432MHz UKAC August 2017

Time for the annual 432MHz UKAC outing, mainly to try out some new equipment locally before taking it further afield. The new all digital KR400 rotator needed testing, as did the recently rediscovered DEMI ex TV transponder amplifier. Both worked fine. Heavy rain delayed going to site, so only operated 2 hours. However 77 QSOS were made as G4NXO/P, best one being 390km into Paris. Equipment ran a K3S into DEMI Xverter, TV Transponder PA module running 100W into a 21 ele F9FT. The HA8ET mast head preamp was mounted at the base of the mast due to the length of feeder on the Yagi

June 70MHz UKAC

After the success during the previous Sunday's 4m contest, thoughts turned to the 4m UKAC the following Tuesday evening. Blorenge is much more hospitable at this time of week and it was much easier to get to directly after work than British Mountain

This time we used Rogers Van to support the 5 ele Powabeam at 20' Again the K3S drove the Anglian transverter then the I0JXX amplifier module, all operated from the Honda Jazz.

There was some DX heard while setting up from EA and IC8, but it disappeared as the contest started. Conditions on tropo were poor, but we ploughed on, listening around between qsos. We found EA6SX who we worked at 1442km as the best DX. After this excitement the search for multipliers continued. No continental DX was worked. Northern English squares were well represented but despite calling a lot that way, there were no sign of GM stations. 109 QSOS were made in total

Nice Sunset

Postscript
The results have been published very speedily... within 12 hours of the entry deadline, AND the writeup contained more details than "the next contest is on xx/xx/2016! Looks like only our station worked the Sporadic-E

Pos	Callsign UBNs	Loc	QSOS	Score	Mults	Total	Norm	ODX	Kms	Power
1	GW4FRE/P	IO81LS	107	19,874	34	675,716	1,000	EA6SX	1,442	150
2	G4FZN/P	IO94JF	101	17,875	32	572,000	968	G3VXM	381	160
3	G3TCU/P	IO91RF	84	13,577	32	434,464	935	GM4NFC	530	160

50MHz UKAC June 2015

As it was going to be nice weather conditions we decided to do this UKAC from the Blorenge IO81LS as GW0FRE/P. Roger G4BVY again loaned us his 5 element F9FT Tonna to connect to the Elecraft K3.

After we connected  up the radio to the antenna, the band was full of Eastern Europe stations and Scandinavian stations.  As the contest started conditions were all over the place and a lot of DX was worked as can seen by the map below:-

The lack of "intermediate stations" (PA/F/ON) is most marked. As the first hour hour ended, the DX stopped and it was down to working UK stations and multipliers. 125 QSOS were completed in 10 countries and 40 locators for around 3.1 Million points. The best DX was UT5XR;in KN49 at ;2215km. Not bad for 150 minutes with 100W, which the results seem to confirm:-

Section AR
Pos	Callsign UBNs	Loc	QSOS	Score	Mults	Total	Norm	ODX	Kms	Power
1	GW0FRE/P	IO81LS	117	55,772	53	2,955,916	1,000	UT5XR	2,215	100
2	M0VXX/P	IO82QL	148	45,417	46	2,089,182	992	IK7IMP	2,072	100
3	G4CLA	IO92JL	142	41,016	48	1,968,768	985	SM2YIP	2,021	100

50MHz UKAC May 2015

As the weather forecast for the 6m UKAC was good and I had never been solo portable on 6m I decided it was worth a try. Overcoming the slight handicap of not owning a 6m portable antenna by borrowing G4BVY's 5 ele tonna I set out for the tump at IO82UA with my 14' portable mast. I used the K3 which gave around 75W. It was found that the USB to rs232 adaptor caused noises on the band so that was unplugged meaning no radio control; no big hardship. 61 stations were worked, best DX GI4SNA at 374km. The average distance was 108km compared to the 131km average from GW0FRE, mainly due to the many stations worked around Cheltenham.

432MHZ UKAC May 2015

Went on a nostalgia trip last night in my first ever attempt at a 432MHz UKAC. Arranged to use GW4NXO/P which I had not used for 30 years! The call raised a few eyebrows!

