AmateurRadio.com

So Christmas has left us again. this time I’ll be glad to see the back of it after being and bit part player in the events in George Square, Glasgow just before Christmas and spending most of the subsequent days either laid up in bed or coughing and spluttering my way round the place.

On a lighter note the days between Christmas and New Year led themselves nicely to The RSGB Christmas Cumulative VHF series. A Contest run between the 26th and 29th December that gets me out of the house and either into the wilds of Cumbria at this time of year, or as it happened yesterday one of the clearest, crispest days we’ve had in a long time.

The contest is only a couple of hours long and the choice of band(s) is up to you. I thought it would be a good opportunity to take my dual band 2m and 70cm antenna that I got from Nuxcom in the summer. The antenna is a tad fiddly to construct in the field as the elements wander with the slightest touch but the lack of wind helped there.

The rig was the usual FT-857 that I have had on loan from the club for a while now that gives me my choice of 10w out on the VHF bands.

The map above shows my results. ODX was 450 miles to G7RAU, which equals my best to date. Other bigger stations will have undoubtedly made more miles but it’s not all about the DX. Hopefully I will get the chance to get out and about on the UKAC evenings as well as the back end of the year was a bit of a non event for me. Here’s an obligatory view form the ‘shack’ and dual band antenna (Here’s a link to the original site for the antenna)