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

2014 RSGB - March 144Mhz / 432Mhz Contest

M0MDG/P - The Middlesex DX Group 

John G0KLX, Jason M1PRO, Carl 2E1IDC, Simon MW0TBI and Steve G1OFW including myself Pat M0XII will be out Portable in the 24 hour RSGB - March 144Mhz / 432Mhz Contest this weekend on March 1st & 2nd, we will be active on 144Mhz and 432Mhz SSB & CW from Locator: JO00EW so feel free to give us a shout if you hear us on.

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 

50MHz UKAC January 2014 Results

The 2014 series of 50MHz UKAC kicked off with an all time record entry of 155. 

The previous highest was 152 in April 2013 and in January 2013 there were 128 entrants. Unfortunately the conditions didn't match the entry level and were variously described as "poor", "desperate" and "the worst ever". Wet and windy weather meant a number of entrants had their masts lowered for safety and portable activity was somewhat reduced. Despite this there were 278 active stations in 21 UK squares and 2 non-UK squares. The conditions caused the multiplier totals to be very low with G3PYE/P (JO02) and M1MHZ (IO92) only working 15 squares. The best tropo contact was between GM4JR (IO85) and G3PYE/P (JO02) at 405kms. I managed to finish up in 3rd place from IO91 Square within the Restricted section out of a 100 entrants in this section all of us on 100 watts output, here is a list of the top 10 who finished in the restricted section.

Here is a List of the Locators that were active within the contest.

The February 50MHz UKAC is at 20:00UTC on Tuesday 25th February 2014, 

look forward to working you in the 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

EI13CLAN report

With the year of The Gathering now over, the final totals for the call are as follows;

30,340 QSO in the log. 173 Countries worked.
Breakdown of QSO: CW 53%, SSB 35%, Digital 12%

Over 74,000 visits were made to the EI13CLAN page on QRZ.com, many of whom will have followed the link to the IRTS website. To date 281 Direct QSL requests have been processed and many Clan Certificates issued. Over 1,500 qsl cards already arrived through the buro and return cards processed.

Seven Clubs took part in the EI13CLAN Challenge.
Congratulations must go to the Dundalk Amateur Radio Society who emerged as the winner. They will be picking up an Icom 756PRO at the IRTS AGM in Galway later this year. They were the first to enter the challenge and their score was chased hard but never beaten. A big thanks to all those who took part, it gave the call great exposure.

Thanks also, to the many individual operators who worked the call during the year across all bands and modes.

IRTS




73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

First Amateur Radio App for Google Glass!

Is this the first Amateur Radio Application for Google Glass!!??

January 432MHz UKAC Contest M0XII/P

Arrived at Locator IO91MP slightly later than usual which meant I missed the beginning of the Contest at 20:00 UTC. Weather conditions out portable was absolutely dreadful, rain pouring down and wind blowing us all over the place, we finally managed to get the 19 Element Tonna up in the air and the Yaesu FT847 setup and running at 20:20 UTC where we used my call-sign portable "M0XII/P". I was going to use the 100W amplifier but during the setup of the station I realised that I forgot to bring the patch lead from the Amplifier to the Radio so that idea was out the window and had to revert to plan B of running 50W from the rig, better than no watts at all in my opinion.  

Activity was down on the 70cm band compared to recent months and conditions were very very poor with deep QSB in our location, I managed to obtain in the Log 51 contacts and 12 multipliers from 20:20 UTC > 22:30 UTC. It was really nice to see a few new stations pop up on the 70cm band, I look forward to working them again in the future hopefully when band conditions are a lot better.

Thanks to all for the points and I hope to see you in the next UKAC Contest.

73's

Pat

EI5IX - M0XII

A map view of my Contest QSO's

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

Happy New Year to one and all, hope it's a great one for you.
Enjoy the Party :)




Best 73's DE EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

Merry Christmas 2013!!

Health and Happiness to all Friends and Family.

Please do spare a thought, or do something for those less fortunate than ourselves.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas! :-)


73's

Pat

EI5IX - M0XII