Tuesday 22 July 2008

6m Activity Contest

I had a go at this tonight; first time I think. Conditions were not great and only managed three Qs and 2 Multipliers. I heard a few other stations, but with my 5 Watts and an indoor dipole (non-rotatable), I was not able to work them.

I don't realy have a 6m portable capability, to get myself to a better location, but I might work on this to see if I can improve my scores in this event.

73

Dave

Wednesday 16 July 2008

2m CC Contest

The results of the 2m Club Championship contest were out today. I was pleased to see one of my clubs, Bittern DX Group (www.bittern-dxers.org.uk/) improve our place from 13th to 11th.

This contest runs from 2000 to 2230 (clock time) the first Tuesday of every month on 2m SSB. Given that it runs every month throughout the year it's a tough one. Given my home QTH is not a good radio site I try to get out portable when I can which gives me the best chance of working some good multipliers (grid squares).

Monday 14 July 2008

IARU Contest - 12 July

I had a busy weekend, but did manage to operate for an hour or so on Saturday evening. The SSB portion of 40 & 80 were very noisy so I moved down to CW. Sadly, I did not work the UK HQ stations but did work a few overseas stations.

Dave

Saturday 12 July 2008

2m FM 2E0RPS

A short 2m FM QSO with Rod in Peckam tonight. Just as I was thinking of going to bed, he called CQ.

About M0BGR's Station

I live in a crowded suburban area where external antennas are not allowed. This means I have to either run low power with clandestine antennas or go out portable/mobile.

My station consists for an SGC-2020 for HF and an FT-817 for all bands, QRP, Portable. Additionally I have a Kenwood D7 for VHF/UKF FM and packet/APRS and a Yaesu VX5-R for VHF/UHF FM.

My antennas are all in the loft space:-

  • An HF doublet that tunes OK on all bands with my Z-11 auto tuner
  • A 6m fixed horizontal dipole (made from some old 15mm copper pipe)
  • A 2m 5-element beam on my Yaesu G-250 rotator
  • A 70cm 7-element beam, also on my rotator.
  • A vertical 2m/70 cm co-linear for FM.

As well as operating in London, we have a house in Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk and I operate from there whenever possible.