Radio Club Events !

WPX Contest 1999

Continuing the Clubs tradition to be as active as possible in contests, we took part in the WPX 1999 SSB contest on the last weekend of March.After the IOTA contest in the summer of 98 (Ranked 2nd! Worldwide in the MS Island Section with an amazing score of 7 million points)and the All Asian Contest early in September of 98 (we are expecting a good position in Asia part),we had the chance to take part in yet another contest!
The thrill of calling out "CQ contest" and "P39P" again,excited us all once more, and pushed us to live another great contest and more gain valuable experience and as always enjoy the contest and have fun!And we all did!

The working conditions for this contest were:

Here are some of the photos we took at that weekend (that also happened to have a carwash, for fund collecting for the club!)

Starting 
off the contest...cq contest P39P!
The contest is on...(2 a.m local time) Nicolas (left) and Mike (right) are making the first calls on 40 meters

The contest started off a bit badly... the propagation didn't do us the favor this time.As another amateur radio operator and friend told us a few hours before - Murphys Law! "If something can go wrong it will!".But other than that we encountered no problems.

Well fun is undoubtly part of it!
Other club members and friends having fun while the contest is still on.Drinking,shouting playing "pilotta"(card game) all these in the same shack! Yes that did made things a bit harder for the operators!

Many younger members of the club, friends, classmates visited the club during the contest.Lots of them for the first time there,were thrilled by the contest experience.Others were asking later what kind of language where we talking on the radio!

And the morning came...
Takis took over for the next, morning shift... the rest exchausted went for a short nap right there in the club's shack.Boy was it crowded at some times!

 

Webcluster access....
Costas in the photo (a future operator) accessing the webcluster on the internet getting valuable info and DXspots for the operators...(in IRC? strange huh?:o)

The TNC we were waiting from the States to arrive, didn't get on time so we had to use the WebCluster for DXspots and other info about the traffic on the air...But the line couldn't stay for long connected with the ISP.The RF just didn't allow that.It was just matter of when will we transmit again from the running station!

another operator on the air...
Yiannis also helped a great deal with the contest... as all of the operators did!Thanx everyone!

 

The English School Radio Club Carwash!

On the 28th of March 1999, the English School Radio Club organised a Carwash - Open day.The purpose was fund raising for the club's expansive needs,and a day that everyone would have the chance to watch the club's operators in action in the WPX contest, while their car was washed inside out!

The response from the club members and our fellow students was tremendous! There were so many friends, non-members of the club, that were willing to help and organise the carwash that we couldn't really make it without them. A big thank you goes to all of them and of course to the club members that were there and supported the club for once more.

wash those cars.... fast!
The cars were being washed one after another despite of the weather problems we encountered! Most of the people that made this happen are:

(from left to right) Alkis(the soul of the carwash),George,Nicolas,Yiannis,Spyros(worked as hard as ever!),Christis (at the back),Hratch(he owns the CLEAN red car!) and Mike.(owns the other car-oh well his mother does!)

The carwash did not start with the best conditions ever. It started with the worse! The carwash was advertised long before and we were expecting a lot of people coming at the school's parking place where it was organised. But the weather played us a nasty trick. From early morning it started raining and the clouds covered quickly the sky. The spirit reached so low levels at time that we even considered to cancel it. But fortunately some friends did come in the morning and the carwash did begin.(of course the rates where not as high as the QSO rates back in the shack)

The spirit goes sky high with food!And that's what happened at noon.The "Souvla"(Cypriot kebab like traditional food) and everything else there helped us to get going despite what was happening.The fun never stops at times like this.

Lots of cars washed..more waiting to be washed!
By the afternoon the weather did get better,but the sky was still dark!(see photo) and we were all wondering what happened to the sunny skies of Cyprus we had during previous days.But nevertheless the parking place was fillied with cars and we kept washing until late in the afternoon.

Thanx to all the members,friends,parents of friends and some teachers (we expected more of them) we were kept busy until 8:00PM when we start packing up,cleaning the place and moving to the shack for some more taste of the contest!

Ready for a ride down town,washed and shining!
Ready for a ride downtown with their cars sparkling! after the carwash.All kinds of cars were washed from Georges(left) green Peugeot(oldiees but goodies),to the japanese made Honda car of Alice(Alkis) mother's car (with Spyros by him) to one of the 48 cars of Mr.MercBenz Christos.It was a great carwash with great memories and experience.

 

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