September 144 MHz International Trophy Contest

This weekend the 6th & 7th of September is the RSGB & IARU 144 MHz International Trophy Contest takes place. 

I will be active this weekend with The Black Sheep Contest and DX Group under the callsign "G8T"  from QRA: JO01KJ 

I'm hoping to give a bash on CW & SSB throughout the weekend so hopefully conditions will prevail. 
If you hear us on the band do feel free to give a shout, it would be great to work you over the weekend.

Here's some videos of our previous contests;

Looking forward to the weekend, see you in the contest.

73's

Mayo Radio Experimenters Network Radio Rally

The Mayo Radio Experimenters Network have set the date
for the Radio Rally in the usual venue the Welcome Inn
Hotel, Castlebar for Sunday the 12 October 2014.

For further details please contact the rally director,
Padraic EI9JA on +353 (0) 87 695 7154.


73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

Footage of powerful solar flares released by Nasa

The US Space Agency NASA has released new footage showing a series of powerful solar flares. There have been a number of eruptions on the surface of the sun in the last week.

Some have warned that this explosion of energy might have a serious impact here on earth.

The BBC's Tim Allman explains:

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Newly Formed UK Island Group

This weekend on the 6th & 7th September 2014 the newly formed UK
Island group will be signing M0UKI/p from the rare Farne Islands ( IOTA EU-109 ).

Team members EI9FBB,G0VJG, G7GLW & M0OXO will be QRV with 2 stations and aim to give this IOTA to as many chasers as possible within the short time frame. (Dave EI9FBB mentioned that special attention will be given to work as many EI's as possible too!)

QSL's via M0OXO.

73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

IRTS SSB Field Day Contest

Irish Radio Transmitters Society has it's SSB Field Day Contest taking place this weekend on Saturday and Sunday 6th / 7th September 2014.

The final day for the submission of logs is on 21st September.
Full details available on the contest from www.irts.ie/contests.


73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

M0XII/P - UKAC 50MHz Contest - August

The August UKAC 50Mhz Contest on the 26th from locator square IO91MP was excellent with regards to propagation some sporadic E contacts during contest into Spain and Sweden. Activity in this contest was again up this month and it was great to hear a few new stations give away extra multipliers on the band. I managed with a struggle to get three Scottish (GM/MM) stations a few Welsh (GW/MW) stations and one Northern Irish station (GI/MI) and one station from the Isle Of Mann (GD) including a station from (ON) Belgium these were all worked from IO91 Square unfortunately this month I didn't work (EI) Ireland but I could hear Dave EI9FBB on the band but conditions were too weak to complete the QSO. Maybe next month we will get my home country in the log.

This month I finished the contest with a claimed score of 113 QSO's and 15 UK Multiplier squares and a total of 300,390 claimed points with 8 DXCC entities worked. It was really nice to work Hans EA5/DL5EO on his holiday's in JM08AQ Square as my furthest ODX of 1443Km, Once again a big Thank you to all stations for the points and multipliers this month it was very much appreciated. Looking forward to the next contest. :)

My working conditions was an FT847 Transceiver with 100 watts into a 5 Element Tonna F9FT Yagi up 5m from Ground.

Here is a map of the QSO's made during the Contest:

73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

EI0M & INTERNATIONAL LIGHTHOUSE/LIGHTSHIP WEEKEND

The Mayo Radio Experimenters Network (MREN) will be activating the Blacksod Lighthouse, on 16th & 17th August 2014.

EI0M / Lighthouse

Useful information: 

ILLW-no: IE0008 

ARLHS-no: IRE012 

QRA Locator: IO44HX

WAI Square, Mayo: F61 

Unfortunately I can't make it out with the crew this time but they will be active on 80m - 6m throughout the weekend.

Do feel free to give them a shout.

M0XII/P - UKAC 50Mhz Contest - July

The July UKAC 50Mhz Contest on the 22nd from locator square IO91MP was excellent with regards to propagation some unexpected sproadic E's towards the end of the contest into Sweden and Finland made the band go wild. Activity in this contest was well up on previous months and it was great to hear a few extra multipliers on the band. I still struggle to get GM/MM stations from 91 Square but just about managed to get Andy GM4JR, unfortunately this month didn't hear any EI or GD.

This month I finished the contest with a claimed score of 117 QSO's and 16 UK Multiplier squares and a total of 350,976 points with 8 DXCC entities worked. It was really nice to work Timo OH1TM on the band in KP01VJ Square as my furthest ODX of 1752Km,  Once again a big Thank you to all stations for the points and multipliers this month it was very much appreciated.

My working conditions was an FT847 Transceiver with 100 watts into a 5 Element F9FT Yagi up about 3m from ground.

Here's a map of the QSO's made during the contest:

The IARU HF Championship

The IARU HF Championship takes place from 12:00 Saturday

12th to 11:59 UTC Sunday 13th July. There are CW-only,

SSB-only and mixed-mode classes on the 6 contest bands

from 160-10m, with HP, LP (150w) and QRP (5w) sections.

