Huntingdonshire ARS International Museums Weekend 2020 SES Report.
Museums On The Air SES for HARS was going to be different this year, our 14th year, at Ramsey Rural
Museum due to the Covid-19 lockdown. Members were going to be operating the SES from their home QTHs.
The NOV was obtained by M0VTG with the following callsigns passed to Ofcom as operators:
G1KWF - HF SSB
G4KLE - HF CW
G6OHM – 2M FM
M0SKT – HF SSB & HF FT8
This year we decided to operate over both weekends, third and forth weekends in June, rather than our normal forth weekend only.
Operations took place on each of the four days between 09:00 Hrs and 16:00 Hrs UTC. Band conditions were not favourable on 80 and 40 on either weekends, with long periods of no activity. Also high local QRM levels were encountered from home QTHs rather than the normal S1 to S2 levels at the museum.
Stations worked:
G1KWF HF SSB = 80m 37, 40m 43, Best DX Italy
G4KLE HF CW = 80m 1, 40m 45, 20 1, Best DX Lucca, Italy
G6OHM 2M FM = Simplex 28, Via Repeater 2, Via Hubnet 7, Best DX Liverpool (via Hubnet)
M0SKT HF SSB = 40m 2
M0SKT HF FT8 = 20m 26, 17m 2, 15m 4, Best DX Symour, Tennessee
Finally a big thanks to all who operated the SES this year and hopefully we will be back at our usual location next year.
De Steve G1KWF
Museum due to the Covid-19 lockdown. Members were going to be operating the SES from their home QTHs.
The NOV was obtained by M0VTG with the following callsigns passed to Ofcom as operators:
G1KWF - HF SSB
G4KLE - HF CW
G6OHM – 2M FM
M0SKT – HF SSB & HF FT8
This year we decided to operate over both weekends, third and forth weekends in June, rather than our normal forth weekend only.
Operations took place on each of the four days between 09:00 Hrs and 16:00 Hrs UTC. Band conditions were not favourable on 80 and 40 on either weekends, with long periods of no activity. Also high local QRM levels were encountered from home QTHs rather than the normal S1 to S2 levels at the museum.
Stations worked:
G1KWF HF SSB = 80m 37, 40m 43, Best DX Italy
G4KLE HF CW = 80m 1, 40m 45, 20 1, Best DX Lucca, Italy
G6OHM 2M FM = Simplex 28, Via Repeater 2, Via Hubnet 7, Best DX Liverpool (via Hubnet)
M0SKT HF SSB = 40m 2
M0SKT HF FT8 = 20m 26, 17m 2, 15m 4, Best DX Symour, Tennessee
Finally a big thanks to all who operated the SES this year and hopefully we will be back at our usual location next year.
De Steve G1KWF
Report on the HARS Skills Weekend - 13 & 14th June 2020
Huntngdonshire Amateur Radio Society (HARS) ran a Skills Weekend for all Foundation and new Intermediate callsigns that are Club Members with an aim for them to work a Special Event Callsign as they may have only worked stations on the local Net then this was seen as an ideal opportunity for them to expand their operating skills. The idea came about after reading the NHS and RSGB (#GOTA2C) and BE (Beyond Exams) statements in last month’s copy of RADCOM.
The basis of the weekend was to provide GXØHSR/A (our Club Callsign) on a variety of different frequencies and modes for which you may have not operated on or wanted to but found no other station on-line to work, also it is an opportunity to try out your homebrew or newly brought antennas and kit.
Specific Club Members provided the calling stations for them so that they could complete an exchange QSL using our Skills Logsheet provided on our website as an aide memoir it had been specially formulated for the weekend so that we all exchanged the same information in the same order with an addition that they can add different information in for comments column this could have been the length of time in the hobby, WX (Weather) at your location, radio type, etc so this would make the QSO individual to you and you can change this on each QSO!
We managed to achieved some 15 QSO’s over the period of operation mainly on CW and FT8 Data Mode.
