Call: EI5IX
Operator(s): EI5IX 

Station: EI7M

Class: SOSB40 HP

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

Band   QSOs   Zones    Countries

40:       2868     38          129

Total:   2868    38          129        Total Score 768,200

Thanks to all for the points,tough weekend but enjoyed it all the same.

IRTS / RSGB - VHF/UHF Field Day 2017

The weekend of 1st & 2nd of July 2017, I ventured out with the Wexford VHF Group for the IRTS VHF/UHF Field Day. This year we were operational on 50MHz (6m), 70MHz (4m), 144MHz (2m) 432MHz (70cm) & 1296MHz (23cm) from Locator Square "IO62OM" under the call-sign "EI9E/P".

On Thursday the 29th of June I drove from London in England to Pembroke Dock in Wales where I got the Nigh time ferry across to Rosslare in Co. Wexford in the south east coast of Ireland. The crossing was choppy that night with gale force 7-8 winds throughout the night but nothing that well needed sleep didn't solve. At 7am I arrived in Rosslare where I met up with the rest of the crew for the weekend. (Janet, Billy EI7FJ, John EI2FG, Pete G4CLA, Mark EI3KD, Neil EI3JE, John EI7IG, Dan EI3JZ, John EI8JA, Roger EI8KN, Pat EI8IQ, Tom EI5ASB, Pete EI4GZB & Declan EI9HQ) 

We arrived at the stations site on top of White Mountain on Friday afternoon at 15:30BST. First thing first, Lunch was prepared. Fair play to John EI2FG he put together an incredible Beef Stew with a "spicy" kick which went down a treat and certainly gave us a great start to the weekend. After lunch was demolished we began to build our portable stations for the weekend, weather conditions at this point of the day was at least dry for station setup but it did have a chill in the air especially up on the mountain top. Work began on the 6m and 2m stations where antennas were put together and erected including the 6m/4m/2m shack. Later the 70cm and 23cm stations was put together and would be finished the next morning. Once it got dark everyone got the their heads down for some well deserved rest and as soon as the sun broke at 6am everyone was up and at it. Breakfast (fit for a king) was prepared by Billy EI7FJ and Janet.... just what the doctor ordered. The 70cm and 23cm stations were finished off after breakfast and all antennas was erected and tested for the weekends contest. Everything was working smoothly and having a separate main course and pastry chef worked very well, although custard supplies were low this year and someone dropped solder flux into the Friday night stew which was the "Kick" I reckon :-). It was a very enjoyable weekend with mighty craic and it was great to meet new faces too. Thanks to everyone who beamed our way, it was fantastic to work you all.

We finished the contest with the following scores:

50MHz:
134 QSO's - 57,454 Points and ODX: IT9FXY at 2,212Km

70MHz:
86 QSO's - 31,944 Points and ODX: PA2M at 791Km

144MHz:
339 QSO's - 144,342 Points and DK5DQ at 980Km

432MHz:
118 QSO's - 46,832 Points and DF0MU at 958Km

1296MHz:
38 QSO's - 15,166 Points and PI4GN at 909Km

Installing the 2m and 6m antenna

2m: 4x5 LFA Antennas

2m: 2x12 LFA Antennas

70cm and 23cm antennas

EI9HQ & EI4GZB installing 23cm antennas

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

We are delighted to receive the IRTS Thomond Trophy for the Open section of the IRTS VHF/UHF Field Day and a certificate from the RSGB for the Leading Non-UK Entry in the open section. As always thank you to the adjudicator's and to you for the points. Looking forward to the next one. 73

  

RSGB - VHF/UHF National Field Day 2016

The weekend of 2nd & 3rd of July 2016, I ventured out with the Blacksheep DX & Contest group for the RSGB VHF/UHF National Field Day. This year we were operational on 50MHz (6m), 70MHz (4m), 144MHz (2m) 432MHz (70cm) & 1296MHz (23cm) from Locator Square "JO01KJ" under the call-sign "M0BAA/P".

We arrived on site on the Friday at 15:00BST and began to build our portable stations, weather conditions were patchy on the Friday with the sun beaming down on us one minute then a few showers of rain the next, this hampered us a bit as we were still building the stations right up to the start of the contest on Saturday 14:00UTC. This year we had a few testing challenges with generators and we could have done with some extra manpower but we just put the head down pushed on through then suddenly it was 14:00UTC...CQ Contest!!!

