Stations worked here during the weekend on 136kHz using normal speed CW:
Friday 8/10
PA0SE (07.24UT: gave him 579, he gave me 579), GB4RS (17.12: 59+9, 599),
G3LDO (17.25: 599, ???), G3GRO (18.57: 589, 559), OH1TN (19.45: 569,
559QSB).
Saturday 9/10
Nothing worked - at Windsor all day.
Sunday 10/10
DJ5DI (07.06: 559, 559), G3YMC (07.26: 569, 599), G3LDO (08.01: 599, 589)
PA0SE (08.49: 57/89, 589), GB4RS (09.12: 59+9, 599).
As we've been without email for a while, I will briefly mention a few
earlier events which might be of interest. A couple of Sundays ago I just
managed to copy Petr OK1FIG by ear before the abortive pile-up descended on
him. I discovered him whilst he was making a CQ call, which helped me to
'synch' into his callsign, as his signal was only around RST-239 here.
As Dave G3YXM reported, he and I worked Christer SM6PXJ on Tuesday 5th. Dave
found him first and deserves all the credit for making the first SM/G QSO. I
was attracted by the activity and called immediately after Dave had finished
at 20.31UT. The static was bad so I gave him 559QRN and got 549 back from
him - country number 13 2-way for me. At the end of the QSO Christer asked
me
to QRX for Lars SM4DHN, but I heard nothing from Lars that time. I did hear
him the following evening at almost the same strength as Christer, when he
worked several stations, but the local static here was wicked that night so
I
haven't worked Lars yet.
Des M0AYF very vividly reported our QSO on Thursday. It was my pleasure to
work you, Des - welcome to LF and I hope you have as much fun as I do! As
many of you know, I get a lot of enjoyment making 'first LF' contacts for
newcomers - most of them are pretty 'electric' and you can almost feel the
excitement at the other end! To answer Steve, that was 'first' number 12 for
me, taking my tally of stations worked 2-way on 136 to 70.
Friday was, as expected, an active day with many of us looking out for GB4RS
from the Convention at Windsor. I gave them a call as soon as they appeared
on the band, but it was obviously chaos all around Graham so the QSO was
a bit disjointed, to say the least. Their signal was absolutely enormous,
reading S9+10dB on the S-meter (not much less than Dave shows!) and it was
great to get the call in the log again. During my contact with G3LDO, Peter
had a keying problem with his transmitter, so I never actually receicved my
report. Somewhat later I found Reino OH1TN calling CQ on 136.5kHz but gave
him a call higher up the band, where my antenna was resonant. He answered
immediately, and although he wasn't copying me quite 100 percent initially,
by the end of the contact conditions had improved and we were able to chat
freely. The Winter Season approaches.....
It was brilliant to meet so many of the 'LF Gang' at Windsor on Saturday,
especially to have some overseas visitors in the shape of Andre N4ICK, Geri
DK8KW and Wil PA0BWL. I think most of us greatly missed Peter Bobek this
year
but I'm sure he would have approved of the day's events and it was excellent
to hear a very fitting tribute to Peter will be announced shortly. I was
also
pleased to see Dave G3YXM awarded the Nevada Trophy - very richly deserved.
Congratulations Dave, well done.
We both had a really enjoyable day and were sorry to leave before the very
end to start the 2 hour trek home. Thanks to John G3WKL (and the others)
for making it work so well - see you all again next year!
I managed to 'surface' fairly early Sunday morning and was rewarded by a
nice contact with Fred DJ5DI. The band seemed quiet but unremarkable until
I was called by Dick PA0SE again. We exchanged better than normal reports
and
it was obvious that conditions were enhanced. Immediately afterwards I was
called by GB4RS, happily leaving the frequency (136.9kHz) to them whilst I
took a break.
Shortly afterwards one of those fascinating little dramas unfolded. During
their contact with G6NB, GB4RS's signal suddenly dropped several S-points
and
then finally disappeared. No doubt the TX had a problem and you could almost
feel the frantic activity at Windsor trying to sort it out! I began to tune
around and found Rik ON7YD working (I think) a German station on 137.2kHz
at a better than usual RST-569. As I tuned back down, I caught the end of
Petr OK1FIG calling CQ on 137.13kHz at RST-449. Immediately G3KEV began
frantically calling Petr just below 137.0kHz where G6NB had been working
GB4RS. A few minutes later DJ1RL appeared on 136.9kHz calling CQ at RST-559.
When he went over OK1FIG (now peaking 559) called DJ1RL, and when Petr went
over G3KEV moved down and started calling OK1FIG! This bemusing sequence was
repeated several times with no-one hearing their caller until GB4RS suddenly
reappeared, unaware of the excitement which had taken place on their
frequency. They called G6NB but he did not reply and G3KEV continued calling
into 'thin air' for several minutes more while the Convention station moved
away down the band. After that the band went very quiet and I had to go out,
so I have no idea whether anyone actually completed a contact!
Finally, Kevin ZL4MD is paying us a return visit this evening (Mon) so I
hope my TX doesn't expire this time. If anyone is around mid-evening to
provide a demonstration contact or two, I'd be very grateful.
Regards John G4GVC near Leicester, IO92JP
** TX: Synth + 400W RF from modified 'G3YXM' Mosfet PA **
** RX: TS-850S with 3 x CW filters and 0.5ppm TCXO **
** Ant: Inv-L 60m long, 6m high at feed end, 12m high at far end **
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