[UK-CONTEST] FW: NFD

[g3pdh]

  _____  

From: g3pdh [mailto:g3pdh at btinternet.com] 
Sent: 12 June 2008 23:08
To: 'uk-contest at contesting.com'
Subject: NFD

 

Seeing as stations are relating their experiences here is a summary of the
Norfolk ARC efforts.  We entered two stations, one in the OPEN (G4ARN/P) and
one in RESTRICTED (G6NRC/P). The newcomers found the 12 hr limit of QRP too
restricting hence the selection of sections.

Work started on site during Friday evening in the pouring rain to get the
antenna towers in place and ready for raising on Saturday when the wx would
be better - wrong! The rain was even heavier all day Saturday. The A station
was set up in an ex PO Ford Transit engineering van using a 756 mk1 to a
beam and separate LF dipoles at 60 ft. An intermittent rotator and lack of
any indication of resonance on the beam meant that the tower had to be
raised and lowered 2 or 3 times and water in everything was diagnosed as the
over riding technical problem. The B station used a new 756 pro3 and a
doublet and ran about 50 watts. We luxuriously had 3 excellent generators on
site which ran faultlessly until someone forgot to top one up!  Both
computers were notebooks and N1MM software was run on both stations. 3
operators attended the A station and 7 on the B station.

It was soon obvious at the start of the contest that we were not hearing too
much on HF and struggled to work a few on 10m and not a lot on 15 or 20. The
famous E's we keep reading about certainly escaped rainy Norfolk. Things
picked up as expected on LF and continued in the same vein on Sunday with
lots of band hopping to scrape up a few HF contacts. The projected run on
USA with the beam never happened.  Meanwhile the B station plodded on with
its doublet seeming to work just as effectively. In the end the A station
managed 924 q's and 3590 points with the B station at 481 q's and 1673
points.

Our field was close to an electronics company run by our chairman therefore
we also laid on a mini Hamvention over the weekend with talks on antennae, D
Star and the like followed by a Hog Roast in the sunshine on Sunday with
about 100 people on site. This all made for a very civilised weekend as
compared to sitting in a wet field alone and was really enjoyed by everyone.
Analysis showed that the A station in the Open section worked less q's for
the same score as it did last year in the Restricted section with a simple
doublet; now there's progress, was it conditions? Who knows?  The B station
did pretty well for beginners and 50w which set a target to be beaten next
year.

73

Malcolm G3PDH for Norfolk Amateur Radio Club, Norwich.