It was found to be a worthwhile event to introduce during COVID-19 and we would look at running it again later on in the year after some amendments and tweaks to the instructions, during the event we found out from some of our Members that operated and had time to complete the following:
Report submitted by Dave/M0SKT
The basis of the weekend was to provide GXØHSR/A (our Club Callsign) on a variety of different frequencies and modes for which you may have not operated on or wanted to but found no other station on-line to work, also it is an opportunity to try out your homebrew or newly brought antennas and kit.
Specific Club Members provided the calling stations for them so that they could complete an exchange QSL using our Skills Logsheet provided on our website as an aide memoir it had been specially formulated for the weekend so that we all exchanged the same information in the same order with an addition that they can add different information in for comments column this could have been the length of time in the hobby, WX (Weather) at your location, radio type, etc so this would make the QSO individual to you and you can change this on each QSO!
We managed to achieved some 15 QSO’s over the period of operation mainly on CW and FT8 Data Mode.
It was found to be a worthwhile event to introduce during COVID-19 and we would look at running it again later on in the year after some amendments and tweaks to the instructions, during the event we found out from some of our Members that operated and had time to complete the following:
- Add Voice CQ Recordings into their rig which they had never done before.
- Found out that their antenna did not tune to 40 Mtrs which they did not know was a problem, then had time to resolve the fault/correct coax route.
- Had time to programme in local VHF/UHF Repeaters and Calling Frequencies into their radio.
- Work out why their radio on VHF kept going into split mode and how to turn this off by reading the user manual.
- Operate a radio to a timescale ie a Rota rather than just ad-hoc.
- Understanding instructions on how the event is being run as they may have not had any experience in carrying this out for many years.
- Remote working by email and telephone rather than F2F (Face to Face) at a club meeting.
Report submitted by Dave/M0SKT
HARS Club Special Event Station Round Up – 2019
This is a quick review of the Clubs Special Event Station (SES) activity which took place during 2019, some of the following may whet your appetite so that you may join us during 2020, you are more than welcomed just let the organiser know beforehand.
To kick off this year’s tranche of SES’s we attended Royal Air Force Wyton over a weekend in April for the RAFARS "Airfields on the Air" event by the way this was our fifth year of being able to operate on the station. The Team was led by Flt Lt David Webb, MØSKT who is the point of contact for this activity as he is a Region Radio Communications Officer for the RAF Air Cadets in this area, we have radio qualified cadets and staff come along to help with the operating and logging for the callsign GB0WY. We managed to log 110 HF and 24 VHF QSO’s during the weekend with some long exchanges of information especially regarding our location and equipment in use. This is event always provides the club with a good start to our radio year.
In early May we attended Duloe Windmill in Eaton Socon for the National "Mills on the Air" Weekend, this again is one of the club’s regular events we put on and organised by David MØSKT, the owners of the Mill grant us permission to ‘invade’ their front lawn and garden for the duration of the activity. We arrive during the Friday afternoon to set up the station and test out the kit and usually clear away by late afternoon on the Sunday. For callsign GB2DWM we logged 193 QSO’s during the weekend which was up on the previous year’s tally.
June provided the club with the "Museums on the Air" event which is organised by Steve G1KWF and an ideal time to work outside in the summer conditions, this year was no exception as we operated from the Ramsey Rural Museum (if you ain’t been there well worth a visit) inside a marquee with brilliant views of the Fens and the Ford Corsair Owners Club vehicles who had a get together. We managed for GB2RRM 87 HF and 2VHF QSO’s, plenty of tea, coffee, bacon rolls and cake during the weekend.
September and it was onto "Churches and Chapels on the Air" this time using the GB1SMB callsign. This time our station was organised and arranged by G4KLE and set up inside the church at the end of the tea room, yet again with plenty of tea, coffee and cake to hand which was served by some lovely church people. We managed to log 42 QSO’s on HF of which 10 were churches/chapels from around the UK.
