Bunkers on the Air - A new Scheme for Radio Hams!

 Lets talk about Bunkers on the air...

As far as i can work out there was a previous incarnation of this programme, and they are NOT in any way connected. the following s a completely NEW award scheme Skilfully put together by A small dedicated team and will be starting as a one month event from the 1st to the 31st of October 2023! 

I will hopefully activating both on VHF and HF from 2 or 3 locations for this event as I think its great! The scheme is based around the former Royal Observer Core nuclear war observation bunkers stationed all over the country, all the details of which can be can be found on the Bunkers on the Air website! you can also find the rules, how to log and links to the Facebook group on the link..

The long term plan of the BOTA MT is to open up the scheme and expand its operating locations to other fortifications from WW2, the cold war ETC ETC.....

Good luck to all operators operating the event, and I hope to work some of you!!

73 - Alan

POTA - Peak District National Park G-0048 - A foggy activation! 16/09/23

 Still on the now long road to leg recovery, and owning a new radio I have been itching to do SOMETHING for a few weeks now... I had the thought of a potentially easy SOTA on the Gun, and then the Cloud, but the weather looked like it was turning and it was decided that maybe my fitness isnt quite there to deal with crappy weather!

Not fancying another Mountain Rescue, myself and my son (William) decided a POTA might be a nice idea. Living on the edge of the Peak District national park has the advantage that we don't have to go far to have a play! anyway, we decided that Holme Moss car park might be a handy spot for some QRP HF action.

As you can see the weather was pretty crappy on the tops, and we were glad we didnt attempt SOTA! We managed to get my pole up and the EFHW thanks to a handily positioned fence, there is a pole on the end of the wire.. Honestly there is! 😂😂

EFHW up, and radios connected to the battery and the bits and bats, it was time to have a go! 40M was the weapon of choice, and a spot on the POTA site, and another on the WAB group soon produced some calls, I got 3 in on 7097 but then the perils of operating QRP kicked in and I got wiped out by a station who either couldn't hear me, or could hear me and decided that he wanted the frequency anyway by tuning up, and then calling CQ on the frequency....... needless to be said I wasn't too pleased!

A scan about the band showed a space on 7108.500, so I spotted my new location and was soon into some great contacts, Lincolnshire, Devon, London, Leicestershire and Norfolk.. all on 5W! then the surprise for the day, PD1CW, Patrick in the Netherlands! Williams jaw dropped, he couldn't believe it! Anyhow, after 12 contacts on HF we were getting cold, so we decided to pack up the HF gear.. A successful activation! operating from the boot of the car.

After we packed up, I wasnt QUITE ready to give up yet, so i stuck the 2M filter on the handheld and made some calls on the car antenna on VHF! another 10 local QSOs, predominantly Leeds & Bradford filled the log nicely for a total of 22, and a completed activation! While sat in the car operating VHF William got a bit bored, but something pulled in the car park that woke him up and got him all excited!

A Rally Replica Skoda! he went running over camera in hand, and took the picture below. it was nice to be fair, and the owner was a nice guy too!

That done, it was time to go home.. 22 contacts in the bag, 12 of them on the little Xeigu at 5W.. Cant wait to use this setup on a summit proper im absolutely over the moon with its small but mighty performance! as usual, thanks to all the Chasers new and old...

73, till next time! Alan - 2E0JWA

SOTA Chaser 500!

 

Finally got my SOTA chaser 500 points..... only 500 more to the Shack sloth, and the glass block! 😂😂

Still, feeling pretty chuffed with that.... especially as my activation activities have been somewhat curtailed this year... 

73 - Alan

New portable setup, Xeigu G106 ironing out the problems... 01/09/23

 Not REALLY much to report, ankle is still mending, I still cant get out on the tops. HOWEVER my time hasn't been completely wasted!

Investments slowly slowly in a new HF portable kit, for hilltop operations has been in full swing, with the purchase of a Xeigu G106 QRP SDR based radio, an EFHW (End Fed Half Wave) for 40/20/15 & 10M bands. and a battery to power it all!

Anyhow, these little HF SDR radios are not without their problems, the main one seems to be breakthrough and ghosting by strong AM/MW broadcast stations...

More stuff on the Xeigu and the setup to follow, but today i received a parcel, and couldn't wait to get out and test its contents!

Ill let the Video attached do the talking, but please visit www.radio-stuff.com if you like the EFHW and the Filter! Thanks! 