50MHz Yagi 

70MHz Yagi

50MHz / 70MHz Station

I was operating on 50 MHz and 70MHz throughout the weekend. Conditions on 50MHz was very tough at times with very little SpEs around this year and what seemed like low activity on 50MHz, I was also dealing with static rain at times which didn't help things and my apologies to those stations I had to ask for the many repeats. It's a pity as I was looking forward to some nice Chordal hop opening to North America on CW but that didn't happen. I finished with 106 QSO's and 19,172 Points and my ODX was GM4ZUK/P at 655km.

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 issues which delayed my start on the 70MHz band by 15 minutes or so. The joys of Field Day :-) Conditions on 70MHz was pretty bad, slow at times with deep QSB on some distant stations, having CW really helped confirm QSO's but there were No SpEs on the band that I could find during the contest unfortunately. I finished with 75 QSO's and 16,233 points and again my ODX was GM4ZUK/P at 655km.

144MHz Station 

144MHz - 6 x 3ele Yagi's 

144MHz - 4 x 10ele Yagi's 

432MHz - 4 x 17 ele Yagi's

1296MHz - 4 x 44ele Yagi's

1296MHz - 4 x 44ele Yagi's & Station

Blacksheep DX & Contest Team for NFD 2016

L>R Matt G0XDI, Stephen G4SHF, Nick G4FAT, Dave G4FRE, Bill M0BTZ, Bert PE1RKI, Andy M0MUX, Pat EI5IX / M0XII & Mike G8TIC.

Once 14:00UTC on Sunday appeared on the clock some very weary and tired contester's began to disassemble the stations and get ready for the next stage "packing up", we cleared as much as we could before I had to leave to make the journey back to London as I had work the next day but some of the Team decided to stay overnight Sunday go for some beers along with food and then pack up what was left of the stations on Monday morning clear the site in the afternoon.

I have got to thank the Blacksheep DX & Contest group (Mike G8TIC, Stephen G4SHF, Nick G4FAT, Matt G0XDI, Bill M0BTZ, Andy M0MUX Dave G4FRE and Bert PE1RKI) for all the hard work they put in throughout the weekend and especially for making VHF/UHF NFD contest a success for us even though propagation was not great this year the Team stayed positive and pushed on through, I really enjoyed the weekend with the group, it was great craic and a many a good laugh was had and I'm looking forward to the next one.


73's
Pat

RSGB – 432MHz Trophy Championship Contest May 2016

On May 7th the RSGB - 432 MHz Trophy Championship Contest took place from 14:00UTC – 22:00UTC. This was an 8 hour event and the contest ran concurrently with the first few hours of an IARU / RSGB 24 hour UHF contest. This year I was out active with The BlackSheep Contest and DX Group under the callsign "G8T" from Locator square JO01KJ. 

There was a lot of preparations made for this contest so we arrived on the site Friday with half the group and started put together our station for the Saturday. Weather conditions was fantastic throughout the weekend on the Isle of Sheppey with temperatures up into the twenties, Matt G0XDI, Bill M0BTZ, Andy M0MUX and Nick G4FAT worked all day Friday and finally got all antenna systems built and Tested by Saturday afternoon just in time for the start of the contest at 14:00UTC.

The Band conditions this year was variable with lot's of QSB and a high noise floor that certainly didn’t help things but all in all it was a good weekend.

We finished up the contest with a claimed score of 109 QSO’s 34,137 points and our ODX was DL7AFB at 824Km.

 G8T Station (4x17ele @ 20m + 2x21ele @ 20m )

Matt G0XDI operating and myself looking on...

Bill M0BTZ & myself in the heat of Battle

Thanks to all for the QSO's hope to work you in the next contest, GL & 73

RSGB / IARU - March 144MHz & 432MHz Contest March 7th/8th 2015

On March 5th & 6th the RSGB & IARU R1 - 144 MHz & 432MHz International Trophy Championship Contest took place. I was out active with The BlackSheep Contest and DX Group under the callsign "G8T" from Locator square JO01KJ. There was a lot of preparations to be made for this contest so we arrived on the site Thursday Night with half the group and started put together our station for the weekend. With weather conditions against us we worked hard all day Friday and finally got all antenna systems built and working by Saturday afternoon just in time for the start of the contest at 14:00UTC.

