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Captains slog 2007

CAPTAINS SLOG

IT was a glorious day the 11^th of April when once again three intrepid amateurs from the Stafford and Districts Amateur Radio Society set off for their annual DX pedition to the far flung outposts of welsh Wales. We encountered blizzards, raging snow storms, hail the size of Dave's (M0DJF) trainers !! (and we all know the size of them !!) torrential rain, and even sunshine !!! All this was before breakfast !!!After much laughter we finally managed to erect two aerials by early afternoon on the Friday, propogation was not brilliant at times but we did manage to work several stations on HF , Dave managed a few contacts on PSK. We also had the good fortune to work our illustrious Chairman The right Honourable Greame G4 NVH after the required salutations were passed by all three of us, he kindly agreed to monitor the frequency we were using in case we missed any calls. (We were not worthy,,, but who cares !!!) Had an excellent copy with Andrew G6OTZ thanks Andrew. He was asked to come down and have a drink with us, but he declined. We were not sure if he had turned the corner and got lost or turned teetotal !!!!!!!

And so the evening of our first day progressed, soon it was time to move the empty cans, bottles etc and retire to our pits ,This time unfortunatly yours truly suffered the dreaded CBS !!( collapsing bed syndrome)

During the night, both Graham and myself thought that our host was up early sawing logs with a 57 horse power McCulloch chain saw, then we realised that it was Dave giving it rock all with the nasal passages !!! (apologies to McCulloch, their power saws are a lot quieter !!)

So on to Saturday

The WX remains very inclement. Rain, hail, and sunshine! After a hearty breakfast, we sat down to try and work some DX, the bands at this time were very unpredictable, one minute solid copy into Canada, then nothing. It was so bad at times, Graham VPT even made a brew !!!( a rare sight indeed, VPT kettle in hand!!!) never got a camera when you need one !!!

After suitable repairs were carried out to resolve the CBS, (its amazing what you can do with aerial wire and a posidrive screwdriver !!) We decided to give the bands a hammering once again, had some contacts, but nothing to shout about. Dave (DJF) gave his MKARS 80 a workout, not a bad little set! Both Graham VPT and myself pointed out to DJF that he should not have deprived his son Jake of the use of the radio , shame on you Dave !!!!

The afternoon was taken up with constructing yet another aerial for 20 metres,

after much discussion and copious amounts of fluid, this task was accomplished at only the cost of a phone call,(thanks Brian ) several swear words(more than I could count anyway !!)and of course several outbursts of laughter!!!

The weather continued to amaze us, one moment severe hail storms, rain, and then loads of sun streaming down !!At least we have not suffered the trench foot that some people got in Anglesea !!!! I did have to remonstrate with Graham VTP for the excessive use of the insulation tape yet again, but he did say that he would be more carefull in the future. Dave kept saying that he was having trouble with his macros, despite generous applications of a proprietry brand of ointment,(preparation “H”) this failed to relieve the problem so. we offered him an alternative, suitable medication (ie Brandy) which sad to say, did his macros no good at all ! But Dave was quite happy !!! NOTE, must get smaller drinking vessels!!)

received a phone call off M3SLQ, asking what frequency we were on, I did reply to Nick, “about four cans an hour at the moment !!”

One of the plans this year was to run an electronic log, and a paper log, unfortunatly, due to Graham VTP disposing of the paper log, and not saving everything on the computer, some of our logged calls are missing.!! So if you are expecting a QSL card,,,,tough !! you aint getting one !!!!!

So to the evenings events, after a good repast of a home cooked meal by our host, we started to play radio once more,.Graham VTP made a contact with a Belgian special event station, we are still trying to work out what the “event” is/was ??? we do believe however that the “winner” gets a box of Belgian chocolates !! There was a worry that the gas may run out during the evening, sadly, this was not the case !!!!

The bands continued to be in and out like a fiddlers elbow on a charity bash, So it was decided to retire to our pits a bit earlier.