73 - Alan - 2E0JWA

SOTA GW/MW-037, Brandy hill. Its good to be back, even if only in a small way! 17/06/23

A call off one of my Nieces on Thursday, in somewhat of a panic, and me being the only driver in the family led to a 480 Mile round trip from my QTH in Oldham, to Pembroke… and back!

Anyhow, Leaving my Niece and her Daughter to attend to their important family business in Pembroke, I had a couple of hours to kill. Now, as im sure by now, you all know the saga of my leg… well, its still not right, certainly not up to loads, and according to my physio I need to keep walking to around the 10 min mark, tops! and avoid rough ground… yea… I know… BUT I am Walking! so little victories, and all that! This lead to me spotting Brandy hill, Handy for Pembroke, easily accessible, a fair chance of a VHF operation… PERFECT!

I drove right up to the Gates of the compound, chucked up the Slim G, with the usual combination of the FT4XE and the Sotabeams bandpass filter… Spotted (sorry, i used the wrong prefix on the spot) and called… this lead to three calls… MW3DLA - Aled, 2W0DSP - Andrew & 2W0JMK - Mark… then the worst thing… SILENCE! 1 more call needed, repeated calls produced nothing, and i was starting to get seriously disheartened! Then it hit me… re-spot, and in the comment section I wrote “need 1 more to qualify!!”. Well, it did the job! 2 more calls and I was done… GW4VPX - Allan & GW8XMW - David. you chaps saved the day, Many thanks!

Not terribly exciting im afraid, and photos of not alot! but its still good to be back in the game, even if its only in a small way!

Thanks everyone, hope to catch you all on the air soon

Alan - 2E0JWA

Time for Something a little different, but familiar! Parks On The Air! POTA......

 First, a leg update... 

Still healing, I can weight bear on it now, to a point.. so its an improvement! need another operation yet to remove 2 of the screws, then the battle to fitness begins proper! so still no SOTA sadly....

And that NICELY leads me to POTA! Originally an American activation scheme, and the name is exactly what it is! operating in National park areas.... For more info, www.parksontheair.com is where you need to start.

Now unlike SOTA, POTA can be operated from the car, perfect if you have smashed your leg to bits like me, so once i was registered on the site, and realising this weekend was a special event weekend I decided to have a go. I live on the doorstep of the Peak District National Park (G-0048) so a short drive was perfect to a spot just over the border into West Yorkshire.my usual "car radio" is out of action, so I decided to take a chance on the trusty FT4X handheld connected to the car antenna, turns out this was a good decision! Now, POTA can be hard work, you need 10 contacts to qualify a park, so 2M was a gamble.. but its what I had so off we went!

I got parked up, and slowly, slowly over the next hour I made 13 Contacts! Leeds, Bradford, Merseyside and North wales INCLUDING a SOTA chase was all managed. with my puny 5w handheld! and to top it off, I got 2 Awards! 

1 for activating, and 1 for hunting due to a Park to Park! happy with that like :) 

Anyhow, parks on the air, great programme especially if you unable to SOTA or HEMA... also nice to run alongside SOTA and HEMA, as many of the summits are within various park areas.. so its win win! I will be doing some more hopefully over the next few weeks, so we'll see if i get anywhere!

Till next time 73.... Alan 

HEMA #2 G/HSP-015 Idle Hill (Werneth Low)

 This is actually my second attempt to activate Idle Hill (Werneth low) G/HSP-015 the first being an utter fail due to the vicinity of other transmitters in the area swamping the radio.. since then I have purchased the SOTAbeams bandpass filter an amazing pice of kit that makes the previously impossible, possible! hahaha

Anyway, we rocked up here after we completed the 6 trig mission, as we were in the area! now, this is where things get interesting.. we had been operating from the vehicle due to my broken leg, HOWEVER the HEMA rules are similar to SOTA in that all activations must be "human powered" so, to ensure I was sin the spirit of the award, I abandoned the car, walked about 30 yards on my crutches and activated /P off the handheld. 5 contacts!

Not as busy as I was hoping, but got some experimentation in with filters and antennas ETC, and that was a worthwhile thing to do... Was starting to get pretty cold after 20 mins sat on a rock..

We wrapped it up about half 3, happy with the afternoons achievements... 6 Trigs, and 1 HEMA!

Again, a HUGE thankyou to Duane 2E0DIJ Chief planner, Driver, equipment carrier ETC ETC 😂😂 and of course the Chasers! it was fun, as usual!

Alan - 2E0JWA