CQWW CW Contest - November 28th / 29th 2015

Call: G2F
Operator(s): EI5IX G4MKP MØCKE MØVKY

Class: M/S HP

QTH: Wisbech
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Location: Northern Europe

Summary: 

Band      QSOs     Zones    Countries

160:          190       18               66

80:          1125       28             107

40:          1296       40             138

20:          1646       39             131

15:          1049       38             141

10:            113       28               89

Total:      5419     191             672 

Total Score: 9,496,452

After Storm Barney caused considerable damage to one of the towers and the LF verticals only 12 days before the CW contest, we weren't sure if we would be able to recover, but we did, although one tower was not fully raised due to the forecast high winds for the weekend we managed to get on the air for the CW contest. 

 Damage from Storm Barney

More damage from Storm Barney

Antennas Back up for the Contest 

Verticals and SteppIR back up and Running

The 10m band never opened for us over the weekend with most of the QSO's on 10m being made on Saturday, There was some positives from the weekend the new 40m and 80m antennas performed as well as to be expected from our 70m x 70m plot which has all our antennas crammed in, we still have some issues to resolve which we know will improve our score and more improvements on LF RX antennas are required but in all we had a great time. 

This year we were short on operators due to not really being able to commit to having a station ready in time for the contest, also one op couldn't make it until Sunday so the first 32 hours was ran by 3 operators (M0CKE, M0VKY & EI5IX ). We are pleased to report that there was no more storm damage over the weekend even though we had some really strong winds and gusts during Sunday between 2pm and 8pm. 

Nice to see the usual UK activity in this contest and Thanks again to everyone for the QSO's We hope to see you all in 2016. 

From all @ G2F

RSGB AFS 1.8MHz SSB Contest November 2015

On the 14th of November the RSGB AFS 1.8MHz SSB Contest took place from 20:00 - 23:00UTC, I was out with the affiliated Blacksheep Contest & DX Group at our VHF/UHF contest site on the Isle of Sheppey. 

For this contest our Team was Blacksheep members: Nick G4FAT, Bill M0BTZ and myself using the club callsign MX0BAA as the Club HQ during the contest. Roger G3MEH and John G0ODQ were also on the band from their own QTH's as Club Members of the Blacksheep Contest & DX Group. 

Weather conditions were very wet and windy on the Saturday but it didn't stop Nick and Bill getting the antennas up just before darkness set in at 17:30UTC. The Antennas selected for this contest was a 270ft Doublet antenna in an Inverted V configuration, we also tried a Sloper antenna on a fiberglass pole off the top of the Tower approx 90ft from ground, the Transceiver used this time around was a Yaesu FTDX5000MP at 30w with a M0BTZ Homemade ATU.

Looking up the tower at 160m Antennas the next morning.

270ft Doublet & 160m Sloper in the wind

 Testing the DX conditions on the Bands, 40m sounded great!

MX0BAA in the AFS Contest on 160m

M0BTZ & EI5IX/M0XII under MX0BAA in the AFS Contest on 160m

 M0BTZ in the AFS Contest on 160m under MX0BAA

We finished this contest at 23:00UTC on the 14th with a claimed score of 123 QSO and 1559 points, We contacted 7 DXCC entities and found that there was excellent activity on the band and we all really enjoyed it, just before the contest started and under my own callsign M0XII/P on 160m I had a FB QSO with Khvicha 4L1HD and he had a great signal with us on Sheppey with some QSB at times but his RST was 55 / 57 it was a nice surprise and a ATNO on that band for me. Thanks again to everyone who gave us points during the contest it was an enjoyable event, looking forward to the next one.

73  

IARU / RSGB Marconi 144MHz CW Contest - November 2015

On November 7th & 8th the 24hr IARU & RSGB - 144 MHz International Marconi CW Contest took place. I was out again with the BlackSheep Contest and DX Group under the callsign "G8T" from Locator square: JO01KJ

We arrived on site later than planned due to work commitments that delayed setting out by several hours, traffic on the M25, etc. so we didn't do a huge amount of work on Friday afternoon as we only had about 2 hours of light.