Rules at

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

Work everyone. Exchange ITU Zone (or Society

initials from IARU Society HQ stations). 

The Zone for UK and Ireland is 27.

This year, 2014, the contest coincides with WRTC,

the World Radio Team Championship, being held in

New England. Look out for the 59 teams using

1×1 call signs starting with W, K, or N (for

example W1D). There are awards for working all

59 teams.

There is a real-time scoreboard showing the scores

for each pair of operators, but not the actual

three- character calls in use, at

http://sb.wrtc2014.org/

Mults are Zones by band, but not separately by mode,

and HQ stations by band. In effect, HQ stations are

country mults.

Good luck to all Teams involved and enjoy the conditions on the bands.

73's

“Brendan Quest” Team’s 2 Meter Signal Copied in the UK

A group of Amateur Radio operators from Atlantic Canada is operating from Pouch Cove, Newfoundland, until July 12 in a bid to complete a 2 meter transatlantic contact and claim the Brendan trophy. The "Brendan Quest" team is on the air as VC1T from grid GN37os on 144.155 MHz. The group activated on July 4, and a couple of days later, on July 6 at 1341 UTC, G4SWX was able to completely decode an FSK441 transmission from VC1T.



“They attempted to complete the QSO for 4 hours, but were not successful,” the team reported. “However, this reception should qualify for the Brendan Plate.” The team said a station in Ireland was able to copy parts of three transmissions. Because of the initial success, the group now will use FSK441 exclusively in its Brendan bid.

VC1T had been concentrating its efforts on JT65B, but it has CW and SSB capability, which the team will try if it is able to achieve an FSK441 two-way. Part of the WSJT software package developed by Joe Taylor, K1JT, FSK441 was primarily designed to detect very brief “pings” from meteor trails. VC1T is running 750 W into a rope-supported 43 element, 100 foot long Yagi directed at Europe. It has a gain of more than 23 dBd. When driven with 750 W, the effective radiated power (ERP) in the center of the major lobe should be about 150 kW, the group estimated.

Members of the expedition include Fred Archibald, VE1FA; Roger Sturtevant, VE1SKY; Helen Archibald, VA1YL; Rich Pieniaszek, VA1CHP, and Al Penney, VO1NO. The Brendan Trophy is a series of awards offered by the Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS) to the first Amateur Radio operators to complete a 2 meter transatlantic contact. According to the IRTS, the Brendan Trophy is awarded for the first “traditional mode” two-way contact — ie, SSB or CW capable of being copied without machine assistance. The Brendan Shield is awared for the first “nontraditional mode” two-way contact, ie, digital modes and high-speed CW. The Brendan Plate is given for the first verified reception of a transatlantic signal in any mode.

The goals of the Brendan Quest team are to complete at least one contact on 2 meters using “terrestrial propagation modes” or on both CW and SSB and “non-traditional” modes, such as JT65B. The group plans to operate continuously for the entire period, transmitting on even minutes, and receiving on odd minutes. The Pouch Cove site is 3040 km from the Irish coast and just 23 km from the Cabot Tower site in St Johns, Newfoundland, where Marconi copied the first transatlantic signal in 1901..

The group has a Facebook page, where it is posting updates. — Thanks to AMSAT News Service, Brendan Quest 2 Meter Transatlantic Attempt


73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

50MHz UKAC June Results 2014

The number of entries dropped slightly to 169 as we enter the summer holiday season. Thirty one squares were active which is the highest of the year. (A total of 33 squares have been activated during 2014). This sounds like a repeat of May as the Sporadic-E was dying as the contest started! There were 47 Es QSOs into CT, F, EA, EA6 and EA9. Eighty percent of these were in the first 30 minutes and the final one was at 20:12. Many stations commented that they no Sporadic-e at all. With the high number of active squares, multiplier totals were high with M1MHZ (IO92) working 22 squares, G8XVJ/P (IO93) 21 squares and GI4SNA (IO64) and G3PYE/P (JO02) 18 squares. The best Sporadic-Es contact was between G4LKD (IO93) and EA9PY at 2010 kms and the best tropo contact was between G4RRA (IO80) and GM4ZUK/P (IO86) at 692kms. Adjudication disallowed 5.2% of QSOs with callsigns causing the most difficulty this month.

Roger - G4BVY

I have moved up into 3rd Place so far out of 200 entrants within the restricted section, I am looking forward to the next contest July 50MHz UKAC at 2000 local time on Tuesday 22nd July 2014.

Full List here

RSGB VHF National Field Day 2014

The weekend of Saturday & Sunday 5th /6th of July 2014, I ventured out and about with the Middlesex DX group in the VHF National Field Day.

We were operational on 6m, 4m, 2m & 70cm from Locator Square "JO00EW" under the call-sign "M0MDG/P".

