[UK-CONTEST] Field Day - a North Wales perspective

[gw0etf at btinternet.com]

Fascinating to read the glowing reports of conditions from GW0AAA/P; here on Ynys Mon/Anglesey in the north it seemed a bit different.

Yes we did have a problem at the start. Not being familiar with the FT1000, I failed to notice for the first half hour that the built in cw keyer break-in button was on; coupled with the microham keyer this meant that while the sidetone said we were sending morse code we were in fact sending a continuous tone!! So apologies to anyone who thought we were tuning on top or just enjoying a jamming session.....Other than that things were excellent for the first 15 hours or so with great conditions on top band overnight; we really could imagine a big score at the end. Once the sun was well up over the yardarm in the morning however conditions gradually deteriorated until towards the end we were really struggling to grab whatever we could, on any band and our hopes of big numbers slowly faded.....


Ofcourse we all know that the south of Wales is favoured over the north - they have the M4, Welsh Assembly, grand slam rugby, Charlotte Church and Cardiff City in the FA cup final; we get Wrexham FC in the Conference and yet more road works on the A55. Now we know they put something in the air and sea water to give them the edge in HF propagation too - who needs conspiracy theories?

But we do have the mountains and beaches up here and lying back roasting in Steve's sun lounger enjoying the views of Snowdon across the Straits during my 'down time' on Sunday made up for everything - all in all a great weekend.

73, Stewart Rolfe, GW0ETF @ GW0GEI/P (ops gw0gei,gw0etf)