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

We have the Royal Parks to thank for allowing the station to be situated in Bushy Park and it is possible that these will be the first transmission from this location since WW2 and the base being operational.

During World War 1 large numbers of Canadian troops were stationed in the park. One of the large houses in the park, Upper Lodge, (previously a hunting lodge rebuilt around 1710 by the first Earl of Halifax) was used as the King’s Canadian Hospital.

In World War Two, part of Bushy Park became the site of a large US base called Camp Griffiss. In February and March 1944, General Eisenhower moved SHAEF Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces) to Bushy Park from where the initial planning stages of Operation Overlord, the Normandy invasion, took place.

Near the Teddington end of the park, not far from Chestnut Avenue, a USAAF Memorial Plaque commemorates these events. Only when the war was over did local people learn the vital role Bushy Park had played.

Our station GB2IKE is located near the memorial for Camp Griffis

From 1942, Bushy Park became the site of a large U.S. base called Camp Griffiss, headquarters to a number of the Allied departments. General Dwight Eisenhower was averse to working in the centre of London during the Second World War.

He decided instead to make Bushy Park the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) centre for planning Operation Overlord, the 1944 D-Day.

We will be on all of the ‘Amateur Frequencies and we are looking forward to speaking to as many operators from around the world as possible but we are hoping that we find someone who was based in the Park during WW2.

The club has been taking part in this event at the Whitton Community Centre and this year our main objective has been to break in our new club members and those who have never before taken part in such an event.

The station this year was a modest set up using the club ICOM 756 Pro 3 and matching ICOM amplifier. The antennas this year comprised of the main mast with the HF three element beam and two verticals one for 40 & one for 80m.

This year’s guest operator was G0VJG ‘Noby’ from Cray Valley Radio Society and the photograph of him shows him working 10m pointing state side.

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