As you will have read we have been pretty active out and about the local community by putting interesting locations on the map, make people from around the world aware of what we have around us locally, promoting amateur radio with many questions being answered by the ‘Team on site’, and above all plenty of banter and teamwork which makes the day special for so many of us. We have experienced an uptake in club members attending our SES events this year which is really supportive to the ‘Set Up Team’, please do continue to attend and bring others along you are more than welcome…we will always have the kettle on! Is there anyone who would like to run a SES for the club do let our Club Chairman know and talk through the details. And finally, a special thanks to the ‘Set Up Team’ who collect, rig up and de-rig the stations during the year your efforts are always appreciated.
This is a quick review of the Clubs Special Event Station (SES) activity which took place during 2019, some of the following may whet your appetite so that you may join us during 2020, you are more than welcomed just let the organiser know beforehand.
To kick off this year’s tranche of SES’s we attended Royal Air Force Wyton over a weekend in April for the RAFARS "Airfields on the Air" event by the way this was our fifth year of being able to operate on the station. The Team was led by Flt Lt David Webb, MØSKT who is the point of contact for this activity as he is a Region Radio Communications Officer for the RAF Air Cadets in this area, we have radio qualified cadets and staff come along to help with the operating and logging for the callsign GB0WY. We managed to log 110 HF and 24 VHF QSO’s during the weekend with some long exchanges of information especially regarding our location and equipment in use. This is event always provides the club with a good start to our radio year.
In early May we attended Duloe Windmill in Eaton Socon for the National "Mills on the Air" Weekend, this again is one of the club’s regular events we put on and organised by David MØSKT, the owners of the Mill grant us permission to ‘invade’ their front lawn and garden for the duration of the activity. We arrive during the Friday afternoon to set up the station and test out the kit and usually clear away by late afternoon on the Sunday. For callsign GB2DWM we logged 193 QSO’s during the weekend which was up on the previous year’s tally.
June provided the club with the "Museums on the Air" event which is organised by Steve G1KWF and an ideal time to work outside in the summer conditions, this year was no exception as we operated from the Ramsey Rural Museum (if you ain’t been there well worth a visit) inside a marquee with brilliant views of the Fens and the Ford Corsair Owners Club vehicles who had a get together. We managed for GB2RRM 87 HF and 2VHF QSO’s, plenty of tea, coffee, bacon rolls and cake during the weekend.
September and it was onto "Churches and Chapels on the Air" this time using the GB1SMB callsign. This time our station was organised and arranged by G4KLE and set up inside the church at the end of the tea room, yet again with plenty of tea, coffee and cake to hand which was served by some lovely church people. We managed to log 42 QSO’s on HF of which 10 were churches/chapels from around the UK.
As you will have read we have been pretty active out and about the local community by putting interesting locations on the map, make people from around the world aware of what we have around us locally, promoting amateur radio with many questions being answered by the ‘Team on site’, and above all plenty of banter and teamwork which makes the day special for so many of us. We have experienced an uptake in club members attending our SES events this year which is really supportive to the ‘Set Up Team’, please do continue to attend and bring others along you are more than welcome…we will always have the kettle on! Is there anyone who would like to run a SES for the club do let our Club Chairman know and talk through the details. And finally, a special thanks to the ‘Set Up Team’ who collect, rig up and de-rig the stations during the year your efforts are always appreciated.
Mince Pie Club Night - 12 Dec 2019
Our last meeting of 2019 was the Mince Pie Night. We would like to give a BIG thank you Angela M3FTV and Andy G6OHM for the wonderful spread of food and eats at our Club Mince Pie evening.
For those who couldn't make it, here is a wonderful photo of the display before the members tucked in.
Thank you Angela and Andy
Our last meeting of 2019 was the Mince Pie Night. We would like to give a BIG thank you Angela M3FTV and Andy G6OHM for the wonderful spread of food and eats at our Club Mince Pie evening.
For those who couldn't make it, here is a wonderful photo of the display before the members tucked in.
Thank you Angela and Andy
Hello Hunts Hams,
Thank you very much for the flowers. It was a lovely surprise. We have been over to Mum & Dads this afternoon. When we got home our neighbour had taken them in for us.
Angela is well chuffed.