We arrived on site on the Friday at 15:00BST and began to set up our portable stations, weather conditions were amazing on the Friday with the sun beaming down on us as we constructed the stations for the contest starting the Saturday at 14:00UTC. Once the stations were put together and tested on the Friday evening Jason M1PRO fired up the BBQ and a tasty meal washed down with a few beers was enjoyed by all.

Saturday Morning everyone was up bright and early in contest mode and once breakfast was had by all and the final tweak's made to the stations it was suddenly 14:00UTC... CQ Contest!!!

I had the pleasure of operating with Carl 2E1IDC on 50 MHz. Simon MW0TBI along with Steve G1OFW operated on 144MHz and John G0KLX with Jason M1PRO operated on 432MHz.

Once 50MHz had finished at 22:00UTC we had to dismantle the station and build the 70MHz setup for the next morning at 08:00UTC. The Guys continued to operate on 144MHz and 432MHz late into the night but as we had very heavy rain and wind in the South East of England over the Saturday night we decided to close down the 144MHz & 432MHz stations as activity almost disappeared. The weather made sleeping in Tents not very pleasant however we struggled on through and managed to get some much needed sleep for the next morning. Everyone was up bright and early and we even got to work the early morning DX into Europe with was greeted with smiles all around once w e Put the finishing touches to the 70MHz station and before we knew it 08:00UT was upon us. 6 hours past and the contest was over at 14:00UT on Sunday afternoon, very weary and tired contest operators then began to disassemble the stations and packed up for our 3 hour journey back home to London.

We finished up the contest with a claimed score and an entry into the Restricted section with the following:

50Mhz (6m):

110 QSO's - 34'294 Total Points with an ODX of 2386Km with SZ8LSV

70Mhz (4m):

63 QSO's - 13'245 Total points with an ODX of 694Km with GM4ZUK/P

144MHz (2m):

230 QSO's - 69'396 Total points with an ODX of 814Km with DK2CF

432MHz (70cms):

85 QSO's - 19'090 Total points with an ODX of 739Km with EI9JA

50MHz (6m) Setup

70MHz (4m) Setup

144MHz (2m) Setup

432MHz (70cms) Setup

I have got to thank the Middlesex DX group (G0KLX, MW0TBI, M1PRO, G1OFW & 2E1IDC) for inviting me along to contest with them for the VHF NFD contest I really enjoyed the weekend it was great craic and certainly looking forward to the next one.

73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

RSGB - VHF National Field Day 2014

This weekend from 1400 UTC Saturday 5th July 2014 until 1400 UTC Sunday 6th July 2014, I will be active with the Middlesex DX group in the VHF National Field Day. 

We will be operational on 6m, 4m, 2m & 70cm from Locator Square "JO00EW" under the call-sign "M0MDG/P".

M0MDG/P - Operators on the Bands:

John G0KLX - 70cm

Jason M1PRO - 70cm

Simon MW0TBI - 2M

Steve G1OFW - 2M

Carl 2E1IDC - 4M & 6M

Pat M0XII - 4M & 6M

Looking forward to this contest hope band conditions and the weather holds up but it should be a great laugh with the lads over the weekend. :-) Hope to work you in the contest. 73's

RSGB 50MHz Contest CW

Entered the RSGB 50MHz CW contest yesterday the 29th of June at 09:00- 12:00 UTC under the Middlesex DX Group callsign "M0MDG/P" from locator IO91MP.

John G0KLX from the Middlesex DX group joined me up on the hill were we put together our Portable setup, FT847 with 100W and a 5 Element Tonna Yagi about 4 meters off the ground.

There was Poor conditions on the 6M band with very little Tropo and also UK activity was down, Thank god for some sproadic E propagation to keep us on our toes, we entered the Open section as it was for Portable stations and finished up the contest with a claimed score of 37 QSO's 17,118 Points and "4Z5SG" as our ODX of 3618Km. 

Here is a map of our QSO's:

The Results came out for this contest recently and we cam in 2nd place with 34 confirmed QSO's and 14'029 points with an ODX of 3618km with 4Z5SG  in the Open section delighted with this entry as it was our first time entering this contest and well worth the effort.

It was great fun being out with John and on 50Mhz CW we really enjoyed our first CW entry from the Middlesex DX group, looking forward to the next one. 73's :-)

M0XII/P - UKAC 50Mhz Contest - June

The June UKAC 50Mhz Contest on the 24th from locator square IO91MP was reasonably okay with regards to propagation, Sproadic E's disappeared right before the contest started 19:59:59 :( Activity on the band was up on previous months and was great to hear a few extra multipliers on the band. I still struggle to get GM/MM stations from 91 Square may have to look into a larger antenna for 50MHz.  

This month I finished the contest with a claimed score of 100 QSO's and 15 Multiplier squares and a total of 198,735 points with 4 DXCC entities worked. It was really nice to catch David GI4SNA on the band in IO64XM Square as my furthest ODX of 466Km, I have worked David a few times and even from my Irish QTH but this was the first QSO on 6M under my UK call sign. Once again a big Thank you to all stations for the points and multipliers this month it was very much appreciated.

