AFS 80m SSB

Yesterday was the AFS 80 metres SSB Contest. Conditions were not good but we think both teams did as well as can be expected. We did not manage to put a third team up as the dipole at Lancaster Uni was not available during the afternoon. Chris and Ian did find a run frequency at the very beginning but, as soon as the contest started, another station set up half a KC below, making the frequency impossible to use. Next year the linear may have to be used at one of the stations. Otherwise it was a very enjoyable 4 hours for both teams, just don't ask G0YLM about the apple pie "incident"!

Working on the Homepages!

Finally, after a lot of hard work by Chris and Ian, the homepages are beginning to take on a whole new look! Still a bit of polishing off to do but we hope you like the new style. The webpages are based on the Plone software which runs under Linux. The software is free to use and very secure. It also means we can have pages which are only accessible to "Sands" members which hold information like "minutes of meetings", contact details and events calendar etc. We also aim to add a few more features which we hope visitors to the pages will find useful. Have a look round and see what you think, any comments are welcome!

Happy Christmas and a Good New Year!

Everyone at Sands would like to wish all Amateurs and SWL's a very Happy Christmas and New Year. This last year has been a particular good one for us and we have enjoyed taking part in all the contests and the Dxepedition to Mull was fantastic. We look forward to meeting you all in the contests in 2007. For now though all the best for the holidays and good luck in the coming new year.

Ireland 80m Counties Contest

The Irish Radio Transmitters Society will launch its 75th Anniversary celebrations on New Year's Day with the 80 metre Counties Contest.

This was a very popular event last year with almost 100 EI and GI stations active.

Given that's its the society's Jubilee Year, we are asking everybody to make a special effort to be QRV, for at least part of the Contest which runs from 1200 to 1500 hours local
time. Full rules are available on the Society website
http://www.irts.ie.

As a special incentive, all stations who submit a log to the contest manager will be awarded a special Participation Certificate to hang on the shack wall.

In addition, there will be a special Jubilee Year edition of the Worked All EI Counties Award available for award chasers. QSOs for this award must be made during 2007.

Given last years 80 metre Counties Contest activity, is
it possible that a '26 Counties endorsed' Award number
One will be achieved on the first day of the new year?



Source: IRTS

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!

RSGB HF and VHF Contest Committees to merge

It appears that the RSGB HF and VHF contest committees will be merging.

Don Field G3XTT, RSGB Board member with responsibility for Sport Radio, has posted an email about the merger to the Contesting reflector.

The email can be seen at: http://lists.contesting.com/pipermail/uk-contest/2006-December/007736.html

Related URL's

Contesting.com Mailing Lists
http://lists.contesting.com/

RSGB Board of Directors
http://www.rsgb.org/committees/board.php

RSGB Contest News page
http://www.rsgb.org/news/contests.php

RSGB Board Minutes
http://www.rsgb.org/membersonly/information/minutes/index.php

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Another K2

This will make our third Elecraft K2 built by Sands members! Here you can see the start of Gary's K2. He is busy assembling the main boards at the moment. Other K2's have been built by Ian and Kev. The ideal thing about this radio is that it can be tailored to your own operating needs. Kev's transceiver is geared to QRP SSB where as Ian has designed his as a QRP CW transceiver with matching 100w PA and auto ATU built into a matching K2 enclosure. The possibilities are endless and the small size of the radio means it is ideal for mobile and portable use.For more information on this radio please visit www.elecraft.com

CQ WW Committee Seeks Input on Real Time Scoreboards

from Bob Cox K3EST on October 21, 2006

Dear Fellow Contester,

The CQ WW Contest Committee is discussing whether use of real-time
contest scoreboards is likely to convey information about band
openings and profitable tactics to an extent that participants using
the scoreboards should be categorized as assisted. The 2006 CQ WW contest
rules have already been published and they will govern the 2006 contests.

We welcome your comments on this, and suggest the possibility of also
sending the comments to the CQ-Contest reflector so that others can
see them and possibly follow up.

Comments can be sent to live@cqww.com


73
Bob, K3EST
CQ WW Director
For the CQ WW Committee

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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.

IOTA Contest Results 2006

The results are in and we are very pleased with the results! We came 17th in our section which is certainly an improvement on last year. The aim, of course, is to build on this for next year and maybe make the first ten!

A Member's Blog

Linda G0YLM has started a personal blog at http://lindag0ylm.blogspot.com/ She hopes to share her own thoughts about amateur radio and anything else that happens to take her fancy. It will be updated regularly during the course of these long winter evenings!

Good Rally

The Rochdale Rally turned out to be a great little rally. Very few computer bits and loads of radio "junk". Looking to get a table there next year! We recommend this rally to the house, as they say in parliament!

Rochdale Rally

A few of us are off down to the Rochdale Rally this saturday We don't have a table there this year, just going down to pick up a few things for the group and have a general look round. Hopefully a good day out will be had by all!

The Long weekend

Thats CQWW over with for another year. A most enjoyable weekend indeed and we look forward to next year. It was a very strange contest, not one for quantity of contacts but if you wanted the exotic DX it was certainly out there. Superb conditions on the higher bands and less crowded that usual on the lower. We had run out of stations to work by about 9pm with Bex and Chris winding the station down slightly early. The rest of the evening we spent relaxing and chatting about a wonderful weekend's radio. What more could you ask for ...good radio, good company and good food!

The Higher Bands

Wonderful conditions today on 10/15 metres. The beam is finally aloft and loads of good DX worked. Highlights today so far include Swaziland, Jamaica, Sudan, Paraquay and Uraquay on 10 metres, plenty of others like Indonesia and Martinque on 15 metres. The score around mid afternoon is 300,000 points. To top it all its like midsummer here, almost too nice to be indoors. Kev G6FKE is chef tonight, he promises a wonderful corned beef hash to keep us all going until midnight!