We put up two identical antenna systems - each was 2 x 10-el DK7ZB yagis vertically stacked about 15ft apart on top of a 60ft Versatower. This was all we fancied doing in the 30-50Mph gusting winds, scrawly showers and rain that we had to contend with... at our site just walking around in the field for five minutes you grew in height 2-3 inches due to the mud on your boots!

The station comprised 2 x Elecraft K3/10 + homebrew transverter, SSPA and pre-amps. The IF output from No.1 antenna system (facing EU) was split and also fed to an Anan/Angelia SDR board with CuSDR and PowerSDR/CW-Skimmer. For this contest we used Wintest with rig control for the radios which gave us cluster integration and band-map.

G8T Station in Full Swing 

Tower 1 with 2 x 10ele DK7ZB Antennas 

The Group (2E0IBF, G4FAT, M0BTZ) working on Tower 2  

Tower 2 up with 2 x 10ele DK7ZB Antennas

Our claimed score is here:

http://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/claim.pl?Contest=144MHz%20CW%20Marconi&year=2015

Summary: 

342 QSOs, 193,176 points, 565 points/QSO. 

Best DX OM3RBS in JN98KJ QRB 1329Km.

G8T QSO coverage map

Conditions were flat on the Saturday towards EU and activity was very low from the UK. Initial QSO distances were in line with those expected of our site with many German stations in JN48/JN49/JO50. As Sunday arrived were experienced minor/moderate tropo inline with Hepburn & F5LEN Tropo predictions and distances increased to work JO73, JO90 ranges.

Through the night conditions improved slightly and/or QRM dropped and we worked over 50+ QSO's to OL, OK, OM, OE and SP stations with many distances over 800Km.

 Activity throughout the contest for G8T

It became very clear that the centre of activity for this event was Czech Republic / Austria / Slovakia / Hungry from where all the lines could be seen crossing on DXmaps.com. We also found that we (and other larger UK stations) were on the "western edge" of what was reachable to many of the stations in EU and hence it was quite common for pile-ups of DL/DK stations with the odd OK/OE/OM somewhere in the mix.


To give you an idea of what the contest looked like here is a screen grab from the SDR mid-morning today (Sunday) on the 2 x 10el facing EU you can turn your head sideways and read most of the traffic! 

Band View of Marconi 144MHz CW Contest 2015 

We did spend a considerable amount of time with the antennas facing in-land panning them around between GM, GI, EI, GW on Sunday and worked most of the "usual suspects" - we think that the only one that got away was Clive, GM4VVX which was a combination of QSB and bad timing. Unfortunately not many EI's on in this contest this year hopefully get to work a few of you next year in other contests.

On this occasion the BlackSheep group consisted of Bill M0BTZ, Nick G4FAT, Andy 2E0IBF, Mike G8TIC and Pat EI5IX / M0XII.

Thanks again to everyone that called us and we hope you enjoyed this contest as much as we did! Looking forward to the next one :-)

73

========================================================================

UPDATE 05 / 12 / 2015

========================================================================

144MHz Marconi CW 2015

A record number of entries was received this year 42, beating the previous record of 28.

The contest was again beset with bad weather but had good VHF conditions to the east on the Sunday, but not so good on Saturday. Those who chose Saturday in the 6 hours section certainly lost out to the Sunday entrants. 

The Single Operator Fixed section was won by Dave G7RAU from the Isle of Wight, with G0JJG runner-up.

The Open section was won by G8T, the Blacksheep contest group, with a fine antenna setup and many eastern Dx contacts. Sadly they were the only Open entrant

Jeremy Brown, G3XZG, operated the G3MEH station again this year, and won the 6 hour Single Operator Fixed section. G4ZTR was runner-up.

