144 MHz AFS December 8th

A really disappointing end to the 2013 Contest year for me. 

Normally I prefer to Blog about the good things that happen but life just isn't always like that is it? This years 144 MHz AFS Radio Contest was just one event that did not live up to expectation.

This year has seen a gradual but steady improvement in my Contest results from my fairly modest station here in Spalding. Thanks to G4YHF and G1ZJP I hoped to put on a decent station running the full legal power of 400 watts for the 2 meter AFS and make a valuable contribution to the Club's score. While the power worked faultlessly my rotator decided to give up the ghost 45 minutes into the Contest leaving my antenna pointing into the middle of nowhere (the North Sea!). After 30 minutes with a volt meter it looked like it was a mechanical problem so down came the pneumatic mast to see if I could repair it but it looked terminal!

I pointed the antenna towards the Continent and pumped the mast back up to see if I could work some Kms and salvage some points. I could turn the mast by hand but it is a very frustrating business because, as the crow flies, the mast is only about 6 feet away from my operating position, but to get to it meant a trip through 3 rooms of the house and a trot across the garden. My thanks to all of those stations who exercised patience with enforced laboured operating practices and waited for my return to the microphone.

I managed to make 74 contacts with the best DX being DF2VJ at 624 Kms, sadly, none in CW although I did put out a few calls with the key. There was some tropo but in general I thought conditions were quite flat with some deep QSB. Apart from the rotator I was very pleased with the station performance. Receive performance has steadily improved this year by changing the LNA for the new HA8ET version and also changing the RG213 coax for Ecoflex 15. Having 400 watts of power available certainly made contacts a lot easier - when you could squirt it in the right direction!

It sounded like SDARS was plagued with problems for this years Contest but I did hear a number of other Club stations on so I hope that they faired better than me. I have worked hard at improving the station this year so it is very disappointing when something happens to foil your plans especially when you start it with such high expectations. 

10/15 Trap Dipole

10/15 meter Trap dipole mounted below the 11 ele 2 meter yagi.

For the SDARS Field Day I built two resonant, have wave, end fed vertical antenna. One was a single band antenna for 10 meters and the other, a trap vertical for 20/15 and 17 meters. I was very pleased with the results from both antenna while in the electrically quiet environment of the countryside but at the home QTH they were prone to picking up too much domestic QRN.

10 Meters has been wide open at this period of the Sun Spot Cycle and rather than miss the DX I decided to build a mono band dipole. However, as usual I tend to get carried away and as I had already built 2 coaxial traps for 10 meters decided to incorporate those into the design. I have mentioned building coaxial traps before so I won't repeat myself here. 

I built a standard dipole with a normal centre "T" piece that accepts a PL259 terminated feeder. The 10 meter elements were added using the formula 468/F in feet. The coaxial traps were soldered onto the ends of the elements and short pieces of wire added for 15 meter elements.

The fun came when I started to tune the antenna and it took much adjusting to get both bands resonant in the CW frequencies that I was interested in. The 10 meter elements were too long so rather than unsolder and cut them I just folded back 3 inches of wire and held it in place with cable ties. The 15 meter elements were easier to trim and I managed to achieve an SWR of 1:1 on both bands.

Then came the problem of where to erect it. As a sloper it was cumbersome, looked untidy and it was too close to the house so I decided to make it into a rotary dipole. I cut a piece of teak that was in the shed down to a semi-circle with a radius of 7 inches. I drilled 2 holes to accept a "U" bolt to fix it to the mast. I then screwed the centre "T" piece to the block. To hold the wire elements out straight I used 2 bamboo garden canes that were just a bit too short but where needs must! I decided on a shallow "V" configuration for the elements partly to reduce the turning circle and partly to give better perceived DX performance for a single element antenna. So 2 holes were drilled into the wooden block, each at an approximate 25 degree angle, and the bamboo canes fitted snugly into them. I threaded the canes through the 10 meter traps and just simply cable tied the wire to the bamboo. About 6" of the 15 meter elements hung off the ends of the supports.

Up in the air the SWR remained 1:1 at the CW part of both bands so it looked like I was in business. I don't expect it will last forever but it was cheap and if it does break the wire will prevent it falling very far.

Results have been very good with a distinct null at 90 degrees to where the signals peak. It was also a lot quieter when compared directly to the vertical antenna with signals standing out from the noise very prominently. The first contact was with D44AC in Cape Verde on 15 meters. He had quite a pile up so I was pleased to work him at my first attempt. So far 10 meters has given me several USA stations which are new for me on 10.

