G0VHF/P :: May 2008 144MHz (Multiplier) Contest
The May 2-Metre Contest is designed to promote UK activity and features
Postal District score multipliers. In addition DXCC (Country) Multipliers are
also available which leads to some interesting questions on which way to point the beam!
With the weather proving variable in the preceding days and the availability of
only a 2-man Friday setup crew, the rig comprised two 'Alumast' towers mounting
a pair of BQH-modified 15-element Cue-Dee yagis on the 50-foot erection with two,
stacked, 12-element M
2 beams on the 30-footer.
...more
After a drizzly Friday, weather conditions at the start of the contest were overcast but dry (at Walton). Radio conditions were
fairly poor with Operators glad of the ability to electronically 'swing the beam' for stations off the side.
This contest is not co-ordinated with any European event and thus 'random' contacts are usually relied on for DX QSOs.
Despite a couple of sessions on the key during the evening lull, all contacts were completed on SSB with the Top-10 all in excess of 600km (see the stats page).
This year we were pleased to see a good number of GM and GI stations on the band and these, along with European DX'ers, added needed kilometers for the
multipliers to work on.
...more
Sunday morning dawned bright and clear with a freshening breeze. Conditions, judging from beacons, had also brightened up. Many F-stations, fresh from
their Sunday morning 432MHz contest, QSY'd to 2-Metres and added some choice DX contacts to the log. At this juncture new multipliers had begun to dry up
so the start of the 'Backpackers' contest, which runs parallel during the latter part of Sunday morning and overlaps by an hour in the afternoon, brought
a flurry of additional Post Codes to top up the score.
Early results show that the efforts, while not startling, maintained the status-quo in terms of both position and score despite the poor outlook.
While the match on the pair of 12s left something to be desired (needs investigation!) the kit and the Ops performed well, nothing broke and we were off
the park in good time.
Thanks for the QSOs!
CCG 24 May 2008
