[UK-CONTEST] 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day
Tony Roskilly
g3zrj.morsekey at btinternet.com
Mon Oct 6 03:19:15 EDT 2008
G3YMC wrote:
You have to remember of course that when this year's contest calendar
> was written last autumn we should have by now been well on the upward
> slope of the sunspots
This is hardly a valid point, "of course" the 21 28 Contest could have been
transformed into a multiband contest some years ago when it was predictable
that the two higher contest bands would yield very little. I find it
strange the RSGB can't organise a multiband contest to encourage all
possible entrants
from the UK as do many other national societies. A further point is that
in the dreadful HF conditions it makes it very unlikely that any "average"
station
will be able to work much at all, so is this another case of the "God Squad"
doing what suits them and devil take the "boring old farts" (comments made
by
at least two HFCC members) who can't afford or can't install a
"competitive" station.
I expect these comments to generate scorn from those who are of the belief
that you can't be serious unless you
have QRO and beams etc, have a little humility please and realise that there
are many very capable ops out here with limited stations and we also
pay our subs to RSGB and take part in contests and other events with little
chance of winning as we believe in the spirit of Amateur radio not just in
winning.
I have only been licensed since 1970, only 7 years seatime as a Radio
Officer, only 10 years at Portishead Radio and only worked as a Telecom
training instructor with a large organisation based in Cheltenham so "of
course" I wouldn't understand anything about HF operation or propagation.
I have also only been chief Morse Examiner for Gloucestershire and
Herefordshire and carried out Morse tests at Portishead Radio for many
years.
Vy 73 to all
Tony G3ZRJ
----- Original Message -----
From: <uk-contest-request at contesting.com>
To: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2008 8:56 PM
Subject: UK-Contest Digest, Vol 70, Issue 9
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: UHF Contest ? (John Lemay)
> 2. 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day (Tony Roskilly)
> 3. Re: 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day (Callum M0MCX)
> 4. Re: 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day (Dave Sergeant)
> 5. Re: 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day (Peter Hobbs)
> 6. Re: 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day (MM0BQI)
> 7. Re: 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day (Dave Sergeant)
> 8. Re: 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day (Peter Hobbs)
> 9. Re: 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day (Clive Whelan)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2008 18:18:29 +0100
> From: "John Lemay" <john at carltonhouse.eclipse.co.uk>
> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] UHF Contest ?
> To: "'Adrian Rees'" <rees.a at btconnect.com>, "'UK-contest'"
> <uk-contest at contesting.com>
> Message-ID: <6A09C33E64AB4B7E80BEAD391F4B8473 at G4ZTR>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Adrain
>
> Activity was poor and conditions were poor. Your vertical is cross
> polarised
> to the vast majority of dx and contest signals, giving you a loss of 20 or
> 30dB compared to a horizontal antenna.
>
> All told, I'm not too surprised you heard very little.
>
> I hope this does not put you off, you'll find it so different when you get
> the yagi up.
>
> John G4ZTR (G0VHF/P, M1CRO/P)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com
> [mailto:uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Adrian Rees
> Sent: 05 October 2008 10:17
> To: 'UK-contest'
> Subject: [UK-CONTEST] UHF Contest ?
>
> Erm, I understand that the IARU UHF Contest is on this weekend? Has it
> been
> cancelled ?
>
> I was in the shack for 2 or 3 hours yesterday, and parked up on 432.200,
> expecting to hear a few stations in the contest, with the intention that I
> could work to give points away. I called CQ about 14:15, and worked two
> stations, who had parked up on 432.200MHz also intending to give points
> away.
>
> By 6pm I had worked two stations, and tuned up and down the band to no
> avail. Nothing.
>
> Admittedly I am not fully operational on 70cms at the moment as my 70cms
> Yagi is still on the ground. Nevertheless I did expect to work one or two
> stations with my 5 x 5/8 Stacked Colinear and 130 Watts, at 1500 feets
> ASL.
> So what's happening ? No UK activity ?
>
> I'll spend an hour in the shack this morning, again spinning around and
> calling on 70cms, just in case I can hear and work someone in the contest.
> Afterall it would be really disheartening to enter and not work a soul for
> a
> few hours.
