Our First 2m Contest

Recently we were made aware of the Practical Wireless 2 Metre QRP Contest taking place on the 12th June. Power is limited to 3 watts and you can operate /P or from a home/club station. It started at 0900hrs to 1600hrs UTC. Two of us, Howard G4PFW and myself decided to have a go. We tested my FT290 but it was not performing too well with the Clubs antenna system but the FT817 was fine, it performed all day without a hitch. A borrowed power supply (thanks Ted) and a few of my adaptors and we were ready to go on time.

We started, using the callsign G6RC and sweeping the frequencies to see who we could hear then tried to make contact to build up the score, later we sat on a frequency and tried many CQ calls without much success. At the time the weather in the South of England was terrible with a low pressure system and heavy rain coming up from France, I am certain this suppressed the signals and made hearing other stations elsewhere difficult. We had most of the early contacts with stations in our own grid square apart from one in France (JO00UV) and one in Belgium (JO10UV). (Where did they come from?) Later we started to get one or two out of our area then it all went quiet as lunchtime approached. As the contest was not a high pressure one we decided to take a break but still listen where we could.

As it was a Sunday our normal club meeting took place and many members were very supportive of our efforts. (You know who you are)

Howard at the helm

The afternoon continued much as before with sporadic contacts being made. We were surprised when others were giving numbers like 072 when we were still in the lower 20’s. How were they doing it, maybe they were outside the weather depression or on higher ground and were reaching parts that others could not. Not to be put off we continued and were rewarded when I made a contact in the Belfast area. The last hour or so we worked harder and although we could hear a few more, we were unable to pull them out of the hash.

Our total for the day was 25 contacts spread over 9 locator squares, not a lot considering the work done. Conditions were very difficult. A steep learning curve to us newcomers to 2 metre contests. This would be an ideal starting point for those newcomers to the hobby. We now have to wait for the results to be published.

Our thanks go to all the members that supported our efforts and to the club for the use of the shack on the day.

BrianG
2E0MZB