My working conditions was an FT847 Transceiver with 100 watts into a 5 Element Tonna Yagi up about 4m from ground.

Here's a map of the QSO's made during the contest:

G8T - 50Mhz Trophy Contest from IN79JX

On June 21st & 22nd the RSGB & IARU R1 - 50 MHz International Trophy Contest took place. I was active with The BlackSheep Contest and DX Group under the callsign "G8T" from Locator square IN79JX. I arrived on site on Friday morning and helped the Team put together our station for the weekend.

Band conditions were moderate on the Saturday but then died away on the Sunday morning with almost no conditions on the band but we managed to land "5B4AIG" as our ODX of 3562Km. 

We finished up the Contest with a claimed score of 606 QSO's and 238 Multipliers totaling 159,358,612 points.

I was operating a big pile up on 50MHz and managed to get 102 QSOs Logged in an hour. 

It was an amazing adrenaline rush :-)

Results came out of this contest and we came in 1st place with 577 confirmed QSO's and 638'339 points with an ODX of 3'562Km with 5B4AIG

I got to say a big Thank you to the guys of the Blacksheep Contest group for inviting me along to contest with them. (Pic L>R: Rohan SWL, Stephen G4SHF, Tim G4LOH with the 50Mhz Telford Trophy from 2013, Mike G8TIC and Matt G0XDI including myself with Shackle the Blacksheep mascot) It certainly was a fantastic experience and great weekend with an excellent contest group. Looking forward to the next one. 73's ;-) 

RSGB & IARU 50Mhz Trophy Contest.

This weekend June 21st & 22nd is the RSGB & IARU R1 - 50 MHz International Trophy Contest. I will be active this weekend with The BlackSheep Contest and DX Group under the callsign "G8T"  from Locator square IN79JX and I do hope to give a bash to CW and SSB on the magic band so hopefully conditions will hold up for the weekend and if you hear us on the band sure feel free to give us a shout it would be great to work you on the air.

G8T - 50Mhz Trophy Contest 16th & 17th June 2012.

G8T - 50MHz Trophy Contest 19 June 2011 Working the US.

73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

Transatlantic 144Mhz (2m) attempt by VC1T Canadian amateurs between 4th - 12th July 2014.

The final updated operating schedule of the 144 Mhz (2M) Transatlantic Brendan Trophy attempt from Pouch Cove Newfoundland this summer by station VC1T can be accessed on http://www.brendanquest.org/

Many mission critical changes are included. VC1T will be using WSJT modes, CW and SSB. It is necessary that EU operators follow the operating protocol closely to enhance the chance of success. Other information sources, such as Facebook, are specified through the webpage. Continuing updates and operating information during the attempt will be found on the Brendan Quest webpage and realtime on ON4KST 144/132 chat.

Sligo 2m voice repeater

Sligo Amateur Radio Club is pleased to announce that a new 2m voice repeater, EI2TKR, has been installed back on Truskmore Mountain in Co Sligo (IO54TI).

Channel RV56 (R4).
Output Frequency 145.700MHz
Input frequency 145.100MHz.
CTCSS only 77Hz.

As a new antenna location is being used, the Club would appreciate signal reports and these can be sent to either EI7CS or EI8BEB.

Source: IRTS

73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

M0XII/P - UKAC 50Mhz Contest - May

The May UKAC 50Mhz Contest from locator square IO91MP was expected to be an exciting one with regards to propagation this time of year on the 50Mhz band, naturally the Sproadic E propagation largely disappeared as the contest started. Unfortunately I was late starting this contest as I got caught up in London's rush hour traffic which made it a complete nightmare to get to the site for 19:00UTC. Finally I got setup and started the contest at 19:25UTC unfortunately I missed the first run of QSO's between 19:00 & 19:25UTC which is usually very intense period of the contest as everyone is piling up on top of each other to give away points whilst trying to find free run QRG's to start their contest. This month the weather conditions were dreadful at the site with temperatures down to 8-9 degrees Celsius and with very heavy rain including fog for the start of the contest meant putting together the station dissatisfying and extremely difficult which lead to moments where I stood back and asked myself "Why am I doing this again!?!" :-)  

As for activity and band conditions in this month's contest I did find it difficult to break through the wall of stations within the IO83 / IO93 squares with only one contact within IO94 square, this was somewhat disappointing as hearing the regulars in GI/GD/GM for multipiers was unfortunately not happening for me so again I started to question my antenna and setup etc. Once the fog had cleared I observed many of the trees at the site which have now become fine and leafy towards the North and West which made me question were my signals actually being reflected or was it just down to tough conditions. I would like to say a big thank you to all stations who persisted with great patience on geting into my log as band conditions seemed to fade out and become quiet around 20:40UTC. At this point I reverted to CW during this period and was delighted that some other stations did the same, I managed 4 QSO's on CW and if the other stations were like me "delighted to have worked them" it certainly made the final stages of the contest a lot more pleasant. 