I am glad that I made the effort to get on 10 meters before the Solar Cycle ends rather than just moan afterwards about what I had missed because I didn't have a proper antenna.

The Dipole centre piece cost me £4 at the SDARS rally and the rest of the components came from the shed so for the outlay I am very pleased. The turning radius of the antenna is similar to the UHF antenna so should not cause any visual problems either.

160 meter Club Calls AFS Contest

I must confess that I only venture onto top band very rarely. The problem is one of a suitable antenna. Last year I made a shortened Dipole (100 feet total length) with a fairly hefty Inductance coils in the centre of each leg. It does work quite well but it has a very narrow bandwidth. Even with my little LDG AT100Pro autotuner I can only work about 30 Hz of the band without going outside, lowering the ends and folding over some length of the wire. It is supported in the centre at 10 meters agl and the ends slope down to 3 meters agl. I only have room for the one antenna so it has to replace the 80/40 trap dipole.

In the run up to the Contest I did play around with a 9:1 UnUn, end feeding a 60 feet piece of wire but it was no better and much noisier than my shortened dipole so did not finish it.

This year I decided to try and find a run frequency and call CQ and see what developed. This is normally quite a difficult thing to do in HF Contests as the QRM can be severe. Fortunately the power limit is a modest 32 watts on 160 meters so I wasn't bothered by powerful adjacent stations very much at all.

I was using N1MM to log the contest but discovered a scoring problem with it. Working an RSGB HQ station is supposed to attract a bonus of 50 points but N1MM only scored it as a normal Club station with an extra 25 points. With no way of editing the score on the required Cabrillo file I just noted the problem in the soapbox and hoped for the best.

The first 5 minutes of the Contest were very slow and I was beginning to wonder if my antenna was working at all. But things soon warmed up and I received some nice reports. Of course, all reports on HF Contests are 59 but I did get some favourable comments on my signal and audio which was very satisfying.

I finished with a total of 74 QSO's and a grand total of 1102 points (I think!). A huge improvement on previous years.

It was great to work the SDARS Club Station, GX4DSP and also fellow Club members; M1MHZ, M1CDL and G4ODA who all managed to find me in the mellay. 

I must confess that I will be pleased to get the 80/40 meter dipole back up but there is another top band contest next week using CW so I will be retuning the shortened dipole to the lower end of the band so that I can have a go at that. Then it will be back to normal operations again with the pipe and slippers put into storage until next year.

Thanks to all stations for points and I hope that you all enjoyed the Contest.

73 de Jim G0HGH.

Marconi CW contest

The 2 meter CW Marconi Contest took place on 2nd and 3rd November 2013.

The Marconi is the longest of the VHF CW Championship events and runs for 24 hours. Last year I dabbled in it but was never going to be a serious contender. As I have entered into all of the VHF CW Championship events on 4 meters and 6 meters this year I was determined to have a better shot at it.

Bob, G1ZJP, very generously and diligently supplied the station so that I could go /P. The antennas alone were very impressive. Bob had fixed up a huge array of 4 X 12 element M2 yagis. Antenna always look bigger on the ground and he shot a photo of me being dwarfed by set up. They are colossal on the ground!

 Dwarfed by the huge 4 X 12 ele array

Weather forecasts indicated that we could expect very high winds and heavy rain over night and, for once, they were not wrong. At their highest the antenna were up at 23 meters agl. Well over twice the height that I could manage with my single 11 ele. on a pneumatic mast at my home QTH.

Antenna at full height seen across the fields.

The contest started at 14.00 z on Saturday and radio conditions were not very good. Working Europe was not very easy especially  considering the Continentals were working the contest as well. Most of them only turned their antennas to G land as a last resort so they were a bit thin on the ground. The UK activity level was not very high either. Maybe the promise of stormy conditions kept antennas lowered in readiness.

As night fell, Bob took on the duties of safety officer as the weather conditions outside deteriorated. The wind strengthened and, more importantly, got more gusty so he was outside in the riving rain lowering the mast to about half height. I ventured out a couple of times during the evening to get some air and seeing those antenna being buffeted by the wind was rather scary. 

The run rate in these events is never as high as during the UK AC Contests that I am more used to operating in, and 24 hours is a long time with very little activity. At 23.45 with only 1 qso in the previous hour I decided to get some sleep. I drove home and was amazed to get a few hours of shut eye despite consuming large quantities of coffee and still hearing CW ringing in my ears. Up bright and early on Sunday I was back on the key by 7.45 the next morning. In total I managed just over 16 hours of intensive CW operation in the 24 hours available.

