International ATV Contest 11/12 June - Update

[G4EWJ]

>>G3NWR/P will be at Merryton Low, Staffordshire on the Saturday.

To be more precise, we'll be at IO93AD41VU which is 2km SW of the peak, known as the 'grassy triangle'.

Brian

[g8gtz]

G8GTZ/P will be out on Saturday from 1pm at Hannington (IO91KH) which is good to the North and East.

On Sunday I am going down to Fairlight near Hasting (JO00HU) specifically to work F, ON and PA stations but the site is good to the north but not to the west so maybe work the Dunstable group.

Bands are as follows:

146 = RB-TV Tx & Rx

437 = DATV / RB-TV tx & Rx and AM rx

23cms = DATV / RB-TV tx & Rx, FM Tx & rx

13cms = rx only by request

3cms = ATV rx and RBTV rx and tx by request

Talkback = 144.750 FM, 144.170 SSB, http://www.dxspot.tv and mobile 07881914287

As usual the condx are due to collapse 12 hours before the contest start but hope to work you anyway

73

Noel - G8GTZ

[G8GKQ]

Many of the French DATV stations expected to be active during the contest are plotted on the Tutioune Map at http://www.vivadatv.org/tutioune.php?what=map.

Don't forget that you will need to call them on 144.17 MHz SSB.

Dave
G8GKQ

[G4WIM]

I'll be operating from home as best I can given the impending house move.
24cm analog rx anywhere and digital rx on 1249Mhz, 1315 digital tx. No analog tx.

70cm digital rx and tx

All from IO83LR at 20ft ASL

73 Tim

[G8GKQ]

Ian, G3KKD, writes that he hopes to be active from his home QTH, Quy Cambridge JO02CF, on Saturday and Sunday after about 12.00. Able to transmit and receive QPSK on 70 and receive on 2m.

[g8gtz]

Phil M0DNY has set up a version of the dxspot chat only that saves loading all the web page when out portable with poor GPRS or E mobile coverage.

Log in to http://www.dxspot.tv as normal on the device you intend to use /p before leaving home - this will pick up the authentication cookies.

When out portable with poor coverage go to https://philcrump.co.uk/dxchat/?room=1 then you'll have a full screen interface for the chat that will work on very low bandwidth connections

73

Noel - G8GTZ

[G1LPS Terry]

I'll be on from home IO94EQ82 200m asl Saturday and Sunday.
Active on all bands from 2m to 24GHz
local activity looks very sparse so please call North occasionally

Have a good contest weekend
Terry G1LPS Kirk Merrington Durham

[g8vpg]

Everything packed and ready to go! Latest weather shows light rain up to 10.00am and then dry until 6.00pm. Brian G6AUR and myself will be on the Blorenge Mountain near Abergavenny (515m) as GW8VPG/P with 146.5MHz RB-DATV, any symbol rate. Talkback on 144.750MHz or nearby channel with separate H/V beam available. Good luck everyone, hope to work you later.
Shaun.

[g8vpg]

On Saturday, G6AUR & myself travelled to the Blorenge Mountain (515m asl) in South Wales. We were lucky with the weather - the rain stopped as we approached the site. However, propagation did not seem good and despite the height of the site, there were higher peaks blocking us in needed directions. The only really good direction from this site is East. We made one two way 146.5MHz QSO with G8GKQ/P, which was just line of site, scraping the top of one hill. This was 121km, a new personal best, but not quite the record - yet! Lots more research and path plotting needed to choose a better site for next time. Thanks to everyone that tried to work us. 73 Shaun G8VPG & Brian G6AUR.

[G4EWJ]

G6NOI and I arrived at Merryton Low at 1pm on the Saturday to fairly pleasant weather. The grassy triangle at IO93AD41VU was extremely grassy and could have turned into the muddy triangle with rain. There is a cattle layby with a gate a few metres away as an alternative. Our preferred site at IO93AD60EW proved to be inaccessible due to a dodgy road surface - as well as cattle milling about. A pity, as this has just about an all round view. Looking south from this site, there seems to be a caravan with a large tiltover mast. Someone's portable site perhaps?

We proceeded to another site at IO93AD75LE, 'the eastern loops' and found it occupied by the Territorial Army with several large vehicles. We managed to find a spot on the side of the road nearby. They were interested in what we were doing and asked if we could get ITV to watch the England game later. They also thought that our drive-on mast support was a really good idea and they should have one.

This site was blocked to the west, but we set up here with a view to moving later to work stations back home. We had two-ways on 23cm with G7AVU in Gainsborough and M0DTS/P on the North York Moors. In between those contacts, the heavens opened and we took cover. We tried 2m with M0DTS/P without success and got drenched.

We also had an inbound only on 70cm with G8DKC/A west of Leicester.

The rain showed no signs of stopping, so we decided to call it a day - and got drenched again. We never heard anyone south of Birmingham, so the site we chose was probably the worst, in retrospect.

Brian