SATURDAY TO SATURDAY EVENING
Getting up early for a SE station is always a chore for me, granted for Stephen its not a problem, as his job requires him to get up at the crack of dawn. Stephen arrived at 7:15am along with his nephew Simon (Now MW3ARF) who looked just as asleep as I was!
We were first on site, however - we did have a few problems tracking down the site. Eventually Mr Pierce (with whom I'd spent most of the previous week communicating with) appeared and let us into the hangar...
In front of us was a vast expanse, complete with a DeHaviland Bullet, and 2 other planes that looked fairly similar, and what we were told is a Messerschmitt somewhere in the corner.
Myself and Stephen looked around, and took stock of our surroundings.....I spotted some tables, however my phone was ringing....It was Adrian.
James had forgotten to ask for the morning off for his paper-round, and due to this would be somewhat delayed, absolute maximum of 45 minutes. We decided that seeing as we had the kit to get up and running, we would set up and make a start - and seeing as Stephens 102 only needs a power lead, so long as we had an extension cable - we were off and running......Or at least HF was.
After myself and Simon had got the tables sorted, we set up a portable mast, and we were off...
2M/UI-View
I got everything setup on the table....connected it all
together, unfortunately we only had the one extension lead (which was donated by
Mr & Mrs Pierce) - but that was soon to be cured, as John RBM appeared
carrying 2 30 Meter extension reels, 2M and our secondary HF setup were
saved....the antennas were already in place, I powered up, and got straight onto
the DX-Cluster, over the entire weekend, given how busy it was, it was somewhat
easier to watch it, than to try and access it....
At this point Adrian & James arrived, and started unloading the car, Many reels of wire and feeder of all descriptions were unloaded onto the grass - What were we going to unleash onto the waking world ? - would we wipe out TV as far afield as Bristol ?....not so.
(Simon, Adrian & Mark adjust the 2M Setup)
The Monster
Although HF was officially up and running, we still had to sort out a decent antenna system - although Stephen had set up his half-size G5RV, it was only ever a temporary measure...
Out in the field, James and Adrian set up the mast - seeing as its something they've done on a regular basis, this was best left to them ! - Afterwards, we were all roped into walking up and down the field with all sorts of wire which would form the legs of our inverted V dipole. While Stephen and Adrian got the antenna system sorted, I continued to watch the cluster. Given how busy it was, the KAM was struggling to decode it properly.
As I had no want to run my 100 at 50W for the next 24 hours, luckily Adrian turned up with a Microset 100W 2M Linear - which was great, I could run at a few watts out, and pump that into the Linear - which as it had a pre-amp would allow me to receive the weaker signals a lot better, as well as receive signals from somewhat further a field (Is Cheltenham far enough ???) - I got that all setup...
Over the course of the next 45
minutes, the antenna was getting set up, people were plodding out in the field
with all manner of wire, and the hangar was a hive of activity while
measurements were calculated, and cables were cut and soldered...
(Adrian and Simon, underneath the 'Monster' - Click for bigger picture!)
The 'Monster' was ready for the off, Stephen tuned up the antenna, and got to work - He was soon pulling in the stations from far and wide...
We'd developed a battle-plan - Call for M3s and QRP stations on a regular basis - we didn't need to - Wherever we parked up we seemed to have no problems working the DX, and we seemed to be putting out such a good signal, and the antenna was pulling in plenty of stations, no matter how much power was run.
While Stephen set up on HF, and Adrian had set up on his HF Vertical, I got up and running on UI-View....
The Saga Continues.....
Forget the Star Wars saga - Here at Wrexham ARS, we have our own saga - its called the 'UI-View Saga' - When we played UI at Llangollen last year - it didn't work, plain and simple. When we played at JOTA, we got somewhere, although to be fair we were no nearer. The Science festival was a bit of a washout - mainly as I had a Packet station only a few feet away from me, which didn't help, as on the roof the antennas were a few meters away - both myself and Malcolm were putting 50W up the rear ends of both our TXs - they didn't seem to mind - mine still works, as does his.
The main problem, is that although I've got no problem with voice, I do like data modes, and I like the fact that with UI, its possible to work quite major distances on 2M, using UI/APRS
This had to be the one where it all worked - However if you take into account the UI-View session while helping out at the Sandstone Trail in Frodsham, Where I did play some UI-View, but with a somewhat different slant (that was event comms) - However, while up there I had to fend off people from as far away as Newcastle (upon Tyne) - as we had to keep clear for the Event.
UI-view was a success, although I did work Cheltenham, and I believe that was direct (as I write I've not glanced at the UI Logs) - and i did manage to ping MB7USA, and so on, so we were in a better location :) I did have a few troubles, but I would like to thank M0CYP for helping put them right. Although I didn't work any transatlantic DX via UI-View - I did work a few people, including the National Mining Museum (GB2NMM) up in Wakefield.
(John 'RBM James and Mark (nearest the door) - minutes before the off)
HF
The weather was picking up, it had been clear but a bit cool during the morning, and now it was turning into a great day - the sun wasn't exactly beating down, but it was relatively pleasant.
Both Stephen and Adrian were on HF, I was now on 2M, I switched on the Linear, and called out on S20. From out of the ether came M1CVL, Mike in Oldham, whom we'd worked at the Science Festival, and I had worked him on my Novice callsign - I also seem to remember plucking his callsign from the back of my mind at the Science Festival, don't ask how that came from the back of my mind, it just did - If I could recall QSOs like that, then I wouldn't have to look back through my logbook !
After the QSO with Mike, I went back to UI-View, and had some relative success - but was soon back on 2M voice.
From there on in, a steady stream of contacts came through on 2M, although I was called upon to monitor the Cluster, from time to time, which became an almost useless task, as the Cluster was so busy....I believe Ian tried to connect to us, but I can't recall...
We also decided after a few hours to make a change to the 'Monster' - Stephen was convinced it wasn't working all too well - It all came down, and went back up on open-wire feeder - it was promptly tuned back up and given the all-clear....
(Stephen (with the infamous red cap!) and Adrian sorting out the 'Monster')
Stephen and Adrian worked all over HF between them, with James and Simon taking the microphone, Given how hectic the activity was, I can't think as to whether we scared them, or gave them a taste of how it should all be! - Given the fact we were all doing something, we didn't seem to be too aware of the passage of time....I had intended to steer clear of the World Cup, but people were talking about it on the air! - I didn't want to know at all (mainly because I didn't care..)
It had also been decided to move the antenna, and it was by now an inverted V - with legs of at least 100m either end, this would prove useful during the next few hours....