>
> 73
>
> Adrian MW1LCR
>
> _______________________________________________
> UK-Contest mailing list
> UK-Contest at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2008 20:17:10 +0100
> From: "Tony Roskilly" <g3zrj.morsekey at btinternet.com>
> Subject: [UK-CONTEST] 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day
> To: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
> Message-ID: <147186E18AC747BE96475057EBA7A387 at SallytonePC>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Hi All,
> Why on Earth the RSGB continues with this farce at this time of the Solar
> Cycle I can't
> understand, mogodon via radio. With a barefoot rig and a doublet this
> year's contest
> was a total waste of time. Please can't RSGB organise a contest which
> takes into account
> the current and likely conditions over the next few years and allows those
> of us without large linears and beams to actually work stations rather
> than as I did have Radio 4 in one side of my headphones and the the 21 MHz
> band in the other, I quite like the Archers but didn't expect to be
> listening to it as the only copyable signal. This is certainly no way
> to encourage new ops to participate in contesting.
> 73
> Tony G3ZRJ FOC 1774 FISTS 7727
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2008 20:36:52 +0100
> From: "Callum M0MCX" <callum at mccormick.uk.com>
> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day
> To: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
> Message-ID: <013a01c92721$b7948de0$26bda9a0$@uk.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Hi Tony,
>
> I didn't do this contest because I thought it would be a waste of time
> with
> my set up. However, when I did SSB Field Day this year, there was quite a
> bit of activity on the higher bands which was a pleasant surprise. This of
> course, is half the fun.
>
> The other half is being forced to participate in something you don't want
> to
> do! :)
>
> Callum McCormick
> http://www.m0mcx.co.uk/
>
> Some people think I have an attitude problem. **** 'em
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com
> [mailto:uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Tony Roskilly
> Sent: 05 October 2008 20:17
> To: uk-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: [UK-CONTEST] 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day
>
> Hi All,
> Why on Earth the RSGB continues with this farce at this time of the Solar
> Cycle I can't
> understand, mogodon via radio. With a barefoot rig and a doublet this
> year's contest
> was a total waste of time. Please can't RSGB organise a contest which
> takes into account
> the current and likely conditions over the next few years and allows those
> of us without large linears and beams to actually work stations rather
> than
> as I did have Radio 4 in one side of my headphones and the the 21 MHz band
> in the other, I quite like the Archers but didn't expect to be listening
> to
> it as the only copyable signal. This is certainly no way to encourage
> new ops to participate in contesting.
> 73
> Tony G3ZRJ FOC 1774 FISTS 7727
>
> _______________________________________________
> UK-Contest mailing list
> UK-Contest at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Sun, 05 Oct 2008 20:39:46 +0100
> From: "Dave Sergeant" <dave at davesergeant.com>
> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day
> To: uk-contest at contesting.com
> Message-ID: <48E91802.11436.31C690A at dave.davesergeant.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
> On 5 Oct 2008 at 20:17, Tony Roskilly wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>> Why on Earth the RSGB continues with this farce at this time of the
>> Solar Cycle I can't understand, mogodon via radio. With a barefoot
>> rig and a doublet this year's contest was a total waste of time.
>> Please can't RSGB organise a contest which takes into account the
>> current and likely conditions over the next few years and allows those
>> of us without large linears and beams to actually work stations rather
>> than as I did have Radio 4 in one side of my headphones and the the 21
>> MHz band in the other, I quite like the Archers but didn't expect to be
>> listening to it as the only copyable signal. This is certainly no
>> way to encourage new ops to participate in contesting. 73
>> Tony G3ZRJ FOC 1774 FISTS 7727
>>
>
> You have to remember of course that when this year's contest calendar
> was written last autumn we should have by now been well on the upward
> slope of the sunspots - rather than the current prolonged second
> minimum. Apart from a few short looks I didn't waste much time myself
> as I knew it would have been a washout - 2 QSOs here, with 9A3VM and
> HA6PX so expect sporadic E was involved if nothing else. If there were
> a QRP section I might even have won it....
>
> 73 Dave G3YMC
>
> http://www.davesergeant.com
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2008 21:14:34 +0100
> From: "Peter Hobbs" <peter at tilgate.co.uk>
> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day
> To: "Dave Sergeant" <dave at davesergeant.com>,
> <uk-contest at contesting.com>
> Message-ID: <D3A1E31C4B484764BC7314A26E699544 at TILGATE5>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=original
>
>>If there were a QRP section
>> I might even have won it....
>> 73 Dave G3YMC
>
> There is a QRP section Dave and yes, I doubt it took too many QSOs to win
> it. Perhaps the RSGB definition of QRP doesn't altogether correspond with
> yours though . . .
