A Happy Easter from all at Southdown Amateur Radio
Despite the cold and blustery weather our outside and field events have been busy with great attendance.
I share one of the reports produced by Bary G8DXU.
I have posted a few pictures below as its lambing season once again up on the south downs and they are popping out everywhere.
For the Land Rover enthusiasts there is a rare photo shoot of Land Rovers in the mist. You can only see the one as the other in the mist.
Bary G8DXU report:
After a few days of reasonable weather Saturday arrived accompanied by rain, mist and high winds!
In keeping with our now established tradition of operating from BHRS whatever the weather we decided to carry on regardless!
As the wind was too high to safely erect the Tennamast we deployed the Ground Mounted Monopole for work on 4m & 6m. The magnetic mount 5/8 wave served as a back-up for 2 metres.
Richard M6EYO and Dr Jon M0JAO were already mobile in their Land Rover 90 with Clansman RT351 and RT320 equipment’s at the ready. They had decided to head east and establish initial contact on 51.60 MHz our favourite calling and working channel.
Steve M3EVM was left in control at BHRS accompanied by Dave G4XXM and Tom M6ONX.
Barry G8DXU went mobile in his Land Rover Defender 110 Tithonus FFR and headed for Warren Hill which has a very good VHF take-off to the East.
Meanwhile Andy M6GND was making for the high ground of South Hill above Cuckmere Haven to operate his RT351 with Ground Spike Antenna (GSA).
Richard and Jon arrived at Pevensey Bay for the scheduled call-in at 1300 using the EVHF (Pineapple) aerial. Their signals were almost fully quieting on the RT353 in my FFR using the standard two metre long whip aerial and wing mounted TUAAM.
Rather cold from the elements, Richard and Jon decided to head for Bexhill seafront and re-establish the station. The call of nearby Sovereign Light Café for a late Breakfast was too mush to resist!
Non-member Ray G6JME called into the net, with Andy M6GND checking in from the Cuckmere area. Located in Eastbourne Ray’s signals were excellent but due to the RF shadow of Beachy Head he could not hear Andy. After refreshments Jon and Richard called in from Bexhill on the secondary frequency of 29.010MHz using the RT320 their signals from the Clansman with 2.5m vertical whip were 5&9. Unfortunately they could not be heard by Ray probably due to his aerial being horizontally polarized. The equipment used on HF in my FFR was the RT321 and TURF 25W with 4 metre vertical whip.
Andy’s signals on 10 metres AM were initially weak and distorted which he quickly found was due to a flat battery on his FT817. Following a change of battery communications were properly established with Andy connecting the GSA to the FT817. Theoretically the frequency limit of the GSA is 30-76MHz but with the correct number of aerial rods added they seem a good aerial for 10m and perhaps CB channels.
We moved frequency up thee kilohertz and changed mode to USB for a very pleasant discussion on all things related to radio,portable and mobile operations.
Finally we all called BHRS on 6m to report our intentions with several of us returning there for a very welcome cup of tea and other refreshments.
Whilst again communications were only established over relatively short distances we are exploring our equipment’s capabilities. Despite the awful weather this just goes to show that we can still be active and have some fun during the process.
Barry G8DXU
Below: The ham eater radio side of our club was busy filling up two double tables down at the Seaside Continental Cafe and the food was up to its usual high standards.
Below: A baby lamb just born and yes s/he is still alive and just resting.
Below: A new born lamb and its anxious mother.
Below: The lessor seen during the day, a Land rover in the mist.
