News
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- Written by: Chris G4ZCS
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As promised last month I’ll explain a bit about grid squares and their usefulness.
Using USB to communicate is all well and good, however try to answer an Arabic speaker in response to a request for your QTH if you live in the Anglesey village of Llanphwlg…. or whatever that is! Phonetics only make this worse, but using 'IO73vf' is a lot easier.
The world-wide system can locate any station within a mile or so using the 6 digits. In August I worked three Icelandic stations in quick succession each with a different square. This indicated a likely F2 reflection out to 1,200 miles at 330° making the F2 reflection somewhere over Stornoway. Now with over 300 squares worked on 60M FT8 some patterns are appearing. I can even predict a path to the Southern Andes area at 11 PM local time!
Mid-evening of the 5th held a big surprise. I saw a ZL4 station decoding on 5Meg’, thinking it was a pirate I checked the details on QRZ and sent the guy an e-mail. To my surprise he confirmed it was him but no confirmed contact. Better luck next time, however, it proves that long distance propagation is available on this band from time to time. Toward the end of the month I managed to 'bag' the Uganda DXpedition and a VR2 station in Hong Kong. His QTH is the 39th floor of a block sited on what was a swamp when I was there. Some development!
Sometimes. I venture up to 30 Metres to see if there is any DX. I have managed to work quite a number of US stations and one evening I worked half a dozen in quick succession, it was a day later I was checking the State and County of these when I discovered I had worked Brookings County in South Dakota, whoopie my last State, I’ve worked all 50 after 20 years of trying!
Another nice thing that arrived on the doormat this month, a card confirming two contacts with the UN HQ in New York. I remember our late, lunch-time net, friend Bob, VE3UUH was hoping to make this one as his all time last one needed for a 'Full House'. I’m still trying to get to the magic 300 DXCCs out of the current 340 total. I also received a card confirming a Mexican island, this gives me zone 6, Mexico, and Island NA-135. Another good one that!
Next month I’ll describe how to get confirmations, if you need them.
Good DXing
Chris, G4ZCS
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- Written by: Chris G3YTU
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Introduction
The GB0BR Railways On The Air (ROTA) amateur radio Special Event at Horsted Keynes Bluebell Railway Station took place on Saturday 23rd September 2023, with operators from the Downlands Radio Group Gavin G6DGK, Kevin G4XBG, Chris G4TZA, Aharon 2E1ALC & Chris G3YTU with Phil M5BTB assisting with the logging. It was good to welcome Bob G0BUX who helped with the setting up of the mast and antenna in the morning.
It was good to see Berni M0XYF, Chris M7VJE and Kim G7AIE who were welcome visitors during the day from the Mid Sussex Amateur Radio Society (MSARS). The mobile phone and data signals at the top of the field above the car park have very poor coverage and help from Chris M7VJE with accessing the QRZ.COM website to check callsigns and station details was most welcome.
Radio equipment and antenna
The half size Doublet (66ft - i.e. cut for 40m) was used with the apex at about 15ft a.g.l. supported by a mast made from NATO glass reinforced fibreglass interlocking poles. The ends of the antenna wire were raised up to about 8ft a.g.l. using two fibreglass and aluminium decorators’ poles.
The TFA Battery Digital Clock worked this time with three spare batteries just in case and was readable even in the sunlight. The Icom IC-7000 transceiver worked well with the MFJ-974HB balanced line tuner. There was a loose connection at one time between the radio transceiver and the tuner which resulted in a very low transmitter output. This was discovered quickly and the UHF PL-259 connector on the tuner tightened and full transmitter power was restored.
Railways On The Air stations contacted
A total of 112 contacts were made of which there were 19 ROTA Stations on 40m with signal strengths being quite good most of the time although there was some QSB (fading) and continental interference later in the afternoon.
Logsheets & ADIF
The GB0BR log sheets have been typed into an Excel spreadsheet and imported into the DX Shell ADIF Master program and saved as an ADIF file. This has been uploaded to eQSL so that anyone who contacted us can download a QSL card automatically for contacts that have been made.