John Cockrill, of the Northampton club G4CZB/P, was again the winner in the 6 hour Open section. G3TCU/P was runner up .

Other certificate winners:

G0OOG leading station running 25W or less to a single antenna in SF section

G4HVC leading station running 25W or less to a single antenna in 6S section

No leading foundation or intermediate station certificates were awarded due to lack of entries being received for these categories.

The leading overseas entry was ON4KMB .

This contest was the final event in the VHF CW Championship.

Mike G3VYI

CQWW SSB Contest - October 24th / 25th 2015

Call: G2F
Operator(s): EI5IX G4MKP MØCHK MØCKE MØCLW
Station: G2F

Class: M/S HP
QTH: WISBECH
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Location: Northern Europe

Summary: 

Band QSOs Zones  Countries

160:     61        6         38

80:    723      15         81

40:  1070      26       108

20:  1753      37       142

15:  1439      37       137

10:    748      32       138

Total: 5794  153      644 

Total Score; 9,575,158

Our first real stab at M/S in SSB, the whole station is now in a new shack so we expected some issues, most were minor, some different antenna configs and other changes helped us to a reasonable score for G. 

Band conditions were OK, not great rates with some quite steady periods too, 80m and 160m were disappointing, nice to find 10 open for a time both days but not for long enough. 

Fun was had by all ops, looking forward to CW leg now.

Team G2F

IRTS Contest Calendar and Rules

The IRTS contest calendar for 2016 includes a number of changes from previous years.

As signalled in the latest issue of Echo Ireland, the 80 metres Summer counties contest has been dropped, but an additional 40 metres contest, to be held in the Autumn, has been added.

In addition, we will be running two one-hour evening 80 metres counties contests - an SSB contest in February and a CW event in November.

The contest rules have been updated. The updates include two principal changes: firstly, the requirement to pre-register Field Day contest stations has been dropped. Secondly, a bonus arrangement to encourage greater emphasis on CW is being introduced for the mixed mode sections of the HF counties contests.

Look at www.irts.ie/contests for the 2016 calendar and rules.


73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

IOTA Provisional Contest Results 2015

Provisional results for the 2015 IOTA contest, which took place last July, have now been published. Most contestants reported poor HF conditions, so scores were somewhat lower than last year. 17 logs were submitted by EI and GI stations, see our contest results page www.irts.ie/results for a link to their results.


In other IOTA news, the RSGB have announced the setting up of a new organisation called the IOTA Foundation, which will manage the IOTA programme in partnership with RSGB. One of the tasks for the new organisation will be to develop a new online credit system, to be completed in 2017.

RSGB Convention 2015

The RSGB 2015 Convention held between the 10th -11th October 2015 was at Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre in Milton Keynes. There was plenty to choose from over the weekend whatever your interest whether that’s Contesting, DXing, Technical matters or Computing in radio. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and it was a fantastic opportunity to meet up with some familiar faces and new one's too. The VHF Trophy presentation was Sunday morning where the Blacksheep Contest Group managed to collect some silverware. 

Back L>R:  John G0ODQ, Bill M0BTZ, Andy 2E0IBF, 

Matt G0XDI, Mike G8TIC, Dave G7RAU, Roger G3MEH. 

Front L>R: Pat EI5IX / M0XII & Rohan M6TIC.

  

Mayo Radio Experimenters Network 2015 AGM

The Mayo Radio Experimenters held their annual A.G.M. on Wednesday evening 7th October at 9.30pm in the Welcome Inn Hotel, Castlebar. There was a good attendance on the night. 

The outgoing Chairman Padraic Baynes EI9JA thanked everybody who attended meetings and activities and helped out at all the events over the last year. 

The Sectary Brendan Minish EI6IZ reported on correspondence with the IRTS and
other business. He also reported on his handling of all QSL cards going to and fro - from the clubs’ activities over the past year. 
The Treasurer Adrian Healy EI2HAB, gave a report on all the clubs expenditure for the year.