This month I finished the contest with a claimed score of 82 QSO's and 11 Multiplier squares and a total of 103,499 points with only 3 DXCC entities worked, certainly down on previous months results but it was great to catch Paul ON6NA on the band in JO11VF Square as my furthest DX of 332Km, I thought there may have been a run of EU stations at that time but conditions died out very fast. Once again Thanks to all stations for the points and multipliers this month it was very much appreciated.


My working conditions again was the same as last month an FT847 Transceiver with 100 watts into a 5 Element Yagi up only about 15 foot from ground.

Here's a map of the QSO's made during the contest:

Looking forward to working you all again in the next UKAC contest.

73's
Pat
EI5IX - M0XII

50MHz UKAC April 2014 Results

The Following is from Roger - G4BVY

There was a slightly reduced number of entries, 186, this month. There were 321 active stations in 26 UK squares and 6 non-UK squares. Although most entrants commented that the conditions were flat to poor, activity, multiplier totals and the distances worked all saw an increase. This month M1MHZ (IO92) and G4TSW (IO80) worked 19 squares, M0WLF (IO81) worked 17 squares and GI4SNA (IO64), M0GVG/P (IO83), G3VCA (IO93) and M0VXX/P (IO82) all worked 16 squares. Three Sporadic E QSOs took place with the best DX going to GI4SNA who worked S57RR at 1721 kms. The best tropo contact was between M0XII/P (IO91) and EI9JU at 572kms. There were 39 tropo QSOs greater than 400kms. The adjudication saw 5.7% of QSOs disallowed with RST mis-copies the greatest source of error followed by locator errors.

So looking at the table for the last four month I've still managed to maintain 4th position out of 174 entries so far within the restricted section, hopefully band conditions will improve with some nice Sporadic E & Tropo for the May 50MHz UKAC at 20:00 local time on Tuesday 27th May 2014.

Look forward to working you on the air in the next contest. ;)

73,
Pat
EI5IX - M0XII

UK & EI Contest Club

The UKEICC are pleased to announce that the free sign-up for membership of the club is now open. The club exists to encourage and improve HF contesting across the British Isles and Ireland. If you would you would like to join up then please follow this link and sign-up.


http://www.ukeicc.com/become-a-member


You can also check out their FAQ page using the link below


http://www.ukeicc.com/faq


I'm not a member of this Club as of yet as I really hope they reconsider the VHF/UHF contester.
I must say that I do enjoy HF contesting as it was actually where I learnt about the world of Radio Sport.
I will say this though, nothing prepares you more for radio contesting than a nice pile up within the white noise under heavy QRM/QRN on any of VHF/UHF bands, where propagation can disappear in any moment and you have to copy a lot more information than on most HF contests such as a Callsign, RST + Serial + "Locator" in some contests in the UK even a Postcode. The extra bit of info is mostly the maidenhead Locator and this info is 99% of the time different for every contact and essential for you to get correct to secure a 100% QSO.
Most HF contests are 59(9) + Serial and maybe a CQ / ITU zone or a IOTA number which is predicted in most logging Softwares nowadays. I personally think you need extra skills to be a VHF/UHF contester, fair enough the number of OSO's or distances may not be the same but certainly the challenges far outweigh some of the HF contests that I have been on.

I hope this club manages to achieve what it sets out to achieve in the FAQ's at least another voice and media source for contesters and contest promotion can only be a good thing.


73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

2013 CQWW CW Result

. 

So jumping in and out on the HF bands back at the end of November in 2013 with only a very minimal setup (FT920 & a Carolina Windom) I managed somehow to finish up in 7th place on Morse Code in the 

CQ WW CW Contest. I had a lot of fun doing this contest I hope to have a better setup for the bands by the end of this year and I hope to plan to be on the bands for a lot longer also.

M0XII/P - UKAC 50Mhz Contest - April

April's UKAC 50Mhz Contest from locator square IO91MP had great activity on the band with most of the conditions going to the North and the West but unfortunately was poor towards the South and East from my location. Weather conditions were Dry with temperatures at 8-9 degrees Celsius and was really nice to see a taste of Spring in the air.

Activity this month especially up towards the North and West of the country was again fantastic especially from locator's IO80, IO81, IO82, IO83, IO92, IO93 squares, band conditions this month were again only average and was difficult at times pulling out some of the weak ones in the noise but a big thank you to all who persisted with great patience. I'm sorry that I missed a few stations on the air but hopefully I will get them in Months to come.

This month I finished the contest with a claimed score of 93 QSO's and 13 Multiplier squares and a total of 149,773 points with a total of 5 DXCC entities worked, it was really nice to catch Gerry EI9JU over in Lisfannan, Burt, Lifford, County Donegal in Ireland in IO65GA Square as my furthest DX of 572Km it was a fantastic surprise. Once again Thanks to all stations for the points and multipliers this month it was very much appreciated.

My working conditions again was the same as last month an FT847 Transceiver with 100 watts into a 5 Element Home brew Yagi up only about 18 foot from ground.

