For the first UKuG 24/47/76GHz contest of 2021, I took 24 and 47GHz for a day of roving around a number of sites. The weather forecast was for heavy rain from the South West so I planned a route to try and dodge the showers.
First stop was at Bisham Hill (IO91ON71), with 3 QSO's complted easily with G1EHF/P and G4SJH/P at Walbury hill (IO91GI44, 53km) and Noel G8GTZ/P at Hannington (IO91KF42, 45km). It started to drizzle with rain and band conditions didn't seem that great so despite putting the second tripod up, I decided not to get 47GHz out of the car.
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| Bisham Hill Looking South West to Walbury |
Next stop after a 45 minute drive was the Pink Road layby at Lacey Green (IO91OQ29) from where I hoped to work Martyn G3ZME/P on Brown Clee (IO82QL83,149km). Contact was made on the 144.390HHz talkback frequency but after several attempts nothing was heard on 24GHz. I also tried with the team at Walbury Hill but again no contact was made. It started to drizzle so I packed-up.
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| 24GHz at Lacey Green Pointing West |
I then drove over to my go-to site UKAC at Britwell Hill (IO91LO98) which should have provided some easy 43km QSO's over to Walbury. However as I started to get the gear out the heavens opened and I got very wet and the site became a large muddy puddle! I tried to get the attention of the Walbury team using 70cm FM, but they were busy working QSO's to Stockbridge. So I decided to move on. I should have actually stayed there.
In a moment of madness, I drove for 50 minutes through very heavy rain Westwards, originally towards the Ridgeway Car Park just South of Wantage (IO91GN83). But I decided (probably wrongly) to divert to Sparsholt Firs (IO91FN86). I thought this would give me the best chance of working Walbury Hill and maybe another go at Brown Clee. However the weather was atrocious by the time I got there. I set-up 24GHz trying to keep things dry but no contacts were made. Everything including myself got very, very wet.
It was a disaster of a day in the worst weather conditions I have every experienced in all my portable operating to-date. With 4 sites visited, a lot of miles driven (mostly in the rain on flooded roads), and just 3 QSO's from the first site - it was a long wet day to definitely forget!