Fundamental : The principal frequency in a complex harmonically related series

GS3PYE/P on the Isle of Mull 2013

I’ll be travelling to the Scottish Isles with Camb-Hams again this year.

We will be operating GS3PYE/P from the Isle of Mull (IOTA EU-008) on 10-16 May 2013.

Camb-Hams have been activating the Scottish Isles each year since 2008 and we will be retuning to the Isle of Mull in 2013. Thirteen operators will be active on all bands and many modes from 2m to 160m. We will also be active on 472KHz for the first time.

The HF bands will be covered by five simultaneous stations, while the 6m, 4m and 2m stations will have a great take-off towards the UK and Europe from the island’s south-east coast in IO76 square. We will have an antenna elevation system for 2m EME activity and will also be on many of the VHF/UHF satellite passes. WSPR beacons will be operating on most of the inactive bands to help find the best propagation.

Contest operations will take place in 70MHz CW on 12 May and 432MHz UKAC on 14 May.

We will be active on the major social networks before, during and after the trip. You can check on progress or interact with the operators via their blog at dx.camb-hams.com or through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Previous trips have generated some great audio and video recordings of the GS3PYE/P signal from around the world. Check the previous blogs and the YouTube channel and see if you can post a better recording.

Please email skeds-2013@camb-hams.com to arrange skeds on the more challenging bands and modes. VHF and EME skeds will also be made via ON4KST and N0UK’s EME Chat. All links are available via dx.camb-hams.com

Triple Club Contest Success 2012

2012 turned out to be an excellent contesting year for two of the radio clubs that I enter club contests with. I really enjoy the format of the various club contests because everyone in the team can contribute their various individual strengths while helping to build a great club/team spirit.

Camb-Hams finished in 1st place in the RSGB AFS Super League for Winter 2011-12. The league takes the combined results from six separate Affiliated Societies contests, so it’s a great team effort and a fantastic result. I took part in the three HF legs with the team.

RSGB AFS Super League - Winter 2011-12
                       50  1.8  144  3.5  3.5  432  Total
1 Camb-Hams           968  966  925  901  967  897  5624
2 Bristol CG         1000  983  800  951 1000  828  5562
3 Trowbridge & DARC   871  898 1000  568  856 1000  5193

De Montfort University ARS finished in 1st place in the RSGB 80m Club Championship 2012 (General Club). The series runs from February to July each year on the 80m band, with SSB, Data and CW legs each month, making a total of 18 legs. De Montfort University ARS won the championship for the first three years it was held, in 2004, 2005 and 2006, so it was great to return to the top of the table again. The Championship was split into two sections for the first time this year, with national clubs entering the General Club section and local clubs entering the Local Club section (with all their members operating within 35km of the club’s usual meeting place). Norfolk ARC won the Local Club section with a higher score than the De Montfort University ARS General Club score, so Norfolk ARC take the G5RV trophy. Many congratulations to Norfolk ARC – a fantastic effort involving a large number of their members.

I was really pleased to achieve my own personal goal of entering all 18 legs of the Championship this year to contribute to the De Montfort University ARS team score. Next year, I’ll focus on improving each of my individual scores.

RSGB 80M Club Championship 2012
General Club Scores
1 De Montfort University ARS  123,535
2 Bristol CG                  117,974
3 Three As CG                 108,191

Local Club Scores
1 Norfolk ARC                 148,366
2 Tall Trees CG                71,977
3 Horsham ARC                  68,498

De Montfort University ARS also finished in 1st place in the RSGB 80m Club Sprint 2012. The series runs from August to November each year on the 80m band, with SSB and CW legs each month, making a total of 8 legs. De Montfort University ARS have won the 80m Club Sprint series every year since it was formally run in 2008. I only managed a small contribution to the team score this year, but still enjoyed the legs I took part in.

RSGB 80m Club Sprint 2012
1 De Montfort University ARS   46,085
2 Three As CG                  37,622
3 Travelling Wave CG           25,392

GM7WCO/P on Hirta Island, St.Kilda EU-059

GM7WCO/P were operating from Hirta Island, St.Kilda EU-059 when I spoke to them 16 May 2012.
Andy M0VKG was recording them at the time and caught our QSO:

GS3PYE/P & GS6PYE/P on the Isles of Mull, Lunga, Staffa & Iona

I had an excellent week with 16 other Camb-Hams on a DXpedition to the Isles of Mull (EU-008) and Lunga (EU-108) on the west coast of Scotland, using the call signs GS3PYE/P and GS6PYE/P. We also managed short trips to the Isles of Staffa (EU-008) and Iona (EU-008) using other call signs during the week.

