Clive (M5CHH), Dom (M1KTA) looking on with Ron (G3KBR) at the mic.
(note in forground right, under the table a spare PSU, sitting on a spare generator... belt and braces time!)
As we sit in the colder part of the year the mind remembers warmer times and previous activities. This is a few years old (2004) but I record it here. I used to be a member of the Cambridge and District ARC and as I have an interest operating HF and /P I used to organise the IARU Region 1 SSB Field Day station for the club. This was less than 18 months after I first obtained my original novice M3KTA and full M1KTA callsigns. Now I would consider our QSO count from that w/e tiny compared to recent operating but it was so much fun.
Unfortunately CDARC interest in HF activity seems to have all but disappeared in recent years and I ceased being a member some time back.
We had panoramic views of Cambridge and surrounding countryside as we operated from the VHF FD site (or rather across the road). The farmer had not yet mown the grass and initially the tent has grass above the chair arms!
Information provided by Dominic M1KTA.... as per the CDARC website.
Thanks to everyone for all the hard work. Especial thanks to Ian Alexander for obtaining a Deisel generator for our use. The generator ran non-stop (except when station went QRT during the night for 3 hours) and consumed a trivial amount of fuel. Operating the station at 100W at night with a couple of 60W 240v lamps and even a kettle (just once!) we saw no reduction in supply during the contest. The generator had excellent regulation.
We ended up with some pretty reasonable DX in the end and some good multipliers would have resulted even if the total QSO count was not terribly impressive. Some DX was US, Canada, Brasil, Israel, China, Thailand, Japan.
The station was operating SSB only and within the restricted section of the IARU Region 1 SSB contest which meant that we could use a single tranceiver at 100W to the antenna feeder with a single antenna with no part of the antenna or its supports (max 2 permitted) at a hight greater than 50 feet above ground level. We setup across the road from the main VHF station as we shared the weekend with the club 2m trophy competition entry and David suggested we run the stations separated so we would not interfere with each other and to give us more room to experiment with aerial layouts. Anyway, what a view.... see the photo. At night the sky was clear and Dom (M1KTA) even took a break from operating to so some astronomy.
We used two pump up masts with an approxiamnte height of 30 feet. It was decided to place the two masts, Dom's (M1KTA) Racal pump up and the Club Hilo pump up approximately in a North South direction and strung two halliards from the masts. We provided support for good back tension on both masts as we pulled up the wire antennas and attempted to keep them horizontal.
The station was up and running 2 hours before the contest using the club rig and ATU although we had considerable difficulty trying to get the club ATU to find a match to the 135ft Sigma antenna. In the end 30 minutes before the off we pulled the antenna down and put up the club G5RV. The difference was notable and this combination was used for the first day. The station was not well manned with operators during the evening and by 9pm at night only Dominic remained on site. As Dominic manned the station alone during the night the station went QRT shortly after about 1:00am. Mike & Mark (M0BLP, M1MPW) looked in at about 2:30am to check all was well to find Dom asleep on the station floor!
At about 3:30am after waking up I switched to an FT897 and put up a new antenna tested the previous weekend, an OCFD and with the DSP capabilities we were able to work some stations in the US though apart from K5ZD none were interested in exchanging RS + serial number. In error (M1KTA i.e. me!) didn't realise that if a station was not taking part in the contest the QSO could still be counted as a serial number of 001 could have been given to that station. It had been a long solo night and a silly error really.
The station had sufficient operators especially on the Saturday afternoon but it probably suffered contest wise by not operating right through the night. The serial numbers of stations worked on the previous Sat PM were noticeably greater when heard QSO on the Sunday AM. Contact with one or two confirmed that the period betwen 2am and 4am had indeed ben very busy on 20m and 15m. Clive (M5CHH) brought all manner of comfort to the station with an open air cooked breakfast with Dom and Christine (M1KTA XYL) at 5AM.
Interestingly the contest was being run at the same time as an all asia contest and many QSO on 20m especially were aborted due to ststions not wishing to complete a contact a GB station. The G2XV/P call did seem to make a lot of difference in Europe and the UK and much interest in the station call occured on the Saturday PM. The station was given good signal reports into the continental US and the small number of QSO with north America was not indicative of the bands as they were alive with Americans near midnight.
Notably and perhaps most dissappointing there were no M3 stations worked or heard throughout the whole weekend.
