We’ve been awarded a certificate for a reception from ARISSAT-1

The secret word heard was EXPLORE

Date Friday 19/8/2011
Time 19.25 UTC
145.950 MHz ICOM 910

Whitton Amateur Radio Group G0MIN

Also heard some voice telemetry. Panel temp 24 degrees Battery voltage 35.62V
and 2 frames of SSTV which did not decode on Ham Radio deluxe

This year the club returned to the South Coast for the second time because of the fantastic location with height and space to erect aerials and we would like to thank our Kevin G1KAW for organising this.

This year’s station was using our tried and trusted ICOMs IC756PRO III’s together with the following antennas: 10-15-20M 2 element Quad at 60ft, 10-15-20m Yagi at 35ft, 40M Vertical, 40M dipole and 80M Vertical. All the antennas were painstakingly assembled, erected and adjusted from scratch just for the contest. Thank goodness for the excellent weather. (Special thanks to Kevin G1KAW and Toby M6TBY).

Operation was is in the 3.5, 7, 14, 21 and 28MHz bands.

The mast and three band quad was supplied by Nobby G0VJG and Ralph, M0MYC, as

both joined the team for the IOTA contest. The quad with out doubt gave the main station an edge even over the three-element beam, which was reallocated to our multi finding station.

Within the log book section of our web page you can insert your call sign to see
if we correctly logged your contact with us. QSL cards are advaible using the
RSGB QSL Bureau or on line via Eqsl.

For all those teams and operators around the world who answered our CQ calls
a big ‘thank you’ to you all from the Whitton Amateur Radio Group team, comprising: Garo G0PZA, Colin M0DMJ, Colin 2E0NOC, Kevin G1KAW, Toby M6TBY, Ian G0OFN, Nobby G0VJG and Ralph M0MYC.

Our results; we are hoping subject to confirmation that this year we have bettered last year effort, and even beat our own target. QSO totals were up 17% on last year, at 1808, Multipliers were up by 29% at 354 and the total score was 57% higher than last year, at about 3.6Million points. Last year’s EU005 top score in the 24hour Multi Single category was about 3.0Million, so we are delighted with our performance, given that we are not a fixed station!

We generally found that band conditions were favourable, but we did miss some opportunities on 80M and 15M, in particular on CW. Highlights included being called by a ZL at 7 am on 40M running on our dipole, and some strong BD/BV stations alongside the Russian powerhouses.

Our M2W breakdown per band and mode is as follows;-

We are looking forward to IOTA 2012.

Congratulations to all who helped with this effort.

Previous Article Here

So while reading the certificate have a smile of satisfaction and think to yourself
“#4 in England not bad not bad at all!’ so who was 1st 2nd and 3rd? next time we can do better ..“

The club view is if you are a club member and you want to take part even if you have only just passed your exams then have a go.  We have also over the years enjoyed having over-sea guests asking to join in and participate using M2W so we must be doing something right.

The club receiving these two awards is just icing on the cake for all of us and just the thing to put M2W in the mood for the up and coming HF contest.

Worldwide WPX SSB Contest 2007

Worldwide WPX SSB Contest 2009

This was our fourth bank holiday weekend at Kew Bridge Steam Museum (www.kbsm.org)‘and we were once more supported by our RSGB Area Rep Alison G4ROG who acted as our ‘meet and greet’ and explained the role of the RSGB to the public.

Our Club HF station operated on 80m, 40m, and 20m and was kept busy on both days with radio enthusiasts from around the world calling in. The public were able to hear the two way conversations as we had a prominent position within the museum.

Our radio station comprised of our club radio an Icom Pro 3 with matching ATU and 400w amp, a G5RV which was fixed from the very top of the museum tower down to a old steam beam by the car park. Many stations were worked and we are looking forward to receiving their QSL cards which we will display at next years event (GB0KEW).

Our past events at Kew were organised by Mike Hearn (G1WIA) who sadly passed away last year however, the club was extremely pleased that club members Linda (2E0YVR) and Bob (2E0ZBW) took up the challenge in conjunction with the RSGB to demonstrate and explain to the Kew visitors about amateur radio.

We were pleased to incorporate the weekend with “Pumping Stations on the Air” and we hope that those stations also taking part enjoyed their weekend as much as we did.

The club would like to thank Jo Willis and the staff of Kew Bridge Steam Museum for the invitation to use the museum and we look forward to next years event which will be our 5th .. Do look at Kew Steam web page and see the world’s largest collection of steam pumping engines, many of which you can see working every weekend.

This is the 4th year & sadly for the club the 1st without Mike G1WIA at the helm.

The event will be open on Sunday 29th and Monday 30th at 11am until 5pm. The club will be operating on HF with CW and SSB using the callsign GB0KEW.

As in previous years the museum will be open and other events will be happening around Kew, although you know you’ll only be attending for the radio, but whilst there you can learn about Kew as well.

We look forward to seeing any visitors who wish to visit us on either of the two days.

Any WARG members wishing to visit the museum have been given a reduced club rate fee of just £6.00. The full rate for non-club members is £9.00.

Kew Bridge Steam Museum link