After a very successful trip to Brill last month, I decided to stay local for the 2nd UKuG 5GHz/10GHz Contest and just visit Britwell, with a possible option to rove to Lacey Green. The weather forecast was dry with rain due late afternoon. I arrived on site in the clouds at the top of the Chiltern's. It was disappointing to not have any view to look at. When it did clear for about 30 minutes at lunchtime, I quickly took a picture!
For 2m talkback I used the WiMo Big Wheel and FT-817ND with my Daiwa 75W amplifier. However I was not getting RF out so I switched to using 100W from the IC-9700. This was slightly annoying as it meant I could not use 3cm and 2m talkback at the same time and had to remember to switch the power down to 2W before transmitting on 3cm!
 |
| View to the South West from Britwell Hill (when it was clear!) |
For 2m talkback I used the WiMo Big Wheel and FT-817ND with my Daiwa 75W amplifier. However I was not getting RF out so I switched to using 100W from the IC-9700. This was slightly annoying as it meant I could not use 3cm and 2m talkback at the same time and had to remember to switch the power down to 2W before transmitting on 3cm!
The O2 mobile signal is always intermittent at Britwell and this made KST challenging as I kept falling off the network. Other than that, everything seemed to work OK. 10GHz didn't wasn't that great and whilst some stations were able to work RS and into France, I struggled to find people within range, so <200km with my 1W and 1m Offset dish. I managed 4 QSO's with G4SJH/P on Walbury Hill, G4LDR in Salisbury, M0GHZ in Chippenham and G3ZME/P on Brown Clee IO82 QL for my ODX at 146km. I heard G4UVZ (IO80KX, 161km) and G4CLA (IO92JL, 98km) but they could not hear my QRP. I also failed with G4BAO, G8CUB and G0WZV largely due to Noth East and East being obstructed paths. There were not many portables out. The Reigate GB3SEE beacon was just audible.
5GHz performed much better and I was chuffed to work a record 6 stations on 6cm SSB just with the Pluto SDR, 5W Amplifier and 60cm WiFi Grid Dish, with a 100% QSO success rate! First in the Log was G4LDR, followed by G1EHF/P at Walbury, G4BRK in Abingdon, G6ZME/P at Brown Clee (ODX again at 146km), G8GTZ in Basingstoke and M0GHZ.
As I was packing-up it started to drizzle but overall despite the gusty wind which made the dish pointing and operating the radio quite difficult at times, I was lucky with the weather. Because I had quite a lot of gear in the air with two masts strapped to the farm gate posts, I decided to not rove around this time, so didn't make it to Lacey Green. Overall a pleasant dry afternoon portable, in the clouds!