We tried to obtain an internet connection through the University Engineering Labs again as we had done during the July VHF NFD when M1KTA operated the 70cm entry of the CDARC B Station. This time we used a Vertically polarised YAGI instead of a homebrew Helical. The increased gain (24dB) as opposed to the lesser gain of the homebrew antenna (15dB) and the correct polarisation allowed a good connection with the lab to be obtained. A distance of probably 3 miles. The connection was running at c11MB/s which was perfectly respectable and would have been useful for DX cluster, chat and echolink, which is why we reattempted the connection after the july failures, however, the network routing had not been configured for us correctly at the lab end so we were not able to create an internet connection. The attempt has proven though that the site can provide a good line-of-sight internet connection over several miles. The equipment used at the station end consisted of a D-Link DWL-2000AP+ access point capable of running at 54MBps connected to a Sony Vaio laptop and a D-Link 24dB external antenna.
Nearly all our club members and many visitors attended during the weekend to add support for the effort.
Better luck on all counts next year.
I attach the log for our entry.
START-OF-LOG: V2.0
CREATED-BY: SD V11.01 and SDCHECK V11.01
CONTEST: RSGB-SSB-FD
CALLSIGN: G2XV/P
CATEGORY: RESTRICTED
CLAIMED-SCORE: 27324
NAME: Cambridge & District RC
ADDRESS: Coleridge Community College, Radegund Road, Cambridge
OPERATORS: M1KTA M5CHH G4AKD M3AMG G0TZQ G0GKP G8VCN G3KBR
X-RADIOS: ICOM751 CHANGED TO FT897 SECOND DAY
X-ANTENNAS: G5RV THEN CHANGED TO OCFD SECOND DAY
SOAPBOX: LOTS OF US STATIONS WERE OPERATING BUT FEW RESPONSES
X-SUMMARY:
X-SUMMARY: 160m 80m 40m 20m 15m 10m Total
X-SUMMARY:
X-SUMMARY: Valid QSOs: 0 45 28 61 12 0 146
X-SUMMARY: Total Points: 0 219 137 220 45 0 621
X-SUMMARY:
X-SUMMARY:
X-SUMMARY: I declare that this station was operated strictly in
X-SUMMARY: accordance with the rules and spirit of the contest,
X-SUMMARY: and within the conditions of my licence. My report
X-SUMMARY: is correct and true to the best of my knowledge.
X-SUMMARY: I agree that the decision of the contest organisers
X-SUMMARY: shall be final in all cases of dispute. I agree to
X-SUMMARY: the data from this entry being stored, analysed and
X-SUMMARY: cross-checked by computer.
X-SUMMARY:
X-SUMMARY:
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1300 G2XV/P 59 001 OZ1PIF 59 002
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1305 G2XV/P 59 002 UX2KA/P 59 002
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-04 1348 G2XV/P 59 003 ON6UD/P 59 057
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1353 G2XV/P 59 004 RK3QYN 59 121
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1356 G2XV/P 59 005 ER3R/P 59 063
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1430 G2XV/P 59 006 RK31WT/P 59 000
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1438 G2XV/P 59 007 UR0UL 59 080
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1451 G2XV/P 59 008 R8SRR 59 046
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1501 G2XV/P 59 009 UV1G/P 59 069
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1507 G2XV/P 59 010 RK9CWW 59 049
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1512 G2XV/P 59 011 4L6AM 59 018
QSO: 21000 PH 2004-09-04 1522 G2XV/P 59 012 RT9W/P 59 186
QSO: 21000 PH 2004-09-04 1524 G2XV/P 59 013 G4STV/P 59 108
QSO: 21000 PH 2004-09-04 1531 G2XV/P 59 014 G3ASR/P 59 027
QSO: 21000 PH 2004-09-04 1539 G2XV/P 59 015 G6YB/P 59 196
QSO: 21000 PH 2004-09-04 1543 G2XV/P 59 016 G3WAS/P 59 128
QSO: 21000 PH 2004-09-04 1549 G2XV/P 59 017 RK9CWW 59 052
QSO: 21000 PH 2004-09-04 1558 G2XV/P 59 018 4X1VF 59 057
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1606 G2XV/P 59 019 UA3VFS/P 59 100
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1609 G2XV/P 59 020 RT9W/P 59 256
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1616 G2XV/P 59 021 UA9AYA 59 040
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1634 G2XV/P 59 022 JQ2EHG 59 084
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1635 G2XV/P 59 023 UA9QFF 59 014
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1640 G2XV/P 59 024 UA9LAU 59 160
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1645 G2XV/P 59 025 UT0RF 59 045
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1646 G2XV/P 59 026 IZ6FXP 59 043
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1651 G2XV/P 59 027 EK3GM 59 093
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1702 G2XV/P 59 028 UN9LW 59 044
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1705 G2XV/P 59 029 RA1ZZ 59 176
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1708 G2XV/P 59 030 UA3QDX 59 323
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1712 G2XV/P 59 031 RW3WWW 59 257
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1709 G2XV/P 59 032 A7EM 59 001
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1716 G2XV/P 59 033 I0/N6CY 59 006