Here's a map of the QSO's in the Contest:

Looking forward to working you all again in the next UKAC contest.

73's
Pat
EI5IX - M0XII

UK Amateurs Losing Access to Part of 2.3 GHz and 3.4 GHz Bands

Spotted this earlier on the ARRL News Website, Sad to hear that we are losing privileges and not having a licence fee as a Radio Amateur leaves us without a leg to sand on in my opinion, anyway here's what has been mentioned:

UK telecommunications regulator Ofcom has announced that it’s ending Amateur Radio access to significant portions of the 2.3 and 3.4 GHz bands. The action, announced on April 7, came in the wake of a year-long “consultation” — a rule making proceeding — that involved the release by the Ministry of Defence of 40 MHz of spectrum at 2.3 GHz and 150 MHz of spectrum at 3.4 GHz. Amateur Radio is secondary on the bands.

Amateur Radio will lose privileges on frequencies in the two bands that overlap with spectrum that Ofcom plans to award for “new civil uses” — 2350 to 2390 MHz and 3410 to 3475 MHz. The announcement gives radio amateurs at least 12 months’ notice, but radio amateurs must comply immediately with procedures to avoid interfering with other users; ham radio occupants of 2310 to 2350 MHz will have to register their use and provide details to Ofcom.

Amateur Radio will retain access to the adjacent bands, but Ofcom has put procedures in place to remove even those frequencies from Amateur Radio access, if necessary in the future. Ofcom said earlier this year that with military and other government use of the 2.3 and 3.4 GHz spectrum ending, “we believe an award of the spectrum for high power use is likely to deliver greater benefit to UK consumers and citizens than continued amateur use.” Ofcom was required by the Ministry of Defence to adequately protect its systems from Amateur Radio interference in both the released spectrum and in adjacent bands.

“The MoD’s plans are part of a government commitment to release 500 MHz of spectrum by 2020,” Ofcom explained in its order. “This commitment to opening up spectrum for new civil uses is based on growing demand from UK consumers for spectrum-hungry devices such as smartphones and tablets.” Ofcom said that use of mobile data devices more than doubled in the 18 months leading up to January 2012. “Indeed, the 2.3 and 3.4 GHz bands are identified in Ofcom’s ‘mobile data strategy’ as having the potential to support even better mobile data services for citizens and consumers in the coming years,” the regulator said.

Ofcom said it was making 2300 to 2302 MHz available for amateur use, but licensees first must obtain a Notice of Variation to their licenses. Hams in the US have secondary access to 2300 to 2310 MHz, 2390 to 2450 MHz, and 3300 to 3500 MHz. — Thanks to RSGB, Ofcom

50MHz UKAC March 2014 Results

The following is from Roger - G4BVY

This was another record month with 192 entries and a total of 5359 QSOs. There were 303 active stations in 23 UK squares and 5 non-UK squares. Again many entrants commented that conditions were poor and many were plagued with high noise levels. Interestingly, given the increased level of activity, multiplier totals are well down on previous events. This month G3PYE/P (JO02) and G3WIR/A (IO91) worked 15 squares, M1MHZ (IO92) worked 14 squares and G4NOK (IO93) and M0GVG/P (IO83) worked 13 squares. The best tropo contact was between M0MDY (IO93) and OT6V at 449kms. In total there were only 7 tropo QSOs greater than 400kms. The adjudication saw 5.9% of QSOs disallowed with callsign errors and RS(T) errors by far the highest this month.

So looking at the table for the last three month I've managed to maintain 4th position in the restricted section out of so far 163 entries, hopefully band conditions will improve for the next contest the April 50MHz UKAC which is at 2000 local time on Tuesday 22nd April 2014.

Look forward to working you on the air in the next contest ;)

73,
Pat
EI5IX - M0XII

March 144/432 MHz 2014 Results

The following is from 

Roger Dixon, G4BVY

After the superb conditions in 2013, this year saw a return to "normal" conditions. In fact conditions were generally referred to as poor to dismal on both bands. Activity levels were low and in particular the poor activity level within the UK was commented on by many. While the weather was generally benign for this time of year, the wind caused problems for some and an extreme weather front arriving from the south west at the end of the event caused an extremely unpleasant take down for some portable entrants. Overall entry levels were around 10% down on 2013.

On 144MHz 72 squares were worked. There were 5 QSOs greater than 800kms and a further 33 QSOs between 700 and 800kms. The best contact was between G4G and DL0BA at 865kms.

On 432MHz 43 squares were active. There were 6 contacts over 700kms and a further 33 between 600 and 700kms. The best contact was between G4TSW and DF2VJ at 768kms.

Congratulations go to:

• The Five Bells Group, G5B, who won the open section;
• Roger, G3MEH, who won the single operator fixed section for the second year running;
• Kevin, G7KXZ/P, for winning the single operator others section;
• The Northern Fells CG, G4G, who won the six-hour open section;
• Richard, GD8EXI, who won the six-hour single operator fixed section;

The Middlesex DX group finished up in 2nd place over all which was a fantastic achievement and 2nd place in the Open section on 144Mhz and also 2nd place in the Open section on the 432Mhz band.

