Camb-Hams

Final 4m UKAC of 2011

After catching M0NUT/P briefly during the 6m event last week, they reminded us it seemed to be between us and them in the restricted section of the 4m event, so the race was on this Tuesday…

A slightly late arrival in Flossie (it took longer to buy the custard-topped mince pies than we expected…) bought us on site for about 1930, so it was all hands to work – initially Lawrence M0LCM, Gav M1BXF and myself, but soon joined by Joe, M0ZRN. Moderately strong winds meant that we deployed the guys and ran one section lower than maximum, but thankfully didn’t cause us any real problems.

With the mast still pumping up at 1958, we cut the start a little fine, but made it on for a very nice start to the evening – 15 stations in the first ten minutes. This proved to be something of a pattern – some good runs followed by quiet periods. GI4SNA and GM4JR were most welcome additions to the log around half an hour into the contest, and we managed a steady stream of new squares throughout, ending up with 17, certainly a best for us in a 4m contest.

We caught up with M0NUT/P shortly before 2100, and waited with baited breath for his serial number – were they thrashing us, or did we have a chance? Amazingly, we sent and received the same number!

So things continued, with a quick detour into FM land later in the evening to work those who didn’t have SSB kit available, but then back down the band for a few more before the end. Just when we thought we’d worked as many as we were going to, GM4ZUK/P called us in CW – at which point I must apologise, Allan, if you’re reading this – my difficulties weren’t through your lack of signal strength, but my poor CW skills! Many thanks for your patience! That’s definitely on my list of “things
to improve” for next year. A quick QSO with G7HAH just made it into the log before the clock ticked over to 2230, and we were done.

A few moments later, we found M0NUT/P for a quick chat and swap of scores after the contest… we claimed 166k, they 119k. But I’m not sure that’s enough to do it for us over the year! It’s going to be very, very close indeed. Whatever the result, thanks guys – it was great fun!

Thanks everyone who we’ve worked over the course of the year, whether 6km or 600km away. Thanks to everyone who has said hello to Flossie – David, GI4SNA, I just wish I’d taken a photo when you told Gav to give her a kiss the other week. It’s be a great year on all the bands, and fantastic to see such high activity levels all around the UK, something which seems only to be increasing with every passing month.

73,
Rob, M0VFC

Tags: contests, news, ukac