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1718 G2XV/P 59 034 SP9LJD 59 055
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-04 1753 G2XV/P 59 035 ON6CK/P 59 280
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-04 1757 G2XV/P 59 036 ON4RSX/P 59 151
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-04 1759 G2XV/P 59 037 ON4CP/P 59 141
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-04 1804 G2XV/P 59 038 OZ9EDR/P 59 413
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-04 1806 G2XV/P 59 039 G3TBK/P 59 292
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-04 1809 G2XV/P 59 040 ON4WTN/P 59 144
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-04 1811 G2XV/P 59 041 G4TSV/P 59 229
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-04 1819 G2XV/P 59 042 G4IRC/P 59 176
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-04 1820 G2XV/P 59 043 G5RR/P 59 159
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-04 1827 G2XV/P 59 044 G3RCV/P 59 201
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1835 G2XV/P 59 045 ON60/P 59 140
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1835 G2XV/P 59 046 ON4OSA/P 59 105
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1837 G2XV/P 59 047 ON7SA/P 59 253
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1839 G2XV/P 59 048 DK0FY/P 59 257
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1840 G2XV/P 59 049 G4FOX/P 59 232
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1842 G2XV/P 59 050 M3RVV/P 59 001
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1846 G2XV/P 59 051 G7EAR/P 59 086
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1847 G2XV/P 59 052 DL4PLL/P 59 137
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1848 G2XV/P 59 053 GW0SIX 59 023
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1849 G2XV/P 59 054 G0VGS/P 59 052
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1853 G2XV/P 59 055 G5RS/P 59 173
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1854 G2XV/P 59 056 ON6MS/P 59 324
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1855 G2XV/P 59 057 OZ1IVA 59 007
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1900 G2XV/P 59 058 OZ7KOL/P 59 220
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1910 G2XV/P 59 059 G8FC/P 59 023
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1911 G2XV/P 59 060 DL0SWN/P 59 123
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 1913 G2XV/P 59 061 OZ5VEJ/P 59 140
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1918 G2XV/P 59 062 G3GRS/P 59 406
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1919 G2XV/P 59 063 G3TBK/P 59 385
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1920 G2XV/P 59 064 G3ARS/P 59 122
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1933 G2XV/P 59 065 EW6GF 59 009
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1935 G2XV/P 59 066 LA1K/P 59 110
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1944 G2XV/P 59 067 G5LO/P 59 250
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1949 G2XV/P 59 068 9A5KV/P 59 110
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1951 G2XV/P 59 069 PT7BZ 59 008
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 1957 G2XV/P 59 070 G4FOX/P 59 317
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 2001 G2XV/P 59 071 G4ALE/P 59 225
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-04 2019 G2XV/P 59 072 G3RCM/P 59 237
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-04 2021 G2XV/P 59 073 DL0RT/P 59 210
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 2023 G2XV/P 59 074 G3IZD/P 59 236
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 2139 G2XV/P 59 075 UR7GW 59 072
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 2140 G2XV/P 59 076 RK9XWV 59 032
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2207 G2XV/P 59 077 G3TRF/P 59 242
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2210 G2XV/P 59 078 G8FC/P 59 215
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2212 G2XV/P 59 079 DK5JM/P 59 212
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2215 G2XV/P 59 080 G3GRS/P 59 694
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2217 G2XV/P 59 081 G4ALE/P 59 401
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2218 G2XV/P 59 082 OZ5ESB/P 59 259
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2220 G2XV/P 59 083 G4FUH/P 59 135
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2222 G2XV/P 59 084 G3IZD/P 59 388
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2224 G2XV/P 59 085 G6TW/P 59 397
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2226 G2XV/P 59 086 DK0CP/P 59 275
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2230 G2XV/P 59 087 G4EKT/P 59 136
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2232 G2XV/P 59 088 G4HRC/P 59 274
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2233 G2XV/P 59 089 DL0BI/P 59 385
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2234 G2XV/P 59 090 G3WAS/P 59 599
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2236 G2XV/P 59 091 DL0AD/P 59 187
