UHF/SHF Contest October 4th & 5th 2008

We were QRV at IO92XA on:

70cm, running 400W into 4 x 19 element Tonna antennas. We made 85 QSOs giving 28311 points, best DX was DF0YY at JO62GD, 869km.

23cm, running 25W into 1 x 52 element Tonna antenna. We made 20 QSOs giving 3176 points, best DX was DG1EA at JO31GF, 463km.

3cm, running 10W into a 50cm dish. We made 2 QSOs giving 233 points, best DX was G4RFR/P at JO62GD, 200km.

The weekend was great fun but we had several technical problems and bad weather. It was windy and cold on Saturday with occasional rain, the rain set in on Sunday but it warmed up. On Sunday afternoon the wind calmed down but change to the north so it became much colder. Of course the sun came out as we started to pack up, fortunately this dried out the tents,

• The original plan of 23cm and 70cm on the same mast caused too much crosstalk so the 23cm station was re-site

• The 70cm rotator was not man enough to turn the 4 x 19 element Tonnas in the wind so a new rotator was fetched

• The ELCB on the generator failed so it had to be shorted out

• The 23cm preamplifier failed so the standby 25W PA and preamplifier were used

• The GPRS/3G computer cards would not work on 3G (too much signal!), Eventually the setting to force GPRS only was found and we had access to the Internet

• The 3cm station sprang a leak on Sunday in heavy rain and soaked the computer, so no more Internet

70cm station, IC910 with Discovery PA

23cm station, FT736 plus 2 x M57762 PA. The station was relocated to a Land Rover after serious cross talk from 70cm with antennas on the same tower

3cm station, FT290 driving a DB6NT transverter with 10W PA and preamplifier

The site

70cm and 23cm antennas going up, they were taken down later to remove the 23cm antenna and change the 70cm rotator

Don's new generator

Bryan's new coat

Praying to the God Primus

"Your morning tea sir"