Wray Scarecrow Festival 2013 Part 2 of 2

Monday 6th May

Fair Day and Fell Race

Each year a fell race is run starting at the village hall.  Although we did not see the fell race start there were plenty of competitors jogging past our amateur radio station using the field to warm up prior to the race starting and quite a few returned at the end of the race covered in mud.  Its a race open to all and always very popular.

The Station consisted of :

The Elecraft K3, Heil Pro headset with the HC-5 Insert, A Shuttle pc, N1MM Logging program, Ranger 811H Linear Amplifier, 40m dipole.

The N1MM logging program

The N1MM logging program is free to download and normally used by Sands for our major contests throughout the year. It has many features for you to use and is very stable. If you would like to see what the program has to offer please click on the link below.

http://n1mm.hamdocs.com/tiki-index.php?page=HomePage

A few of the operators running GB4WSF

  Paul 2e0ckc

 Stephany G1LAT

Brian G0RDH

Other operators were:

Ian G0VGS, Linda G0YLM, Nick 2E0TBT, Paul 2E0CKC, Brian G0RDH, Mike M0PRL. 

Station promoting both the Wray Scarecrow Festival and B4RN (Broadband 4 Rural North)

The Bambuster videos below were shot on Sunday 6th May 2013 by Christine Conner and feature the Sands Contest Group Special Event Station

http://bambuser.com/v/3566205

http://bambuser.com/v/3566264

Wray Village first got a faster connection around 2003 Connection speeds currently vary but are anticipated to be the equivalent of a good quality 512kb connection or better. 

http://www.wrayvillage.co.uk/wraycomcomarchive.htm

The village of Wray gets a faster connection

Broadband for Rural North (B4RN)

This video was produced by the BBC Technology department

B4RN Broadband for Rural North

The link below has many excellent video's showing how the cable is laid and repaired

b4rn/jfdi

It was all change from Sunday, no more military transport, classic car and tractors, they gave way to country crafts and exhibitions.  There was a fantastic array of food from different parts of the world along with homemade chutney and other local produce

Displays 

Here are a few examples of one of the exhibitions / Demonstrations 
of chainsaw cutting that was demonstrated at the fair

Traditional Crafts

Wicker Basket Weaving display and demonstration

Wicker Fencing

We have all heard about the lack of bee colonies in the UK which leads to a loss of bees able to pollenate our flowers and fruit trees etc.  It was so nice to see Bee's for Bentham on site to educate us about the importance of bees and encourage those who are able to look deeper into what they can do to help. 

Bees for Bentham

Bee Hive

Honeycomb 

For more information bee keeping look at 

the site below its excellent

http://benthambees.blogspot.co.uk/

Traditional fair stands

Bungee Jumping went down very well with the kids 

as families enjoyed picnics away from normal 

daily life and spent quality time together.

Raptors

Vultures spreading their wings and cooling down

Eagle Owl

I think this is a Barn Owl

 Displays

 The Samba Band

 The samba band entertained the public with 

various Samba rhythms.  

for more information on the origins of samba 

please click on the link below 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samba

 A Pipe Band

For some interesting facts about the history of the bagpipes

Please click on the links below.

https://www.hendersongroupltd.com/historybagpipes.asp

http://www.visitdunkeld.com/bagpipe-jokes.htm

Sheep and Geese herding display

Rare Breeds

Food including local produce and international produce

 We had everything from the traditional burger van

Through too local and international cuisine

 Greek Food

Local chutney samples

A lovely selection of local chutney

A selection of fine cheeses

A free range selection of eggs including Duck eggs

The Hog Roast much loved by Sands Members.

 Its also a favourite of many of the public 

It does not seem to last long

 A hearty selection from Lancaster soup

Indian Food

                                    
                                     You don't have to wait until the next Wray Fesitival
                                   to sample the delights of this food, they are available on 
                                    Lancaster Market Days along with other traders who 
                                              produce hot food from their countries.

The Elecraft K3 is now available to buy in the UK.  You will find many clips on You Tube and reviews on eham if you do a search.  The K3 has recently been in use by Ian and other members who have just returned from a holiday on the Island of Samos.  It was small enough to be carried as hand luggage onto the plane by Ian.  The callsign the group used was SZ8S..... our thanks go out to the local radio amateurs who have allowed us to use their station which is located at a redundant radio station on the island. When the commercial radio station closed down they left some really nice antenna's up which have been utilised by the group.  Look out for a Blog in the not too distant future detailing their adventures on radio and the Island.

Well that concludes our visit to the Wray Scarecrow Festival, a really enjoyable event.

73
Brian G0RDH

http://www.m0scg.org.uk

http://m0scg.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/SandsContestGroupMx0scg

An idea for a simple multi-band aerial for /P by Chris G4LDS

Hi Folks,

One of our group members Chris G4LDS has allowed me to post his idea for a simple multi-band aerial for /P use, So made one as seen in the attached pictures.

Its simply 10m of RG174 50 ohm coax to a 1:1 choke balun as the centre point (5 + 5 turns of coax on a FT144-43 in a weatherproof box)

I then made simple dipole for 10m adjusted it for a low swr at 28.5, then added wire to the legs for resonance on 21.3, 18.150 & 14.250,

As can be seen i use a simple croc clip method for the extension !! shorted if wanted left open if not!! using different colour for each band i can simply see which band i have got connected!

this plus a 8m telescopic pole plus my FT-817 a /p station!! 

Simples

By Chris G4LDS

Thanks for the Contribution Chris

Brian G0RDH
The Reluctant Contester 

Last Full Day

Last full day of operation on Arranmore. We are on target to reach 15,000 contacts by the time we pack down. Hughie is in need of a lie down in a dark room. It's his age you know :)

Nothing keeps Us From Eating Well

Solar flare or no solar flare...the food is good..thanks Mark

Oh Woe are We

Seems we have been hit by a solar storm. It has certainly affected the lower HF bands. Certainly no inter G on 40m this afternoon, although stations in the south and east are workable. Oh well...onward..

Greek Island of Samos 2nd October

Hi Folks,

Just a very few words about another DXpedition that consists of 4 members of SANDS Amateur Radio Contest Group on the Greek Island of Samos.

Barrie tells us Members are:

Steph G1LAT

Frank G8BME

Steve G1TLQ

Baz G1JYB

Nearly Double the SANDS membership of the BIG ONE :)

Talking with Frank G8BME last night at the Sands weekly meeting, time will be spent exploring the Island on bikes, enjoying the local food and drink and they aim to take part in some radio activity thanks to the local radio club on the Island and the fantastic antenna array left over from a commercial radio station.

  

Barrie says: We will be leaving on 2^nd October for 14 days and will be operational from Zervou Mountain Radio Shack, so watch the E mails and Facebook if you want to work us.

Tongue in cheek Baz says "You should hear us because we have use of a 3 kW Linear amp and 25 element StrideIR multi band rotating antenna which is chromium plated to bounce the rays of the Sun off" :)

Baz has packed 6 pairs of Anti Dandruff Shreddies, 6 pairs of odd coloured Socks and 2 gallons of SUN Tan Cream. We will of course be taking 25 ~ K3 Radios, 24 as spares as we don't want to be beaten by that Irish lot.

Ok I think that draws a humorous volley on the Battle off the Beams..... Just a point worth making is that The Dx-pedition to the Island of Arranmore is a dedicated Dx-pedition with 9 stations running unless I am told different that 8 K3's with linear amps and an FT2000D with a maximum output of 200w.

73

Brian 
G0RDH (The Reluctant Contester)