[UK-CONTEST] 80m CC CW G4BRA QRP

[Dave Sergeant]

Last night was our Bracknell club evening, and we had already put 
this in the calendar as a 'night on the air' before I had checked the 
CC dates. I decided it was an excellent opportunity to show the rest 
of our members what these events are all about.

G4BRA was set up in our church hall using my K2 out of habit at 5W, 
battery powered for convenience, and a 90ft inverted V doublet 
supported by my DK9SQ 10m pole. Putting up the antenna caused some 
interest with the local lads who were playing football when I arrived 
- 'What's that sir' - 'you have a radio?', etc as they dived under 
the wire on their bikes. I had to wait for the brownies to finish 
their session before I could get into the hall to put the station 
together, so it was just a few minutes before the start when I got it 
on the air. A quick chat with Tom G3OLB proved all was well and with 
a 599++ report it was getting out remarkably well.

77 QSOs - rapid fire at the start but as usual tailed off 
significantly when the thunder static came up as it got darker. Not a 
single GM worked or even heard, was it conditions or lack of 
activity? There did seem less activity anyway and I noticed there 
were very few making over 100Qs.

At the other end of the church the other club members set up an HF 
SSB station with a Windom antenna. There they had quite a lot of fun, 
but worked somewhat fewer stations. At one point they rather cheekily 
tried 80m SSB and realised it might not be that good idea - thanks 
for the s7 hash chaps... Many of our members are not that active 
outside events like VHF NFD so it was good to get them on the air. 
And they kept wandering in to marvel at my station with a QSO rate 
they could only dream at....

Regarding the comments on the CC format. We do indeed have a number 
of 'Country Members' - those who have been local members in the past 
and have moved away - and welcome the opportunity for them to come on 
in these events. Little activity in the SSB sections to date, but you 
will see us in the CW and data ones. It is a conversation piece on 
our club reflector each time, and we have our own little inter member 
challenge. I would certainly like this arrangement to continue, which 
we currently cannot do in AFS.

73 Dave G3YMC (many of you seemed to work out it was me on the key!)

http://www.davesergeant.com