Using the rotataor controls to peak the Continentals!

Last year I worked 30 other stations, this years tally was a more respectable 80 qso's. Upon analysis there was one dupe and one other non-scoring contact so that dropped to 78 contacts.

I must admit that I was quite relieved to see 14.00 z come around on Sunday. Concentrating on mainly weak CW signals for long periods is exhausting. CW decoders are virtually useless in these conditions so it was all reading by ear and sending was with the aid of a memory keyer and some manual sending to break the boredom.

The best DX worked was DK9IP at 759 Km and the average distance per QSO was 324 Km. 80 contacts in 24 hours is mind numbingly slow but the difficulty level was quite high so that kept me alert for most of the time. As I had been wearing headphones for all of the contest, my ears were plastered to the side of my head. As I write this they are just starting to get back to normal.

One of the most satisfying QSO's was with M1CDL. John is one of the members of our CW beginners group at Spalding and District Amateur Radio Society (SDARS). I could hear his nerves but he completed the contact in   a very proficient manner. Well done John.

I am not a very fast CW operator and the contest exchange is quite long in the Marconi, RST, Serial Number and Locator so maximum speed for me was about 17 wpm. Most other stations came back to my CQ calls at roughly the same speed, maybe a bit faster. I cease to be very accurate above 22 wpm and there was loads of time so I did not see any point in rushing contacts and jeopardising points. 

It was great fun but I was pleased when the end came. I left Bob to dismantle the antennas and get ready for his next contest on Tuesday. A huge thank you to him for all of the work he put in so that I could indulge myself in the 2013 Marconi VHF CW Contest.

Mni tnx fer qso and pts 73 es gl de G0HGH/P

Tower flexing in the wind - it got a lot stronger!

Thanks to Bob, G1ZJP, for the photographs.

SDARS Construction Contest award photo

John, M1CDL, presents the SDARS Construction Contest award to Andrew, G8BYB (right).

Andrews home brew mast was well engineered and thought out project. Well done.

6 meter UK AFS

20th Oct. 2013 UK AFS Contest

Conditions for this contest did not seem very good to me with only one short opening to Italy. I0FHZ seemed surprised to be called by a station in the UK and came back to me in his native tongue, tricky for me as my Italian is non-existent. Trying to work out letters in a call sign is difficult with phone when strong accents are present. This is one of the reasons I prefer CW as a mode.

Six meters is not normally a very good band for me as I appear to be quite deaf, receiving far better reports than I give out during the UKAC's. For this contest I changed the antenna from 3 elements to a 4 element beam and certainly noticed a difference in the angle of reception. I also changed the feeder over from my normal RG214 to Ecoflex15 and also ran a preamp next to the radio (not at the mast head). The last hour was still very slow though. None of the excitement that runs right up to the wire that you get on the UKAC's.

As can be seen on the map most of the qso's were as my normal UKAC standard with the one I0FHZ standing alone for good dx. I ended up calling CQ a bit high in the band (50.256 MHz) as the lower part of it was so crowded. I hope that didn't make it difficult for operators to find me. Also power levels are much higher in this contest compared to the Tuesday evening contests so front end overload has to be taken into consideration.

I tried calling in CQ in CW a few times just to relieve the boredom but got no takers. The other continental station that I worked was PA4VHF which was harder work than the Italian.

We will now have to see how the rest of the Country faired and what damage the man with the red pen does to my score!

Thanks to Bob, M1MHZ, for the loan of the antenna and preamp. My points go to Spalding & District Amateur Radio Society (SDARS). I hope you all did well.

73 de Jim G0HGH

SDARS Construction Contest

This years Construction Contest was keenly contested with some interesting projects being worked upon in the Club.

I (G0HGH) submitted a selection of CW keyers, Graham (G8NWC) demonstrated his ATV kit, Phil (M0PAC) showed off his impressive magnetic loop antenna, but the winner was Andrew (G8BYB) with his well engineered lattice mast, some photos of which are included below.

Well done Andrew, an impressive project.

Beginners CW Group

The beginners CW group at SDARS (Spalding & District Amateur Radio Society) has made excellent progress. In four months they have gone from complete novices to knowledgeable operators. It was always the aim to make the group student led rather than just following my instructions so it was particularly pleasing when, at our normal Club gathering, they requested some further information about CW Contesting. 

We covered the basics;

• reading the rules
• Where in the band to operate QRS
• What exchange information was needed and
• how to make that exchange.

