26-AT-026 Multi Ops 26-AT-026, 26-AT-015, 26-AT-715.
2nd (418 Points)
13-AT-233 Multi Ops 13-AT-233, 19-AT-066, 19-AT-346. 3rd (335 Points)
34-AT-039 Multi Ops 34-AT-039, 34-AT-107
Well done to 26-AT-026 Multi operated by 26-AT-026, 26-AT-015 and 26-AT-715 for enduring terrible conditions during the contest last year and of course coming First.
First part of Story by 26AT015 Steve
These lads are no beginners to contesting and DXpeditioning, having cracked up a very admirable 3rd place last year and having previously ran various Dxpeditions from Walney Island (IOTA) and special event stations.
I was happy to chip in any equipment that I could muster up, and the offer of a Command Technologies HF-2500 Amp that will produce 2.5kw caused large facial grins and the suggestion that we should stick some serious aluminium up in the air, got 715 pretty excited from the word go.
About a month before the big day, Trevor and myself swapped various info on antennas, and after a fairly brief debate we settled on a 5-ele monobander with a 24-foot boom. Our initial idea of a 31 foot 6 element was dismissed mainly because the Sirio hardware we were using was fairly lightweight. One idea was to use 2 x 4 element antennas and to cannibalise them into making a 6 element. Doubts about what the weather conditions would be like on the day was always on our minds and further reading will confirm that we made a good choice in going with the 5. As a back up, Andy had a 4-element Sirio yagi which we could turn to if everything went pear shaped, which or course it duly did.
We liaised about the generator, as the HF-2500 is fairly thirsty when it comes to power. I knew we couldn’t run at full chat, as we’d need something approaching 5KVa, but Andy’s 2KVa Honda unit should have it producing about 1kw, which should be ample given the high gain of the antenna.
On the Friday prior, I travelled to Cumbriaand met Trevor and Andy in a location just outside of Barrow. Trevor had brought the Blue DX Van and all the antenna hardware. It was a wonderful sunny afternoon, not a cloud in the sky and virtually no breeze. The 5 element was assembled and readings from the MFJ-259 Antenna Analyser put it pretty well on the mark first time. We were very happy as the antenna was designed using Yagimax V3.0 software and we weren’t too sure what readings we’d get in a real life scenario.
So, as all was well, everything was packed for the big day. That evening it became obvious that we were going to in for quite a ride, with a forecast of driving rain and winds up to 60mph, although a rest bite of a couple of hours was also predicted, but could not be pinned down to an accurate time scale.
What a difference a day makes, if only Dinah Washingtoncould have seen us.
Saturday greeted us with steady rain and 40-60 mph winds. The team made their way to the original location on WalneyIsland(EU-005) and after a quick survey of the site it was very obvious that any attempt to erect the beam would be a disaster. With this in mind, we decided that the secondary location would be used which was rather more sheltered. Well, sheltered to the operators maybe, but not the antenna. The 5 element was erected and even before we got an inch off the ground the force of the wind bent the boom like butter. Feeling rather dejected already, we pressed the backup 4 element into service, just managing to get fired up before the start of the contest, together with an Antron 99 vertical.
During the afternoon the rain got heavier and wind never relented, even picking up to well over 60mph. We’d got the amp running at just under 1 kw but kept getting intermittent readings on the beam, but fought through it.
First in the log was 29SD102 and from the word go the propagation was not being very kind to us. During the day we were frequently switching between the Antron 99 and the beam to try and maximise the DXCC’s worked and to put maximum points in the log.
At around 15.00z we decided that the 4 element needed attention, as the readings were not good. We had a bad connection somewhere in the loop. The Antron was put in full service for about an hour. In the mean time we all got well and truly soaked repairing a bad gamma match connector.
At 16.00z 26AT026/multi was again running flatside, but the lack of conditions didn’t seem to make much difference whatever the antenna. At 18.00z we made an emergency move of the Van as I’d spied our AC line from the generator under about 18” of water – not a good thing!