It was a great pleasure to do this contest with the Middlesex DX group and a big thanks to John G0KLX, Jason M1PRO, Simon MW0TBI, Carl 2E1IDC, Steve G1OFW and Kevin G1KAW for putting in a huge effort this year in getting two powerful stations up and running for the 24 hours of the contest.

Thanks to all for the QSO's and the Points I'm looking forward to the next event where hopefully propagation and activity improves in future contests.

73's

Pat
EI5IX - M0XII

UK & Ireland Contest Club

The formation of the United Kingdom and Ireland Contest Club (UKEICC) has just been announced.
Visit www.ukeicc.com to see the clubs Aims and Intentions. Membership is open to anyone worldwide who is interested in HF contesting. Online Membership registration, which is free, will start in late April 2014.



73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

Canadian 2m Brendan Quest

A record-setting transatlantic 2m QSO will be attempted continuously for one week from Pouch Cove, Newfoundland, Canada this summer.

Marconi successfully transmitted across the Atlantic in 1901. No one has ever done this on the 2 meter band (144Mhz). For more information and photos on the Canadian Brendan Quest team see:
http://www.brendanquest.org/




73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

Geo Stationary Satellite Transponders expected to Launch.

Spotted this on news feeds yesterday and I think it will be pretty cool when this project is up and running, I really think it will help more radio amateurs explore the Microwave bands a bit more so I'm looking forward to the launch date at the end of 2016:

Two Geostationary Ham Radio Transponders

AMSAT-DL President, Peter Guelzow DB2OS, has confirmed there will be two amateur radio transponders on the Geostationary Es’hail 2satellite planned to launch at the end of 2016 

Peter Guelzow DB2OS has provided the following information:

Es'HailSat-2 will carry two geostationary “Phase 4” amateur radio transponders. Es'HailSat-2 will provide a 250kHz linear transponder intended for conventional analogue operations in addition to another transponder which will have an 8MHz bandwidth. The latter transponder is intended for experimental digital modulation schemes and DVB amateur television. The launch date is expected by the end of 2016.

Precise uplink and downlink frequencies remain to be finalized but the uplinks will be in the 2.40-2.45GHz and the downlinks in the 10.450-10.500GHz amateur satellite service allocations. 

Both transponders will have broad beam antennas to provide full coverage over about 1/3rd of the earth’s surface. Precise operational plans will be finalised over the coming months but it is anticipated that only quite simple ground equipment will be required to use this satellite.

A team of amateurs, led by Peter Guelzow DB2OS (President of AMSAT-DL) are providing technical support to this ground breaking project which is expected to provide an exciting new phase of activity for radio amateurs for the 21st century.

The project is a result of a concept proposed by the Qatar Amateur Radio Society.

Es’hailSat announces tender process for Es’hail 2

http://www.qatarchronicle.com/science-and-technolgy/49977/

eshailsat-announces-tender-process-for-eshail-2/

Es’hailSat – the Qatar Satellite Company 

https://www.facebook.com/EshailSat

Presentation by Peter Guelzow DB2OS, President of AMSAT-DL, at the 2013 AMSAT-UK Colloquium

http://www.batc.tv/streams/amsat1306

AMSAT Deutschland 

https://www.facebook.com/amsat.deutschland

M0XII/P - UKAC 50Mhz Contest - March

March's UKAC 50Mhz Contest from locator square IO91MP was busy at times but many multiplier squares missing. Weather conditions up at IO91MP were very cold with temperatures dropping to 2-3 degrees Celsius but it was dry all the same, activity this month especially up to the North of the country was again fantastic from locator's IO82, IO92, IO83 & IO93 squares, conditions seemed to be a lot more favorable around these squares within the middle of the UK and it really has made me reconsider my portable location to be in with some chance of competing with stations in the above squares mentioned. Unfortunately band conditions this month were only average as I also suffered with heavy QRM and at times including some strange QRN building up towards the North throughout the contest which made life very difficult pulling out the weak ones in the noise but a big thank you to all who persisted with great patience. 

At the best of times during this contest it felt like you had to fight with some stations to hold down onto run QRG, yet there was plenty of band space??! I really don't understand some stations why they don't / can't listen on a QRG in all directions especially when using arrays, then if nothing is heard in all directions then ASK "is this frequency in use", when nothing is heard back then proceed and call your CQ its not that hard. It's such a shame that the DX code of conduct is a thing of the past these days and not taken into consideration in our hobby any more, why people don't listen and running out of patience is beyond me!!! I'm not the band police but it really pisses me off the way some stations carry on. 

Anyway my observations of the 6 meter (50Mhz) band conditions over the last 3 months have noticed that the band has been down below average especially from IO91 Square, I really hope this long wait to the start of the Sporadic E season ends soon as it would be really nice to hear some European DX stations into the evenings.

