Dear all,
I have just returned from NW GM and am in need of a new kite! I put up a
rather poor inverted L antenna at the holiday chalet and was very pleased to
work MM0ALM and EI0CF. Operation could only be done after 2100hrs utc due to
bad local QRM so I think I missed the major activty periods.
Whilst out with the kite at the headland just outside Ulllapool on Wednesday
27th (in a strong wind!) I worked EI0CF and G3KEV. I was told that others
were calling but the Loran interference (presumably from the Faroe Islands)
was S6 and even the TS850 couldn't winkle-out any more signals. The kite
then crashed hard due to the strength of the wind and broke a dowell..
I manged to patch it up with an aluminium arrow I found in the back of the
car and set off to find a less windy location, away from the West coast.
From Ledmore, inland and about 15miles North of Ullapool, I worked G6RO and
EI0CF again who reported a much weaker signal. The aerial current this time
was about 60% of what I could get at Ullapool, this I think, was a
combination of worse ground and pouring rain.... Of course I put my foot
into the inevitable wet boggy hole-in-the-ground whilst retrieving the kite.
The kite is now a wreck, held together with sticky tape and the dowells are
all bent.
I sometimes wonder why I do these things but it was great to work some new
ones!
73, Dave G3YXM, back home in the dry.
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