After 8 hours we’d only worked 15 stations – that’s how bad the conditions were. Saying that, 11 of these were different DXCC entities. From about 21.00z the bands were dead, not even much ground wave, so around we grabbed a few hours sleep. There’s something intoxicating about sleeping on the floor of a cold wet van.
We rose at around 06.00 and woke to clear blue skies and a gentle light breeze. No one had to ask. Trevor repaired the 5 element and this was put straight to work. At last by 07.00 we were again at full strength.
At around the band started to liven up with sporadic openings to 1,14,30,31,49,328,45 and 161 divisions to name just a few. By close we had managed 50 contacts into 19 DXCC countries, not bad considering the very poor conditions.
We may have not had the best band conditions and the worst weather that could be thrown at us, but everyone had a great weekend. This is what radio is all about. Next time you work that Dxpedition for a new one from your comfy armchair, think of the guy on the other end with the wet smelly socks.
The second weekend Full report by 26AT715 -Trevor
The second weekend of the AT world contest greeted us with superb weather following a few days that almost caused us to forget part 1.
During the week, I had taken some time from work to make serious repairs and alterations to the beam. We certainly didn’t want a repeat of the previous week’s events. I had strengthened each section of the boom, between each element, with very mild but strong steel. Although this added weight to the antenna, I was sure that the winch could handle the extra weight.
I returned to WalneyIslandand made my way to the original location. The one we had had to abandon the previous week due to the high winds. This time around, there was not a breath of wind, and the sun was 5/9++.
By the time Andy 026 arrived, I had the tower prepared, the vertical ready, the generator ticking over and the kettle on. Andy got to work putting his own radio gear into place. Icom 7400, Heil pro-set plus headset, the KL500 amp, which was a real drop in class to the previous week, and we quickly got everything hooked up. It was important that we were on the air on time, so I decided to make sure the vertical (A99) was up and ready. Then at least we had TX capabilities if I had trouble with the 5 element yagi. However, the Yagi went up without any bother and once locked into place, just a little adjustment on the direction and we were ready to rock….
All systems go, SWR was 1.1, Power was around 400w, Rotator working fine and first audio reports were excellent.
No sooner had we started to call cq, the band filled up with FM splatter from Russia. Virtually every frequency was infected; S9 on the meter and things looked bleak. Then out of the blue came 308 SD 101 with a solid 5/9. First contact and a new dxcc for the contest, we both agreed it could be an interesting day.
Although we did make some good progress, the contacts were all hard work to get. Some via backscatter, sidescatter and vertical. It certainly made for some interesting theory work and experimenting. In amongst those contacts we found some pretty decent dx conditions. It then became a game of where to point the antenna?
Towards mid afternoon, we started to log some really nice divisions, although I suppose that in contest, they are all nice divisions. We decided that while the conditions were crazy, we would concentrate on DXCC and finding new ones for the log. After a couple of hours, the logbook looked like it had a months work in there. Divisions included 97, 34, 18, 178, 4, 195, 2, 137, 122, 37, 156, 205, 3, 42, 104, 36, 327, 328 etc: along with the usual European divisions, we had had a field day, (no pun intended). By the end of play on day one, we had more than doubled our results from the first weekend in both DXCC and progressive numbers.
The following morning (Sunday) had us up early and working 29 & 68 divisions across the Irish sea. Although the conditions were no where near as good as the day before, we still managed to put another 10-15 entries in the log which included 109, 183 and 55 in the last 5 minutes of the contest.
The station was dismantled in double quick time and we headed for hoe feeling somewhat chuffed with ourselves. Certainly our best result to date. With a bit of luck we will better our 3rd place in the world contest a couple of years ago.
The two weekends of the contest couldn’t have been more different. Although both were hard work in their own way, the first was very hard due to the adverse weather and the antenna problems. The contest was a great success as far as we were concerned and if asked to do it again this weekend, Absolutely. DX old school, out in the wilds with a beam and an amp. Kettle, sandwiches and great company. It doesn’t get any better than that. The new DXCC was a bonus too.
So well done again.
Also congratulations to 26AT143 who was the only England Member in the single operator class.
So thats a clean sweep for the active side of the 26 divison. CONGRATULATIONS