The assembled meeting discussed possible club activities for the forthcoming year. However, no firm decisions were made and final decisions will be made closer to the dates.

The new committee elected for the coming year are:
Chairman: Jimmy Kelly EI2GCB, 

Sectary: Brendan Minish EI6IZ, 

Treasurer: Adrian Healy EI2HAB, 

Pro: John O Grady EI8GIB, 

IRTS Rep: Gerry Cregg EI4GD, 

Rally Director: Padraic Baynes EI9JA. 

QSL Manager: Brendan Minish EI6IZ.

CQWW RTTY Contest - September 26th / 27th 2015

Call: G2F
Operator(s): EI5IX G4MKP MØCHK MØCKE M6ZTO
Club: Wisbech Amateur Radio & Electronics Club

Class: M/S HP
QTH: Wisbech
Operating Time (hrs): 48
Location: Northern Europe

Summary:

Band  QSOs   State/Prov     DX    Zones

80:       183          15            52        13

40:       682          45            88        27

20:     1187          54          103        34

15:       585          47            90        30

10:         36            1            26        13

Total:    2673       162         359       117 

Total Score: 4,328,192

First CQWW test of the year and a good time to test of a few of the new station tweaks to G2F, this contest allowed us to test some new tactics but also to see what additional work is required for SSB, all I can say is we need more hours in the day. We enjoyed some nice runs on 40m through to 15m, the 10m band never really opened up and 80m was rather disappointing, however we all had fun and even had the F1, MOTOGP and Rugby World Cup was streaming onto the laptop to entertain us, not something that's done in SSB or CW of course. Anyway thanks for all the contacts and see you in SSB / CW legs.

73's

All @ Team G2F

G2F Station

Selection of Antennas @ G2F

A new England Record made in this contest 

6 meter (50MHz) DXpedition Saint Barthélemy (FJ)

Dave, W9DR is planning on operating (DXpedition) from Saint Barthélemy with a call, FJ/W9DR on 2016-06-17 through 2016-06-29.

6 Meters only, 50.115 Mhz. SSB & CW) Grid Square of FK87.

During low periods of activity, will be running a Beacon on 50.115,7 Mhz. Have a great launch angle to EU & NA. I will be running an SDR radio into a 5 element Yagi.

QSL direct at W9DR (See QRZ Page)

Also, Tom, FJ/W9AEB will be with me operating 40 though 10 Meters SSB & CW.

Dave, W9DR




73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

144MHz IARU / RSGB Trophy Contest - G8T from JO01KJ - September 2015

On September 5th & 6th the RSGB & IARU R1 - 144 MHz International Trophy Contest took place. 
I was out again this year with the BlackSheep Contest and DX Group under the callsign "G8T" from Locator square JO01KJ.

G8T Station

I arrived on the site Thursday evening and helped the Team put together our station for the weekend. 

60ft Pipe Mast going together 

60ft Pipe mast with 4 x 10element DK7ZB Yagi's

Station slowly coming together

One of our 14 element DK7ZB antenna just built

Mike G8TIC and Bill M0BTZ erecting the 2 x 14 element antennas 

Completed 2 x 14 element antennas up in the air and ready for testing

Conditions were flat to poor over the weekend with high winds at times along with no tropo conditions, harder work than usual with deep QSB on some QSOs. 

We finished with a claimed score of 699 QSO's 271,931 points and our ODX was 
OE2M at 967Km. 

Thanks to all who called us over throughout the weekend. 

L>R: "2E0IBF Andy, G8TIC Mike, M0BTZ Bill, G0XDI Matt, EI5IX/M0XII Pat, 

M6TIC Rohan, G4FAT Nick (Taking Photo)

Once again got to say a big Thank you to all the guys of the Blacksheep Contest group for having me along again to contest with them this year, it certainly was another experience to remember on 144MHz and I'm looking forward to the next one. 