Used Elecraft K3+ DEMI Transverter + 100W solidstate amp. The USA MGF1302 EME MHP preamp was dusted off after it's success in winning the 432AFS contest.  A 21 ele Tonna was borrowed by G4BVY which came with a long length of feeder attached causing the MHP to be mounted at the base of the mast!

Note MHP level with car roof due to length of cable on the antenna!

It was quite windy on the Blorenge but at least it did not rain. Conditions were good early in the event but tailed off towards the end. I was amazed at the number of stations worked in the Channel Islands. The Best DX was DG1KJG at 715km

1296MHz UKAC April 2015

Originally I had intended to do this contest from Wales. However having blown up the 60W amplifier and the transverter IF pin diodes again  (due to the minimum power of the K3 being 3W) early Tuesday morning I decided not to risk the trip which would involve getting the generator but rather try the equipment locally.
Having tried Ankerdine hill in the past and found it blocked to the North  it was time to try somewhere else. With Roger G4BVY we had previously found a tump in IO82UA which looked good on paper, time to take a look. My "small"  system would be used. This is a K3+ G4DDK2004 Xverter +G4DDK VLNA and Wimo 44 ele. It would also be fun to try assembling my 14' Portaple mast, which collapses to 3' and is an easy fit in the Honda Jazz for the 1st time. This would all work off 12V from the car  and give me 10W

23 stations were worked with a few stations in IO83/IO93 who I dont normally work from home and stations to my SouthEast (eg IOW) I never even hear from home. However there was a lack of stations to the east which I normally work from Home.

RSGB Propagation forecast alerts me to DX.

Tuesday night was the 2m UKAC contest and as the clocks had changed, (enabling setup in Daylight), it was time to go portable from Blorenge, IO81LS again. As the RSGB prop forecast said conditions should be good  to the east I also took along a small 24G system to see what beacons I could hear before starting setting up the 2m gear.  I took my normal 24048/432MHz transverter (retuned from 24192MHz it used in the USA) with an FT817 as the IF and a 20dB reference horn. Sure enough upon arrival there was a big Inversion layer visible to the east.   GB3CAM at 210km was quickly found and was a good decode. GB3ZME was also a reasonable signal at 105km LOS , but not on the direct heading of 020 degrees but on 070 degrees! No other beacons were heard (GB3SCK and GB3AMU were considered possibilities)

The 24048/432MHz Transverter

The UKAC on 2m sounded like an HF contest on 20m. 144QSOS in 27 locators with the best DX being DJ2TX in JO33 at 731km. Used 300W (due to the auxiliary equipment more power tripped the 1000W generator) to a 9 ele at 15' from Elecraft K3 with solidstate amplifier and HA8ET preamp for the first 2 hours Then there was a generator incident so a KX3 running 2W from its internal batteries (I hadnt seen the need for the KX3 DC power lead!) was used for the remainder of the contest but 10 stations out to 350km were still worked!

August 50MHz UKAC

As GW5NF was having trouble with his TS2000 FMing on 2m and 6m(as reported by TF3ML/P!)  Meg offered to loan him her Elecraft K3 while it was in for repair.   Looking at the calendar a 6m UKAC was impending so we decided to take it and install it that day and see how it worked under the GW0FRE call. It took just a few minutes to install the K3 along with the matching KPA500 and interface it to his computer. We had a listen on 6m and heard a few signals so tried calling them Worked were IK5ACO(JN52),  ISOCDR(JN40) and ISOBSR/P (JM49) Next we hooked up the Microwave modules 70MHz transverter for a listen and heard CS5BALG/B (IM67) and CT1HZE (IM57) calling CQ on SSB who came back first call with our 7W! After a meal break,  6m produced EA5GLN (IM98)and EA7/G4GCP (IM76) then it was time for the contest.

Deciding to live dangerously we installed the N1MM software 20 minutes before the contest began!  The contest started with stations in Scandinavia. The best was OH2TP(KP20) at 1920km, but it was nice to work SM4IVE other than via the moon. Conditions then died. The contest ended with a burst of Italian stations giving the best DX,  IW8PQU (JM88) at 2078km. 60 stations were worked. The complete spread geographically is as follows: 

 

 

 

 

Looking at the UK stations worked it is noticeable the lack of Northern Stations, due to the large mountain less than a mile north of the QTH blocking takeoff that way:-