M0XII/P - UKAC 50MHz Contest - October

The October UKAC 50Mhz Contest on the 28th from locator square IO91MP was hard going with very deep QSB on the band. I had an issue with my voice keyer (LogiTalker) these last few contests as it seems to suffer terribly on the 6m band with RFI, I've tried various things to get rid of the RF feedback, ferrite rings to grounding the unit to changing the feed cable to the unit from the rig which in my opinion is a bit dodgy anyway but certainly not having a voice keyer in a contest is beginning to become very annoying and I do need to get it sorted (Voice is on its last legs). Anyway sure this is what the fun is all about we will struggle on (If anyone has suggestions on eliminating RFI on a LogiTalker please email me: ei5ixpat at gmail.com)

Activity seemed reasonably good in this contest compared to previous months. I managed to get 7 DXCC's this months contest with the final one (Belgium) right on the line but there was a lot of QSB on the band. 

This month I finished the contest with a claimed score of 107 QSO's and 16 UK Multiplier squares and a total of 220,592 claimed points with 7 DXCC entities worked. It was really nice to work Dave GI4SNA in IO64XM Square as my furthest ODX of 467Km, 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:

M0XII/P - UKAC 50MHz Contest - September

The September UKAC 50Mhz Contest on the 23rd from locator square IO91MP was hard going with very little propagation to the North of the UK. Activity seemed down in this contest compared to previous months. I managed with a hard struggle to get EI in the log from IO91 Square heard two stations in EI this month but only completed the QSO with one and worked GI/MI a couple of moments later but I didn't hear or work any GM/MM or GD/MD or GU/GJ on the band, conditions were just too weak to to the North this month. 

This month I finished the contest with a claimed score of 84 QSO's and 14 UK Multiplier squares and a total of 133,868 claimed points with 4 DXCC entities worked. It was really nice to work Joe EI3IX in IO53KU Square as my furthest ODX of 602Km, 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:

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

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:

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

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:

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

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

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

M0XII/P - UKAC 50Mhz Contest - February

February's UKAC 50Mhz Contest in locator square IO91MP was not great to be honest out portable, band conditions were below average and were a lot worse than last month in IO91 square, heavy QSB and lot's of weird noises were coming and going on the band which made life difficult pulling out the weak ones in the noise but a big thank you to all who persisted with great patience. Activity from a few regular squares seemed down compared to last month but I did notice that this month there was some fantastic activity from locator's IO81, IO82, IO83 & IO93 squares, conditions seemed to be a lot more favourable around these squares in the middle of the UK with regards to activity on 50Mhz band.

It was nice to speak again with Richard GD8EXI in IO74PC square who was my furthest DX with a distance of 371KM via ground wave propagation, same as last month although his signal was a small bit down compared to January's results. I finished the contest with a claimed score of 69,498 points with a total of 77 QSO's and only 9 Multipliers this month. My working conditions was the same as last month an FT847 Transceiver with 100 watts into a 5 Element Home brew Yagi up only 10 foot. 

Here is a map of the contacts made in the contest from 20:00 UTC till 22:30 UTC 

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

Pat
EI5IX - M0XII 

M0XII/P first UKAC 6 Meters (50MHz) contest of 2014

Really enjoyed entering the UKAC 6 Meters contest out portable tonight under M0XII/P. 

Weather conditions were very cold and wet up at IO91MP but I setup camp inside the car so I could stay somewhat dry. I finished up the contest with a claimed score of 89 QSO's and 13 Square multipliers giving me a total of 122,070 at about 106 points per QSO.

It was difficult going especially towards the North, when trying to work stations up in Scotland (GM/MM) from IO91MP Square, I could barely work/hear them, very deep QSB and generally flat conditions on the band I was quiet surprised to hear the results through the Yaesu FT847 with a 100 watts into a 5 Element could actually achieve with regards to ground wave propagation on 6 Meters. My best DX during the contest was Richard GD8EXI in the Isle of Man at a distance of 371km. Again thank you to all who gave away points during the contest and I do look forward to working you again in the next UKAC contest.

Here's a Map off the contacts made during the UKAC 6 Meter January Contest.

The rig I used was a Yaesu FT847 using a 100 watts on peak.

The antenna was a 5 Element homebrew antenna.

Look forward to catching you on the air next time and best 73's.

Pat

EI5IX - M0XII