On Sunday it was the August 6cm/3cm UKuG contest and despite knowing rain was forecast I drove up through Henley-on-Thames to Christmas Common and set-up in the dry. Looking NW it soon became apparent that a large amount of rain was about to tip!
Sheltering under an umbrella I called "CQ MICROWAVE CONTEST" on 144.390MHz and managed to grab the attention of Peter G3PHO (IO93). I could hear his CW beacon on 3cm but he could only just hear me. There was a significant RS cloud between us which instead of providing scatter enhancement, disappointingly wasn't helping propagation between us! I also tried with Nick G4KUX (IO94) and heard nothing, but I did hear John G3XDY in JO02 with the usual RS distortion.
Conditions were absolutely horrible, the worst I have experienced /P in and I got absolutely soaked. It was so windy the dish blew over 4 times! I packed-up and headed home to dry myself and the gear out.
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| Bad Weather at Christmas Common |
On 5GHz WBFM I tried a couple of paths to the North with Jules M0UGA/P roving, but nothing was heard. Before backing up I had a 1-way 10GHz QSO with Dave G4RGK (IO91ON) over a 15km path to the South, using 2M talkback cross-band. Dave could hear me but I could not hear him.
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| Sheltering from the rain! 2M and 10GHz SSB |
Sheltering under an umbrella I called "CQ MICROWAVE CONTEST" on 144.390MHz and managed to grab the attention of Peter G3PHO (IO93). I could hear his CW beacon on 3cm but he could only just hear me. There was a significant RS cloud between us which instead of providing scatter enhancement, disappointingly wasn't helping propagation between us! I also tried with Nick G4KUX (IO94) and heard nothing, but I did hear John G3XDY in JO02 with the usual RS distortion.
Conditions were absolutely horrible, the worst I have experienced /P in and I got absolutely soaked. It was so windy the dish blew over 4 times! I packed-up and headed home to dry myself and the gear out.