Many Thanks
Angela M3FTV and Andy Dunham G6OHM
Thank you very much for the flowers. It was a lovely surprise. We have been over to Mum & Dads this afternoon. When we got home our neighbour had taken them in for us.
Angela is well chuffed.
Many Thanks
Angela M3FTV and Andy Dunham G6OHM
CHOTA 14th September 2019 – GB1SMB
Once again, the HARS Team sprang into action at 8:00 hrs on Saturday 14th September for the Churches and Chapels on the Air weekend. The Club chose to operate at St Mary’s Church in Buckden, Cambridgeshire for another SES as the church is very close to were HARS hold their Club Meetings, the Church was recorded in 1086 in the Domesday Book and was rebuilt between 1435 and 1440.
As one end of the full-size G5RV antenna was hoisted up to the top of the church tower and secured off the other end was lodged at the top of a rather large oak tree in the grounds of the church, we all agreed that this was the greatest height above ground that we had mounted this antenna. The radio kit was set up in the Living Stones Room and soon connected to the antenna, earth spike and mains supply, after a couple of ‘on air’ tests and tuning a thumbs up was given to commence operating.
The first contact of the day was at 8:39 hours on 80 Mtrs with GB4SBC a Church in Kidderminster with Geoff driving the mic at their end, 5&9 was the exchange report both ways which meant conditions were on our side……for a while anyway! We continued on 80 Mtrs working various callsign so that by 9:25 we worked GB0SMF a Church in Fordingbridge, Hampshire this made twenty-five contacts worked in the log so not bad at all. As we approached 9:35 we found our last QSO was on 80Mtrs and found that we could no longer work on the band as working conditions became very hard so at 10:00 hrs we opted to dip into the 40 Mtr band to see what we could achieve with the first contact straight back to our CQ calls this being F1ADG with a 5&9 both ways, this was the right choice of band guys! We had local QRM from the ladies who run a ‘fundraising Coffee Morning’ for the Church at 10.15 hrs which was in the same room that we were operating from so we had plenty of Tea/coffee and large pieces of cake, bread pudding and apple pies which were all home made to contend with.
By 12:30 we had only achieved another 12 QSO’s in the logbook again due to poor band conditions we changed between 80 then back to 40 and worked another five contact by bouncing around the bands which included four CW contacts (2 on 40m and 2 on 20m), by 15:08 we realised that the bands were not in a usable state to continue so closed the station down and started the de-rigging process.
Our final tally was forty-two contacts with ten of them being Churches on the air; we manged to reach into Russia, Sweden, Ireland, France, Holland, the Czech Republic, Crete, Germany, France and the GB with a MM (Maritime Mobile) Callsign to include.
Our thanks go to the Rev Jes Salt and St Mary’s Church for allowing us to operate the Station, also for Brian G8CHC who went up the Church Tower to attached the antenna, Mervyn G4KLE, David M0VTG, Steve G1KWF, Richard 2E0FRQ, David G4ETG, Phil G0AYX, Clive G3NKQ and David M0SKT for their time and effort to provide the banter and make the day go smoothly.
Edited by David (M0SKT)
Once again, the HARS Team sprang into action at 8:00 hrs on Saturday 14th September for the Churches and Chapels on the Air weekend. The Club chose to operate at St Mary’s Church in Buckden, Cambridgeshire for another SES as the church is very close to were HARS hold their Club Meetings, the Church was recorded in 1086 in the Domesday Book and was rebuilt between 1435 and 1440.
As one end of the full-size G5RV antenna was hoisted up to the top of the church tower and secured off the other end was lodged at the top of a rather large oak tree in the grounds of the church, we all agreed that this was the greatest height above ground that we had mounted this antenna. The radio kit was set up in the Living Stones Room and soon connected to the antenna, earth spike and mains supply, after a couple of ‘on air’ tests and tuning a thumbs up was given to commence operating.