Sunday

At around 2-35am both Graham VTP and myself decided to get up early and do some grey lining/wet grey lining. Basically it was due to the fact that Dave DJF was really giving it rock all with the nasal passages !!!Not to be outdone, we put the lights on and woke the noisey -------------r up!!!!Once again, the bands were

very jumpy, I called into Cuba, the call was acknowledged, and the the band closed yet again!! If we find out who does this to us,,,,,,,,,,!!!!!!!!!!!! Well!!!!!!!

Dave DJF is finding quite a few contacts on the digi modes, but no one is coming back to his calls, just goes to show with a bit of carefull planning, anybody can upset PSK !!! Hi!!!!!!!!!!(Well done to all concerned !!)

After a suitable repast of a very unhealthy breakfast, we then tried to get some more contacts on the bands, sadly this was not to be. We were still able to have a good laugh and come up with some ideas for future events. If anyone is contemplating a DX spedition of their own, please be advised that suitable ear defenders, and a white noise generator would be recommended if DJF is going to attend, also a giant sized can of air freshener should be included, NOT necessarily because of Dave !! We did have a surprise with the weather today,

actually got some sunshine!!we were able to cast our long(and short johns) off!!!!!Graham VTP tried once again to get some contacts, this time with a Russian station, desparate times !!!! sad to say no joy!! he did say that the operator was only15 years of age and if he did not answer his call, HE would not see 16 !!!!!!!He also said that he wanted to fiddle a bit, fine by Dave and myself, we did offer to leave the room !!!! Hi!!!!! I did have a nice copy into Kendal, but the s---d never offered me any mint cake !!

During the morning it was decided to take down the aerial that ran North-South whilst the sun was shining,once again this was accomplished with much merriment and amusement of the sheep in the next field, they kept calling for Baaaary, but Dave did tell them that he did not come with us,,,but to go and ask Maaary!!!!!!

Note, must get mint sauce for next time !!

Some of the contacts that we made even requested our locator, unfortunatly, we did not have this info to hand at the time..after operating for nearly three days, Graham VTP decided to give us a sheet of a4 paper with all the details on !!! better late than never Graham!!!!!!!

Note, We have discovered this weekend that the most useful piece of equipment to have when doing portable ops is a ........horseshoe !! Trouble is catching a horse to take his shoe off!!!!! the shoe is for throwing long wires over trees, Please note,,,,,,only throw the shoe,,, not the horse!!!!!!!!!!

Around about 2pm, Graham heard a qso between two airline pilots flying 38 thousand feet in an Airbus 320 above the United states, I told Graham VTP to stand up and try to make contact,( well, he would be closer to them ,, wouldnt he??!!!!! after all, the aircrafts signals are all downhill from there !!!

Folks as you know these trips are not only for getting some DX in, good food , very good company(and also an excuse for a drink!!)but they are also an educational experience, just ask Graham VPT. About AM modulation!! ie Aeronautical mobile !!!!!!!! I will not print the comments that came from him !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Work them out for yourself !!!

The old man of the “bedsheets” decided to steal a march on DJF & VPT by sneaking some crafty zzz's during the afternoon. Needless to say, it turned into a marathon session of three hours. I've been informed that if I try to get some more sleep tonight, a bucket of some sort of liquid will be issuing forth in my direction!!!! Oh s..t, thats friends for you!!!!

The bands have still been a bit up and down again all day with very few contacts! Still, the company was good.

And so we arrive to our last evening in Wales,all to soon it was time to think about putting all the gear away until we could play again. We sat around the heater (if you can call it that !!) and had a discussion about various subjects, (some were quite “clean” actually!!) We have come up with some ideas for other club members to perhaps go out and do the same as us.

It only leaves me to say, all three of us had a great few days, irrespective of the weather and we are looking forward to the next time. Thanks go to the all Sadars members who helped us,

M0 DJF Dave

M1 NTP Norman

2E0 VPT Graham