This month I finished the contest with a claimed score of 81 QSO's and 9 Multiplier squares and a total of 77,427 points with a total of 4 DXCC entities worked, it was really nice to catch Ian GM3SEK up in Whithorn in Scotland in IO74 Square as my furthest DX of 415Km on one of my favourite modes CW just towards the end of the contest, it was a really nice surprise. Thanks again to all stations for the points and multipliers this month it was much appreciated.

My working conditions again was the same as last month an FT847 Transceiver with 100 watts into a 5 Element Home brew Yagi up only about 10 foot from ground.

Here is a shot of my Portable setup:

 Below is a Map of the QSO's made during the contest from Locator Square IO91MP:

Again thanks to all who gave away points during this contest and I do look forward to working you again in the next UKAC contest.

73's
Pat
EI5IX - M0XII

50MHz UKAC February 2014 Results

The following is from Roger - G4BVY

The activity level in the 50MHz UKAC is increasing month by month. February saw another all time record entry of 180 stations. Again conditions were poor and portable stations were confronted by freezing temperatures and high winds. There were 295 active stations in 23 UK squares and 4 non-UK squares. Conditions again caused difficulties in making high multiplier numbers. M1MHZ (IO92) worked 18 squares, M0VXX/P (IO82) 16 squares and G3WIR/A (IO91), G4NOK (IO93), GI4SNA (IO64) and M1DDD/P (IO93) 15 squares. The best tropo contact was between GI4SNA (IO64) and G3YOA (JO02) at 523kms. In total there were 18 tropo QSOs greater than 400kms. GM4VXX/P reverted to meteor scatter and had 6 contacts, including 3 UK stations, between 700 and 1074kms. The conditions caused an increase in logging errors and 6.1% of contacts were disallowed.

A disturbing trend this month saw a number of stations operating in the DX window for G to G contacts. Entrants are reminded that operation is not allowed between 50.100 and 50.130MHz except for inter continental QSOs.

So looking at the table for the last two month I've managed to maintain 4th position in the restricted section out of so far 142 entries, hopefully band conditions will improve for the next contest the March 50MHz UKAC which is at 2000 local time on Tuesday 25th March 2013.

Look forward to working you in the contest ;)

73,
Pat
EI5IX - M0XII



73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

The Aftermath of the 2014 March 144/432 Contest

So now that everyone has recovered after the weekend's March 144/432 Contest, I would like to express my deepest concern for the lack of UK and EU activity during this major Contest, especially compared to this time last year in the same Contest. 

Poor band conditions with the lack of Tropo & Sporadic E propagation resulted in many stations coming on-air, working what they could hear and then closing down. 

The 144Mhz & 432Mhz Bands overnight were as quiet as a mouse and this is ridiculous in my opinion for a 24 hour national contest. I have noticed that the UKAC activity nights on both bands 144Mhz & 432Mhz has more activity on a Tuesday Night than a full weekend of contesting. This is fantastic for a Tuesday night activity but it seems the same stations have lost interest in Major contests at weekends and it is all about the UKAC these days? 

I for one have lost interest in the UKAC on both 144Mhz / 432Mhz bands as it seems a complete waste of time from IO91 Square, every month you look at the activity on both these bands and you see that this contest favours stations within squares in the middle of the UK and it is great to see that there is nice activity up there on the bands but as for the multiplier situation in this contest the South of the country is forgotten about especially when working stations in EU these multiplier's are not counted in the UKAC contest. A bit of a joke really and off putting to any new station on the bands. The RSGB should really consider stations throughout the UK as a lot of us could not be bothered until there is a level playing field in place.  

However, I enjoyed the March weekend and I must say a big thank you to the Middlesex DX group for inviting me along to participate in this years contest. Thanks to John G0KLX, Jason M1PRO, Simon MW0TBI, Carl 2E1IDC, Steve G1OFW and Kevin G1KAW for putting in a huge effort this year in getting two powerful stations up and running for the 24 hours of the contest.

144Mhz Station

432Mhz Station

Antenna Array's

We finished the contest under the callsign M0MDG/P from Square JO00EW on Sunday 3rd of March at 14:00z on 144Mhz & 432Mhz with a claimed score on 144Mhz of 236 QSO's at 358 points per QSO totalling 84,451 points. 

We worked 12 DXCC entities within 55 different locator squares and our furthest DX contact on this band was DR1H at 782km in square locator JN59OP. 

Our claimed score on 432Mhz was 106 QSO's at 299 points per QSO totalling 31,718 Points. We worked 8 DXCC entities within 28 different locator squares and our furthest DX contact on this band was DL8QS at 637km in square locator JO43KH.

I'm looking forward to the results of this contest as it was like pulling teeth, slow, long and certainly tested the patience of all involved at the best of times.

Thanks to all for the QSO's and the Points I look forward to the next contest. 73's

Pat

EI5IX - M0XII