Mike G8TIC on 144MHz

144MHz - 6 x 3ele DK7ZB Array

144MHz - 6 x 3ele DK7ZB & 4 x 10ele DK7ZB array & 2 x 14ele Array

144MHz - 4 x 10ele DK7ZB Array

144MHz - 2 x 14ele DK7ZB Array in the sunshine

432MHz - 4 x 17ele LFA Array & 21ele F9FT Tonna

432MHz setup 

As for the contest conditions they were well down compared to last year, there was no Tropospheric ducting throughout the weekend and on 144MHz our Preamp failed on our 4 x 10ele system which didn't help us and as for 432MHz contest conditions were very poor but with some surprises in the log. UK activity very poor on both bands over the weekend, it was very cold overnight but we managed to keep warm with a gas fire.

We finished up the contest with the following claimed score:

144MHz:

587 QSO's with 406 Points Per QSO - Totaling 238,175 Points, ODX - DL0HTW @ 874km

432MHz:

118 QSO's with 340 Points Per QSO - Totaling 40,064 Points, ODX - DM3F @ 869km

Once again thanks to everyone for the QSO's and Points, looking forward to working you in the next one.

73

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

UPDATE 04/04/2016

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

March 144/432 MHz 2016

Conditions in this event were generally described as "poor", "awful" and "dire". Together with this many entrants commented on the low levels of activity, particularly in the UK. The number of entries was 30% down on 2015, mainly in the fixed station sections. Portable entrants had to endure low temperatures, rain, sleet, snow, freezing fog and muddy ground.

On 144MHz 85 squares were worked. There were only 11 tropo QSOs greater than 800kms and a further 42 QSOs between 700 and 800kms. The best contact was between M0HRF/P and DR1H at 875kms. Six MGM contacts were completed with the best QSO between GM8IEM and OH6KTL at 1523kms.

On 432MHz 63 squares were active. There were 17 contacts over 700kms and a further 18 between 600 and 700kms. The best contact was between G3M and DM5D at 825kms.

Logging standards were relatively poor with 6.6% of QSOs being disallowed. For the first time in this contest, logs were exchanged with our European neighbours and the logs from DL, F, ON and PA were used in the adjudication. Entrants will notice that this showed high numbers of discrepancies in their longer distance contacts.

Congratulations go to:

The Blacksheep Contest Group, G8T, who won the open section for the second year running;

Roger, G3MEH, who won the single operator fixed section;

Alastair, G4RUL/P, for winning the single operator others section;

The Vecta CG, M0VCT/P, who won the six-hour open section;

Richard, GD8EXI, who won the six-hour single operator fixed section for the third year running;

All other band winners and runners up, who together with stations identified, will receive certificates.


Roger Dixon, G4BVY

RSGB - 432MHz AFS Contest February 7th 2016

This was the first RSGB contest that I've entered for 2016 out portable. This was an Affiliated Societies contest and was open to both individual entrants (who must be RSGB members), and to teams made up of a number of operators who must all be members of the same affiliated society, but not necessarily RSGB members themselves. So an affiliated group effort was required for this contest and we managed to get a team together under The Blacksheep CG which consisted of Single Fixed Operators & Portable Operators:  Roger G3MEH, John G0ODQ were Single Fixed op's and out portable were M0BAA/P (Andy M0MUX, Bill M0BTZ, Matt G0XDI and Nick G4FAT) and myself Pat M0XII/P.


The location that was selected for this contest was a portable location on a chalk escarpment called "The Chiltern Hills" at IO91MP . The contest started at 09:00UTC and ended at 13:00UTC. There were very poor weather conditions let alone flat band conditions with very heavy QSB at times, I also had to finish the contest 30 minutes early due some power issues (Flat battery on my Laptop) so I only limped through this contest.

I finished the contest under M0XII/P with a claimed score of 7,575 points at 120 points per QSO and only managed to work 63 QSO's and 5 DXCC's and 12 WWL's. My ODX was 453Km with GI6ATZ, I would like to thank Gorden GI6ATZ for his patience in completing this contact as QSB had a major part to play during our QSO. The equipment I used out portable was an FT847 and a 19 element Antenna about 5m from ground.

