[UK-CONTEST] NFD09 - ADDISCOMBE ARC G4ALE/P

[QUENTIN COLLIER]

I've been prompted by the posting from Pete G3KNU to belatedly jot down our own experiences of the NFD weekend - if only to show folks how NOT to do NFD.

The gang of four (G3SJX, G3UFY, G3VYI and self) arrived at the farm early afternoon, after journeys of up to 200 miles. Unfortunately the large tractor and trailer that we normally use to ferry the gear from farmhouse to site were unavailable this year, so we had to use a much smaller trailer towed by a quad bike. And to make matters worse the farmer (my sister in law - soon to be ex sister in law, but you really don't want to know about that) had DEFRA in doing tuberculosis tests on her cattle, so yours truly had to drive it. Luckily we also had access to a small 4x4, and all the gear was delivered to site in a series of runs. 

We got the masts, antenna and tents up (fortunately in kind weather) on Friday evening before repairing to the local pub for a meal and beer (the latter purely to restore our fluid balance, you will understand). Saturday dawned dry and clear and we were able to get the ATUs tuned up without difficulty (some kind of first, I think) - and one, which obviously hadn't been touched since last year, gave a perfect SWR first try without any tweaking at all. The rain set in about lunchtime and stayed until around 4.30pm. (This gave rise to a new game in which off duty personnel would bet on whether the puddles on the roof of the tent would pour off to left or right - sad or what?) Unfortunately the associated rain static caused quite a few problems, and meant that we couldn't take full advantage of the inital flurry of activity on 10m. But the rain finally cleared and we had some sun. But the wetness set in again around noon on the Sunday and stayed until
 just after the finish, and thunderstorms in the vicinity made the RX quite lively at times. Overall conditions seemed substantially better this year: like nearly everyone else our QSO count was substantially up on last year (although points per QSO were down) and it was good to have the last few hours keep going well in contrast to the usual attritional slog.

Overall results (station was IC7800 to 274ft doublet at 35ft):

160 - 129 scoring QSOs
80 - 166
40 - 242
20 - 296
15 -134
10 - 58
Total - 1025.

UFY and I dropped in to see Derrick G3LHJ on the way home, which was good. But when I got home, while my son and I were unloading the car, the IC7800 transit case did a 180 degree flip and deposited the contents on the pavement, smashing the main tuning dial and bending 6 other controls enough to need replacement. It's currently in Martin Lynch's intensive care unit awaiting repair....hum ho, the delights of NFD.

Needless to say we'll be back next year and I am even trying to persuade the team to do an Open section entry for 2010.

73,




Quin G3WRR