M0XXQ New Portable Contest Station

VHF/UHF Topics.
M0XXQ
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Location: Newcastle upon Tyne
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M0XXQ New Portable Contest Station

Unread post by M0XXQ »

Having been pushed into finding other ways to enjoy my HAM Radio hobby, I have decided to start going out portable and do what I love - VHF DX'ing, this will involve the UKAC contests, the Nordic NAC Contests and general adhoc outings playing Meteor Scatter and Aircraft Scatter, Tropo and Spordic E.

I have decided to start documenting my outings using video and pictures so I will keep adding them to this thread with a short story - might not be for everyone but it may interest someone.

As all the best DX spots are spoken for up here in the North East, I was hard pushed to find an alternate location that was at least "prime" in the sense of elevation and privacy, so having consulted with some of the Northern Fells Contest Group to make sure that my chosen QTH won't cause issues for either station I have settled on a location which is around 400M (1500 feet) above sea level with a full 360 view of all paths - winner.
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M0XXQ
Posts: 484
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2018 10:23 pm
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne
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Re: M0XXQ New Portable Contest Station

Unread post by M0XXQ »

Date Event Location Comments
21/02/2019 70MHz UKAC Contest IO94AT First test of portable station.
20/07/2019-21/07/2019 50MHz CQ World-Wide VHF Contest IO94AT 24 Hour operation.
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M0VMT
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Re: M0XXQ New Portable Contest Station

Unread post by M0VMT »

Nice one Rob yeah get out I bought the 818 at Newark last year and I have been out a couple of times on battery power and I loved every minute.
Makes a change from being sat in four walls, I'm planning on some hill walks this year with a bit of kit.
I'm not fussed about contests but interested in SOTA but hey it's all radio and fun and that's all that matters.
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M0HJO
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Re: M0XXQ New Portable Contest Station

Unread post by M0HJO »

Well now that the IC-9700 has been launched, I have picked up a fully loaded IC-910HX with 23cm included for £600!
Even has both DSP boards and the extra crystal. Boxed in mint condition.

Have new antennas for 2M/70cm and 23cm, even bought a second hand geni for £40 which will run a 100W radio!

Just got to tell the XYL, our T5 camper will be used for portable Ops as well lol.

John.
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M0VMT
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Re: M0XXQ New Portable Contest Station

Unread post by M0VMT »

Aye I have just bought a 991a for portable VHF and HF, now to sort out what antenna to use for vhf.
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G0DJA
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Re: M0XXQ New Portable Contest Station

Unread post by G0DJA »

Paul-Doc wrote: Mon Oct 28, 2019 6:47 pm Since I'm not from your country I don't understand the "other locations are taken" thingy. Only one station at a time? I'm also assuming that this is a VHF/UHF contest?
The problem that we have over here is that the country occupies a relatively small area and, if you are close to a station running high gain antennas and high power, they end up desensitizing your receiver.

In the major VHF contests, there are stations who have used the same hill for many years, so the prime locations are already taken.

The RSGB UKAC contests are spread through the year on either a Tuesday or Thursday evening and are, in my experience, a more relaxed set of events than, say, VHF NFD. Each of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Tuesdays or Thursdays are allocated to a different band. So, 144MHz is usually the 1st Tuesday and then the other VHF/UHF bands are allocated other evenings.

The other nice thing is that you don't have to be an RSGB member to enter and you can add your score together with other peoples entries to form a club entry. I usually add mine to the 807 ARO club. It means that even if I only make a few contacts it still helps the club entry overall.

The details and results are on the RSGB VHF Contests website at https://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/
Cheers - Dave (G0DJA)
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