDH

Morecambe Cross Bay Walk Special Event Stations

Members of Sands Amateur Radio Contest Group will be operating a number of Special event Stations on Saturday 15th August to celebrate Galloways Society for the Blind "The 25th Anniversary of the Cross Bay Walk" led by Queens Guide Cedric Robinson MBE.

The walk generally takes around 3 hours and needs The Queens Guide to navigate between Arnside and Kents Bank safely because of the quicksands around the bay that have taken many lives over the years.

The first appointment was in 1536. Cedric is the 25th appointed Queen’s Guide to the Sands, Cedric a local fisherman has been leading the walks since 1963.


The callsigns to listen out for are:

GB2GSB located at Arnside Knott which overlooks Arnside and a good part of the walk.

M0SCG/M will be operating from the tractor which follows the walkers and can be used if anybody becomes too exhausted or ill during the walk.

GB4GSB Located at the end of the walk at Kents Bank.

A special certificate is on offer for amateurs and SWLs who work any of the stations. To obtain a certificate an A4 SAE and a cheque for £2.50 made out to SARCG should be sent to our QSL Manager

Ian Maude (G0VGS)
21 Colwyn Avenue
Bare
Morecambe
Lancs
LA4 6EQ

Once printing costs are covered, any money left over will be donated to Galloways Society for the Blind.

Some interesting Internet sites worth visiting.

http://www.galloways.org.uk/main/pages/baywalk09.html

http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/country/sandwalker.shtml

Just a Few Photographs

Just some of the Amateurs that operated at G1T in the IOTA contest over the weekend.

Just Waiting for the Tide

At the moment we are all packed down and ready to make our way home, only problem is we cannot go anywhere until the tide is low enough to allow the cars to get through, at least the rain has stopped. The contest has been great and we have smashed last year's score and the amount of stations worked, this was greatly helped by having the 'run' frequency on 20M for several hours. Everybody has enjoyed themselves and we thank the residents once again for putting up with us for yet another year.

Sunday Morning.

What a change in the weather this morning. It is pouring down and getting quite windy, still, we are warm and dry in the Reading Room here at our location. It has been a steady night on the bands, mostly covering 80M until greyline approached with the dawn. Brian and Kev worked through the night and added steadily to the score. At the moment we are down on last years rate of contacts but we have many more points with using the multipliers to great success! We will probably concentrate on 20M and above until the end of IOTA at 12:00GMT and allow some of the dipoles to be dismantled ready for the departing tide later in the afternoon.

Seven Hours In

It has been a very busy few hours so far. We initially had trouble with high SWR on the Spiderbeam but we managed to solve the problem and get on with the contest. Very busy on the bands and conditions are reasonable. Again we have worked our first CW in IOTA and managed contacts in Japan and Australia.
The weather has been very kind to us and we have had a lot of visitors down to see us. As usual Kev has treated the gang to his famous Corned Beef Hash which will keep us going until sausage and bacon for breakfast in the morning.

Tidal Bore!

The tidal bore at Sunderland point, quite an impressive sight.....

Nice Day For It!

Just putting up the beam ready for the start of the contest in a couple of hour's time. Weather is sunny and warm, it really is a lovely day down at Sunderland Point. The tide is now coming in and we will be, in effect, an island for the next few hours, one of the reasons we do this particular contest from this location...

IOTA Draws Nearer.

We are now working towards the IOTA contest this coming weekend. We will be down at Sunderland Point yet again for this most exciting of contests. The good news is that Chris M0DWK and Bex 2E0BEX will be coming up for the contest, it will be great to have the gang back together again. Weather reports are not favourable at the moment with unsettled conditions forecast for the entire weekend. We also will have some of the highest tides of the year to cope with. Some of the guy ropes and stakes may end up actually in the water. For anyone wishing to come and see us bear this in mind, it will make access impossible from about 11am to 2pm each day.

Nearing the End

Hughie working SSB

Ian using the Elecraft K3 and Begali key

Just under 30 minutes to go in the IARU contest. It has been a good one for us, although we are slightly down on last year's score at the moment. SSB has been fairly quiet for us with most stations already in the log. Ian and Mike are continuing with CW and that has helped out tremendously. Some of us are now taking down the antennas down for the bands not in use whilst others, especially Kev and Brian on the night shift, take a well earned break.

A Rainy Start!

It has rained all night and been quite windy at the site but everything is still standing. Conditions over night have been fairly good and we have worked SSB and CW through the wee small hours. For Mike (now M0PRL) this has been his first go at CW on a contest and he has managed very well. It may also be his last contest with us for a while as he flies out to the Antartic later this year. Barrie provided us all with a wonderful supper last night and our thanks also to Kathy and Steph for keeping us fed and watered. Time for breakfast now and then back to it!

Setting Up for Tomorrow

Everything is ready for the contest tomorrow....just the shack to put together so another early start!

An Early Start

It'a a lovely morning and it's time to start packing the cars with the gear needed for this weekend's contest. We hope to have everything ready to take part in the IARU contest by the end of the afternoon. The Spiderbeam is now repaired so we will be using that but also run with some verticals as well. The weather forecast for the weekend is, of course, wet and windy. We do seem to be jinxed and it has become a bit of a standing joke amongst us.