Thanks to everyone who called during the contest and thanks for the points, I look forward to working you again. 73

A Map of my QSO's in this contest  

RSGB VHF Championship 2015

Delighted to announce that the Blacksheep Contest and DX Group have won the 2015 RSGB VHF/UHF Championship for both SSB & CW and what an amazing year it was too, I'd like to personally thank my Team mates (Andy 2E0IBF, Matt G0XDI, Nick G4FAT, Tim G4LOH, Stephen G4SHF, Mike G8TIC, Bill M0BTZ and Rohan M6TIC) for putting in an incredible effort throughout the year into each contest, it has been great Craic... I'd also like to thank you for the QSO's and points throughout 2015 it was much appreciated and I'm looking forward to working you in future contests. 73 

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. 

RSGB / IARU - March 144MHz & 432MHz Contest March 7th/8th 2015

On March 7th & 8th the RSGB & IARU R1 - 144 MHz & 432MHz International Trophy Contest took place. I was out active with The BlackSheep Contest and DX Group under the callsign "G8T" from Locator square JO01KJ and first time in several years that the Blacksheep Contest and DX group entered this contest. There was a lot of preparations to be made for this contest so I arrived on the site Thursday Night with half the group and helped the Team put together our station for the weekend. We worked hard all day Friday and finally got all antenna systems built and working by Saturday afternoon just in time for the start of the contest at 14:00UTC.

Below some pictures of the antennas we setup for this contest:

2M Shack and my Tent for sleeping

The 2M Arrays

4 x 10 Element Yagis on 2M

2 x 14 Element Yagis on 2M

6 x 3 Element Yagis on 2M

4 x 17 Element Yagis on 70cm

As for the contest conditions on the 2m band they were up towards OK/OE and F/EA on the Saturday but very flat on the Sunday and as for the 70cm band, conditions were up towards OZ/DL on the Saturday but same as 2m very flat on Sunday. 

We finished up the contest with the following claimed score:

144MHz:

695 QSO's with 397 Points Per QSO - Totaling 275,837 Points, ODX - EB1DBP @ 1136km

432MHz:

171 QSO's with 335 Points Per QSO - Totaling 57,310 Points, ODX - OZ1SKY @ 821km

Once again got to say a big Thank you to all the Team in the Blacksheep Contest group for inviting me along again to contest with them, it certainly was a fantastic experience and a great weekend. Looking forward to the next one and as always thanks to all for QSOs and the points.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE

March 144/432 MHz 2015

The Hepburn forecast was enticing during the week leading up to the event. In the end the forecast proved optimistic. However there were enhanced conditions particularly during Saturday evening. On 144MHz many stations were working into the further reaches of DL, OE, OK and SM. Additionally there were lifts into EA between 8 and 9pm on Saturday and between 7am and 1pm on Sunday. The number of contacts made by G8T was the highest by some margin in the 16 years that I have adjudicated this contest. On 432MHz the enhanced condition were into DL and OZ.

On 144MHz 99 squares were worked. There were 15 QSOs greater than 1000kms and a further 18 QSOs between 900 and 1000kms. The best contact was between GD8EXI and EA1EWY/P at 1175kms.

On 432MHz 60 squares were active. There were 8 contacts over 800kms and a further 27 between 700 and 800kms. The best contact was between G3M and OZ9GE at 899kms.

The March contest is rarely benign weather wise and this year there were strong and gusty winds across the UK and rain affected some portable stations.

Overall entry levels rose considerably and were 48% up on 2014. Most noticeable was the increase in single operator fixed stations participating in the 24 hour section.

Congratulations go to:
The Blacksheep Contest Group, G8T, who won the open section;

Keith, G4ODA, who won the single operator fixed section;

Richard, G4WFR/P, for winning the single operator others section;

The Drowned Rats CG, M0HRF/P, who won the six-hour open section;

Richard, GD8EXI, who won the six-hour single operator fixed section for the second year running;

All other band winners and runners up, who together with stations identified, will receive certificates.

Roger Dixon, G4BVY