The 2003 event saw a wider range of modes in operation (SSB / CW / RTTY /
SSTV) New this year was a directional antenna for HF care of Alban M5UGC,
and several successful QSOs on RTTY and SSTV.
Conditions were quite poor on the HF bands. 40m did not provide any UK contacts on the Saturday, and only for a short period of time on the Sunday. The site location is not ideal for VHF, with the land rising at least 30 metres to the east. Despite having the 2m yagi up at about 70 feet, signals from known stations appeared lower than what we enjoy from our club station when the tower is wound down !
Despite this, a steady stream of contacts were logged on 2m SSB, and on several HF bands. A colour QSL card of Sarehole Mill will be sent for all contacts.
As well as the normal special event operating, we also joined in the Anatolian HF RTTY contest, and the RSGB May 144 MHz contest.
Our portable shack received a number of visitors who were interested in the station. We also had visitors from a few local amateurs, including a Tolkien fan visiting from Germany.
The weather was a major factor in the weekend. We had several torrential downpours which made things boggy underfoot, and undeniably lowered visitor numbers to the event. In true field day style, the Wythall crew were dressed in waterproofs and wellington boots for most of the weekend. The rain also caused very high static noise levels on 2m which made operating difficult at times on Sunday.
Station Equipment:
HF / 6m: Yaesu FT-920.
2m: Icom IC910H.
Tower 1:
MQ4 Hybrid Quad minibeam 20m - 6m @ 60 feet
20m / 40m / 80m Trap dipole @ 50 feet
Tower 2:
17 el Tonna 144 MHz yagi @ 70 feet
Software:
General logging with Turbolog
Contest logging with SD
RTTY using MMTTY
SSTV using MMSSTV
Lee.
G0MTN
Pictures From Day One