The first contact of the day was at 8:39 hours on 80 Mtrs with GB4SBC a Church in Kidderminster with Geoff driving the mic at their end, 5&9 was the exchange report both ways which meant conditions were on our side……for a while anyway! We continued on 80 Mtrs working various callsign so that by 9:25 we worked GB0SMF a Church in Fordingbridge, Hampshire this made twenty-five contacts worked in the log so not bad at all. As we approached 9:35 we found our last QSO was on 80Mtrs and found that we could no longer work on the band as working conditions became very hard so at 10:00 hrs we opted to dip into the 40 Mtr band to see what we could achieve with the first contact straight back to our CQ calls this being F1ADG with a 5&9 both ways, this was the right choice of band guys! We had local QRM from the ladies who run a ‘fundraising Coffee Morning’ for the Church at 10.15 hrs which was in the same room that we were operating from so we had plenty of Tea/coffee and large pieces of cake, bread pudding and apple pies which were all home made to contend with.
By 12:30 we had only achieved another 12 QSO’s in the logbook again due to poor band conditions we changed between 80 then back to 40 and worked another five contact by bouncing around the bands which included four CW contacts (2 on 40m and 2 on 20m), by 15:08 we realised that the bands were not in a usable state to continue so closed the station down and started the de-rigging process.
Our final tally was forty-two contacts with ten of them being Churches on the air; we manged to reach into Russia, Sweden, Ireland, France, Holland, the Czech Republic, Crete, Germany, France and the GB with a MM (Maritime Mobile) Callsign to include.
Our thanks go to the Rev Jes Salt and St Mary’s Church for allowing us to operate the Station, also for Brian G8CHC who went up the Church Tower to attached the antenna, Mervyn G4KLE, David M0VTG, Steve G1KWF, Richard 2E0FRQ, David G4ETG, Phil G0AYX, Clive G3NKQ and David M0SKT for their time and effort to provide the banter and make the day go smoothly.
Edited by David (M0SKT)
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GB2DWM - National "Mills on the Air" - 11 & 12 May 2019
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Over the weekend of 11th & 12th May 19 radio amateurs from Huntingdonshire Amateur Radio Society (HARS) set up and activated a radio station from Duloe Tower Mill in Eaton Socon, Cambridgeshire using the call sign Golf Bravo Two Delta Whiskey Mike (GB2DWM). This station was put on for the National Mills on the Air weekend which is set up by the S.P.A.B. Mills section (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings). This event is seen as a time to promote amateur radio while helping to preserve some of our local heritage, many types of mills take part albeit steam, water, tide or wind. National Mills Weekend is the annual festival of our milling heritage and provides you with a fantastic opportunity to visit mills which we have many locally across the UK.
This year was the sixth year of operating from the grounds at the tower mill and this is by kind permission of the owners Steve and Sandra. We set up our eight-person dome tent which provides ample room for our HF and VHF stations to operate comfortably with some spare room for our refreshments table which is an essential item during long periods of operating plus all the masts and rotator for the VHF Yagi, our usual spot for mounting the full size G5RV is the top of the windmill through the small window as seen on our QRZ.COM page, this gets the antenna up and above the sweet chestnut trees at the front of the property.
This year was the sixth year of operating from the grounds at the tower mill and this is by kind permission of the owners Steve and Sandra. We set up our eight-person dome tent which provides ample room for our HF and VHF stations to operate comfortably with some spare room for our refreshments table which is an essential item during long periods of operating plus all the masts and rotator for the VHF Yagi, our usual spot for mounting the full size G5RV is the top of the windmill through the small window as seen on our QRZ.COM page, this gets the antenna up and above the sweet chestnut trees at the front of the property.
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Opening up the station on the Saturday at 08:00 hours meant we could get a reasonable amount of contacts in the logbook before we encountered any band problems our opening band was 80mtrs with the first call G3NKQ – Clive at 08:12 hours followed by the rest of the day with many more UK call signs and a few continental ones mixed in; all in all we managed a tally count of 90 QSO’s for the day.