We then had our own small, mock contest. We decided what the exchange information was going to be and then one would start calling CQ TEST. I don't think I have heard so much laughter from operators learning CW! It was great to see and hear them enjoying using CW and having fun with it, doing what they wanted to do.

At the beginning there were many errors but these were taken in good spirit and the nerves soon started to calm. Early errors included; 

• not incrementing the serial number so every contact was 599 001
• Actual sending errors. The most common being sending too many dits in a 5
• panicking

It was a great session and the the group got a lot out of it. The laughter must have been infectious as it looks like we now have the demand to start another beginners class from scratch from some new novices. What on Earth have have we let ourselves in for!

73 de Jim G0HGH

RSGB UKAC 144MHz Oct 1 2013

As usual in the RSGB UKAC 2 meter contest, conditions before the start were good with OZ1ALS being heard working many European stations. Then, as our contest starts, conditions fade and the DX gets buried in the QRM.

Despite heavy noise levels from West through North to East, I managed to score a personal best with a good spread of stations worked throughout the UK. My best DX was, once again, GI4SNA. What I would do without him I don't know!

It is nice hearing CW being used more frequently in the UKAC Contests and I did manage a number of contacts on the key. It was also nice to hear some new stations that I have not worked before including David, G7AGI, who I have worked on the Twitter net but not the radio before.

IO92WS is a crowded square so well worth pointing your antenna in this direction as there are quite a few points to be had here. Thanks to all stations worked and to those who tried but disappeared in the QSB. It was a most enjoyable evening and my ears are still ringing with the sound of white noise.

Station for 2 meters here is;

• Yaesu FT897
• Abt 60 Watts
• 11 ele Tonna up 12 meters agl at 0 (yes zero) feet asl.
• Mast head pre amp by HA8ET
• FA-SM station manager for sequencing

73 de Jim G0HGH

N1MM part 1

N1MM Contest Logging Programme - part 1

There is no doubt in my mind that if you are interested in Contests, even in a small way, then computer logging is a skill that needs to be seriously considered. Having entered a couple of RSGB UKAC contests using paper logs and then transcribing to the Contest web site I found that it was a laborious process that is prone to copying errors.

In SDARS our VHF contesters are very keen and active. The logging software that most of us use for VHF and up is Minos because it is recommended by the RSGB, provides an entry in the required format and because a lot of Club members use it, help and assistance is always at hand.

Minos is however primarily for VHF use, when it comes to HF I have decided to settle on using N1MM logging software. The reasons for this are;

1. It's free. I am not a fanatical Contester so spending money on something that gets infrequent use is just not viable.
2. It is quite similar to Minos in use so the learning curve is not too steep.
3. It provides an entry in Cabrillo format, required for many HF Contest entries.

Having said that it is similar to Minos to use only scratches the surface though. N1MM is an extremely complex and complicated programme when you look at it in more detail. Whereas Minos is purely logging software, N1MM also incorporates so many extra functions including rig and rotator control that you would need to be a dedicated contester to master it completely. I will not even try and cover N1MM in depth here but will try to explain how I use the basic functions within it.

To install N1MM is a two step process, firstly you need to download and install the core programme called Full install. This can be downloaded here; http://n1mm.hamdocs.com/tiki-list_file_gallery.php?galleryId=7 . Once that is done you download the latest updates and install those on top of the main programme. http://n1mm.hamdocs.com/tiki-list_file_gallery.php?galleryId=15

It is important to install the updates immediately after the first full install but after that it is only necessary once every now and then. Installation is straight forward and should go smoothly. Only the latest update has to be installed so ignore the others.

If you start N1MM without connecting your rig to the computer with a CAT cable you will receive an error opening port message when opening the software. Don't Panic – To use the basic logging programme you do not need to be connected to the radio. You will probably find the default band selected is 20 meters. To change this simply type in the “call sign” entry box “3.5” and hit enter for 80 meters. If the mode is not correct just type in “CW” or “PHONE” and hit enter again.

The first task is to select the correct Contest Format. Take your time on this as it was where I made several errors the first time I used the programme and mistakes are difficult to remedy later.

From the top menus select “File” then “New log in Database”.

This brings up a set up box. The first item is “Log Type”. There are loads of contests to select from and getting the correct one is very important. For the RSGB UK CC contest scroll down until you get to “RSGB80MCC”.

Some are not as obvious, the Cub Sprint is “EUSCW” so look at the rules on the actual contest web site and you might find the format to select there.

Selecting the correct Contest format is important as it opens up the correct information entry boxes in the main window that each specific Contest requires.