>
> 73
> Peter G3LET
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2008 21:16:07 +0100
> From: "MM0BQI" <MM0BQI at blueyonder.co.uk>
> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day
> To: "UK-Contest" <uk-contest at contesting.com>
> Message-ID: <6BF93216D66549C494E4F721D51A9355 at eu.micros.int>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=original
>
> Surely the magic of radio is that there is no way of knowing what
> conditions
> will be like, sunspots or no sunspots? Try working from the north of
> Scotland when auora is in full swing, chances are are you will hear even
> less than you did today! Last weekend during CQWW I had some good
> contacts
> on 15m and even managed some on 10m!!. Today I had one QSO in three hours
> of 'listening' (Anyone know if there is an SWL section???)
> Please don't blame the RSGB for lack of sunspots (lack of QSL cards maybe
> but not QSOs!!)
> I set up my portable station with fishing rod vertical and 50w down by the
> seaside and listened and listened, it was almost as bad as 2m on a good
> day.
> Luckily enough it was wall to wall sunshine and the natural beauty of
> Scotland on an autumn day made it all worthwhile.
> On the other hand yesterdays EU Sprint was a blast. Lots of stations to
> work and a fantastic format. Hopefully more of us will get on for the
> RSGB
> organised sprint events on 80m.
> 73
> Jim, MM0BQI
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tony Roskilly" <g3zrj.morsekey at btinternet.com>
> To: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
> Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2008 8:17 PM
> Subject: [UK-CONTEST] 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day
>
>
>> Hi All,
>> Why on Earth the RSGB continues with this farce at this time of the Solar
>> Cycle I can't
>> understand, mogodon via radio. With a barefoot rig and a doublet this
>> year's contest
>> was a total waste of time. Please can't RSGB organise a contest which
>> takes into account
>> the current and likely conditions over the next few years and allows
>> those
>> of us without large linears and beams to actually work stations rather
>> than as I did have Radio 4 in one side of my headphones and the the 21
>> MHz
>> band in the other, I quite like the Archers but didn't expect to be
>> listening to it as the only copyable signal. This is certainly no way
>> to encourage new ops to participate in contesting.
>> 73
>> Tony G3ZRJ FOC 1774 FISTS 7727
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> UK-Contest mailing list
>> UK-Contest at contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 7
> Date: Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:28:11 +0100
> From: "Dave Sergeant" <dave at davesergeant.com>
> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day
> To: uk-contest at contesting.com
> Message-ID: <48E9235B.10334.348BCE1 at dave.davesergeant.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
> On 5 Oct 2008 at 21:14, Peter Hobbs wrote:
>
>> >If there were a QRP section
>> > I might even have won it....
>> > 73 Dave G3YMC
>>
>> There is a QRP section Dave and yes, I doubt it took too many QSOs to
>> win it. Perhaps the RSGB definition of QRP doesn't altogether
>> correspond with yours though . . .
>>
>> 73
>> Peter G3LET
>>
>>
>
> Ah, maybe I should have read the rules. But I see that 'QRP' is defined
> as 10W in this contest.....
>
> Heard you calling in vain a lot this morning Peter, you obviously have
> more patience than me....
>
> 73 Dave G3YMC
>
> http://www.davesergeant.com
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 8
> Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2008 22:35:25 +0100
> From: "Peter Hobbs" <peter at tilgate.co.uk>
> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day
> To: "UK Contest reflector" <uk-contest at contesting.com>
> Message-ID: <7003FD59A26B43DEB85D10C3C0754F6D at TILGATE5>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=response
>
> You did well Jim - I'm jolly envious! Wall to wall rain and wind here in
> Sussex. Having braved this to reach the shack this morning (100 yards
> from
> the house) it was probably reluctance to repeat that experience that kept
> me
> at it until nearly 1700z, by which time the rain had just about subsided.
> Actually, with no other distractions, there seemed a reasonable number of
> signals about, at least during the core hours. I treated it as a
> resurrected 21CW event and so wasn't over disappointed with the lack of
> anything at all on 10. Some of the best QSOs came from "crumbs", i.e.
> strategic calls and CQs to attract casuals after they'd worked a major
> player, but the highlight was an early call from J88DR for his #1 (thanks
> Dave!). Sometimes an omni antenna can be an advantage (probably too early
> to be pointing a beam that way).
>
> This was my first run at the new-style combined event, but overall I
> suspect propagation was no worse than in the last couple of years -
> activity
> is just
> being diluted between the CW and SSB sectors. So, a low-key effort -
> barefoot K3 to an elevated SteppIR vertical - produced 85 CW QSOs and 44
> mults, all on 15. No need to bother with a logger either when the best
> hour QSO total is under 20!