On the Sunday we started at 09:00 hours so that the mill owners ‘could have a lay in’ before we started making a noise. The first call for the day was at 09:12 MWØBGQ – Dave on 80mtrs again with signal report of 59 both ways, conditions were looking good for the day. The logbook shows again many UK and only a small amount of European call sign returning to our CQ, CQ call, around mid-morning we had one of our junior trainees Archie (David MØSKT’s Grandson) turn up for his inspection of all the equipment, masts, etc and have some CW training from Mervyn G4KLE as you will see from the photo below he sent CQ, CQ, had lots of fun and many questions – we start them young at HARS! |
Steve G1KWF on 2m
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Archie on the key with Merv G4KLE
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From 13:00 hours we jumped to 40mtrs and our signal report was 59+20 the majority of the time, we were cooking on gas (not really just and expression). We had 45 HF QSO’s from 13:00 hours until station close down ad 15:20 with many stations calling meant we had to manage many pile ups and can only apologise for the call signs that did not get through, we checked QRZ.COM and the number of look ups for our call sign mounted up, we carried out a quick check online which showed that GB2DWM had made it into the ‘Ham Radio Deluxe Top 50 DX Spots’. At 14:58 hours we accepted a call from M7BAW – Ben told us he was eleven years old and had passed his Foundation Licence only two months ago and we were his first every HF contact in his logbook; what a result and thank you to the call signs that allowed Ben to have some air time and chat to a special event station during a period of heavy pile ups.
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We managed to bag 103 QSO’s during Sunday this included some on 2mtrs band, the day was much harder going but well worth the effort. We endured very hot conditions in the tent with the temperature getting into the mid 30 degrees whether this helped the ICOM IC-7200 perform like it did we are not sure or if it was MØSKT setting the PSU to 13.8 volts we will never know but what an end to our Mills activation. So collectively we manage to log 193 QSO’s into the call sign this year with contacts from all over the majority being UK and only a few from Europe; this was 90 more calls from the previous year we just could not get many of the continental call sign we had experience a few weeks before when running GB0WY. We did manage to log 26 MOTA Stations and 5 extra SES.
Thanks go again to the dedicated team of club members who assisted during the weekend with whatever task was given to them even if it was only to make the refreshments or to talk to the various visitors we had over the two days.
Putting up and de-rigging of the station generally takes about an hour each time as we have got it down to a smooth operation now. After a final check the Event Organiser – David MØSKT presented the owners with customary liquid essentials and a thank you card for allowing us the privilege of using their grounds for the event; he asked if the club could operate next year and after a pause 'Yes we enjoy having you here' was the answer, so 2020 planning has started.
Sixteen HARS Club Members attended over the weekend to enjoy some logging, operating, refreshments, some fun and the light banter and comedy – G1KWF Steve, Mervyn G4KLE, David MØVTG, Malcolm MØOLG, John MØJWS, Stig G1MVF, Sid MØSRS, Clive G3NKQ, Julie M1JUL, Alan MØFDA, Clive 2EØOZX, Richard 2EØFRQ, Stuart 2EØTMC, John who is training for his Foundation Licence, Mike on his bike and finally David MØSKT.
The HARS Club is a growing club it’s members have a wealth of knowledge, experience and are from all walks of life, if you are interested in amateur radio and would like to come along to the club details can be found at http://hunts-hams.weebly.com we would be happy to help you.
Edited by David Webb – MØSKT, "Mills on the Air" Event Organiser.
Thanks go again to the dedicated team of club members who assisted during the weekend with whatever task was given to them even if it was only to make the refreshments or to talk to the various visitors we had over the two days.
Putting up and de-rigging of the station generally takes about an hour each time as we have got it down to a smooth operation now. After a final check the Event Organiser – David MØSKT presented the owners with customary liquid essentials and a thank you card for allowing us the privilege of using their grounds for the event; he asked if the club could operate next year and after a pause 'Yes we enjoy having you here' was the answer, so 2020 planning has started.
Sixteen HARS Club Members attended over the weekend to enjoy some logging, operating, refreshments, some fun and the light banter and comedy – G1KWF Steve, Mervyn G4KLE, David MØVTG, Malcolm MØOLG, John MØJWS, Stig G1MVF, Sid MØSRS, Clive G3NKQ, Julie M1JUL, Alan MØFDA, Clive 2EØOZX, Richard 2EØFRQ, Stuart 2EØTMC, John who is training for his Foundation Licence, Mike on his bike and finally David MØSKT.
