[Corkradioclub] IMD at Brow Head

[Timothy McKnight]

Hi Dave,

A quick one to say that this event was the most fun I've had in quite a
while.  The noise on 40m is still ringing in my ears but 412 contacts on the
top station wasn't bad, especially considering that for the first eight
hours or so we were operating closer to 40W than 100W.  As it turned out, we
had sufficient back-up equipment among all of us there to cope with all the
issues we had.  Having to leave early was a shame but I think it was the
right decision given the severe weather we had up there.  I've sent you a
video clip showing the tent almost flattened by the wind.  Part of the
trouble working those stations aside from noisy band conditions was the
noise of the wind.

The lads below may have been in a caravan but it wasn't easy going for them
either, especially having to take down verticals and the beam in a force 7
gale.  Given the easterly wind direction, they weren't much less exposed
than we were on top.  1300 QSOs I think was an amazing feat--so hats off to
them.  With Danny O'Keeffe's house we now have a fantastic site for the next
time and good suport as well from other locals.

Again, I thought this was a great event--one that I won't forget.  I think
we work well together and should do it again.

73 de Tim Ei2KA

On 1 May 2011 19:59, Dave Moore <ei4bz at eircom.net> wrote:

> Hello All,
> Great to report on a very successful club outing to Brow Head, Crookhaven
> for International Marconi Day.
> See picture for the names of those who attended.
> As already reported by EI9FBB we had a total of 1,700 QSOs into 77 DXCC
> Entities.
> We had a 40 metre only station at the actual Marconi site on top of the
> Head. This operated from a tent with a 45 foot fibre glass mast for a centre
> support for the dipole with one end on to the top of the Martello Tower and
> the other end over one of the ruined buildings.
> This worked very well for the duration.
> The fun started in mid afternoon when the wind picked up to force 7 with
> gusts a bit stronger and it was decided that the tent was about to be blown
> away. We dropped it and moved to the lee of a building with EI2KA's tent
> being set up instead. This worked well as both the coax and power leads were
> long enough to reach.
> The weather forecast was for a force 7 to continue to blow so a decision
> was taken to dismantle this station before darkness on safety grounds.
>
> It was intended that the second station would be set up at the car park at
> the bottom of the hill leading to Brow Head  (1400m away) but fortunately
> the owner of the house at the end of the boreen to the Head, Danny O'Keeffe,
> offered the use of his tarmac'ed drive for parking the three campers on site
> (100m away) . He had external power sockets along the kerbing so each
> vehicle was able to plug in to mains directly. A real blessing!
> This station had a tri-bander for 10, 15 & 20m with separate verticals for
> 80 and 30m.
> Tim EI2KA had towed along a big diesel generator to facilitate the use of
> an amplifier but in the circumstances it was not used.
> The camper vans were provided by Hans EI9GRB, Ger EI8HT and Anatoly EI4JF.
> Tents were provided by Tim EI2KA and Dave EI4BZ.
> Thanks to all who participated and a special thanks to Declan EI9GA and
> Karl SWL for driving the two wheelbarrows up and down the hill with all the
> gear. Thanks also to James EI2IV and Susan who helped with the takedown.
> Logs and QSLing are being handled by Dave EI9FBB.
> Hope to hear comments from the other participants.
>
> 73
> Dave
>
>
>
>
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-- 
from Tim McKnight, Ei2KA