Well! I just can't believe I have not found time to post here since I got back from my holiday. I should have had plenty to say. I worked loads of radio including two SOTA Activations and IOTA from Holy Island (Lindisfarne), but it has been manic. Not much time now as I have two more twelve hour night shifts to do and then I go away again for four days. This time I am off to Leominster for a quiet weekend without the kids and if the weather holds I will be doing some Summits on the Air activations in the Welsh Boarders.
I did have time last night to have a go in the RSGB's six metre activity night. No sign of any propagation so my 5/8 wave vertical was not the best thing to have when everyone else is on a beam. I managed to get nine in the log, but try as I might I could not get a number ten. I heard plenty of other stations, but the usual problem that it was not their frequency. Best logged serial number was 38 so at least the guy taking it seriously were doing better than me. At least I did better than the previous Tuesday's 23cms contest. I got two stations but I only have FM on 1297 and most activity is on SSB. I wish more of the 23cms guys would try FM on these nights.
One thing these activity nights show me is that although my low 50mHz vertical can be superb when there is a lift on, when possibly the phase of signals is shifting as they bounce around in the atmosphere, you need a beam and some height to do any good inter-UK.
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