Chris G3YTU
Thanks
MSARS members were congenially invited to attend the station by the Downland Radio Group, for which we are are very grateful. It was a magnificent day out, and the weather treated us all very well. This is one of my favourite events of the year, and it didn't disappoint in 2023. The beautifully constructed antenna (by Chris G3YTU) performed really well all day. If you want a lesson in quality wire antenna construction, you won't find better than G3YTU's creations.
No tent required this year, as the breeze on top of the hill was mild, and the temperatures were quite pleasant in the sun, if a little chilly in the shade early on. Chris must have been boiling hot in his arctic survival suit.
Hope you enjoy the photos, and thanks to Aharon 2E1ALC for the top one.
It was great to see everybody, and the MSARS folks were made very welcome. Let's hope that between us, we can organise many more events such as these, as it would be a great shame if such Special Event Stations don't get the support they need to carry on into the future.
Berni M0XYF
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Downland Radio Group invite all members of the Mid Sussex Amateur Radio Society to come along to the wonderful Railways On The Air Special Event Station at Horsted Keynes station GB0BR Saturday week, 23rd September.
There will hopefully be half a dozen of us in attendance, so please drop in and say hello.
For those able to help with this event please arrive at about 9:00 am Saturday 23rd at the top of the Car Park at Horsted Keynes Bluebell Railway Station so we can setup the tent, radio equipment, mast and antenna.
Please bring your own chair, drinks and food. The station buffet does have some refreshments but has been known to run out later in the day.
It is also the Bluebell Railway Beer Festival and both Sheffield Park and Horsted Keynes Stations will be busy with lots of visitors.
ROTA website: https://rota.barac.org.uk
GB0BR on QRZ.com: https://www.qrz.com/db/GB0BR
Best wishes
Chris G3YTU
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- Written by: Chris G3YTU
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Introduction
This year’s ILLW Special Event Radio Station GB0NL was setup in the Car Park at Newhaven West Beach by Stuart M0ABT with his recreational vehicle and table which proved to be very suitable especially as the weather was good with no sight of rain.
Radio equipment, antenna and power supply
The radio equipment and antenna provided by Stuart were as follows:
• ICOM IC-7300 HF / 50MHz transceiver
• HyEnd 8 Band 80/40/(30)/20/17/15/12/10m 131ft (40m) antenna supported between two telescopic poles at 6m AGL.
• Lead acid leisure batteries + solar panels and charger/regulator module (Stuart had added some RF ferrite chokes to the solar panel cables which seemed to have cured the noise generated on the amateur radio bands which was noticeable on 40m at a previous event).
Contacts - lighthouse stations
A total of 115 contacts were made on Saturday and 64 contacts on Sunday. A total of 15 lighthouse stations were contacted which are listed below:
There were a few other contacts that were not included in the list of ILLW registered callsigns so could not be checked easily:
The furthest lighthouse station was 9M4LHO in Malaysia.
Contacts - Other stations
A few of the other more interesting stations contacted:
• CW5X Radiogrupo Sur, Montevideo, Uruguay
• VK2GJC Greg Cogar
• VK3OZY Grant Mahoney
• VK3HX Peter Collie, Frankston, Victoria
• VK2CR Peter Richard Thomas, Sydney
• TK4TH Corsica, France
• GB0WWA Ray, South Dorset Radio Society (SDRS) to commemorate the wartime Battle of Britain airfield of RAF Warmwell as part of the RAFARS (Royal Airforce Amateur Radio Society) 'Airfields On The Air' programme.
• 9A150TEC Radio Club "KARLOVAC" 150th anniversary of Nikola Tesla's graduation from Karlovac Gymnasium and the opening of the Tesla Experience Center in Karlovac on July 1, 2023 - December 31 2023.
