[UK-CONTEST] G6PYE/P SSB Field Day & G3PYE/P 2m Trophy

[Robert Chipperfield]

Hi all,

A quick run-down of the Camb-Hams entries in last week's contests...

As per last year, we decided on a combined entry in both SSB Field Day 
and the 144MHz Trophy Contest, taking the opportunity to allow some of 
the VHF stalwarts to venture lower in frequency, and the HF fans to try 
something a bit different as well. As before, we entered the open 
section of both, opting for a bit more fun with higher QSO rates while 
accepting that we weren't going to be a hugely competitive entry.

Arriving on site on Friday evening with Flossie (our "mobile shack"), 
the trailer mast and a car full of kit, we quickly got to work on the 
important elements on the station: getting the beer fridge, coffee 
machine and BBQ up and running, before starting work on the 2m antennas. 
This year we opted for a slightly different setup to before, with 2 * 
17-ele Tonnas on the trailer mast (bottom beam at around 30') and a 
9-ele Vargada acquired the weekend before at the HARS rally on Flossie's 
60' mast. This seemed to do well, even allowing some JT EME decodes at 
moonrise on Friday evening.

Saturday morning saw the bulk of the construction work, largely going 
according to plan apart from the rather last-minute construction of an 
extension cable to bring the band data from the Elecraft K3 transceiver 
to the Quadra linear. We were remarkably close to starting on time on 
HF, with the first QSO at 1317, though the 80m and 40m verticals both 
got assembled in the following hours.

A steady stream of visitors to the site throughout the weekend also 
bought with them home-made chocolate brownies (still warm), sausage 
rolls, rocky road biscuits, and the centrepiece of Sunday lunch, a 
strawberry pavlova! I counted at least 28 people visiting in total, four 
of them under sixteen, one M6, two 2E0s, and one who's just about to sit 
his foundation and intermediate exams next week (good luck, Mike!).

Our 2m score seems similar to last year's with 265 QSOs claimed, but HF 
is well up at just under 540k against last year's 385k. 40m in 
particular was much more successful and at 418 Qs the busiest band - 20m 
by comparison accounted for just 179, so compared to many others we're 
clearly missing a trick here somewhere - any suggestions most welcome! 
(We were running 400W to a 3-ele Spiderbeam at 40', so shouldn't have 
been too bad a signal...)

All in all, a wonderfully fun weekend, great weather, some great radio, 
and lots of laughs. Thanks to everyone we worked, and look forward to 
catching you again soon...

73 all,
Rob, M0VFC