My own personal highlight of the trip was the 24 hours I spent camping on the uninhabited Isle of Lunga, with four other Camb-Hams, two radios and lots of puffins. We visited the Isle of Staffa on the way back to Mull and operated for an hour as MM0MJH/P on 20m.

Another fine memory was carrying loads of kit up a hill on Mull so that I could witness my first (and only) ever 10GHz contact. Luckily there was some fantastic scenery to look at while waiting for contacts.

The weather during the week was great and the radio even better.

Please read the daily diary for the DXpedition at dx.camb-hams.com
Photographs are available in my G3PYE/P Mull 2012 gallery.

£2.89 Hand PTT for Heil Headset

My Yaesu FT-897 and I are making the trip to the Isle of Mull (IOTA EU-008) with the Camb-Hams for another DXpedition in a few weeks time. The trip will also include 24 hours on Lunga in the Treshnish Isles (IOTA EU-108), under canvas and without many of the comforts of home – including tables and chairs [don't mention toilets]. This means that I had to find a way to key the radio when using my Heil headset because the usual footswitch arrangement just won’t work when you’re sitting on the floor in a tent. VOX isn’t an option either because we’ll have two stations working on different bands at the same time and it’ll be too noisy. So, it’s got to be a hand PTT.

I looked at the Heil HS-2, which is nice and ‘ergonomic’, but I didn’t like the idea of paying nearly £38.00 + p&p for one. There had to be a cheaper and maybe even better way. I don’t rush this sort of decision, so I thought about it for a while. I realised that the Yaesu MH-31 microphone which comes with the FT-897 is pretty ‘ergonomic’ itself, it has a PTT on the side which is designed for the job and it’ll be travelling with me anyway in case the headset breaks. I’m sure I could make an adapter.

I hadn’t got the necessary RJ-45 socket to fit the microphone connector, so I found a 1m ethernet cable extension with an RJ-45 socket moulded on one end and an RJ-45 plug (to be cut off) on the other, for £2.89 with free p&p on eBay.

I looked at the excellent Microphone Connections page by G4WPW and found that pins 2 and 3 on the microphone connector were ground and PTT, so I connected them to a phono plug (free because I cut it off something else) and tried it. It works a treat, fits in the hand nicely and I can use my PTT switch as a microphone again if rain gets in the headset or a puffin makes off with it on Lunga.

UBN Report for RSGB 80m AFS CW

The UBN Reports are out for the RSGB 80m AFS CW Contest which took place on 8 Jan 2012.

My own UBN report is copied below. I’m really happy with only dropping 3 QSO’s (30 points) because I don’t really ‘do’ CW and need a lot of help and concentration to even follow the very predictable contest exchanges. Two of the ‘broken’ serial numbers are very understandable (85/95 and 28/128) but what was I thinking when I mistakenly logged 111 instead of 165 ?

I finished with 147 adjudicated QSO’s for 1470 points, to make a small contribution to the Camb-Hams B team for 26th place in the contest. The Camb-Hams A team did really well this year, finishing in 9th place. Both teams making a significant improvement over last years placings. A good contest and I’d encourage others to give it a try.

Adjudication report for M1ACB for AFS Contest CW 2012
Date       Time  Call   RepTX SnTX RepRX SnRX CSnRX Band Mode Reason
08/01/2012 15:40 GM4SID 599    78  599    85   95   3537 CW   Broken:Serial RX
08/01/2012 16:53 G3LIK  599   125  599   111  165   3563 CW   Broken:Serial RX
08/01/2012 17:25 G3RKF  599   139  599    28  128   3548 CW   Broken:Serial RX

1st Place for DMUARS in RSGB 80m Club Sprint 2011

The result of the RSGB 80m Club Sprint 2011 contests have been announced and I’m very happy to say that the team I play a small part in has finished first again. De Montfort University ARS have now won the contest series for four years in succession to retain the Newbury Trophy.

RSGB 80m Club Sprint 2011        Final Results
Pos Club Name                    Total SSB   CW
1 * De Montfort University ARS   48106 25157 22949
2   Newbury & DARS               46095 25141 20954
3   Travelling Wave CG           40296 26625 13671
4   Three As CG                  33301 15659 17642
5   OSSETT ARO                   21715  9301 12414

1st place in the RSGB 80m Club Sprint and 2nd place in the RSGB 80m Club Championship make this a pretty good year.

DMUARS have some really great contesters in the team and I’m very pleased to be able to share some of the glory with them once again.