UKAC 432MHz 10th Jan 2012

I (G4VFL/P) operated from Ditchling Beacon (IO90wv) here are the results. I went to this site for a number of reasons, the home QTH is not good for UHF and it activates a SOTA. If you look at the claimed scores for last year there are very few stations in IO90 and JO00. I used IO90 because it is an easy access site with a car park on top and is seen as a rare square. Below is a table of the grids used from the claimed scores.

Callsign   Count

IO75        2

IO78        1

IO80        1

IO81        4

IO82        5

IO83       25

IO85        2

IO86        1

IO90        3

IO91        8

IO92       14

IO93        6

IO94        4

JO01       11

JO02        4

TOTAL      91

I have a very simple station that minimises the number of connectors, does not involve spanners (I use wing nuts) and uses paper logging. This means it can be assembled in the dark and reduces the risk of exposure to faults. The station is portable by my self in a single carry for a few 100 metres and is setup in about 15 – 20 min.

In short the station consists of:

• IC-7000 (35W on 432MHz)
• 19 element Tonna
• SLAB 7AH (2off)
• Coax (7m)
• Mast 4.5m (25mm and 20mm steel conduit)
• Trig Point fixing jig
• Paper and Pencil log
• Headlamp
• Chair

The SLABs require about 3 – 4 AH to recharge after the contest so I rate them at 50% of the manufactures rating for this use. I cannot do the contest on a single SLAB it will be exhausted after about 1.5 hours.

Here is a picture of the station, not the world’s best picture in the dark !.




Here is another in daylight for the 50MHz Xmas contest from Cliffe Hill (JO00AV)



Results are shown below, I didn’t put them in for the club because it was not a club arranged station. (I am quite happy to tag them with the club if the club is happy) Based on the claimed scores I am 24/91 overall. I only call CQ about 30% of the contest to conserve battery capacity.

My plan for the year s to use this site for the 432MHz contests assuming I can escape from work early enough.