The SHF UKAC series of 11 contests on the fourth Tuesday of the month is a bit of a favourite with me. It provides a unique challenge of multi-band operating with all the kit and complexity that goes with that! In 2021 I entered all 11 from a variety of locations: Home in Wargrave IO91NL when we were in Lockdown (January, February, March), Lacey Green IO91OQ (April), Britwell Hill IO91LO (May then, November), Walbury Hill IO91GI (June) and Chilton IO19IN (July, August, September and October). My best scores by far were from Chilton, Lacey Green and Walbury, as they are the clearest and highest sites. Britwell is OK on the lower UKAC bands (23cm, 70cm and 2m) but a compromise on SHF. My home QTH is almost unusable on all but the 6m and 4m evenings.
I seem to have developed a soft spot for Chilton! So it was there that I decided to return to for the February contest. The main benefit of Chilton is that it has a near 180-degree uninterrupted view from West to East through North. A big plus is that there are no trees, hedges or bushes. The flat gravel car park is perfect for tripods and using the drive-on plate. The site has a few negatives, it's about a 1 hour drive along the M4 and up the A34 so often subject to traffic delays. The surrounding ground is very hard for pegs and there are no real posts, so guying is a challenge. This means it's a site to avoid if there is any wind or inclement weather, as it's very exposed.
 |
| February SHF UKAC at Chilton co-sited with M0FXX/P |
I arrived on site a bit late late due to work and traffic at 7.30pm. With no wind the 13cm, 6cm and 3cm dishes on 3 x 1.5m swagged poles and the drive-on plate were deployed quickly. It's always good to get a few locals in the log first to check my 3cm frequency offset (still 12Kc high with the DB6NT G2!) and 13cm (no offset). Both systems proved to be working after early QSO's with Matt 2E0MDJ/P at Birdlip and Mike G8CUL in East Hagbourne.
I spent the next 30 minutes trying to work Matt and Stu G0LGS/P on 6cm WBFM. Over winter I've re-built the kit into a v3 configuration albeit still not fully finished and boxed up! When I peaked the dish I could hear Matt loud and clear, but he was struggling to hear me. It didn't help that there was 5m of LDF-450 Heliax between the 2.5W FPV Drone TX and the 60cm Grid Dish. Anyway it was good fun trying the 66km path to IO81WU which is obstructed due to The Ridgeway path rising due west. It wasn't to be and they head glimpses of my signal which I could hear played back over Zello. I also tried with Gary G4BJD/P who was further away (IO82RA, 105km) with nil heard both ways. On 6cm WBFM with the Pluto SDR I tried to work G4LDR and G4CLA but the system had issues, no one was heard or worked on that band. It will need looking at before the next event.
On 13cm I completed 11 QSO's in IO81, IO91, IO92, IO93 and JO01 with the usual suspects, my ODX being John G3SQQ (IO93JC, 172Km). Probably would have got to 20 if I'd spent more time on the band, was really only active from 9pm to 10.30pm. It was great to catch-up with Robert M0FXX/P again who was co-sited next to me and was trying out 13cm portable for the first time with a 1.2m mesh dish and 10W. On 3cm I worked 8 stations in IO81, IO91, Io92 and JO01 again usual stations with ODX being John G4ZTR (JO01KW, 155km). The IC-9700 worked well using the 2M IF and a single bias-tee and a low-loss switch between the 13cm and 3cm feeds.
Overall it was not too shabby a result, given a late start and spending so much time trying out 6cm WBFM! I was lucky with the weather being dry and calm and about +2C so chilly at the end. Thanks for the QSO's and I look forward to going out again in March, weather permitting when the days start getting longer and warmer!