[UK-CONTEST] GM3PXK/P NFD2005 Report

Thu Aug 11 16:20:10 EDT 2005

Mid-Lanark Amateur Radio Society NFD 2005

GM3PXK/P

I decided that National Field Day would be a perfect opportunity to get everyone in our local club (Mid-Lanark Amateur Radio Society) outside and into the sunshine. A quick look at an ordnance survey map revealed the perfect location just outside the town of Kilsyth, a picnic site up in the Campsie Hills. The view from up there is excellent being over 1000ft above sea level and having an excellent take off to the south.

NFD is a 24hr CW contest with entrants setting up and operating portable stations throughout the British Isles. The original concept of the contest was to test your clubs ability to set up a portable radio station that could be used in the event of a natural disaster or other such occurrence. Operation is allowed on 160,80,40,20,15 and 10m and there are 3 entry sections open, restricted or low-power. These sections cover most peoples needs and allows a greater chance of success to those of us that lack the resources to compete against the 'big' guns. I chose to enter the restricted section as this was my first NFD and I felt it would be better to start with as small a portable station as possible. 

The contest was 4 weeks away, but I had organized a 2 week holiday in Cyprus, coming back only 3 days before the start. Organization therefore consisted of getting the entry into the RSGB and circulating an e-mail looking for volunteers and equipment. Luckily Phil Woods GM0LIR and Brian Devlin GM0EGI (both members of GM0B contest group) rose to the challenge and we quickly ascertained that between us we had enough equipment to set up the contest station. Phil offered his FT1000MP and Bencher paddle key, and Brian came up with a tent, antenna, generator and 2 masts. I contributed my laptop, an MFJ986 ATU and a Winkey computer/key interface as recommended for use with SD by EI5DI.

This would be Brian's first CW contest, but he had been practicing with Morserunner and felt confidant enough to take the plunge. Phil on the other hand comes from an Amateur family background and has the morse proficiency to be able to talk whilst sending and make it look easy. I passed the morse exam as a necessity 20 years ago and although I kept my hand in with the occasional contact I have only recently got back into it. My first CW contest experience was in the RSGB 80m club championships earlier in the year and my speed was improving every month.

Time quickly rolled by and before we knew it the contest was upon us. We had been hoping that someone would come forward with a caravan in the interim but alas it was not to be and we had to settle for the tent. The generator had only been started for a quick test several months before and put away again so there was a big question mark on its reliability over the full contest period. Both Brian and Phil had used CT logging software during SSB CQWW and needed time to get familiar with SD but as it turned out a quick read of the manual the night before had to suffice.

The morning of the contest saw us up in the Campsie Hills with changeable weather and 2 car loads of equipment. First on the list was the erection of Brian's masts. These were of Brian's own invention and consisted of several fiberglass sections of windsurfer masts slotted together giving 2 masts at a height of 30ft each. These masts were suitably guyed out to support Brian's home brew linear loaded top band dipole, which was then pulled up using a pulley arrangement. Unfortunately the antenna was made from heavy duty insulated copper wire and the shear weight of it put the two masts under considerable strain, resulting in the centre of the antenna being only 12ft above ground level. We decided not to risk breaking the masts by trying to get the antenna higher and consoled ourselves with getting on with the rest of the station.

The tent turned out to be a 4 man dome tent and as we set about erecting it, we instantly realized it was going to be a very tight squeeze. The table and chairs were reluctantly put back in the car and the box for the FT1000MP was made into an impromptu table and a chair was made from a toolbox with a fleece put over it. The plan was that operation of the station would be achieved in the lotus position, which none of us quite believed was possible but said nothing. Not only was the size of the tent insufficient but it had also started to rain heavily and the tent walls kept sagging down compromising the inner tent to water ingression. At this point we all experienced that 'lets pack up and go home' feeling for the first time. Just at our lowest point, the sun suddenly came out and things didn't seem so bad. A few adjustments of the tent poles improved the situation a little and our spirits started to lift slightly.

With 2 hours to go, my turn had come and I set about connecting all the equipment up in the tent. Firstly the open wire feeder was brought up to the door of the tent and with the aid of some additional fiberglass mast sections was held above ground level right up the back of the ATU. The ATU itself was covered with some bubble wrap and sat on a plastic tub just outside the tent. Tuning would require unzipping the tent flap and leaning outside into the wilds till resonance was achieved. A coax patch cord was brought into the tent and connected to the FT1000MP which was now sitting proudly atop its box. The laptop and Winkey was set on top of the rig and a tray was placed partially under the rig to provide a place for the external keyboard to sit.

With 1 hour to go. It was time to start the generator. The first few attempts failed and at this point we all experienced that 'lets pack up and go home' feeling for the second time. A quick assessment of the fuel level in the tank brought hope to the situation and after topping it up the generator burst in life and we all breathed a sigh of relief. It was decided at this point that Phil and Brian go and get more fuel while I finished off the station set up.

Inside the tent I powered up the rig and laptop and after a few tense moments and several expletives I had rig control and keyer output from the logging software up and running. On picking up Phil's morse key I noticed to my horror that it had the wrong size stereo jack plug on it. Luckily the right size plug was found, so with half an hour to go I set about botching a new lead together suitable for the Winkey input.