====================================================================
UPDATE 26/10/2015
====================================================================

144MHz Trophy 2015

In general the weather was kind to entrants though some reported wind and rain at times. While some entrants rated Saturday as the better day, the majority thought that conditions were better on the Sunday. Though at best the conditions were rated as average with some entrants rating them as poor. Many stations, particularly in urban environments suffered with high noise levels. The numbers of entrants rose again this year, from 71 to 82, mainly in the six hour sections, continuing the healthy trend over the last four years.

In total nineteen countries appeared in the logs in one hundred and seven locator squares which included thirty one UK squares. There were 101contacts greater than 800kms of which 14 were greater than 900kms and only one exceeded 1000kms. Of these 101 DX QSOs, 62 were made from JO01, 13 from IO93, 7 from IO90 and 6 from JO00. These longer distances were worked into DL (42), EA (7), F (21), HB9 (1), OE (5), OK (15), OZ (5) and SP (3). There were two other interesting contacts between JO01 and IO89 and between IO86 and JO10 demonstrating another open path. The best contact was between G3M (JO01) and SN7L (JO70) at 1010kms. Many entrants commented on the lack of UK stations, particularly on the Saturday. However it is interesting to note that of the 1214 active stations, there were 417 UK stations, 378 DLs and 215 Fs.

For the third year European entry logs were used as part of the adjudication process. These comprised the following logs: DL(354), F(153), PA(25) and ON(4). Interestingly a number of leading stations will note that a high proportion of their errors were identified from these logs! Logging standards showed a slight decline with 5.8% of all QSOs being disallowed. A number of leading stations lost less than 4% of their scores with a number losing less than 2%. The errors were spread across all elements of the exchange: callsigns 26%; received RS(T) 30%; received serial number 17%; locators 22%; and 5% not-in-logs. Simple checks prior to log submission would improve accuracy. UK stations with claimed scores of over 1000kms are a give away and usually caused by errors such as IO01 rather than JO01. Locators and countries not matching is another common error. Perhaps the most worrying error is the mis-copying of callsigns and the failure to log /P. Don't forget that you can access your UBN reports via the links in your log received email, the results email or viahttp://www.rsgbcc.org/ubn.shtml. Using these reports you will be able to see "the error of your ways" and improve your scores and positions in the future!

Congratulations go to:
The Parallel Lines, G8P, who won the open section for the tenth year running to retain the Mitchell-Milling Trophy. 

Erik, G8XVJ/P, for winning the single operator (others) section and, as the highest scoring single operator, is awarded the Thorogood Trophy. 

Roger, G3MEH, who won the single operator (fixed) section for the third year running.
Nigel, GW0IRW/P, who won the six-hour (others) section. 

Bob G1ZJP, operating as M1MHZ, who won the six-hour single operator fixed section.

These stations together with those identified in the results tables will receive certificates.

Roger - G4BVY

73

Pat

EI5IX / M0XII

MREN Activation of Blacksod Lighthouse 2015

Members of The Mayo Radio Experimenters Network will activate the Blacksod Lighthouse at Blacksod in County Mayo on West coast of Ireland on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th of August 2015 as part of the 18th International Lighthouse & Lightship weekend.

The Callsign will be EI0M on this occasion and the International designator for Blacksod Lighthouse is IE0008, the QTH locator is IO44XC and WAI / WAM Square is F65.

For more info on the International Lighthouse & Lightship weekend please see: http://www.illw.net/ and our own account of past activation's check out The Mayo Radio Experimenters Network website: http://ei7mre.org/?page_id=435.

IARU Region 1 70 MHz Initiative

Bo OZ2M has written on 70 MHz website about the IARU Region 1 70 MHz Initiative

His post has a link to the paper written by IARU Region 1 Executive Committee member Dave Court, EI3IO which notes:

"the use of spectrum below 100 MHz has become increasingly unattractive for private/professional/business mobile communications."

