[UK-CONTEST] G3TBK/P NFD 2012

[dave]

Once again East Notts CG teamed up with Grimsby ARS to enter the Open 
Section of Field Day. This linking doesn't increase the size of our 
squad since we are all members of both Groups - we just like to keep 
both names alive! This year we had four Operators and four Supporters 
who were all glad to use NFD as an excuse for escaping Jubilee 
Festivities. It's many years since we had so many Operators - perhaps 
Her Majesty could arrange Celebrations more frequently!

As for the last "n" years we set up in a field on the edge of the 
Lincoln Ridge - not very high (remember we are in Lincolnshire) but with 
the hill falling away very rapidly from the edge of our site down into 
the Trent Valley. With good reason is the nearby village called 
Normanton le Cliffe.
For many years the station layout has remained virtually unchanged. This 
year we intended to take advantage of the new Rules, permitting two 
transceivers. This meant some re-distribution of antennas, to help 
reduce coupling between them. Our two highest dipoles (for 160m & 40m)  
normally share a feeder, this year they had to be separated. The 80m 
dipole was moved to a separate mast, which meant its centre was about 5 
feet lower than in the past. On the HF bands we used the TH7.

Alistair, M3DVQ,  knocked up a simple but effective interlock to comply 
with the rules, and it incorporated "traffic lights" to warn each Op 
when his TX was inhibited as the other rig was "on air".
Our configuration was not fully flexible. Due to constaints such as only 
one tri-band beam each rig was dedicated to certain bands. Being 
tight-fisted Northerners we don't have any exotic triplexers or filters 
- we made do with resonant co-axial cable stub filters. The difficulties 
of switching these was mitigated by the choice of bands for each 
transceiver. One rig (FT1000D) was used on 10-15-20 and 80m, the other 
(FT1000MP) dealt with 160 & 40m. RF-wise the set-up worked much better 
than expected, and we never suffered any mutual QRM. I had anticipated 
that we would only be using the two rigs during the short opening on 
160m and 80m, and in the last few hours of S&P operation to mop up the 
last few contacts. In fact, having four operators available we used the 
facility virtually the whole contest.

None of us had used such a configuration previously, nor had we 
experienced SO2R, so  we had a steep learning curve. It was some hours 
before we saw the full benefits of the system, but by the end we were 
effortlessly inter-leaving QSO's on two bands. QSO's frequently entered 
the log with very close time stamps, with the operator of one rig not 
realising the other was in QSO until the contact appeared in the log!

Another new feature on our station was an on-site Skimmer, connected to 
an SDR radio with its own antenna initially away across the field. It 
was coupled to the logging computers (running N1MM in multi-multi 
config) by a wireless LAN, with a corner reflector antenna at one end of 
the link. It kept the Band-maps populated, but by the end of the contest 
it could not find much we had not already worked. Murphy struck this 
facility - we had intended to power it from a leisure battery. 
Unfortunately the battery turned out to be u/s, and after some hours we 
had to move the whole set-up closer to the main tent to power it from 
the generator.  This reduced its effectiveness, as it was being 
de-sensed by our own transmissions at times.   Another benefit of the 
Skimmer was the N1MM "window" showing the number of unworked stations 
available on each band.

We set up in dry weather, but that was to change during Saturday 
evening. About the time we were due to QSY to 80m the noise level 
increased dramatically, making copy of all but the strongest signals 
very difficult. A little later the downpour started, and it then rained 
for over 24 hours without a break. However,  a couple of hours after the 
rain started the static level did drop - we still couldn't hear much 
because of the audible noise of rain on the tent!

The tent - new to us this year. Obviously a new design. Optimised for 
use in drought conditions. Every seam leaked, and I'm sure the canvas 
was porous. The only thing waterproof was the ground sheet, which held 
all the water which poured in through the roof. In no time we were 
sitting with our feet in puddles, along with all the mains distribution 
and the co-axial filters.  I had propped up the front of each rig, to 
make them easier to operate. The paddles just slipped under them - 
necessary because when mine got wet it sent un-commanded strings of dots 
- sorry to who ever was at the other end of the QSO when this happened! 
Mostly we sent from the PCs. I had to unplug my paddle for a time whilst 
it dried out before sheltering it under the FT1000. The battery for the 
skimmer was not the only thing "empty" - we ran out of gas for the 
heater, so as well as being soaked we shivered through the night.

It seemed to me that there were fewer German portable stations this 
year, partly compensated for by an increase in number of portables from 
Eastern Europe. How NFD has changed over the 54 years I've been taking 
part - back in the early days the only portables were G's and a few 
overseas UK servicemen, and on top-band the only others allowed were 
HB9's. We did not have much joy on 10m, only a couple of QSOs on 
Saturday and a few more on Sunday morning. We also found 15m slow going, 
probably being to the east of England we are too close to work any DL's. 
Twenty & 40 were both open for the whole 24 hours, and having the two 
stations available we were able to easily beat our previous highest 
score on 20m and come within two QSOs of doing the same on 40m.
The LF bands were both adversely affected by the QRN, and scores were 
lower than we were achieving a few years ago. However we have noted a 
decline on these bands over the last few years, I'm still not sure 
whether that can be attributed to propagation or a decline in 
participation. Obviously the reduced entry from G was noticed on these 
bands - Oh for the days of my youth, when over 100 UK Teams entered 
Field Day!

We thoroughly enjoyed the challenges set by the new Rules, and certainly 
learnt a lot. It was quite evident that full flexiblity of bands on each 
rig was desirable, having only one rig to cover 10-15-20m was a clear 
limitation. Whether we can achieve that flexibility is a question to 
possibly be answered this time next year.
Never again will we make the rash assumption that a new tent will be 
waterproof, but we can't blame that problem on the HFCC's new Rules!

For us, NFD had become rather a stale event, but this year saw new 
enthusiasm, and enhanced enjoyment. Thanks to the Organisers and 
Adjudicators for keeping the traditions of NFD alive, and not letting it 
become just another "anything goes" contest.  Pity the SSB FD Rules 
haven't yet benefited from revision! Sadly we weren't inspected - we 
were quite looking forward to showing off our new config!

Operators were G4EBK, G4BYG, G4HVC and G3TBK, ably assisted by G4LPD, 
G0GDU, 2E1FQO and M3DVQ, plus the XYLs of G4LPD and myself.

Summary:
Band           QSO (dupes removed)

160              120
80                180
40                364
20                400
15                105
10                 31

total            1200

By no stretch of the imagination a winning score - but if Amateur Radio 
is still about self-training, well we think we learnt a lot in a short 
time, so for us the weekend was a great success.

73 Dave G3TBK  - still trying to dry out the kit!