Many thanks to those who attended the rally, from the club members who helped set up and manned the doors and Bring & Buy, traders who came and offered something for everyone to see and buy, and the visitors who made it another great rally.
Again members of the club will be going up the hill to operate a portable station for the Practical Wireless 144MHz QRP contest on Sunday 9th June 2024. We will be using the callsign GM4YEQ/P.
The contest runs between 0900-1500 UTC (1000-1600 Local/BST). We’ll likely be on-site by 0915 (local) if not earlier for setting up.
We’ll be at the usual “Middle Swire” location between the Yarrow and Ettrick valleys 6 miles west of Selkirk.
All club members are welcome to come and visit and catch up for a few hours, assist with setting up or operating, or operate your own sets on HF away from urban QRM.
Or if not able to come to the site, please give us a shout on 2m simplex FM or SSB if you hear us (144.150-144.397MHz is the SSB range). Someone will likely be scanning simplex channels 145.200-575MHz through the day. The more contacts we get (even local ones) the more points we get multiplied by the number of locator squares. Calling CQ on 145.500 isn’t allowed so don’t just listen for us there (nor on the repeaters)! Individual members may be monitoring repeaters and calling channels though if you want to make contact with someone in the group.
Exchange will be signal report, serial number (if you’re not participating then give 001 for your first contact) and your Maidenhead grid reference (or approximate location if you don’t know it as it still counts as a contact just not a new grid square).
Visitors should bring their own food and drink if they’re staying all day. Bring suitable clothing in case it’s windy or wet and footwear suitable for a grass field (with sheep droppings!). Dogs under strict control.
Club members will be taking part in this year’s Railways On The Air event, with a station being set up at the usual place of Whitrope Heritage Centre near Hawick on the weekend of 23/24 September.
The callsign used will be GB0WRH (Waverley Route Heritage) operating on HF bands. Dave MM0HTL will be arriving around 9am on Saturday and setting up, and then along with other members will be operating through the day and evenings until late Sunday afternoon.
All club members and visitors are welcome to come along and see the stations (radio and railway) and help with operating or just come along to chat with us.
The Whitrope Heritage Centre is run by the Waverley Route Heritage Association who have restored a length of track and sidings on the old Waverley line (1849-1969) between Hawick and Carlisle. Further details here: https://wrha.org.uk/about/
Location: Whitrope Heritage Centre, Whitrope, Hawick, Roxburghshire TD9 9TY Location: 11 miles south of Hawick on B6399 (Hawick to Newcastleton road).
On Sunday 11th June 2023 club members went up to our usual spot up the Yarrow/Ettrick “Middle Swire” (aka Witchie Knowe) to operate the station for the Practical Wireless 144MHz QRP contest.
Weather was decent, starting off as mostly cloudy in the morning and a light breeze, becoming less cloudy, more sunny and hotter by the afternoon. The heavy rain through the night before had passed over.
John GM7NVA, Mike MM3NTX and Brian MM7OYD arrived first, then Dave GM0KCN with the antenna and radio. Some chatting between us and playing with HF radio for a time while waiting for Colin MM1APS to arrive with the mast, which he did around 1040 after having to clean up from one of his dogs making a sick mess of his livingroom carpet through the night.
So we got the antenna set up on the mast, and Dave and Colin started operating the contest on radio and logging with John turning the antenna as needed. Some time was spent chasing other stations, and some sitting on a frequency calling CQ. Mostly on SSB but occasionally chasing locals on FM.
John GM0NYD and George GM1OPO arrived around lunchtime and Jim GM7LUN a little later.
Around 1530 (local time) we decided to call it a day as there was only 30 minutes left in the contest and the only stations we were hearing were those we’d worked before. Radio propagation seemed to be starting to fade.
All in all it was a good day operating, the weather held out contrary to earlier forecasts of thunderstorms. Our logs showed 035 as the last serial number used, but on later inspection we found that the numbers went from 022 to 033 then 034 and 035. So 25 contacts made, and a note was included when Dave KCN submitted the logs to the organisers. The logs corresponded to the information sent over the air, so nobody’s logs will be inaccurate, we just omitted serials 023 to 032, possibly after a battle getting the serial 022 copied by the other station.
For those not operating the contest station a chance to get out and experiment with other bands and antennas away from home QRM.
Many thanks to Dave and Colin for operating the station again this year, and hopefully we’ll maintain our streak of Best Scottish Station and Best in IO85.
Photos by Mike MM3NTX, John GM7NVA and Dave GM0KCN.
Again members of the club will be going up the hill to operate a portable station for the Practical Wireless 144MHz QRP contest on Sunday 11th June. We will be using the callsign GM4YEQ/P.