PW QRP 2m contest
Hi all,
Is anyone else on here planning on entering the Practical Wireless QRP 2m contest the weekend after next? I have made my antenna and it has tested quite well, even on 432MHz for which I had not cut it!
I'd be quite keen on giving things a try before the contest, if anyone around London fancies testing their kit out too.
Just drop me a message if you want me to give it a go.
Jason G7RUX
Hi Jason,
I was going to give it a go, same thing made a yagi seems to have a good SWR, however, I can't get anyone on the Brighton, Worthing repeater or by calling cq on 145500 :-( I'm starting to wonder if anyone uses 2 meter FM any more?
Chris M6EGK
Last edited by SpaceDawg; Tue 10th Jun 2014 at 22:02.
The 2m and 70cm repeaters round here are quite lively. Never hear anything on FM simplex, though.
I won't be doing this weekend's contest. It's my College garden party on Sunday, where the champagne flows like water, and I cannot imagine contesting after drinking that much!
I will probably do the 6 July backpacker's contest.
I do occasionally hear the Brighton repeater but not all that often I must say.
2m FM simplex is reasonably busy around here (SE London and down into Kent) but SSB is very quiet. I'm hoping for a little activity on Sunday though, even if I shall have to operate from my sister's house (family birthday BBQ) but I will be on 2m SSB, starting around 144.230.
Incidentally, I heard an M6 activating a SOTA peak on FM yesterday while I was driving home from work; it waas a bit choppy to work him mobile ad he had disappeared by the time I had arrived at my QTH.
Jason
G3WOR/p from Ditchling Beacon Sussex, Worthing & District ARC.
No, it was definitely an M6. The activation isn't on the SOTA spot list as far as I can see.
This was the answer to the first post, reference PW QRP!!Originally Posted by 2E0FVL
Heh, apologies!
Sometimes I get lost in the timeline. :-D
Sunday will be interesting my club, WADARC are operating from Ditchling, I'm not sure they know the London to Brighton bike ride is going on that day? Either way it will be fun and I'll listen in.
I'm going to try to hit the Brighton Repeater from my home Cowfold tonight about 9:30pm to see if I get any luck tonight.
Chris M6EGK
Hello Chris, your membership secretary here!!
Check you club email as the Beacon will not now be used, when permission was granted by NT and whoever else that needed to know there was no mention of the bike ride taking place!!
So a new site has been chosen pending permission, it's public site but they are asking anyway just to make sure!!
See you at the club soon!!
Well, I decided to pop to the top of a hill near my workplace (Tonbridge) and check to see if my setup for the contest would work. I chose a spot in JO01DD and popped up my home-make HP dipole and was surprised to hear several conversations going on on USB! I don't know if it's the good weather which has brought people onto the bands but I really wasn't expecting to hear anyone around on 2m USB this evening.
This looks like Sunday will be promising if I can get my antenna up in a good place.
Jason G7RUX
Sounds like you should be OK for Sunday, Jason.
I've been thinking about locations for the backpacker's contest on the first weekend in July. There's some high ground to the west of Cambridge (well, I say high, but I'm talking high by Cambridge standards, about 60m ASL) with a good take-off to the east, south, and west. There's a posh B&B in what looks to me to be exactly the right spot, so I may drop in there and ask them if I can set up at the bottom of their very long garden for four hours on 6 July!
Hi, These apps might help in your contesting. They find the altitude from a map. Spot Height from http://www.freemaptools.com/elevation-finder.htm is a PC based altitude finder. There is a free app for an android tablet/phone called Get Altitude works much the same the Spot Height one. Both of these have search facility and cover world wide mapping.
There is a similar app for my windows smart phone called Altitude+ this only gives the height of where you are as there is no search facility.
I'm leaving now to go find myself....if I arrive before I get back, please ask me to wait!
Thanks, Sudden. I have an app on my Nexus 4 and 7 for location and altitude, etc, but that's a great link and has gone into my favourites for those occasions when I need the altitude of somewhere other than wherever I am at the time.
Sadly wont be playing in the PW contest as it clashes with fathers day plans
I might try and take the 817 + arrow satellite yagi with me though on the off chance of being able to give away some points.
Peter, 2E0SQL - http://www.2e0sql.co.uk
Same problem here, though I did manage to give a few points away.
As an aside, where did you get your Arrow antenna from? I'd like to buy one but don't use ebay so this sort of purchase is often awkward.
Regards
Jason G7RUX
As a quick test run for the next backpacker's contest on 6 July, I set up a five-element Diamond A144S5R yagi on a 2.5m fishing pole mast with my FT-817 at 2.5W, on top of Crow Hill in Cambourne (IO92xf, about 67m ASL), yesterday, and worked into northern France and Belgium (303km), which was OK.
Bit late after the event I know, but here is a link to the Rochdale And District Amateur Radio website page showing the team that took part:-
http://www.radars.me.uk/PWQRP14.htm
I'm on the left of the picture of the team members.
For anybody interested in the club itself, the main website address is:-
http://www.radars.me.uk
Kind regards,
Phil
That's "really nice weather"???!
You should see it on a bad day!
Think it was meant to be tongue in cheek.
To be honest, we couldn't even see Manchester, about 8 miles away, yet, a contact in Wales, think it was somewhere up Snowdon, said they were in bright sunshine and could see south Manchester quite clearly.
Talk about rubbing it in!
We are hoping for better weather for next weekends comp, where we be on the other side of the hill.
Kind regards,
Phil
Last edited by pmh; Fri 27th Jun 2014 at 20:15.
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