[UK-CONTEST] VHF NFD - MM0BQI/P

[MM0BQI]

Great fun!

However, the planned preparation and few days off work before the event never happened. Murphy struck the 2m transceiver so a last minute change of band was required.

Access to the site was easy on Saturday morning and setting up was quite enjoyable in the great weather.

The 10m mast carried the 5ele Cushcraft for 6m (Sunday 5ele for 4m) and I managed to get the 70cms aerial up to 7m before the coax ran out. 

Thanks to all for the comprehensive answers to my height versus feeder question at 70cms. Early Sunday morning I added another 10m length of Wesflex coax and could hear no difference to the received signal. Mind you the rig is an FT897 not exactly first division but it got me in the air! Having said that best DX were a couple of PAs but missed out on all the stations in between. How is it easier to work the south coast and EU but almost impossible to work central England? Called CQ for hours on end with few responses, majority of Qs were S and P. The beam width of the Tonna is quite narrow so in and out of the car operating the Armstrong rotator every few minutes. 

Overall a very good weekend with great 6m conditions into EA,CT and HA. Missed out on CN8 and EA9 which would have been new countries.

4m was a bit of a slog despite turning the beam in all directions for the full six hours. Late on Sunday I called a not too strong G portable station on 4m, after a long, long time he eventually got the MM0 part of the call and through frustration I shouted at the mike 'Turn the aerial, turn the aerial' to which he eventually replied 'Which direction?' !! 

70cms Very slow with generally flat conditions, almost not worth the effort with 15 watts and a low antenna. Working the two Dutch stations almost help make up for it though.

Weather was dry and sunny until lunchtime on Sunday when the skies blackened and the thunder storms arrived. The first I realised was when a huge peel of thunder shook me and the car and someone turned on the tap and the heavens opened. PANIC, headphones off, out of car, no time to put boots on, round to the other side to unscrew all the aerial connectors. Soaked. As I was unscrewing the PL259 from the back of the rig I realised if lightening stuck I would be dead before I knew it! Threw away the cables far from the car then disconnected the rotator. By this time I was soaked through and was wondering if I had put my wellies on before leaving the car would they have protected me! Lastly power cable from the genny discarded and sitting safely back in the car I suddenly realised just how much danger I had been in. Usually there is some warning but with heavy static and QRN all weekend there was no noticeable increase until the storm was overhead. No harm done but a very serious lesson learned for the next portable trip.

It was fun getting off the hill, with all the ruts and bumps filled with water, there was no way of knowing just what was underneath but it all worked out okay. Will be back next year after looking at higher gain antennas and seeing if they could really make a difference to my score.

I will post some photos on the GMDX and CDXC Yahoo Groups in the next few days.

73 and thanks to everyone for the Qs.

Jim, MM0BQI