The rest of the set up window is more straight forward and contains a lot of your station information in much the same way as Minos except with an HF slant.

You are now pretty much ready to start a Contest using N1MM as a simple logging aid. As in Minos you enter Call sign being worked then Tab across to the next field until all of the required field are filled in and then hit Enter.

Many VHF contesters are amused to find that the Report defaults to 599 in HF Contests. At least in N1MM you can enter a different RST but I'll save my thoughts on that topic for another missive!

At the end of the Contest when it comes time to produce your entry, check with the Contest rules to make sure you know what format is required. Most of my Contest activity is for RSGB Contests and they require a Cabrillo file. To produce one Simply go to “File” menu and select “Generate Cabrillo File”. Make sure you know where you saved it too as this is what you send to the RSGB.

Essentially much of this simple utilisation of N1MM is very similar in operation to Minos. The fun starts when you connect your Radio to the computer and delve a bit deeper into the software's capabilities.

When you connect your radio to the computer using a CAT cable or interface then N1MM becomes very interesting indeed. The software will then track your operating frequency and mode automatically. If you connect a WinKey or similar keying device, you can send CW from the computer keyboard or from Macros within N1MM. However this is where most of the problems start to surface. Interfacing your computer, radio and software so that they all “talk” to each other is not always easy especially if you already use certain ports on the computer while using other software like Ham Radio Deluxe. If using more than one programme at a time always open up N1MM first and always turn your radio on and select VFO A, the correct band and mode before starting N1MM.

New Novice operators at SDARS

Well done to the latest four students who studied for the Novice Licence exam with tutor John, G4NBR, at Spalding & District Amateur Radio Society. They all passed with flying colours and are no doubt eagerly awaiting their new call signs.

Pictured is one of the new Novice operators, Matt, checking out the rx capabilities of his ex-military radio gear during SDARS Fun Field Day.  He will soon be using it to make contacts when his license comes through.

Good luck and hope to see you on air soon.

Update;
Matt's new callsign is M6KNI so please give him a call when you hear him.

73 de Jim G0HGH

80 Meter antenna considerations for UK Contesting

80 Meter antenna considerations for UK Contests

When I was first licensed I was anxious to get on as many bands as I could, as quickly as possible. Then, as is still often the case today, most operators turned to the G5RV antenna. To be fair it is an excellent starting antenna and can be made to “work” on most bands. By “Work” I mean it can be tuned with an ATU to show 50 ohms to the radio but that does not necessarily mean it is works well.

As with most multi-band antenna, the G5RV is a compromise. You get to work lots of bands but it is also a noisy antenna that requires a robust ATU to work. Sometimes the tuner built into many modern rigs will not cope very with it on all bands.

Noise is the perennial enemy of the amateur radio operator and, as I have already mentioned, the G5RV has a reputation of being a noisy antenna. This is for two reasons;

1. It is a non-resonant antenna, especially on 80 meters, and
2. It has an element of vertical polarisation in it.

Non-resonant antenna do not discriminate between the signal you do want and the noise that you don't want. As such they will quite happily receive that weak amateur signal in the 80 meter band that you are looking for but it will also pick up lots of interference from other bands and domestic QRN without favour. A resonant antenna however acts, not quite like a band pass filter, but it does positively discriminate towards the signals that it is tuned to receive. The benefits here are obvious and when you compare the difference between the signal that you do want and the noise level when using a G5RV and a resonant dipole you are likely to find an improvement of about 2 “S” points when on the later.

Vertical antenna are renowned for working DX but in the modern domestic environment they are also plagued by QRN from just about every electrical source in the home. I recently used a resonant half wave vertical antenna during the Club Field Day and got some excellent results from it while in the electrically quite environment of the field in Surfleet but, at home, it is virtually unusable due to the S7 noise level it hears from surrounding properties. The G5RV antenna has an element of vertical polarisation in it especially on 80 meters when part of the ribbon feeder is used as the antenna. Horizontally polarised dipoles are less prone to domestic QRN than vertical antennas.

When working search and pounce in a Contest it is also beneficial to have an antenna that has a reasonable usable bandwidth so that the tuner does not have too much work to do when searching the whole band for contacts. Unfortunately the best antenna for bandwidth is the Doublet fed with open wire feeder, followed by the full size dipole fed with coax cable. On 80 meters both of these are quite a formidable length. Also there is the fact that for a dipole to work most efficiently it must be at least half a wavelength above ground level and horizontal. Not many of us can manage that with our pocket handkerchief gardens!

Fortunately we can improve matters a little. I have been working on making some 40 meter traps so that I can make an 80/40 meter trap dipole. This gives me the advantage of having an antenna that is resonant on two bands and also, the traps serve to shorten the overall length of the antenna to somewhere close to that of a full size G5RV. There is a down side as the bandwidth is reduced but if you cut and tune your antenna to the relevant part of the band, the ATU in a modern transceiver should be able to cope with it. I use an LDG AT100Pro2 Autotuner and that manages very well indeed. Before the Contest I “train” the ATU by tuning every 15 k/c's or so and the settings are stored in its memory for rapid recall later.

For the inter-G contacts that we require during UK contesting we do not really need a good DX antenna with a low angle of radiation. In fact what we require is an antenna with a radiation pattern that is virtually straight up and down and here lack of height is a distinct advantage. A half wave trap dipole with a centre support of only 10 meters and the ends sloping down to about 2 meters has the type of radiation pattern that we are looking for. Not so good for DX but excellent for more local work.

The traps I make use the calculations from the VE6YP programme available at; http://www.qsl.net/ve6yp/

but instead of making them up on the commonly used drainpipe former, I just loosely wrap the coax length into a coil as per the idea by W6NBC in an article in QST magazine available here; http://w6nbc.com/articles/2011-02QSTtraps.pdf This has the advantage of easier to make and waterproof and slightly improved bandwidth.

When tuning the length of the antenna do so to the CW end of the band which is about 3 feet longer than the phone section. You then simply fold back the ends and cable tie them closely to the rest of the wire until it is resonant in the phone section. When the phone Contest is over you then simply un-clip the ends and you are back on the CW part of the band again.

The resulting antenna that I have fitted into my bungalow garden works very well for UK AFC, Sprint and CC contesting I hope that this information encourages some of you to improve your antenna system for 80 meters without breaking the Bank or moving to a house with a bigger garden. I also hope that it encourages you to help your Club by adding a few points during Contests.

73 de Jim G0HGH

SDARS

FISTS and AGCW

Beginners CW group; John M1CDL, Carol 2E0GRR and Andrew G8BYB

CW has always been an important mode in Amateur Radio that is often seen as very difficult to master. At our Club in Spalding (SDARS) we recently decided to start a beginners CW session to introduce operators to the joys of the key and learn "the code".

We started using the Koch method and a wonderful computer programme by G4FON to learn the code itself, starting at a character speed of 20 wpm. Initially this was considered quite easy but as the number of letters built up a few doubts started to appear. I was on hand to bully and encourage the group to continue and, hopefully, make it seem like fun. 

Like the older Farnsworth method of learning CW, there seems to be a couple of "walls" to overcome in the learning process. At 10 and 18 characters the group started to wonder if they were taking on too much and would never get there. With a bit of encouragement from myself, pointing out how far they had come and how near they were to their goal, they all persisted and have now mastered all of the code along with a number of prosigns and we are currently tackling "rubber stamp" and basic qso's.

Because the group learned the code using the Koch method, their ears were tuned to hearing individual morse characters at a reasonable speed. We are now working at reducing the thinking time and consequently the gap between those characters.

Now that we are actually using practical CW face to face during the Club meetings and also on-air on 2 meters with phone talk back, morse code has become fun for the group and I believe that they will continue and become highly competent operators.

I was better prepared for this year's Spalding & District Amateur Radio Society's (SDARS) annual Fun Field Day with a good selection of resonant antennas available to play with.

To the left of the photo is a home brew, half wave end fed trap vertical antenna for 20, 17 and 15 meters. This worked very well in the electrically quiet, countryside environment.
To the right of that is a support mast for the 80/40 meter trap dipole.
Another end fed half wave for 10 meters was available but there was no activity on 10 to be had that day.

Most of the contacts during the morning and early afternoon were on 15 meters which had good openings to Japan and Russia. My favourite qso was with FISTS JA National Club station, JL3YMV/3 FISTS NR 15000, operator Nao.

In the afternoon I went over to 40 meters for the FISTS Ladder and worked several FISTS members in the UK.

The antennas worked well needing minimal tuning and I ran 80 watts from my FT897 which was operating from a spare car battery. All contacts were with CW at about 18 - 20 wpm.

Lunch was the traditional BBQ with chief "chef" Ambrose on the tongs.

The wx was kind and it only started to rain just as we were packing up in the early evening. 

Another successful outing by the Club was enjoyed by all who attended and visited for for the fun.