[UK-CONTEST] NFD G4BRA/P Low Power

[Dave Sergeant]

And here we go...


Callsign       : G4BRA/P
Claimed Score  : 1690 
 
Contest        : CW Field Day
Section        : Low Power
 
Group Name     : Bracknell ARC
Location       : Longhill Park, Bracknell
 
                        160m  80m  40m  20m  15m  10m  Total
Valid QSOs:        104   115    70    50      2     12     353
Total Points:        776   416  229   171     6      92   1690


TX/RX      : Elecraft K2
Power o/p  : 10W max ('about 7W')
Antennas   : 204ft inverted vee doublet at 30ft centre
Operators  : Dave G3YMC, John G3NCN, Maco M0WXO (JO1WXO)


It seems that the top places in the low power section are going to be 
taken by K2 equipped stations. Welcome to Stevenage to this trend. As 
you will know this is our third year with a K2 battery powered entry 
and this one seems to be the most successful. I hope to prepare a web 
writeup soon, but you will find reports on our previous entries at 
http://www.g4bra.org.uk.

As in previous years we operated for the first 12 hours, finishing at 
0300z and getting back home at 5.30 local. This allows us to have a 
good bash on Top Band, and I don't think we missed too much on 10m 
apart from at the start when it was a bit fast and furious for QRP. 
Top Band was certainly good and 80 not far behind, but the hf bands 
were disappointing.

It seems we had an excellent signal on the lower bands judging from 
reports and the ease we seemed to be able to break pileups and hold 
our own in calling CQ. In case there is any thought that we were 
cheating, the K2 was powered off  7AH gel cells - we swapped the 
battery after 8 hours but this was more to get round the annoying 
'LoBatt' beep from the K2 than it being flat. The camping trailer 
battery powered the laptop and lighting, and there was no other power 
on site. Our signal may well be due to things unknown buried under 
the site - Longhill Park was a municipal rubbish dump and was 
converted into a leisure park in the late 1960's. Rumour has it that 
there are all sorts of goodies still in the ground - perhaps they aid 
propagation!

And yes we had fluffy animals and quite a few interested human 
visitors. Setting up an amateur station in public places like this is 
certainly excellent publicity for the hobby.

73 Dave G3YMC

http://www.davesergeant.com