[UK-CONTEST] VHF XMAS cumulative contest

[Steve Bunting]

Hi All,

Since joining this group I have only seen posts re HF contests, but I
thought I would raise the frequency a bit and comment on my
experiences in the VHFCC’s popular Christmas cumulative contest
series.

My annual Christmas drive-athon takes me around the country visiting
familiy and friends. This usually precludes a decent entry in this
series (as I found last year from near Inverness). However, I put
together a small station to cover all four bands, namely my FT-847
with INRAD filters, G3FDW LPDA for 50 and 70MHz, 9 element Tonna for
144MHz and 12 elements on 432MHz. Antennas were supported by a 3m pole
on my drive on base plate at the side of the car. 

The band conditions were average at best. Activity was good on 2m as
always, but previous years results show that an all band effort is
required to place on the leader board. I tried to ensure that I made
QSO’s on all four bands rather than concentrate on 2m. Plenty of
stations were willing to QSY and two or three were active on all
bands. I found it difficult in a two-hour sprint to decide which band
I should be on, whether to ask for a QSY or CQ for a few minutes. Did
I get the balance right? Probably not. The totals on 6m were somewhat
low compared to serial numbers that I was receiving, whereas 15 QSOs
on 70cm on the 28th and 6 QSO’s on 4m on the 29th were probably too
many considering last years results. 

Improvements?  I think that the antenna for 50 and 70MHz was poor. I
will try to use a 3 ele yagi on 6m and a 4 ele on 4m next time. It
will be easier to assemble on site than the LPDA and probably work
better. I need better waterproofs also. The car got stuck in a
pathetic amount of mud on the way to the site on the last day and I
had to dig it out. During this and the antenna assembly I got soaked
and had to dry my trousers on the steering wheel using the heater. It
must be nice for those who worked me to know that I was sat above the
cloud level in the peak district in my underwear. Highlights were
working 3 new squares. Thanks especially to G(M)4ODA/P in IO66 for
QSOs on 2m and 70cm.

I have found this contest for the last few years to be a lot of fun. I
like the sprint type contests as they fit in with my lifestyle well
and I am very happy to see that the VHFCC are continuing the UKAC
series this year. If you have gear for the VHF bands then perhaps you
could pop up on a Tuesdsay and give a few points away?

So, here are my claimed scores (M0BPQ/P):

26 Dec: From IO91XL (Planed to operate from IO92, but was called back
by work in the morning)

Band	QSO	Mult	Total	ODX
50	4	3	12	M5FUN 61Km
70	1	1	1	M3BTC	2km (on fm!)
144	14	8	336	G7ANV 442Km
432	3	3	9	ON4CP 329Km

27 Dec From IO91XL (30m ASL)

Band	QSO	Mult	Total	ODX
50	5	3	15	M5FUN 61Km
70	1	1	1	M3BTC	2km (following an earlier sked request)
144	13	7	182	ON4ZN 317Km
432	7	6	42	ON4ZN 317Km

28 Dec From IO93GC
 what a difference a good site makes!

Band	QSO	Mult	Total	ODX
50	9	5	45	G3EDD 245Km
70	3	2	6	G4DEZ 101Km
144	36	18	648	F6CBH 490Km
432	15	7	105	M5FUN 265Km

29 Dec From IO93GC (295m ASL)

Band	QSO	Mult	Total	ODX
50	7	5	35	G8ZRE
70	6	6	36 	GM4AFF 418Km
144	25	13	325	F6CBH 490Km
432	8	4	32	G4OBK 133Km

Happy New Year everyone and enjoy your contesting.
73
Steve
M0BPQ
PS sorry about the long post !