The HARS Club is a growing club it’s members have a wealth of knowledge, experience and are from all walks of life, if you are interested in amateur radio and would like to come along to the club details can be found at http://hunts-hams.weebly.com we would be happy to help you.
Edited by David Webb – MØSKT, "Mills on the Air" Event Organiser.
Sat 20 and Sun 21 April 2019 - "Airfields on the Air"
at RAF Wyton, Cambs - GB0WY
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On the 20th and 21 of April this year permission was granted to put on a special event amateur radio station using the call-sign GB0WY at RAF Wyton, Cambridgeshire. This year marked the sixth year that the activity has taken place on the station, it's location and previous history is always a source of discussion on air and is popular with many radio amateurs who may have worked, flown or visited the station.
On the 20th and 21 of April this year permission was granted to put on a special event amateur radio station using the call-sign GB0WY at RAF Wyton, Cambridgeshire. This year marked the sixth year that the activity has taken place on the station, it's location and previous history is always a source of discussion on air and is popular with many radio amateurs who may have worked, flown or visited the station.
Air Cadet Emilia with David M0VTG
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By inviting Cadets and Staff from local RAF Air Cadet (RAFAC) Squadrons and the Event Team from the Huntingdonshire Amateur Radio Society (HARS) a suitable radio station was set up using the main drill hall in No 2331 (St Ives) Squadron RAFAC Headquarters, this building used to be the old Station Survival Equipment Flight which has the old brake chute drying tower complete with huge fans in the floor and ceiling.
On the Saturday we rigged up the masts to take a full-size G5RV which we deployed pointing north-south along with the clubs ICOM IC-7200, LDG ATU and a 30 Amp power supply; all we need to do was to tune up and test the system ready to commenced the day, a thorough check of the kit before switch on and a thumbs up was given and we were away starting calling CQ on CW at the bottom end of 80Mtrs with our first contact being Rolf DL1HBL in Munich at 08:35 hours this was duly recorded by one of the cadets who was tasked to do the logging. The cadet doing the logging had learnt her new skill during Exercise Blue Ham 19 back in March this year, then followed a flurry of UK CW contacts until 09:10 when we switched to SSB/Phone and continued to fill the first sheet of 25 contacts by 10:16, nothing ‘exotic’ but all good strong signal reports of 599 from UK call-signs. Utilising various club members and cadet staff we all had turns at the microphone during the day with the Cadets having some interesting radio theory sessions during the day some basic knowledge for them as they are our future Amateur radio blood and we wanted them to enjoy the experience during their visit. |
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As the day progressed the calls kept coming in with some interesting contacts from other RAF Stations and UK callsigns; we did achieve many contacts in Europe – PA, SA7, LB7,OZ,HB, OH1, DL plus one from OZ7MHZ in Denmark, many of the contacts had some interesting details to exchange in their QSO’s with us; QRZ.COM had most of our event station information on it. As we closed GB0WY down for the first session we had a tally of 84 logged down which included some 16 QSO’s on a 2Mtr pop up station on which we trialled for the first time us using a ICOM IC-841 Dual Bander into a MASPRO 10 Element Yagi.
With everyone content with the day a last rigging check of the antenna masts, disconnection of the antenna to the radio kit was carried out and made to earth; we made ready for the Sunday session when the station was going on air again using the kit. The 21st April saw day two of operating from RAF Wyton with a another check of the rigging of the masts which was swiftly carried out, confirmed connection of the antennas and we were soon on air calling CQ on 80Mtrs and our first contact was Jean - ON7ZM at 07.28 hours in Belgium and PA6HIT which was a special callsign for a Dutch Scout Camp which had three Scouts wanting to exchange greetings messages and signal reports with Emelia one of our Air Cadet loggers with calls – the big smile on her face at the end of the QSO said it all and it made the highlight of the day for our Club Chairman Mervyn (G4KLE) who was on the microphone. |
Steve G1KWF on 2m
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Many other European and UK stations continuing through until we moved to 40Mtrs after 09:00 hours working many contacts from DL, DK, HB, F, I, OK4 plus many others. During the days of operating we logged 161 HF and 25 VHF OSO's which made our total of 186 during the event this was helped by the excellent and simple set up of the equipment and the seasoned operators and loggers along with the cadets and staff who attended the event, we did experience some quiet times of operating as band conditions changed this even had an effect 2Mtrs when there just was nobody replying.
