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In prep - psp.

The Lothians Radio Society Contest Group operated GM3HAM/P in VHF National Field Day 2015 from our usual site in the hills above Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries & Galloway with stations on 6m, 4m, 2m and 70cm. Conditions were nothing special but the 6m station achieved much better results, including a QSO with Malta, than in 2014, which admittedly had been a relatively poor year. The other three stations' results were roughly similar to the previous year. The weather was mixed, including a heavy downpour during the Friday night. After pitching most of the tents on the Friday afternoon we adjourned for a nice dinner at the Masonic Arms in Gatehouse and returned to the site for a malt whisky "tasting". With the need to keep the stations on the air on the Saturday evening we had a barbecue on-site for the second year running.

 Final Scores and results:

(50 is highlighted as a major improvement on last year)!

Band QSO  Points  Best DX    Grid  km     2014    
50 83 29847 9H5MC JM76cb 2515 52/15632  1st Certificate
70 80 23585 G5LK/P JO01qd 556 79/24375 1st Certificate
144 161 51470 F4HJC/P   808 180/55730 2nd Certificate
432 42 13053  G5LK/P JO01qd 556 50/14756 5th  

 

 GM3HAM/P was 1st in Scotland, winning the Cockenzie Quaich, and 2nd place overall.

 

Getting the tents up on the Friday afternoon.

 

Then down to the Masonic Arms for dinner! The waitress managed to cut off Mike GM4IGS on the left. 

L-R: Pete GM4BYF, Alan GM3PSP, Terry GM3WUX, visiting again from Glasgow, Brian GM4DIJ, & Brian GM8BJF.

 

Our two "Brains" planning their spectrum strategy from DC to light, well, 50MHz to 432MHz.

 

Then back to the site for the first night's malt whisky tasting.

Brian GM8BJF, Mike GM4IGS & Robin GM4YPL.

 

Chris MM0ZCT (about to graduate Ph.D in Computer Science from Edinburgh University - congrats!)

& Pete GM4BYF, both taking the malt whisky tasting suitably seriously.

 

Mike GM4IGS, Robin GM4YPL & (son) Chris MM0ZCT.

 

 Saturday morning: Pete GM4BYF assembling the 2m beam.

 

 Chris MM0ZCT, Robin GM4YPL and Danny GM6CMQ.

 

Robin GM4YPL and Danny GM6CMQ.

 

 The 6m beam almost ready to erect.

 

 A small army of volunteers was needed to walk the 9-element 6m beam to the end of its mast.

 

 

Ready to erect the 6m beam. Thank goodness for the gin-pole. 

 

 All the beams were fed with Heliax coax.

 

 The 6m station with its 9-element yagi, designed and built by Brian GM4DIJ.

 

Brian GM4DIJ and Terry GM3WUX operating the 6m station.

Rig: Yaesu FT847 barefoot.

 

 The 2m station with its 17-element yagi.

 

 Pete GM4BYF and Colin GM4HWO operated the 2m station.

Rig: Yaesu FT-736R plus solid-state linear amplifier - 100W out.

 

The 70cm station with its M-squared 28-element yagi beam.

 

 Brian GM8BJF was the principal operator of the 70cm station.

Rig: Yaesu FT-736R plus 100W "brick" amplifier.
 

 Chris MM0ZCT and Robin GM4YPL on the 70cm station.

 

 Danny GM6CMQ also operated the 70cm station, but at times it was a struggle to keep awake at a QSO rate of less than one per hour!

 

The DIY barbecue on Saturday afternoon.

 

 Nightfall, but still the activity continued....

 

 Brian GM8BJF on 70cm

 

 Danny GM6CMQ also on 70cm and hoping for a QSO!

(Thank goodness for the automatic "CQ-Contest" sender!

 

Activity on 6m continued until 23:00 BST when the 6m  station was closed,

to be converted to 4m for the Sunday session.

 

Brian GM4DIJ and Mike GM4IGS eking out the last few QSOs on 6m. This band did much better than the previous year, which had been unusually poor.

 

 Activiy now very low. Time for some refreshments!

 

 The Saturday night malt-whisky tasting. Are the guys blurred or was it the camera man?

 

Sunday morning and the discovery that a (presumed) flock of birds had made some adjustments to the 6m 9-element yagi to tweak the SWR. Anyway, there was no actual damage and it was time to take it down and convert it to 4m 11-elements for the Sunday session. 

 

 Back in business and time to enjoy the beautiful display of buttercups, clover and thistles in the field.

This made a change from the usual cow droppings which were entirely absent!

 

The 4m tent with the essential WiFi antenna connecting to the GM8BJF node in the 70cm tent 50 yards away.

 

  Mike GM4IGS operating on 4m on Sunday morning with Terry GM3WUX watchng.

Rig: Yaesu FT847 now with solid-state amplifier and preamp for 4m.

 

 Packing up - Brian GM4DIJ with the 4m/6m beam main pole.

 

Alan GM3PSP, Brian GM8BJF, Mike GM4IGS, Pete GM4BYF, Brian GM4DIJ,

Danny GM6CMQ, Robin GM4YPL, Colin GM4HWO, Chris MM0ZCT, Terry GM3WUX.