It was a bitter cold snowy evening at the end of January for the SHF
UKAC. I decided to drive further west and visit Chilton, the Ridgeway Car Park on Bury Lane IO91IN22SU, just south of the former
Harwell Nuclear Labs. My route was M4 and up the A34, the total journey time being about 1.5 hours from
Wargrave.
I’d visited the site earlier in the month for the 70cm UKAC and was very impressed by the near 180 degree clear take-off west to east through north. On 70cm I worked 99 stations and achieved a top 10 score in the AR section, with a number of GM stations worked. That evening I also took the 6cm WBFM gear to test a 62km path to Jules M0UGA/P at Dunstable Downs (IO91RU). Really strong clear audio was received both ends on channel 42. Some recent mic audio modifications I'd made had worked, I’m now using a MAX4446 module into an LM386 board (with R1 removed). This test indicated that the site might be good for GHz.
Chilton is very easy to get to with lots of
space but very isolated and open to the wind and elements in all directions. During the 70cm UKAC I was visited twice by the
armed police who patrol the area due to its sensitive nature next to a Nuclear research site. Their 4x4 approached along The Ridgeway path and I could
see them driving towards me for about 20 minutes with massive searchlights.
For this SHF UKAC I was joined by Jules M0UGA/P and we co-sited our dish’s at the western spur of the car park. My results were as follows:
I’d visited the site earlier in the month for the 70cm UKAC and was very impressed by the near 180 degree clear take-off west to east through north. On 70cm I worked 99 stations and achieved a top 10 score in the AR section, with a number of GM stations worked. That evening I also took the 6cm WBFM gear to test a 62km path to Jules M0UGA/P at Dunstable Downs (IO91RU). Really strong clear audio was received both ends on channel 42. Some recent mic audio modifications I'd made had worked, I’m now using a MAX4446 module into an LM386 board (with R1 removed). This test indicated that the site might be good for GHz.
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| Snowy conditions co-sited with Jules M0UGA/P |
For this SHF UKAC I was joined by Jules M0UGA/P and we co-sited our dish’s at the western spur of the car park. My results were as follows:
- 13cm: 8 QSO’s - Keith G4ODA (IO92WS) 157km my ODX.
- 9cm: 2 QSO's - Harwell club local Mike G8CUL (IO91JO) at 8km and Jules who was parked next to me with his HackRF One SDR TX/RX into a small panel. I did hear M0GHZ and G4LDR but they could not hear my 0.2W QRP.
- 6cm WBFM: 2 QSO's - The 66km path to Stewart G0LGS/P and Matt 2E0MDJ/P at Birdlip (IO81WU) was obstructed slightly by the line of the Chiltern Ridge and both of us had difficulty hearing and being heard. My system was lower and only has 2.5W. Jules changed his dish to a large panel and with his aerial higher and 4W managed to work the path. My 60cm offset dish was slightly blocking Jules’s mast so I moved my dish’s which made a noticeable difference! I worked Matt, and Jules worked Stewart for our ODX. Towards the end of the contest I used my kit to work Jules for a second QSO.
- 3cm: 1 QSO - I failed with G4ODA, G4CLA, G0LGS/P and M0GHZ. I did manage
a single marginal QSO with Neil G4LDR (IO91EC) in Salisbury at 56km. I had some
audio issues on 13cm and 3cm and reduced the drive power to the transverters - I
will take a look at my 2M IF radio (FT-290RMk1) before the next contest.
I did hear and spot 4 beacons: GB3FNM (Farnham) on 13cm and 6cm, GB3LPC (Bampton) on 9cm and GB3CCX (Cleeve Hill) on 3cm. Band conditions however were very poor with low levels of activity due to the harsh weather conditions. I’m not sure I’ll visit Chiltern again
for the SHF UKAC contests, but it is an amazing site on the lower VHF/UHF
bands. It might be useful on 23cm and I'm curious if it might work at all on 24GHz. For February I intend to go back to Lacey Green.