[UK-CONTEST] 144MHz Marconi Memorial - G3LET

[Peter Hobbs]

Not having had a working station on 2m since moving from Portsmouth 
nearly 20 years ago, recent posts motivated me to visit the loft and 
garage in search of inspiration.  A 50MHz  to 1.5GHz LP from a recent 
club junk sale was pressed into service and assembly/installation on a 
6m pole was just complete as the rain came in around midnight on 
Friday.  Memories of an earlier event, which had opened to eastern 
europe during the night and even produced a CT3, provided motivation.  
Saturday morning saw the FT225RD and NAG dusted off and transported to 
the shack.  Surely there should be a few testers up and running by 
midday, but no, not a ping.  The site here is surrounded by ancient 
trees on 3 sides and a 20 ft rhodo hedge plus the house on the 4th (E) 
side so not much was expected, however although somewhat slow, it was 
fun re-learning VHF technique.  Apart from a few F/P and the mega PA and 
DL stations which were audible all the time, nothing else really opened 
up and anything over 500km tended to duck in and out rapidly.  MS pings 
provided tantalising glimpses of the intense activity further to the east.

The highlights were QSOs with GM4AFF and CXM - hard work through QSB - 
thanks to both of you for sticking with it!  Best DX was TM0W somewhere 
near the Swiss border and always a good signal.  I was very impressed to 
hear G6HIE searching for and working stuff that was often quite 
inaudible here and also by G7RAU and M6T who were both working hard to 
keep the UK flag flying whenever I was around, which was on and off 
during the 24 hours.  Although I frequently looked around, nothing was 
heard from GW or the west country.  Hand rotation allowed the LP to be 
pointed in any desired direction within a few seconds, pulling the 
phones and monitoring on the speaker.  This worked out quite well, but 
with only 4 active elements at most, only the side null had very much 
effect.  The UK is never going to be a major player, but this event 
provides a unique opportunity for less well located or equipped stations 
to share in EU-wide activity, especially if there's any sort of lift.  
At least 40 UK stations were active - just need persuading to send in a 
log perhaps.  By the way, why is there a separate log spec for VHF 
contests - what's wrong with Cabrillo?

SDV says just over 14,000 points - thanks to all for the QSOs!

73, Peter G3LET