Download the paper via
http://www.70mhz.org/index.php?categoryid=1&p2_articleid=404


Please note there is NO change to the existing UK allocation 70.000-70.500 MHz.

Download the European Common Allocation Table at
http://www.erodocdb.dk/Docs/doc98/official/pdf/ERCREP025.PDF


73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

RSGB 70MHz Trophy - July19th 2015

On July 19th the RSGB - 70 MHz Trophy Contest took place. I was out active with The BlackSheep Contest and DX Group under the callsign "M0BAA/P" from Locator square JO01KJ. Mike G8TIC, Bill M0BTZ, Andy 2E0IBF and I arrived on site on the Saturday evening and set up the antenna system which was a 8 element Yagi on our Versa Tower at 20m, we finally setup the Yaesu FT5000DX with a DB6NT Transverter and a 4CX250B valve linear amplifier producing 160 watts and once everything was prepared we had a quick listen on the bands, had a few QSO's on SSB & CW working CT & PA to then discover that there was some 144MHz Sporadic E's building over France, so we quickly threw together a 7 element Yagi into an FT897 at 50 watts and Mike G8TIC had a Play on the 144MHz band, unfortunately we were too late as we missed the opening that built up over France so we decided at that point to call it a day and go for a beer and some food then get some sleep before the start of the contest at 10:00UTC.

The contest was hard work with very little Sporadic E or Tropo conditions throughout the contest, We finished the contest at 16:00UTC with a claimed score of 115 QSO's 32,214 points with 69 Multipliers and our ODX was Keith CT1JAD at 1752Km.

Thanks once again to everyone who called us in the contest, look forward to the next one.

73's

Pat

EI5IX / M0XII    

=====================================================================

UPDATE 02/09/2015

=====================================================================

70 MHz Trophy 2015

The number of entrants for this event continues to show a healthy increase with 59 this year. In general the weather was kind to the portables but the further north you ventured, the wetter you became!

There was a sporadic-E opening from the start of the contest until 12:06. In this period there were 64 QSOs greater than 1000kms with three CT and two EA stations. The best contact was between GM4ZUK/P and CT1JAD at 2249kms. Comments regarding the tropospheric conditions varied from reasonable to poor. In total there were 6 DL, 2 EI, 1 LX, 2 ON and 19 PA stations together with all G prefixes except GD. The best QSO was between G3TCU and DK5YA at 737 kms. There were 24 QSOs in excess of 600kms. In total there were 217 stations in the logs with 152 G, 30 from other G prefixes and 35 non UK stations.

Logging standards were generally good with only 2.8% of contacts being judged as not valid. In all three sections the top two stations were separated by very small margins and logging accuracy was key.

Congratulations go to:
The Blacksheep CG, M0BAA/P, for winning the Open Section and being awarded the VHF Managers Trophy;
Erik, G8XVJ/P, who won the single operator (others) section and, as the highest scoring single operator entry, is awarded the Four Metre Cup;
Fred, G4BWP for winning the single operator (fixed) section;

Also to the other stations identified in results who will all receive certificates.
Roger - G4BVY

Pat

EI5IX / M0XII    

70MHz (4M) Awards

To celebrate the likely adoption of the band 69.9 – 70.5 MHz as a secondary amateur allocation in the European Common Allocation Frequency Table and Ireland’s significant involvement in the process, IRTS (Irish Radio Transmitters Society) is pleased to launch two new 4m awards.

The purpose of the awards is to recognise and promote DX achievements
by amateur radio operators interested in the range 69 – 74 MHz.
In-band and Cross-band awards are also available.

Log extracts are required and there is currently no charge for the awards. Full details are available on IRTS website


73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

RSGB VHF/UHF National Field Day 2015

The weekend of 4th & 5th of July 2015, I ventured out with the Blacksheep DX & Contest group for the VHF/UHF National Field Day.

