[Corkradioclub] Marconi Day

[Timothy McKnight]

Hi Gents,

I thought you might like to know how we got on with last weekend's Marconi
Day activation of the club's Ei5IMD special event call sign.

After setting up the station at Marconi House, the actual building where
Marconi first operated when he came to Crookhaven in 1901, the hex beam
plus dipoles for 40m and 80m were erected in the front garden.  Band
conditions on 20m were great on Friday night but that didn't help much as
Ei5IMD is for activation only on the Saturday.  The wee hours were pretty
quiet but 20m opened again during the morning daylight for big pileups and,
in mid-afternoon into the late evening, 40m was hopping with big pileups
but noisy.  When that band closed we went to 80m and had some good runs
until the day was over.

Not counting a nice run Friday night on 20m using Ei1C, the team logged 812
QSOs using Ei5IMD.  There were over 2000 QRZ.com lookups so many more
probably wanted to work us but couldn't.  This is not the highest score we
have achieved (according to my records, that was 1699 QSOs in 2011), but
considering that this time we had only one station (two in 2011) and five
operators (11 in 2011) this was an excellent showing, especially
considering current band conditions.

Marconi House was an excellent venue in terms of comfort and proximity to
the village, even if it's a little tight for antennas.  I certainly enjoyed
myself and think the others did too.  Thanks to Dave, Jim, Denis and Sean
for their contribution.  I would certainly vote for going there again next
year.

Best regards,

Tim

-- 
from Tim McKnight, Ei2KA