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2238 G2XV/P 59 092 S53EO/P 59 560
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2241 G2XV/P 59 093 PI4EME/P 59 180
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2243 G2XV/P 59 094 OZ8JYL/P 59 088
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2246 G2XV/P 59 095 G5RR/P 59 247
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2247 G2XV/P 59 096 M0IPX/P 59 314
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2256 G2XV/P 59 097 G3RCM/P 59 404
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2258 G2XV/P 59 098 G3TBK/P 59 756
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2301 G2XV/P 59 099 ON6NB/P 59 270
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2302 G2XV/P 59 100 G2XP/P 59 151
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-04 2303 G2XV/P 59 101 M5ARC/P 59 279
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-04 2304 G2XV/P 59 102 OZ3FYN/P 59 209
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-04 2312 G2XV/P 59 103 OZ2AR/P 59 428
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 2328 G2XV/P 59 104 VE3ORE/P 59 025
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 2331 G2XV/P 59 105 EI2SBC/P 59 150
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 2331 G2XV/P 59 106 W1GQ 59 010
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 2332 G2XV/P 59 107 W7NE 59 013
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 2340 G2XV/P 59 108 EI4GRC/P 59 070
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 2358 G2XV/P 59 109 EI1C/P 59 714
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-04 2359 G2XV/P 59 110 DL0VW/P 59 155
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-05 0356 G2XV/P 59 111 K5ZD 59 011
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-05 0426 G2XV/P 59 112 M0NBG/P 59 398
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-05 0433 G2XV/P 59 113 G3RCM/P 59 618
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-05 0435 G2XV/P 59 114 ON6CK/P 59 668
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-05 0436 G2XV/P 59 115 DL0RD/P 59 272
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-05 0438 G2XV/P 59 116 OZ7KOL/P 59 482
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-05 0445 G2XV/P 59 117 G3WAS/P 59 1032
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-05 0453 G2XV/P 59 118 DL0MUE/P 59 370
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-05 0505 G2XV/P 59 119 DL0LA/P 59 706
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-05 0513 G2XV/P 59 120 HB90SE/P 59 369
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-05 0516 G2XV/P 59 121 DL0SWN/P 59 367
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-05 0524 G2XV/P 59 122 DK0FY/P 59 603
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-05 0550 G2XV/P 59 123 DK0PC/P 59 437
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-05 0553 G2XV/P 59 124 DL0OS/P 59 604
QSO: 3500 PH 2004-09-05 0604 G2XV/P 59 125 ON4KCM/P 59 357
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-05 0610 G2XV/P 59 126 DF0ID/P 59 363
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-05 0630 G2XV/P 59 127 DL0AD/P 59 339
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-05 0633 G2XV/P 59 128 S53EO/P 59 645
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-05 0635 G2XV/P 59 129 DL0QS 59 353
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-05 0638 G2XV/P 59 130 G6YB/P 59 1363
QSO: 7000 PH 2004-09-05 0643 G2XV/P 59 131 ON4AOW/P 59 398
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-05 0649 G2XV/P 59 132 E23CT 59 097
QSO: 21000 PH 2004-09-05 0702 G2XV/P 59 133 RZ9CW 59 016
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-05 0941 G2XV/P 59 134 OZ7J/P 59 114
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-05 0954 G2XV/P 59 135 OZ9EDR/P 59 1004
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-05 1009 G2XV/P 59 136 S53EO/P 59 814
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-05 1018 G2XV/P 59 137 DL0PI/P 59 633
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-05 1022 G2XV/P 59 138 OZ7AMG/P 59 058
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-05 1044 G2XV/P 59 139 GB150NRL 59 335
QSO: 21000 PH 2004-09-05 1110 G2XV/P 59 140 UA9AYA 59 110
QSO: 21000 PH 2004-09-05 1115 G2XV/P 59 141 Y04RR 59 514
QSO: 21000 PH 2004-09-05 1125 G2XV/P 59 142 RK4CWA/P 59 489
QSO: 21000 PH 2004-09-05 1128 G2XV/P 59 143 OY/DL1/RTL/P 59 907
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-05 1152 G2XV/P 59 144 JA2ZJW 59 002
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-05 1201 G2XV/P 59 145 BS1A 59 468
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-05 1203 G2XV/P 59 146 OZ8JYL/P 59 075
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-05 1214 G2XV/P 59 147 IK2LTR/P 59 147
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-05 1225 G2XV/P 59 148 EI7GY/P 59 324
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-05 1236 G2XV/P 59 149 OH4OD/M 59 239
QSO: 14000 PH 2004-09-05 1245 G2XV/P 59 150 G7EAR/P 59 358
END-OF-LOG: