Category - Blog

This is an exciting and relatively new company to Amateur radio who have been trading since 2009.

They produce high quality maps of many sizes and are just getting a good foothold into the market an area which has been lacking for some time.

The maps can be printed on various media from foto quality silk paper to foamex board.

They are probably the best Amateur Radio Maps I have seen in years and are a welcome addition to any Shack who’s owner only wants the best!

Have a look on the link above (click Map) and see what you think.

GR2HQ Award

1.   UK HQ Club Challenge Award

This award is available once a year by participating in the IARU HF World Championship (July 9/10^th 2011)

The object of the UK HQ Club Challenge is for all members of radio clubs to produce a Combined Club score by working the UK headquarters station GR2HQ on as many bands/modes as possible during the IARU HF Championship 2011 contest. Stations wishing to enter the IARU contest can add their score to the overall club score.

Whilst stations are encouraged to work any station active in the IARU event, only QSOs with GR2HQ will count for the UK HQ Club Challenge. Stations with limited band or mode capability are encouraged to operate from either a friend’s station or their local club station, whichever is appropriate to maximise their club’s overall score.

Date/Time : 1200UTC on Saturday 9th July 2011     until     1200UTC on Sunday 10th July 2011

Bands : 160m to 10m – excluding WARC bands

Modes : CW and SSB

Exchange : RS(T) + ITU Zone    [ all of the UK is in ITU Zone 27 ]

Sections: 1. Small Club or Group – up to three entries per club

2. Medium Club or Group – up to 9 entries per club

3. Large Club or Group – 10 or more entries per club

Frequencies: the usual HF contest frequencies – See the full IARU HF Championship contest rules at :

http://www.arrl.org/iaru-hf-championship

Scoring : One point per contact with GR2HQ – up to a maximum of 12 points (6 bands x 2 modes) per club member.

Entries: One club member should collate all the individual club member’s entries and produce a summary sheet of all QSOs which must be in Cabrillo or Excel format and must include each member’s name and callsign and their club or group name to be valid. This summary sheet should be sent by e-mail ( [email protected] ) to Stewart GW0ETF who will do the log checking by 31st July 2011 (3 weeks after the contest).

Sorry – paper logs will not be accepted.

Awards: In each of the three sections listed above there are two UK HQ Club Challenge trophies which will be awarded to the club or group with the highest overall score in each of two geographical regions – the UK and Europe.

In the event of two or more clubs or groups having the same final points score, the group or club which achieves this score first during the 24 hours of the contest will be the winner.

2.   Award Certificates for working GR2HQ

Individual stations that contact GR2HQ on up to 12 band/mode slots will also be eligible for a special certificate issued by the GR2HQ team.

This is the 9th year that these award certificates have been available.

Bronze award certificate :        GR2HQ on three, four or five band/modes
Silver award certificate :          GR2HQ on six, seven or eight band/modes
Gold award certificate :            GR2HQ on nine, ten or eleven band/modes
Platinum award certificate :    GR2HQ on all twelve band/modes

W-HQ-S Award

From IARU HF Championship rules:
(…) To contact as many other amateurs, especially IARU member society HQ stations, around the world as possible using the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meter bands (…)

rules

1. The award is issued by MK QTC (The Polish Radio Amateurs’ Journal)
Editor.

2. The purpose of this award is to maximize contacts with
national IARU central stations all over the world, during the IARU HF
Championship (July, 9-10 2011 r.).

3. The award is issued in two classes: Basic, for having at least 10
contacts with the HQ stations, i.e. AO8HQ, DA0HQ, GB5HQ, EM7HQ, SN0HQ,
IU8HQ etc. Special, W-HQ-S Special Award, limited to top three
operators worldwide, for having the highest number of HQ stations
contacted during the Championship. Note: one HQ station counts per
band and per mode, up to 12 times i.e. 1.8MHz-CW, 1.8MHz-SSB,
3.5MHz-CW, 3.7MHz-SSB, 7MHz-CW, 7MHz-SSB, 14MHz-CW, 14MHz-SSB,
21MHz-CW, 21MHz-SSB, 28MHz-CW – 28MHz-SSB.

4. A list of valid contacts should be submitted within 30 days after
the Championship to the following address: [email protected]

5. W-HQ-S Award may be issued in two formats: – High resolution print,
with the applicant’s individual call sign, original seal and Chief
Editor signature, for a fee of 5€ or $7 USD. The funds may be sent via
PayPal to: [email protected] (award name and applicant’s call sign should be
included as a transaction note) – Electronic (JPG file) with call
signs of all winners, at no cost.

6. The award is available to SWL.

7. Operators unable to submit electronic applications may apply using
standard paper forms. The application and the fee should be sent to:
MK QTC, Suchacz-Zamek, PL-82340 Tolkmicko, Poland.

8. Any questions on the Award rules interpretation may be submitted
to: [email protected]

Thanks to Tim MØURX (Qsl Manager) for the work he has done on the new MCØSHL Qsl Cards for Ramsey Island 2011.

Cards are being printed, please use MØURX OQRS system if you would like to received a card.
Please do not request a card if you don’t need it (think about the ‘Green’ issues!) or if you have already sent for one via the bureau.

Please do not request a card if you don’t need it (think about the ‘Green’ issues!) or if you have already sent for one via the bureau.

(tnx Janet Baxter for main qsl card image)

After a short delay due to the trip to Ramsey Island, I am now back on top of Qsl Card and WFF Award issuing.

This week alone I have prepared and am ready to mail 54 various award certificates from GFF.

Thanks for all the support and requests and once more, please accept my apologies for the slight delay.

Thanks to Cezar VE3LYC for the latest Qsl cards that arrived from his trip to the two very rare IOTA’s last year;

Gonzalo Island, IOTA SA-097 and

Herschel Island, IOTA SA-041 both very rarely activated and therefore new for my collection.

The Diego Ramírez Islands are a small group of lesser islands located in the southernmost extreme of Chile about 100 km (62 mi) southwest of Cape Horn and 93 km (58 mi) Sse of Ildefonso Islands, stretching 8 km (5 mi) north-south. The Chilean Navy established a meteorological station above Caleta Condell, a small cove on the northeast side of Isla Gonzalo (Gonzalo Island), in 1957 and resupply it several times each year.

These two new ones bring MØOXO to #506 IOTA.

Ramsey Island 2Ø11; Trials & Tribulations

The Strumble Head team met at the Club House on Tuesday giving us time to test, prepare and pack the items needed for this year. As before, we always try to be more efficient and to take only the essential items to the island but also with consideration that we may have to stay longer than anticipated should the weather turn poor.
Sea and weather conditions were forecast to be very poor for the crossing on the Thursday morning but what a surprise to awake at 04:45 to see a beautiful morning on the Pembrokeshire Coast. The vehicles were loaded and we arrived at the Lifeboat Slipway around 07:30 where shortly afterwards the ‘Thousand Island Boat Charters’ arrived and we were on the Island by 08:00, amazing. (Click here for You Tube video of the boat crossing).

After heaving all the gear to the top of the ‘harbour’ we then had the massive climb to the top of the Island where we bunk in a Barn (complete with broody Chickens!). Carrying 2 x Acom 1000 Amplifiers, 2 x FT1000MPs and worst of all the Kenwood TL922 to the accommodation is always a huge challenge. Fortunately the RSPB Warden and his wife (Greg & Lisa) are very accommodating and helped us up the hill with the Quad and trailer for which we are always very grateful.

We got off to a good start and as always, no one sets their stations up until all antennas are fully up and we work together to achieve this. The 2 x G3TXQ Hexbeams (built by Ant MW0JZE) were the first up and then we worked on the Windom for 40 and 80M. Everything ran as a well oiled machine and shortly after lunch, all three antennas were up and we moved inside to set up the stations.

Around 15:30 local we had all three stations on air and were qrv from ‘IOTA EU-124 Ramsey Island’. Chris G1VDP started the Digi station on the Windom working 30M, Ant MW0JZE started up on 20 SSB and Tim M0URX worked 15m SSB. Pile ups were pretty fast, the World Flora Fauna reference helping to boost them as well 😉 .
Almost immediately the station used by Chris suffered a major problem when lights on the FT1000MP flashed and the dedicated PSU and TL922 also shutting down. Then worse to come was that dreaded smell – something was on fire. A subsequent check showed a hole on a transistor within the PSU and sadly totally  n-repairable for here at least. We were now down to two stations.

We worked very well and most stations had solid pile ups until late in the evening. Conditions weren’t brilliant and most of the traffic was from EU with Yuri A65CA from Asia and a few stations from North America. Tim had a good run into SA and also the Caribbean but again, conditions definitely down. We had over  1000 in the log and with the two stations we were happy at that.

The next morning we all woke early after a terrible storm kept most of us awake during the night and we got started. We worked early on 40M SSB and then 20M SSB using both Acoms and running 300/400 watts. Rob MW0RLJ and Charles M0OXO decided to take a boat to the mainland to take the faulty equipment back and to collect a spare rig to replace it. The guys continued to work well and on their return the qso count was 2500.

It became very obvious that conditions were giving us some Sporadic E propagation so they started pushing the higher bands (17, 12, 10 & 6) to give the Island IOTA to as many that required it. We had an amazing time, many stations commenting on how pleased they were to get EU-124 onto the new bands and in particular many ‘G’s that needed it as a new DXCC Band slot. Ant had been slogging away on 6M for a long time with a huge pile up and handed the Mic to Charles to continue. 6M continued to be very good and in total we finished with well over 396 qso’s & 29 Countries on one run on 6m, the better one maybe CN in Morrocco? Before we left we set ourselves  a target of 4000q’s for the whole trip and by midnight we closed on 4035 q’s, amazing and very pleased but that was to be short lived.

Charles got up the following morning (Day3) to find a problem. We had Voltage issues and it seemed the current was poor and not enough Ampage to run even the radio. We traced the problem to not  just one but both our generators had gone down, who would believe that? The black cloud descended over us and we spiralled into depression. We worked several theories for several hours and eventually decided to run the spare ‘Robin’ generator only and to run 100w only. We never gave up the fight and tried many theories were explored over a pot of Porridge (thanks Jane!) and we came up with a plan! Greg (RSPB Warden) kindly offered to allow us yet another Generator which could give us 6Kva so the mood lightened and again, we weighed up our options over a chat until 0930………

Time moved on and by 1130 we were on air again. Conditions were ok and by 1.00pm we were running well as we approached 1300 and the beginning of the World Flora Fauna’ GreenDay’ event, We used all bands from 40m thro 10m and as we were using 12 & 17m, we were not in a ‘contest’ but just an ‘event’! All continued OK with runs predominantly into EU but with the odd DX station thrown in the mix. When 1500 came the bands just died with barely a trace of anyone on 20 thro 10m. In a few hours this eased and we pushed on on 20m, 17 and 40M. 40M was running very well with Chris on the Mic running 100w from the FT890 but only 20 and 17 really had any decent propagation to EU. As the evening moved along we had another good run with many JA stations on 20M and a few down into OC with VK. We closed at 0030, filled the generator and after a few hours stargazing we slept………but not well!

We were kept awake most of the night with the predicted ‘bad weather’. Sadly it was worse than expected. Torrential rain was hammering at the windows of the barn and roof and the wind was tremendous. First light at 0400 saw 2 x Hexbeams both leaning to the side and getting buffeted by the very strong wind. There was little we could do, they were unusable in that state so after a chat (again over a bowl of porridge) we decided they needed to be taken down to prevent damage. We all donned out wet weather gear and got stuck in. Taking them down took 15 minutes for each Hexbeam with us all working on the same antenna at the same time before moving on to the other. It initially appeared that the fault was either the rotators not being up to the strain of the wind or the strain on the stub mast and clamps were too weak. Another thought for another day but they were all down and we left the Windom in place. We spent the remainder of the morning inside the barn, we dismantled all the equipment and packed it away just leaving the Elekraft K3 and the Windom to use later in the afternoon with a view to making the few required qso’s which would give us 6000 contacts.

The afternoon was poor but we worked through trying our best but pretty soon we ran out of time. We had the now (now traditional) ‘Party’ looming with invited guests joining us for supper and a few drinks. By the time 7pm came we had 11 people for supper including Greg & Lisa, Nia,Mike & Nicola. We must not forget the now famous Border Collie ‘Dewi’, now a celebrity after his debut on the BBC’s ‘Countryfile’! After a lovely meal provided by Jane, we all had a few drinks (some more than others!) and spirits 😉 were high. Some of us were in a bit of a tacking by 0030, and with an empty bottle of Famous Grouse, one of Romiel and several bottles of red wine, we turned in for the night. At that point it seemed extremely unlikely that we would wake in 6 hours feeling well but Charles did and fired up the generator for a quick blast. Another 60 stations were logged on 40m which brought us to a final total of 6024 q’s and the end of the 2011 trip. We got the gear down to the slip and from that point it took us 50 minutes to load the boat, do the crossing, unload at the Lifeboat Slip, carry the gear up to St. Justinians and to load the Van for the trip back to the farm.

It just leaves me with a few thoughts and thanks for the help we received this Year. Greg & Lisa Morgan (RSPB Wardens) were once again invaluable in help, planning, advice and in allowing us on the Island, two people who’s performance, committment and drive is outstanding and a major asset to the RSPB. ‘Thousand Island Expeditions’ once more gave their personal service to us and were extremely kind, a service recommended by us. Mike Chant and his crew aboard the ‘Gower Ranger’ also pulled out the stops with their prompt and personal service. Good luck to Nia Stephens (Assistant RSPB Warden) in her future career and not forgetting Mike and Nicola who give their time as RSPB volunteers. Finally a big thanks to all of you that worked us whilst on Ramsey Island. We were very pleased to give so many of you the new Band Slots, IOTA and WFF areas. I guess almost all stations on 6 meters would have been very pleased to get IO71hu in their logs so a good job all round. Some stations worked us on 7 band slots and many more with 6 contacts which was remarkable. Of course we wouldn’t be without the odd negative comments either. Some made good points and others were well, just pathetic but all in all, a great trip to Ramsey in 2011.

Thanks to everyone from the Strumblehead DX Group; Rob MW0RLJ, Charles M0OXO, Tim M0URX, Chris G1VDP, Ant MW0JZE and of course Jane (our Support Staff 😉 ) who kept us fed with over 120 meals, doing this with 2 small gas rings on a Baby Belling stove and little facilities was a great & welcomed achievement!

Thanks to Pierre ZS8M for the latest confirmations that arrived in the mail this weekend.

I was pleased to see that all contacts were confirmed despite a few months of worry!

For a long while after he went QRT from Marion Island, the on-line log failed to shown my 10M qso. I am pleased to say that all is now rectified – Phew!