With 15 minutes to go Phil and Brian arrived back with the fuel and we set about finding the settings on the ATU for each band of operation. We could tune the antenna on all bands apart from 20m, which required the additional use of the FT1000MP internal ATU before a reasonable SWR could be achieved.  This was far from ideal, but with 2 minutes to go it was the best we could do.

I had previously made up a rota of operating slots, which we decided should be 2 hrs in length. This meant that each of us would do 4 x 2 hr operating slots with a 4hr break between each one whilst the other two took their turns. As I was the only one who had used SD before we decided that I would go first thus allowing some time for the others to become familiar with the software.

It was 1500UTC and I opened the scoring straight away on 40m with a small pile-up of stations trying to work us. More points are gained for working portable stations in NFD so it was quite nice to be 'desirable' for once. My mouth was dry and I was quite nervous for about the first 10 contacts then soon settled back into a rhythm. Outside the tent, the sun was shining and Phil and Brian had retrieved the chairs from the car and were sitting out in the sun chatting. During the first two hours the heat in the tent rose sharply and the tent flaps had to be left open for a welcome breeze. Before I knew it, my time was up and Brian squeezed by me and into the operating 'lotus' position looking nervous and said "I've forgotten everything about CW". Despite this statement he then donned the headset and started working stations and slowly relaxed into it as I had before him. 

Apart from the occasional 'single tone' pile up and operators coming back at a much greater speed than we were sending, the contest progressed through our first sessions without a hitch. We came across all standards of operators on the air from the complete novice through to experienced contester, which confirms that NFD is not only about scoring points but is also a great way to learn and get involved in CW contesting. When I congratulated Brian after his first CW contest session he looked relieved and elated not only due to getting out of the cramped operating position in the tent but having successfully racked up an impressive score for his first time out.

When I got into the tent for my 2nd session, Phil had obviously been very busy and had just about worked every station we could hear on 40m. It was 21:00UTC and I decided to drop down onto 80m to start the scoring there. It was slower going than 40m to get new countries and the band wasn't quite open, but due to our problems with the antenna on 20m I decided to concentrate on 80m and try and build our score. Brian and Phil both appeared at the tent flaps at 23:00UTC due in part to them both sharing the heat of Brian's engine and having a good kip in the car outside.

They continued the scoring on 80m including working into the states a couple of times. They then reached the same stage on 80m as I had on 40m and dropped it down onto 160m for the night shift session (1:00 to 3:00UTC). I was woken a few times during their 4 hrs with whoops of delight and laughing coming from the tent so it was obviously a very productive period and top band was apparently wide open. I had difficulty sleeping, as I didn't have the engine running and it was bitterly cold so instead I ate some of my provisions and made various trips checking and refilling the generator in the now deep fog and drizzling rain. Visibility was about 2 feet at this point

At 03:00UTC I arrived at the tent shaking with the cold. Phil was in high spirits and was calling me an old miser for not running my car engine to keep warm. The tent was warm in comparison to the car, due to having 2 occupants and the rig belching out heat. I spent my session mopping up the remnants on 160m and just before the end of my session at 05:00UTC, I switched to 20m to see if I could hear anything. Brian then joined me and for his daybreak shift and we spent the full session hunting and pouncing on 80/40 and 20m waiting till 20m opened for real. Phil showed up at 07:00UTC with normal shoes on and no socks. His feet had apparently got wet during the night and his socks hadn't dried yet. The ground round the tent was very soft and muddy with all the rain and water was seeping up through the tent floor at an alarming rate. The good news was that 20m was finally open and we left Phil to do his thing. Visibility was up to 20 feet and there were now some breaks in the rain. We were all up and about after the night's activities and assessing how to get damp things dry. We fashioned 2 socks for Phil out of 2 plastic shopping bags and taped them round his ankles. To keep his feet warm while operating.

I relieved Phil at 09:00UTC and carried on pumping 20m for points. With an hour to go till the end of my session I moved up onto 15m and opened the scoring, but it was relatively slow going although I could tell the MUF was slowly climbing as the day progressed. I had a quick check 10m and was rewarded with a couple of contacts before the band closed and then dropped back to 15m to catch any new stations switching on. At which point 15m closed and I dropped to 20m, which then also closed. I was beginning to wonder if the antenna was still up when Brian relieved me at 11:00UTC. I caught sight of Phil looking quite comical with his improvised shopping bag socks plodding around the picnic site looking miserable.

We concentrated on 15 and 10m for the last 2 sessions although propagation on 10m was very sporadic until the last hour and a half of the contest where it opened enough to make a decent score of it. It was near the last session when Phil had to take an early toilet break and I noticed the power had not been turned back up after tuning! We had been operating on 10m with only 5-10w for an hour! Our confidence was restored once the power was turned back up and we finished the contest by bagging a last flurry of Qs on 10m.

All said and done, it was a great contest and we all look forward to doing it again next year (in a caravan!).

Douglas Maxwell

GM0ELP

-------------- next part --------------
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.10.5/67 - Release Date: 8/9/2005