Having looked at the logged details again specifically the radio and antenna types which were wide and varied one particular radio is the ICOM IC-7300 which leaps out of every page with very good audio quality even if operated in the portable QRP set up. On the Saturday G4UXV – Chris gave GB0WY a call on 2Mtrs SSB at 09:50 as he had elected to receive in the morning one of the brand new ICOM IC-9700, good news it did not take long to set up and we were his first ever call on the new radio, yet another satisfied customer for GB0WY! |
My thanks go to the RAF Wyton Station Commander, Cadets and Staff from Beds & Cambs Wing RAF Air Cadets and the HARS Club Members who dedicated their time, effort and resources over the two days.
Flt Lt David Webb RAFAC - MØSKT
Flt Lt David Webb RAFAC - MØSKT
Another outing for HARS, this time to support Buckden Village Hall and their Village Fete.
We had been given our location on the sports field by the Festival Committee about a week in advanced, but on arrival at 8am on Saturday 1st July, M0VTG and G4KLE we were informed that we had now been allocated a new pitch between the Girl Guides Gazebo and the extra-large Trampoline Frame. Unperturbed we did a quick recce, changed our plans and started to lay out our Gazebo. We had expected Steve (G1KWF) to join us but he had been directed to the old location and watched M0VTG & G4KLE fighting in the wind to keep the Gazebo on the ground, he decided to join us after it was up with Malcolm (M0OLG) not far behind.
We had been given our location on the sports field by the Festival Committee about a week in advanced, but on arrival at 8am on Saturday 1st July, M0VTG and G4KLE we were informed that we had now been allocated a new pitch between the Girl Guides Gazebo and the extra-large Trampoline Frame. Unperturbed we did a quick recce, changed our plans and started to lay out our Gazebo. We had expected Steve (G1KWF) to join us but he had been directed to the old location and watched M0VTG & G4KLE fighting in the wind to keep the Gazebo on the ground, he decided to join us after it was up with Malcolm (M0OLG) not far behind.
The antenna was erected at the rear of the Gazebo, an Off Centre Fed Dipole (OCFD) made by M0VTG, safety tape around Masts and the trusty IC7200 was fired up and tested. We decided to use Battery power and Steve brought along a large 12v battery he took off a tractor we think. Our first contact was at 09:16 with PA3GFY (Rob – Netherlands) on SSB giving us 5/7.
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Throughout the day we were visited by Brian (G8CHC) and Phil (G0AYX) plus visits by Richard (M6TXR), Clive G3NKQ – after we worked him on the key from his QTH in Perry) and Stig (G1MVF). We even had a Radio Amateur from South Africa – John ZR6ART – who was visiting his son in Buckden.
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We managed to total up 26 contacts in all, with 22 CW – working into Norway, European Russia, Hungary, Czech Rep, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, South France and even Hartford (G4LHI). Bands use 40m, 80m, 20m and 30m.
Our last contact was at 16:37 on 30m CW with Knut – DL1DTX (Dresden), and then M0VTG, M0OLG, G1KWF, G1MVF and G4KLE dismantled the station and cleared up the site until next year.
Mervyn S Foster – G4KLE
Chairman, HARS
(Photos by Brian (G8CHC) and Stig (G1MVF))
Our last contact was at 16:37 on 30m CW with Knut – DL1DTX (Dresden), and then M0VTG, M0OLG, G1KWF, G1MVF and G4KLE dismantled the station and cleared up the site until next year.
Mervyn S Foster – G4KLE
Chairman, HARS
(Photos by Brian (G8CHC) and Stig (G1MVF))