We were operational on 50MHz (6m), 70MHz (4m), 144MHz (2m) & 432MHz (70cm) from Locator Square "JO01KJ" under the call-sign "M0BAA/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 which were starting on the Saturday at 14:00UTC until Sunday 14:00UTC. We worked hard into the evening on Friday until the Thunderstorms ceased our operations, so we decided to order a Take Away and have a few beers then bed down for the rest of the night to which got up early on Saturday morning and finished off the rest of the station builds. Weather was certainly a lot different on Saturday morning a lot cooler and the land was wet from the torrential rain the night before. 

Team Building the 144MHz - 4 x 10 Array

 Team erecting the 144MHz - 4 x 10 Array

144MHz - 4 x 10 Array up and running

432MHz Shack going together

 

432MHz Station - 4 x 17 Array on a Versa Tower

 50MHz 7 element antenna on a Versa Tower

 50MHz / 70MHz Shack

The good old Power Horse Generator (Now RIP)

EI5IX / M0XII rolling up Eco Flex 15+ Cable

When things go Wrong....

We had a lot more challenges than usual present them selves this time around but we just put the head down pushed on through then suddenly it was 14:00UTC...CQ Contest!!! 

I had the pleasure of operating with Stephen G4SHF and Nick G4FAT on 50 MHz. Mike G8TIC along with Matt G0XDI and Andy 2E0IBF operated on 144MHz and Dave G7RAU with Bill M0BTZ operated on 432MHz for the start of the contest. We kept rotating operators on the stations which was great as it gave every body a feel of the different bands over the weekend. 

Once 50MHz had finished at 22:00UTC we had to dismantle the station and built the 70MHz setup for the next morning at 08:00UTC, Operators were getting tired so we said we would finish the setup on Sunday morning only to find a few more issues which delayed our start on the 70MHz band by 45 minutes. 

Once 14:00UTC on Sunday appeared on the clock some very weary and tired contesters began to disassemble the stations and get ready for the next stage "packing up", We decided to stay overnight Sunday and go for some Fish and Chips have a few beers then get some sleep and be fresh for the morning. We got up Monday early packed up the stations and left the site in the afternoon for journey back home.

We finished up the contest with the following claimed scores and entries into the Open section of this contest with the following:

50Mhz (6m):

182 QSO's - 40'809 Total Points with an ODX of 2007Km with 9H5MC


70Mhz (4m):

91 QSO's - 21'284 Total points with an ODX of 779Km with GM3WOJ


144MHz (2m):

657 QSO's - 268'429 Total points with an ODX of 1100Km with OL7M


432MHz (70cms):

227 QSO's - 75'752 Total points with an ODX of 969Km with OL3Z

I have got to thank the Blacksheep DX & Contest group (Mike G8TIC, Stephen G4SHF, Nick G4FAT, Matt G0XDI, Bill M0BTZ, Andy 2E0IBF and Dave G7RAU) for the hard work they all put in over the weekend and especially for making VHF/UHF NFD contest a success for us even though we had some issues along the way the Team stayed positive and pushed on through, I really enjoyed the weekend, it was great craic and a good laugh and I'm looking forward to the next one.

73's

Pat

=====================================================================

UPDATE - 07/08/2015

=======================================================================

I'm delighted to announce that we won VHF / UHF NFD contest for the second successive year, though the margin was incredibly close (00.6%, or 21 Normalised points. Thanks (as always) to those who worked us and to VHFCC for the super fast adjudication. Full results at : http://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/vhfresults.pl?Contest=VHF%20NFD&year=2015

All the Blacksheep Group Team receiving the various Trophies that we won throughout 2015 including for the Open section the VHF National Field Day  "Surrey Cup" 

which Matt G0XDI and Mike G8TIC are holding in the picture above.