• TC100TC 100th Anniversary of the Republic of TÜRKİYE
• CX9ARH Roberto Gonzalez Hohn, Montevideo, Uruguay
• S79VU Ravi Pandit, Seychelles
• VP8LP Bob McLeod, Falkland Islands
Logsheets and ADIF
The GB0NL log sheets have been typed into an Excel spreadsheet and imported into the DX Shell ADIF Master program and saved as an ADIF file which has been uploaded to eQSL so that anyone who contacted us can download a QSL card automatically for contacts that they have made.
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to Stuart M0ABT and the others who helped setup and take down the Special Event Station radio equipment, antennas and those who helped with the operating and logging of the contacts, Philip G8KBI, Steve M7DQY, Steven M0USC, Colin G3ZAF, Andy M0CFO, Gavin G6DGK, Aharon 2E1ALC and those who turned up to make the weekend a memorable event not forgetting Vince G1FBH who captured the event on video.
Thanks also to the landowners Newhaven Port and Properties Ltd and the leaseholder Nick Jones for the use of the West Beach Promenade car park. Nick Jones made an unannounced visit to our Special Event Station on Saturday and was made very welcome to see what amateur radio special events are all about.
A selection of QSL cards
Chris Coward G3YTU
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As the sun wasn’t playing ball again at the beginning of August, I thought I would try to learn to use this FT8 thingy as it seems the most popular data-mode at present.
Most of the bands were mayhem so I picked my old favourite, 60 Meters (5 Meg'). I had only ever worked about 20 DXCCs on this band since 2002 and I was expecting a very quiet place to practice. How wrong can I be! Most of the contacts were Germany and Holland with a smattering of DX including Malaysia. Altogether 63 DXCC slots worked in less than a week. Not too bad, but my understanding of what is going on and my operating techniques need a lot more work!
As I was feeling up to it, I went to the 'nag & natter' on the 11th. It was great to see real people again if only a few. A good opportunity to catch up with the news and the scandal! To finish off a pleasant evening I had a look in the shack to see all the new shiny kit. In my opinion far too complicated for me but I bet the 'youngsters' will work wonders with all that technology. Chris was in the process of setting up the club station to work FT8 by remote control. I showed him a couple of things that had held me up when getting mine going at home. Within 10 minutes G3ZMS had made a contact with Eastern Canada, and, was then called by an American station. All safely logged electronically for QSLing later.
On the 14th, as I was feeling OK, I managed to get to Ron’s funeral. There was a good turnout from the club and it was an opportunity to catch up & reminisce about the old days.
Back to radio. For some strange reason I suddenly developed a high SWR on 21 Meg. Lots of checking; antenna and connections, feeder, antenna switch, ATU, and balun. The ATU is a remote one at the end of the garden so a bit complicated. I took off its lid and got a mild whiff of smoke. Close inspection and metering - no fault found. Then I noticed a bit of black on the antenna input socket, so I checked the balun. As I started to remove it from the weatherproof box it fell to bits! The solder joint on the coax socket was only just touching. I believe Ken had a fire in his, so I was not surprised to find signs of heat near the ferrite cores. A quick dash down to Screwfix (other retailers available) and got a new plastic box. After two hours in the workshop drilling, soldering, and sawing - hey presto a 'new' balun.
Still playing with FT8 (and now FT4) with no more than 20 Watts, I have been surprised to start getting some DX. 5 Meg gave me a CE4 in Chile, LU8 in Argentina, and I was called several times by JA’s and 3C3 in Equatorial Guinea. I was even called out of the blue by Walid, OD5ZZ in Lebanon! (We usually make contact on SSB.) Later that day, I made a contact with 3B8 on Mauritius island.
I have noted that these data-modes usually include the stations’ grid locator code as their QTH. I had never bothered to take too much notice, but the 5Meg band should really only be 'locals'. Next month I’ll elaborate, as at the time of writing I have worked well over 200 squares just in the greater European area. This could be a really useful propagation tool!
Below are the first proof of long haul propo’ on 60M.
Good DXing
Chris, G4ZCS
