It was wet, cold and miserable on Tuesday night in the SHF UKAC. I was determined to complete some QSO's and score some points in what was the final session of 2015. The plan was to go back to the West Berkshire Downs IO91GI to try and work Brian G4NNS, Neil G4LDR in IO91, and maybe David M0GHZ and Graham G3VKV in IO81.
I arrived at the Coombe Gibbet car park which sits in a dip between Coombe Gibbet and Walbury Hill, at about 9.15pm and quickly set-up. The full moon helped with the visibility otherwise it would have been pitch black. Despite being cold, damp and very windy, there were wonderful views of twinkling lights to the North, from W to E. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the GB3CCX beacon on 10368.940MHz in Cheltenham that I needed to point towards to work Graham, who uses it as a reflector to scatter from.
With a patchy O2 mobile signal the ON4KST chat service was unreachable, so I tuned onto 144.175MHz the Microwave talk-back frequency. Almost immediately I heard the friendly voices of Brian, and then Neil, who were great signals 5-9 on 2M. We tried on 3cm but nothing was heard. Despite being on the ridge, the car park point is actually slightly obstructed to the S and SW. I decided to move and drive to the less exposed and previously used Coombe Hill site, which is just S and down from the PMR station.
I arrived at the Coombe Gibbet car park which sits in a dip between Coombe Gibbet and Walbury Hill, at about 9.15pm and quickly set-up. The full moon helped with the visibility otherwise it would have been pitch black. Despite being cold, damp and very windy, there were wonderful views of twinkling lights to the North, from W to E. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the GB3CCX beacon on 10368.940MHz in Cheltenham that I needed to point towards to work Graham, who uses it as a reflector to scatter from.
With the gear set-up again, I quickly found Brian and Neil on 3cm, both were very loud end-stop signals with me on SSB. It was great to hear Brian on 3cm as previously he had system problems when I last visited that location in August. Tonight it was my turn, and although they could both detect my signal at 59+, my audio was very distorted both on SSB and FM. Something was being over-driven or mismatched, all was not well! We tried a few times.
At this point it started to bucket down with rain, and the wind was howling. A spare Sainbury's carrier bag was quickly deployed over my feed arm and transverter, with a hole for the horn to point through!!
Also it was a bit chaotic swapping from 3cm to 2M on the same radio. I must sort that out for next time. In the end I had a last try and I practically whispered into the mic, managing to work Neil G4LDR for my one and only token QSO, which was great to get in the bag!
At the same time we were also joined on 2M talk-back by David M0GHZ, who I'd "nearly worked" the previous month from Lacey Green. Despite being very strong on 2M, nothing was heard on 3cm which given my problems was sad but not surprising. We will get there in the end and try again from that location.
Big thanks to Neil, Brian and David for all their efforts last night, and I'll definitely return to that site next year, when its warmer and sunnier! Nice to get my first SHF UKAC 10GHz points in 2015 for the aptly named "Drowned Rats Radio Group"!
That's it for 2015 on 3cm from me. I've counted 10 trips out /P and a handful of QSO's bagged. I have a long list list of system improvements to make for 2016. Lots of lessons learn't about my system, the various hilltop sites I've visited, QSO paths, dish pointing, and propogation. The art and science of going 3cm portable - I'm hoping I've earned my first badge!! Also, I've met a really nice bunch of friendly, knowledgeable, and super helpful people that I've worked (or tried to work!) on the band.
I'm looking forward to getting out /P on 10GHz again in the the New Year, for some more adventures - after some significant system re-engineering!! Hope to get you in the log next year.
I'm looking forward to getting out /P on 10GHz again in the the New Year, for some more adventures - after some significant system re-engineering!! Hope to get you in the log next year.
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| Location of G1DFL/P just South of Coombe Hill (IO91GI) |