>
> 73
> Peter G3LET
>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "MM0BQI" <MM0BQI at blueyonder.co.uk>
>> To: "UK-Contest" <uk-contest at contesting.com>
>> Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2008 9:16 PM
>> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day
>>
>>
>> Surely the magic of radio is that there is no way of knowing what
>> conditions
>> will be like, sunspots or no sunspots? Try working from the north of
>> Scotland when auora is in full swing, chances are are you will hear even
>> less than you did today! Last weekend during CQWW I had some good
>> contacts
>> on 15m and even managed some on 10m!!. Today I had one QSO in three
>> hours
>> of 'listening' (Anyone know if there is an SWL section???)
>> Please don't blame the RSGB for lack of sunspots (lack of QSL cards maybe
>> but not QSOs!!)
>> I set up my portable station with fishing rod vertical and 50w down by
>> the
>> seaside and listened and listened, it was almost as bad as 2m on a good
>> day.
>> Luckily enough it was wall to wall sunshine and the natural beauty of
>> Scotland on an autumn day made it all worthwhile.
>> On the other hand yesterdays EU Sprint was a blast. Lots of stations to
>> work and a fantastic format. Hopefully more of us will get on for the
>> RSGB
>> organised sprint events on 80m.
>> 73
>> Jim, MM0BQI
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Tony Roskilly" <g3zrj.morsekey at btinternet.com>
>> To: <uk-contest at contesting.com>
>> Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2008 8:17 PM
>> Subject: [UK-CONTEST] 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day
>>
>>
>>> Hi All,
>>> Why on Earth the RSGB continues with this farce at this time of the
>>> Solar
>>> Cycle I can't
>>> understand, mogodon via radio. With a barefoot rig and a doublet this
>>> year's contest
>>> was a total waste of time. Please can't RSGB organise a contest which
>>> takes into account
>>> the current and likely conditions over the next few years and allows
>>> those
>>> of us without large linears and beams to actually work stations rather
>>> than as I did have Radio 4 in one side of my headphones and the the 21
>>> MHz
>>> band in the other, I quite like the Archers but didn't expect to be
>>> listening to it as the only copyable signal. This is certainly no
>>> way
>>> to encourage new ops to participate in contesting.
>>> 73
>>> Tony G3ZRJ FOC 1774 FISTS 7727
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>> UK-Contest mailing list
>> UK-Contest at contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>UK-Contest mailing list
>> UK-Contest at contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 9
> Date: Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:55:13 +0000
> From: Clive Whelan <clive.whelan at btinternet.com>
> Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] 21 28 MHz what a waste of a day
> To: uk-contest at contesting.com
> Message-ID: <48E945D1.40609 at btinternet.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> The point is that this event has not attracted G entrants for many
> years, and the decision of HFCC to continue it was/is plain wrong. The
> UK has proved conclusively that it cannot support an " everybody works
> UK " event, and the kindest thing is to put it out of its misery to keep
> the 7Mhz DX contest company in the great contest corral in the sky. I'm
> not easily embarrassed, but please don't put it about that I wasted
> several hours of a wet Sunday in Wales on this one :-(
>
> 73
>
>
> Clive
> GW3NJW
>
> Dave Sergeant wrote:
>> On 5 Oct 2008 at 20:17, Tony Roskilly wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Hi All,
>>> Why on Earth the RSGB continues with this farce at this time of the
>>> Solar Cycle I can't understand, mogodon via radio. With a barefoot
>>> rig and a doublet this year's contest was a total waste of time.
>>> Please can't RSGB organise a contest which takes into account the
>>> current and likely conditions over the next few years and allows those
>>> of us without large linears and beams to actually work stations rather
>>> than as I did have Radio 4 in one side of my headphones and the the 21
>>> MHz band in the other, I quite like the Archers but didn't expect to be
>>> listening to it as the only copyable signal. This is certainly no
>>> way to encourage new ops to participate in contesting. 73
>>> Tony G3ZRJ FOC 1774 FISTS 7727
>>>
>>>
>>
>> You have to remember of course that when this year's contest calendar
>> was written last autumn we should have by now been well on the upward
>> slope of the sunspots - rather than the current prolonged second
>> minimum. Apart from a few short looks I didn't waste much time myself
>> as I knew it would have been a washout - 2 QSOs here, with 9A3VM and
>> HA6PX so expect sporadic E was involved if nothing else. If there were
>> a QRP section I might even have won it....
>>
>> 73 Dave G3YMC
>>
>> http://www.davesergeant.com
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> UK-Contest mailing list
>> UK-Contest at contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>>
>>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> UK-Contest mailing list
> UK-Contest at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/uk-contest
>
>
> End of UK-Contest Digest, Vol 70, Issue 9
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